TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Stetson men's cross country took home 12th place of 30 participants at the FSU Cross Country Invite 8K race Friday morning at the Apalachee Regional Park.
 
"I was really excited to see McConnell today, he ran a PR by a couple seconds," head coach Bryan Harmon said "It's more than that, because he's battled COVID combined with the injuries. For him to run his fastest time today, that was a big break-through for him. He's got himself back in position and shape, but still didn't have that break-through on the course yet but had that today. It's good having him back up there leading the pack. Parker was pretty good today too, another couple seconds PR. We've got a few things we can fix with him as well, especially early in the race being a tad more aggressive, but I'm never going to nitpick too much on a PR. We're in a good position with those two leading us going into next week"
 
Senior Jakob McConnell was the first Hatter across the line, registering a 25:12.1 time. Senior Parker Hines finished 5.9 seconds following. Freshmen Luke Danison and Collin Brooks rounded out the top four Hatter finishers. As Coach Harmon indicated, Danison's time is fifth all-time for freshman in the 8K, Brooks' time [26:23] notches eighth on the all-time list for freshman.
 
"The freshmen ran their first ever 8K," Harmon continued "That is obviously something where you don't know exactly what you're going to get. I was happy with Luke's effort, running 25:50. I think that puts him at number five all-time for freshman in the 8K list."
 
Sophomore Patrick Pitts took the fifth slot for Stetson finishing with a 26:41.8.
 
"Patrick also had a big PR today," Harmon said about the sophomore "I'm not sure what it was but I think over a minute. He also has dealt with injury and bad luck last year. For him to show that resilience and to come out and finally put something together was really important. We expect him to use that confidence and run with it into next week."
 
Harmon indicated that he believes the team can race a little faster with the issues he sees being fixable but was pleased overall with the progress as they appear to be approaching the peak as the ASUN Conference Championship approaches at the end of the month [October 29].
 
Both men's and women's cross country will compete next week at the South Florida Cross Country Invitational next Friday. The men will race at 5 p.m., with the women's race to start at 5:50 p.m.
 
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