New College of Florida Men's and Women's Cross Country closed the regular season with a pair of sixth-place team finishes Friday at the Coker Cobras XC Invite in Darlington, South Carolina.
The Mighty Banyan men scored 160 points in the 13-team field, finishing ahead of NCAA Division II programs Allen, Francis Marion, Newberry and host Coker.
The NCF women recorded 202 points to place sixth out of 12 teams. The Mighty Banyans defeated NCAA Division II opponents Erskine, Coker, Barton and Allen.
NCF combined to record 10 personal-best times across the two races.
MEN'S RECAP
Junior Cole Fleming led the Mighty Banyan men for the fifth consecutive race, placing 26th in the 8K with a personal-best time of 27:46.6. Fleming lowered his previous best by 23.6 seconds.
Fellow junior Natheer Suied followed in 34th with a season-best time of 28:10.6, improving by 2.6 seconds from the Florida State XC Invitational.
Junior Bryce Blalock finished less than half a second behind Suied, placing 35th in a personal-best 28:11.0. Blalock cut more than 1 minute from his previous best.
Sophomore Alex Llanos continued the tightly packed NCF finish, placing 37th in a personal-best 28:13.6. Llanos lowered his previous best by more than 1 minute, 42 seconds.
Freshman Jaxon Alonso completed the Mighty Banyans' scoring lineup in 39th with a personal-best time of 28:27.6, an improvement of more than 2 minutes, 34 seconds.
Freshman Keith Smith Jr. placed 41st in a personal-best 28:33.8, cutting more than 1 minute, 40 seconds from his previous best.
Freshman Jackson Smith crossed the line in 29:27.9 to place 55th, while sophomore Pierce Mihailoff finished 83rd with a personal-best time of 31:13.8. Mihailoff improved by more than 2 minutes from his previous best.
WOMEN'S RECAP
Freshman Mireille Gomez returned to the front of the NCF lineup, placing 25th in the 5K with a time of 21:45.4.
Sophomore Arianna Childs followed in 28th with a personal-best time of 21:55.9. Childs lowered her previous 5K best by more than 1 minute, 24 seconds.
Freshman Eliza Larramendi-Cruz placed 55th in a personal-best 24:09.2, improving by more than 1 minute, 23 seconds.
Sophomore Abigail Retberg completed the course in a personal-best 24:29.4 to place 58th. Retberg cut nearly 1 minute, 25 seconds from her previous best.
Junior Alicia Reynolds completed NCF's scoring lineup in 67th with a personal-best time of 25:41.8. Reynolds recorded the largest improvement by a Mighty Banyan on Friday, lowering her previous 5K best by more than three minutes.
BY THE NUMBERS
10: Personal-best times recorded by NCF runners.
8: NCAA Division II team finishes surpassed by the Mighty Banyans across the two races.
13.2: Seconds separating NCF's second through fifth men's finishers.
0.4: Seconds separating Suied and Blalock at the finish line.
3:00.35: Reynolds' improvement from her previous 5K personal best.
UP NEXT: New College of Florida will begin postseason competition Saturday, Nov. 7, at the Sun Conference Cross Country Championships hosted by Ave Maria University.
