TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (October 24, 2023) – Daytona State College delivered a perfect team score en route to a fourth straight FCSAA Division II/NJCAA Region 8 Men's Cross Country Championship on Tuesday morning at Apalachee Regional Park.
Meanwhile, Eastern Florida State College successfully defended its NJCAA Division II Region 8 crown behind the performance of Dayton Law, who also defended his Division I Individual Championship.
Division I
Eastern Florida State, under the direction of second-year head coach Doug Butler, finished with 18 points, narrowly missing a perfect score of its own.
Law led at each split and posted a Division I race record time of 26:17.70, well ahead of teammate Simon Devoss, who finished second with a time of 27:50.80.
Law's first-place finish also garnered him NJCAA Division I Region 8 Men's Runner of the Year honors for the second straight season.
Seminole State College's Robert Bellamy (28:04.10) finished third to halt the Titans' bid for a perfect score.
Gabriel Garcia (28:05.80), Carter Vigneri (28:06.20) and Anthony Bergnes (28:21.30) finished fourth through sixth, respectively, to round out Eastern Florida State's team scoring, and Seminole State's Valentino Balzano (28:30.40) was seventh, rounding out the Division I All-NJCAA Region 8 Team.
Division II
Daytona State's perfect score of 15 points was a first for either gender in the eight-year history of the event, and the Falcons just missed sweeping the Division II All-FCSAA/All-NJCAA Region 8 honors.
Jared Falchook won the Individual Championship and was named FCSAA Division II Men's Runner of the Year after posting a time of 26:04.00.
Evan Casterline (26:14.10), Joel Jean (26:23.40), Jayven Garcia (27:08.50) and Ivan Marin-Padilla (27:10.30) placed second through fifth, respectively, to round out the Falcons' team scoring while Brendan Hamilton (27:13.50) joined his Falcon teammates on the All-FCSAA team.
Pasco-Hernando State College's Tom Palamar finished in seventh place with a time of 27:18.40 to earn a spot on the All-FCSAA/All-NJCAA Region 8 Team.
With Daytona State running away with team honors, all eyes turned to second place, where Pasco-Hernando State tallied 50 points to pull away from third-place Florida State College at Jacksonville (88 points).
Lake-Sumter State College finished fourth and Florida Gateway College, making its first appearance in the event, placed fifth.
Daytona State's Judy Wilson was named FCSAA Division II/NJCAA Region 8 Coach of the Year.
The teams will now get ready for the NJCAA Cross Country Championships on November 11 and NJCAA Half Marathon on November 14. Both events will take place in Huntsville, Ala.
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