Florida College Captures Second Conference Championship

LAKELAND, Fla. - The Legends secured their second Continental Athletic Conference Championship title by a slim seven points over Haskell Indian Nations University last Friday.

The Falcons accumulated 40 points to take first place, with five runners among the top 15 finishers. Jay Cook took second place with an 8k time of 26:30.62 after being last year's individual champion. Caleb McCort secured fifth place (27:24.00) alongside Luke Stegall in seventh (28:00.21), Josiah Degeneffe in 12th (28:47.81) and Ian Lacquement in 14th (29:09.81).

Jay Cook and Caleb McCort were named 1st Team All-Conference along with Luke Stegall, who was named 2nd Team All-Conference. Cook also received the Champions of Character award for the men.

The Lady Falcons secured third place with 75 points, just a few points shy of second place. Shelby Roth placed sixth with a 5k time of 21:55.92 and was named 2nd Team All-Conference.

Abigail Hammond placed 14th (22:32.87) with Sierra Griffith close behind in 15th (22:38.57), Macy Palmer in 18th (23:02.72), and Sophia Raif in 22nd place (24:12.97). Hammond received the Champions of Character award on the women's side.

"Our women ran well, but we knew that even if we ran our absolute best, it might not be enough. We're very happy that Shelby qualified again for nationals for the second straight year. As for the men, we expected it to be very tight, and it was. We were the underdogs on paper, but we felt we had a realistic chance if we performed to our potential, and boy did we ever!" said head coach Trenton Roth. "Luke Stegall came through huge for us as our number three runner after being hurt the past two weeks. I am extremely proud and excited for the men to get a chance to run at nationals in two weeks."

The men's team and Roth will compete again at the NAIA National Championship on November 18 in Tallahassee, Fla.