#MXC Earns 5th at NCAA South Regional Meet

Friday, November 14

Tallahassee, Fla.

10:00 a.m.

University of North Florida

NCAA South Regional

Photo by: Todd Drexler

11/14/2014 4:48:00 PM | Men's Cross Country

By: North Florida Athletics

Men's Final Results (pdf)

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- The North Florida men's cross country team capped off their stellar 2014 campaign with a program best 5th-place finish Friday in the NCAA South Regional hosted by Florida State at the Apalachee Regional Park course.

The Ospreys collected a team score of 241 in closing out arguably the best men's cross country season in the program's history. Sophomore standout Michael Damato again led the way for UNF finishing 12th overall in a personal best 10K time of 30:42.40. He was the top finisher among Atlantic Sun competitors and his strong performance earned him All-South Region accolades and marked the best showing ever by an Osprey at the regional meet.

"The men's team finished a tremendous season with a program best showing," said head coach Jeff Pigg. "Mike Damato worked really hard this fall along with the rest of our team so it is nice to see the guys reap some rewards for that dedication and commitment. Last year our men placed 14th and the year before we didn't even compete at Regionals so this is quite an accomplishment for the program. With this young team, we hope to continue this trend with our primary focus to keep getting better each year. I was really proud of our freshmen, Tyler Bennett and Tyler Stahl, as they ran a competitive 10k for the first time in their careers. Tyler Bennett's 39th place finish in his first race at this distance definitely is a testament to not only his talent but also his preparation and competitiveness. Transfers Jacob Fuller and Brad Hort both had career best performances while the Bryan twins (Justin and Jeremy) concluded their falls with more solid runs. For the men, it was especially nice to be able to finish ahead of Lipscomb, after finishing behind them two weeks ago at the Atlantic Sun Championships. It was also great to see us finish ahead of several strong SEC teams like Georgia, Tennessee, Florida and Alabama."

Freshman Tyler Bennett finished 39th in a time of 31:31.00 while senior Jacob Fuller clocked a time of 31:56.40 in finishing 63rd. Brad Hort was 67th in 31:58.90 with Justin Bryan (32:04.10 / 73rd), Tyler Stahl (32:29.60 / 93rd) and Jeremy Bryan (32:39.90 / 104th) rounding out the Osprey lineup.

Ole Miss captured the team championship with a total of 52 points followed by Florida State in second with 94. Auburn's Ty McCormack was the individual winner covering the 9,981m course in a time of 30:08.30.