Men's Cross Country takes a big step

Men's Cross Country took advantage of the cooler temperatures and a competitive field at the Florida State Invitational on Friday morning. The Falcons traveled their top seven runners, led by sophomore Andy Martinez, to Tallahassee, Florida to compete in their first 8,000 meter race of the season. For three of them, it was their first attempt at the distance and Coach Judy Wilson was pleased with the outcome.  "I really thought going into it, that this group will not shy away from the increase in distance" (moving up from 5,000 meters).  Competing in a field of 10 teams (due to COVID restrictions), the Falcons finished in fifth place, behind South Alabama, Flagler, Mercer, and Valdosta State.  "All these schools are NCAA Division I and II and have juniors and seniors on their rosters. We were only 25 points out of fourth place and finished ahead of a NCAA Div 1 team." Boosted by Andy Martinez 7th place and 25:47 performance (a personal best by nearly 90 seconds from 2019), the squad finished ahead of Region 8 teams Tallahassee Community College and  Seminole State College.  Adam Mastrobuono had a big day with a personal best 27:21 which is more than 60 seconds faster than his 2019 season. And along with freshmen teammate Jerdary Ayala, both broke into the top 30 with a 26th and 29th place respectively.  Sophomore Tyler Baker broke the 28 minute barrier and placing 39th overall.  "For only having run his senior year of cross country, Tyler has really done a phenomenal job training for this distance." Wilson said. Baker ran the 400 meters and 800 meters at Atlantic High School one year, after ending his baseball career.  Fifth and sixth for the Falcons was Adolfo Castro and Richard Lebron, running together the entire race.  "We needed Adolfo to really run smart and not go out too hard, Richie has a good internal clock for that." Sophomore Tyler Gilbert rounded out the top seven running 28:33, which is 54 seconds faster than he ran on the same course last year.  The Falcons had all seven runners run the FSU course faster than their #2 runner from the 2019 season.  "We are just takinig it one day at a time right now and trying our best to get to the end of the season healthy." Wilson said.