TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (October 25, 2024) – Friday's FCSAA Cross Country Championships followed a familiar script on the men's side as Eastern Florida State College claimed its third straight Division I team title while Daytona State College won the Division II trophy for the fifth straight year.
Division I
Eastern Florida State, under the direction of third-year head coach Doug Butler, finished with 23 points to defeat runner-up Seminole State College (35 points).
The race took a turn just past the 5K mark when Eastern Florida State's Adem Bouldjadj, the runaway race leader, pulled out with an apparent injury. While it didn't necessarily impact the outcome in team scoring, it opened the door for teammate Morgan Vici to claim the individual championship and NJCAA Region 8 Runner of the Year honors, finishing the 8K in a time of 27:00.90.
Seminole State made things interesting when Elijah Palmer (27:33.60) and Robert Bellamy (27:40.20) crossed the line in second and third, respectively, but the Titans swept fourth through eighth to pad its lead.
Ivan Floresta (27:46.20), Olmar Bartolon (27:50.10), Nick Hernandez (28:04.00) and Joey Coyle (28:11.50) scored for the Titans and joined Vici, Palmer and Bellamy on the Division I All-NJCAA Region 8 Team.
Division II
Daytona State continued its championship run with another dominating performance.
Led by individual champion and FCSAA Division II Runner of the Year Evan Casterline (26:00.70), the Falcons took the top four spots en route to 18 points and a relatively easy win over runner-up Pasco-Hernando State College (64 points).
Joel Jean (26:27.30), Nicholas Pugh (26:36.50) and Pedro Zapata (26:42.70) followed Casterline across the finish line for Daytona State.
The Falcon quartet, along with Florida Gateway College's Troy Winkler (27:03.10) and Pasco-Hernando State's Jaime Candelaria (27:05.70) and Dylan Powell (27:10.70) earned a spot on the Division II All-FCSAA/All-NJCAA Region 8 Team.
Lake-Sumter State College finished third followed by Florida State College at Jacksonville and Florida Gateway College.
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 9 and NJCAA Half Marathon on November 12. Both events will take place in Richmond, Va.
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