By Jake Henning
Sports Editor
 
Both the men’s and women’s FGCU cross country team took third place in the FGCU Invitational at the Buckingham Course, the site of the 2019 ASUN Championships.
The men’s team started their home invitational at 8 a.m. led by junior Lucas Kiprotich, who posted an overall sixth-place finish with a time of 27:06.94. Junior Boniface Mutai finished two spots behind him in eighth, with Austin Redondo and Benjamin and Hermiston rounding out the top-20, placing 18th and 20th, respectively.
“It was exciting to have two of the top teams in the conference come in and look at the course early on so we were looking forward to that,” said head coach Cassandra Goodson. “We had a different look with the men’s team today but I think they competed well with the conditions they faced.
Freshman Gianna Citarella was out in front of the women’s team, as she placed 10th overall and posted her season-best 5k time with 20:00.99. Not too far behind her was Jillian Felton, who finished 13th and also recorded her best time of the season at 20:20.18. Sophomore Emily O’Connor placed 16th, which rounded out the top-20 for the Eagles.
The FGCU cross country team will travel to UF next week for the Mountain Dew Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 14th at 8 a.m.