Falcons Make History in Iowa

Daytona State women's cross country made history in Fort Dodge, Iowa on Saturday at the NJCAA National Division II Cross Country Championships. The snowy conditions were indescribeable as snow started falling earlier in the day and the Falcons would be the sixth race of the day on the course.  The mud and snow on the course were very difficult to navigate, especially for Florida runners, some who have never even see snow before. Going into the meet, the Falcons were ranked fifth and ended up on the podium in third, for the first time in program history.  The battle for third place came down to the tiebreaker between the Falcons and Cowley College.  The tie was broken by scoring each team's runners against each other.  It would come down to both teams' third runner.  In the Falcons case, Kennedy Flores made up 7 seconds in the last thousand meters to beat Cowley's third runner by one second.  This pushed the Falcons from fourth to third.  Using the old tie breaker rule and going on the sixth runner, sophomore Tiffany Cox came through for the Falcons finishing ahead of Cowley's sixth runner.  "This was a group effort. At the 3k mark, we were seven points out of third.  Every woman we had out there was passing people that last kilometer.  It was a nail biter for sure, and this is for sure the toughest team I have had in 30 years.  To bring a team of Florida kids to Iowa to run in the snow when some have never even seen snow before, it's unreal.  This is one to remember," commented Coach Judy Wilson.