Hamlett Leads Lady Falcons in Danville

DANVILLE, Ala. - The men's and women's cross country teams competed at the Calhoun Warhawk Invitational in Danville, Ala. on Friday. 

The women's team placed 6th of 12 teams and were led for the second meet in a row by Lily Hamlett, who ran a 5k time of 22:15.6. Sophomore Sierra Griffith finished closely behind in 35th place, followed by Morgan Brake in 40th, Whitney Mathis in 45th, and Sophia Raif in 47th. 

The men's team finished in 5th out of 15 teams and were led once again by Easton Dial, who ran an 8k time of 27:47.8 and placed 17th. Josiah DeGeneffe just barely missed out on the first spot for the Falcons and finished less than a second behind Dial in 18th place. Steven Ritchie, Jesse Boyd, and Jack Bradford finished out the top five for the Legends in 37th, 47th, and 48th place.

Dial was named the Continental Athletic Conference's Runner of the Week for his performance in Danville. He is the first cross country runner at Florida College to receive the honor for the 2023-24 school year.

"Both the men's and women's teams showed a lot of improvement at this meet. Our average team time for our top five runners dropped by a full minute per person. Jack Bradford, our #5 runner this week, ran a PR of close to two minutes, as did Bryce Boyd, and Josiah DeGeneffe was very close to our #1 runner Easton Dial and ran faster than he did at Nationals last year. Our men's 1-5 team split was under two minutes, which is much closer than it has been," said head coach Trenton Roth. "For the women, Lily Hamlett was our #1 for the second race in a row and PR'd by over a minute, and Morgan Brake was our #3 runner and ran a 1:12 PR. We are finally mostly healthy and looking good heading into the Conference Championships in three weeks."

The Falcons will be traveling to Lawrence, Kans. to compete at the CAC Championships on November 3. The women are set to race at 9:45 and men will start at 10:45 CST.