The men’s cross country team finished just seven points out of second at the Border Clash hosted by Valdosta State University. Led by sophomore Sebastian Hernandez who finished third overall with a time of 23:40 for the approximately 4.5 mile race, the Falcons bested NCAA Div 1 Jacksonville University and Div 2 host school Valdosta State University. The Falcons put their top five runners in the top 25 of the field of more than 100 runners. Sophomore Christian Ruocco finished 12th overall with a time of 23:58. He was followed closely by freshman Jared Falchook (24:21, 18th place), sophomore Mitchell Curtis (24:44, 22nd place), and freshman Julian Pomales (24:50, 25th place) rounded out the top five. Coach Judy Wilson, now in her 5th season as Falcons head coach, was encouraged by the Falcons overall team place. “We had some solid performances today, and we know what we need to work on. Our freshmen have to figure out how to run a race that is basically another 10 minutes longer than their high school distance. The quicker they can pick that up, the better we will be.” The Falcons had only a one minute and ten second gap between their first and fifth runner, which bodes well as they march toward Tallahassee in November for the NJCAA Div II National Championships. Other notable performances were Jayven Garcia in 41st with 25:30, Jonathan Reyes in 42nd place with 25:31, Ivan Marin-Padilla in 52nd place with 26:06, Richard Lebron in 55th place with a 26:11, Brendan Hamilton in 61st place with a 26:31, Christian Pastrana in 73rd with a 27:05, Aaron Mercado in 77th with a 27:19, and Jacob Bormet in 78th with a 27:25. Next up for the Falcons is the Embry Riddle Invitational on September 17th.
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