EFSC cross country teams make debut Saturday at home

The Eastern Florida State College cross country teams will make their debut Saturday morning on the Melbourne campus of Eastern Florida State College. 

The Titans will host the EFSC Classic Saturday with the women's race beginning at 8 a.m. and the men's race at 8:40 a.m. The race will start and finish at Bruce Bochy Field and spectators can watch the races from the bleachers.  

"It's pretty exciting to be able to host the first cross country meet in Eastern Florida State College history," Eastern Florida State College cross country coach Doug Butler said. "It is a pretty good field, nine schools are coming, and it will be a good mix of schools between Division I, Division II and junior college teams. We are pretty excited about the level of competition that will be here competing." 

The women's race will be a 5K race featuring nine teams with the Titans competing against some NCAA Division I, Division II and junior college teams. UCF, Florida College, Embry-Riddle, Florida Southern, Florida Tech, South Florida State College, Lake Sumter State College and Florida Gateway College will all be running in the event. 

"Florida Southern has a great women's program, UCF is also very good so we will be chasing some teams, but we are excited to see how we stack up with the other junior college teams," Butler said. "Most of our ladies have only run one cross country meet and that was the preseason event a couple weeks ago, but they have come out and run the course and are really excited." 

The men's race will begin at 8:40 a.m. and be an 8K race with the Titans competing against Florida College, Embry-Riddle, Flagler College, Florida Southern, Florida Tech and Lake Sumter State College. 

"It is going to be hot. September races in Florida are brutal but it is the same for all the runners. I am excited for my guys. They have worked really hard the past few weeks and they are itching to race." 

The course will begin in the outfield of Bruce Bochy Field on the Melbourne campus. They will run across the outfield and out around the complex and into Wickham Park. The men's course will be a 1.65-mile route in the park heading back around the baseball outfield and will make three trips around with the finish line near home plate at the baseball field. 

The women's race will start the same but will be a 1.55-mile course inside the park and the runners will make two trips around before finishing around home plate. 

"I have run some races on baseball fields in the past and they are exciting," Butler said. "People can be in the stands and watch quite a bit of the race. It is exciting, some parts will be really fast but the part in the park will have a lot of turns and will be challenging."