Sophomore Andy Martinez set a new school record Friday at the Florida State Pre National Invitational in Tallahassee at Apalachee Regional Park.  Martinez covered the 8000 meter race in 24:59, beating his time from the 2020 NJCAA Cross Country Championships by 36 seconds.  This performance helped the Falcon men's squad place 21st in a field dominated by NCAA Division 1 teams.  "We went into the race without our #4 guy, and our #2 developed a stitch, which hurt his placing.  We really had some guys step up today to help with the team effort, and we know going into the championship meets that there is so much more this group can do."  commented Coach Judy Wilson.   The Falcons finished 21st in the field of 31 teams.  Freshman Christian Ruocco ran a season best of 26:31, as did sophomore Adolfo Castro (27:14) and Richard Lebron (27:35).  Freshmen Christian Pastrana and Jonathan Reyes turned in personal bests and are looking to improve at the Region 8 championships.  The Falcons next race is the FCSSA Region 8 championships on October 29^th in Tallahassee at Apalachee Regional Park.

Photo by Ben Sheehan