Florida sophomore Phil Duncan and Florida junior Shelby Hayes each notched their best collegiate-times en route to the Gators team victories on Saturday morning at the Saint Leo Cross Country Fall Invitational.
They turned in their first-ever event victories, guiding the Gators to a successful match.
The Gators finished with five runners in the top six on the women’s side for a 17-point victory largely in part to the performance of Hayes.
“On the women’s side, Shelby Hayes did a great job today,” Gators cross country coach Paul Spangler said.
“We used a different strategy today, went out a more even pace, and her 5K mark was actually faster than her time at Mountain Dew – also on a difficult course at St. Leo.”
Hayes collected her first college career event victory with a career-best 6K mark (21:26.20), bettering her previous best (23:21.94) produced last season at the 2011 SEC Championship in Knoxville, Tenn.
Senior Mandy Perkins finished second behind Hayes, while freshman Shelby Davidson and juniors Brittany Koziara and Sarah Davis finished in third, fifth and sixth, respectively.
On the men’s side, Duncan was one of four Gators in the top 10. All five scorers finished in the top 15 and concluded the event with 34 overall points, first among a field of 45 runners.
Duncan duplicated an impressive performance following Florida’s Mountain Dew Invitational Sept.15 in which he posted a then-collegiate best 26:01.86 in the 8K, with a 26:00.40 first-place individual win.
“A big congrats to Phil Duncan on his first big college victory – a personal best on a difficult 8K course today,” Spangler said.
“Phil did a great job mid-way through the race of catching the lead pack and passing them over the last half of the race. Our fifth scorer, John Mitchell, also did a great job – he passed about 10 guys in the last half of the race to secure the team victory for us,” Spangler said.
Rounding out the men’s side, redshirt freshman Harsha Torke finished fourth for the Gators, while freshman Elliot Clemente earned a sixth-place finish as Florida’s third scorer. Similar to Duncan, Clemente improved upon his career-best 8K mark, lowering it from 27:04.93 at the Mountain Dew Invite to 26:57.80 at Saint Leo.
Florida has two weeks to prep for the Pre-Nationals on Oct. 13 in Louisville, Ky.
