By Harold Solomon IV
Sports Editor
The FGCU men’s and women’s cross country teams wrapped up their season with the ASUN Championship meet Saturday morning at the Buckingham property, with the men’s side finishing fourth overall while the women’s side finished eighth in the event.
Lucas Kiprotich and Austin Redondo led the men’s side finishing with times of 25:06.33 and 25:19.83 and 8th and 13th place finishes, respectively, earning them ASUN Second-Team honors for placing inside the top-14 (top-7 earn First-Team honors.) Boniface Mutai placed 25th in the event, while Bradyn Ricca and Cole Pruim finished just a spot apart in 34th and 35th. Benjamin Hermiston finished 45th, as Bryce Bell and Jan Figueroa rounded out the scoring with finished two spots apart coming in 54th and 56th, respectively.
Lipscomb would go onto take the title on the men’s side finishing with 39 points, followed by Liberty with 40 points and UNF with 58 in front of the Eagles 112-point fourth place finish.
Jillian Felton was the first to score for the women’s side, placing 30th overall. Emily O’Connor was behind her coming in 45th while Julia Filip placed 48th, just three spots after. Gianna Citarella finished 53rd overall as Madeline Wyers crossed the line at 58th. Reilly Ritter finished right after Wyers in 59th and Caroline MacKenzie was the final Eagle to round out the scoring with a 65th overall finish. Felton’s team-best finish of 19:01.76 led the women to 209 points, and their eighth place finish.
Lipscomb’s women’s team would go onto take the event title with a 31 point finish with Liberty finishing 2nd with 39 points and Kennesaw State with 116.
“The one thing that stands out the most from the meet today is just the support as a whole,” said head coach Cassandra Goodson. “From the team, all the families, friends and alumni. It gave the student-athletes a lot of energy going into the race, so I was really proud of that… I know everyone ran their hearts out and did the best to their ability. I am definitely proud of the fact that we went out there and competed with everything we had.”