The women's cross country team placed seventh overall and first among junior colleges at the Embry Riddle Invitational on Sep 17th, good enough for a 10th place ranking in the NJCAA Division II national poll.  The Falcons were lead by first year runner Shannon Jones, running in just her second cross country race since she graduated high school in 2004.  Jones placed 17th overall out of over 130 runners.   Two time Region 8 champ Harleigh Crist is helping out up front in the #2 position for the Falcons and is poised to have her best season yet.  A surprise for the Falcons has been a 400 meter runner from Oviedo High School, Giovana Meade. Meade has run in the #3 spot for the Falcons in the last two outings and is improving every week.  The Falcons also look to Lauren Schaudel, Kennedy Arterburn, Jonna-Marie Kirk, and Alexis Mills to round out the scoring for the Falcons. 

The Falcons head to St Leo for the St Leo Invitational this Saturday, Sep 24th.  The women's 5k is set for 8am, just 30 minutes after the men's race at 7:30am.  The course is the Abbey Golf Course with good footing, and one hill that is 100 meters long.  The women run the 4k loop once then hit another 1k to the finish.  The men conquer the hill three times, once at the start, a second time in the middle of the race at 4k, and then once again at the end of the race, just before the finish.  The women will get a first look at Region 8 rival Pasco Hernando, and hope to take down all other Region 8 teams.  "For St Leo we will be working on each runner's own race plan and what they need to do to help the team place as high as possible."  Coach Judy Wilson commented.  Wilson is in her fifth season as the Falcon's Head Coach and sees this 2022 squad as potentially a top five team in November.