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Thursday, March 28, 2024
<p>Thomas Howell races during the 2014 Mountain Dew Invitational on Saturday at the Mark Bostick Golf Course.</p>

Thomas Howell races during the 2014 Mountain Dew Invitational on Saturday at the Mark Bostick Golf Course.

Coach Paul Spangler has seen countless freshmen runners through the years, but maybe none quite as mature and impressive as Lauren Brasure and Thomas Howell.

Both runners picked up awards Tuesday, with Brasure bringing home Southeastern Conference Women’s Freshman Runner of the Week, and Howell earning Men’s Runner of the Week.

Brasure shattered UF records on Saturday, and Howell repeated his success at Western Carolina with another top-5 finish as the women won the Mountain Dew Invitational and the men finished in second.

For Howell, his training and endurance trumped the grueling 8k as he finished his second collegiate race in a time of 24:45.76.

Quite the feat unto itself, it immediately becomes more impressive when considering that it was the first competitive 8k he had ever run.

It was a performance that Spangler could only describe as "phenomenal."

"I’m going to keep doing what I’m doing, listen to my coach and learn from these older guys," Howell said. "I’m just going to do the best I can to score for this team and contribute to our success."

For the women, it wasn’t enough for the trio of Brasure, redshirt freshman Becky Greene and sophomore Taylor Tubbs to beat Georgia Tech by 32 points.

Brasure needed to turn in the best performance by a Gator in the history of the race.

She picked up the first win of her short career on Saturday, winning the 5k with a time of 16:45.93, crossing the line nearly 20 seconds faster than the previous record of 17:05.59 set by Genevieve LaCaze in 2011.

"For Lauren to come in and run that, she ran about 40-seconds faster than her PR in high school," Spangler said.

A second faster, and Brasure would have broken the all-time course record. She will have to settle for the best time in 24 years, when Patty Wiegand of Tennessee set the record in 1990.

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With the men losing out on first place to Georgia Tech, Spangler knows the key to winning relies on the depth of their young runners.

They’re the future of the team, after all.

For now, the team will dwell on the records and potential their young runners are showing as the women travel to Lehigh University on Oct. 4 for the Paul Short Run, scheduled to feature some of the nation’s elite teams.

The men have an extra week of preparation, as their next race will be Oct. 11 in Orlando for the Walt Disney Invitational.

Follow Graham Hall on Twitter @graham311

Thomas Howell races during the 2014 Mountain Dew Invitational on Saturday at the Mark Bostick Golf Course.

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