Men's cross country team wins Region 8 Division I title

The Eastern Florida State College men's cross country team won the FCSAA/NJCAA Region 8 Cross Country Championships Friday morning at Apalachee Regional Park in Tallahassee.

It is the third straight season that the men's team has won the team title and will advance to the NJCAA Division I National Tournament on Nov. 9 in Pole Green Park in Richmond, Virginia.

Freshman Morgan Vici won the individual title, finishing the race in 27 minutes, 90 seconds.

"Most of our guys are freshmen so today was their first 8K race. That's a tough jump from high school 5k races to college 8k," Eastern Florida State College men's cross country coach Dough Butler said. "It was Morgan's first 8K toady and won by running a smart race. He went out comfortable and worked his way to the front the entire race. He has worked very hard and it showed today."

Teammate Ivan Floresta finished fourth in the Division I race, crossing the line in 27:46.20 while Olmar Bartolon was fifth in 27:50.10 and Nick Hernandez was sixth in 28:04. Joey Coyle finished seventh (28:11.50) and Miguel Angel was eighth (28:14.70).

Noah McMann finished 12^th with a time of 28:45.50 while Joshua Marrero was 14^th (29:08.80) and Colin McAdams placed 16^th in the race in 29:38.

"I'm really proud of the men. We haven't been able to race in a month due to the two hurricanes cancelling out last two meets so it makes it tough when you haven't raced in a while," Butler said.

Seminole State was second in the race.