By: William Burns, Sports Editor
Saint Leo Lions Cross Country team set off early Saturday morning to race at the University of Florida. Teams from all over Florida and Georgia were amongst the Lions, many of them being big Division 1 schools including the UF Gators. Never the less, the Lions did not fear any of the competition.
Shane bracken certainly put them to the test finishing second out of 310 competitors, working his way through the field coming agonizingly close to winning the race, but the Irishman came up short by 2 seconds to North Florida’s Nathan Jubron. Next in for the Lions was German native Felix Nadebron having a superb race coming in the top 15 with a time of 26.16. Closely following was senior Sean Bell in 23rd place in a time of 26:25. Tadgh McGinty and Graduate student Pierre Galbourdin worked together towards the last mile finishing 73rd and 78th respectively.
@saintleoxctrack Men’s Cross Country has won the MXC Sunshine State Conference 3 times.
The Lions finished fourth overall out of 31 teams that started the race, trailing behind winners North Florida, University of Florida, and Sunshine state rivals Embry Riddle.
On the Woman’s side, the Lions claimed 10th place lead by sophomore Page Patterson. She came in 22nd with a time 18.55 for the 5km race. Closely followed was Senior Ashley Lindeman placing 34th in 19:15 ahead of Aoife Mahony and Sintayehu Visaa. Mahony completed the race in 19:39 for 54th, closely followed was Vissa running 19:44 in 58th.
Next up for the Lions is Florida Runner as they travel to Holloway Park to take on some tough competition in two weeks’ time.
