The Women's Cross Country team came through in a big way this past Friday at the Florida State Invitational. The Falcons finished 19th in a very competitive field with schools from NCAA Div 1 and 2, and also top Region 8 schools. The Falcon were able to best Region 8 rival Pasco Hernando by 42 points. Shannon Jones' 18:42 performance, which is now one of the top five times in the country for NJCAA Division 2, lead the way for the Falcons to get out ahead of PHSC. The pairing of Giovana Meade running with Harleigh Crist propelled both runners to placing on either side of Pasco Hernando's #1 runners, and Meade breaking the 20 minute mark for the 5k distance. "Giovana ran really well and she and Harleigh ran really well together. We will need to try to put three runners in from of their #1 runner. They run in a pack after that, and we will need to call on our 4th and 5th runners to close up the gap on that pack to pull out the win at the Region 8 meet in a few weeks." Commented Coach Judy Wilson. DSC's 4th and 5th runners for the day were Kennedy Arterburn and Jonna Marie Kirk, both running a solid time just around the 22 minute mark. Wilson sees their improvement as being key to securing a Region championship. The Falcons will take time to train until the Region 8 meet on October 28th at the Tallahassee course.
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