TAMPA, Fla. – Stetson women's cross country takes the win against 14 opponents with the men taking the proverbial silver medal in a field of 17, both at the USF Invite taking place at the CLAW on the campus of the University of South Florida. Six runners finished in the top 10, including ASUN Freshman runner of the week Luke Danison.
 
"There was a combination of factors but I thought we could have competed better today," head coach Bryan Harmon said. "The course was still showing the lingering effects of Hurricane Ian, so it was a slow course with no realistic chance at PRs so it comes down to who wants it more and the will not to be beat. It's hard to argue with a win in an invitational, so that was good for the women's team but I thought they could have still been a little faster. Parker had a good race on the men's side and took second but he had a solid chance to win. It was 86 degrees at the time of the race, and we haven't had that kind of heat in a race since maybe UCF at the beginning of the year. I may be a little negative about the results today because I thought we could do better, but like I have said before these are fixable issues, it's just down to the time where we have to fix them. In hindsight, the placing will look better with a first and a second in a sizeable invite meet, but right now we still have work to do."
 
Four women's cross-country runners crossed the finish line in the top ten led by junior Juliet Tonkin with a 19:03.8 time. Senior Sally Calhoun, freshman Chloe Fernander and sophomore Cheyenne Durda rounded out the runs all under the 20-minute mark. Deanna Bottino [20:02.1] and Eleanor King [20:27.3] followed that pack finishing in the top 25.
 
Annabelle Brink, Archike Parker and Taylor Crushenberry rounded out the Stetson team with the last two running unattached. All three finished in the top half of the field.
 
Senior Parker Hines finished second overall with a 26:01 in the 8k race.  Freshman Luke Danison crossed the line sixth 34.1 seconds after Hines. Patrick Pitts and Jakob McConnell finished in 13th and 15th, respectively. Fynn Mengele and Eduardo Diaz rounded out the Hatter competitors on the day picking up 31 and 59.
 
The preliminaries are officially in the books for Stetson cross country as both squads set their sights on the ASUN Championship in Huntsville, Alabama taking place the morning of October 29.
 
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