Florida Gators
NCAA Pre-Nationals
Larsen, Clark Pace Gators at NCAA Pre-Nationals
Saturday, October 17, 2015 | Cross Country
*Men's Results | Women's Results*
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Facing stiff competition at Saturday (Oct. 17) morning's NCAA Pre-Nationals, which featured one of the deepest fields at any meet this season, the Florida men's and women's cross country teams posted a pair of performances it can build on heading into the SEC Championship, which is just two weeks away.
For the men, redshirt seniors Jimmy Clark and Eddie Garcia led the way, finishing 58th and 80th, respectively. Behind them, four runners clocked personal-best 8k times, with junior Carlos Miranda (24:45.6) crossing 173rd overall and pacing that group. As a team, the Gators took 27th place, topping two of the four SEC opponents they saw at NCAA Pre-Nationals on Saturday morning (Oct. 17).
On the women's side, five of Florida's six runners were freshmen, but no one would have known it based on the results.
Freshman Maria Larsen took 21st place in her first collegiate 6k race, clocking a time of 20:29.0—which is the best time by a Gator at NCAA Pre-Nationals since at least 2002. Fellow freshman Elisabeth Bergh finished 108th overall, making her and Larsen just the second pair of UF freshmen to crack the individual top 125 at the event since at least 2004.
Even with those strong individual performances, Florida placed 30th in the team competition, tallying 746 points, good enough to rank them second among SEC programs at the meet.
NUMBERS OF NOTE
· Maria Larsen's 21st-place finish marked the fourth-best individual performance by a Gator at NCAA Pre-Nationals since at least 2002. Prior to Saturday's race, the best performance by a Gator freshman at NCAA Pre-Nationals was a 32nd-place finish by Genevieve LaCaze in 2008.
· Jimmy Clark and Eddie Garcia are now two of 10 Gators with multiple top-100 finishes at NCAA Pre-Nationals since 2002.
RESULTS
| Gator Men – 8k |
| |
| Place (Pts) | Runner | Time |
| 58. (58) | Jimmy Clark | 24:03.4 |
| 80. (80) | Eddie Garcia | 24:13.2 |
| 173. (173) | Carlos Miranda | 24:45.6* |
| 205. (205) | Jack Guyton | 24:58.6* |
| 206. (206) | Charles Chambers | 24:58.9* |
| 251. (251) | Mac Reynolds | 25:19.8 |
| 260. (260) | Jack Beitter | 25:23.8* |
| 24. (OPEN) | Magnus Pettersen | 25:10.4* |
| 43. (OPEN) | Seamus Love | 25:30.8* |
| Men's Top Five Division I Teams |
| |
| Place | Team | Points |
| 1. | No. 1 Colorado | 89 |
| 2. | No. 3 Oregon | 151 |
| 3. | No. 13 Arkansas | 164 |
| 4. | No. 13 UTEP | 197 |
| 5. | No. 10 Georgetown | 214 |
| 27. | Florida | 722 |
| Gator Women – 6k | ||
| Place (Pts) | Runner | Time |
| 21. (19) | Maria Larsen | 20:29.0 |
| 106. (102) | Elisabeth Bergh | 21:11.3 |
| 165. (161) | Taylor Tubbs | 21:32.2 |
| 200. (196) | Maddox Patterson | 21:44.1 |
| 272. (268) | Caitlin McQuilkin-Bell | 22:19.0 |
| 289. (285) | Delaney Tiernan | 22:32.0 |
| Women's Division I Team Scores | ||
| Place | Team | Points |
| 1. | No. 5 Michigan | 131 |
| 2. | No. 2 Colorado | 151 |
| 3. | No. 4 Oregon | 175 |
| 4. | No. 9 Stanford | 244 |
| 5. | Mississippi State | 247 |
| 30. | Florida | 746 |
Note: All individual places indicate the runner's finish among Division I competitors; * - denotes collegiate personal best
COACH SPANGLER SPEAKS
Florida cross country assistant coach Paul Spangler on the men's performance: “We accomplished some good things on the men's side that we can take into the SEC Championship. I saw a lot of good things, in terms of the team progressing and getting to where we need to be heading into the SEC Championship and regional. Jimmy (Clark) and Eddie (Garcia) did a good job up front, Carlos Miranda was consistent; Jack Guyton had his best race of the year; Charles Chambers fell, and was in last place coming through the mile, but did a good job moving up; he's capable of doing more, just has to stay on his feet. A lot of positives to be taken away today.”
Spangler on the women's performance: “I thought Maria (Larsen) did a phenomenal job. She's up there with some really elite competition. I'm very, very proud of what she did. After that, Maddox (Patterson) ran really well, but, as a whole, we didn't really have the race we wanted to. We definitely have some work to do over the next couple weeks. We'll make some adjustments in our training getting ready for the SEC Championship.”
UP NEXT
Florida now has two weeks to prepare for the SEC Championship, which will be held on Friday, Oct. 30 in College Station, Texas. The Gator men finished 10th and the women took seventh at last year's meet.
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