The Florida cross country teams celebrated homecoming weekend at their de facto home for the fall, returning to Columbia, Missouri, to race the Pre-National Invitational on Friday.
Freshman Kelvin Cheruiyot took center stage for the Gators, winning the men’s 8 kilometer race in 22:44.6, leading Florida to a 10th-place team finish. The Florida women, the No. 3 team in the nation according to the latest USTFCCCA Coaches Poll, ran short-handed Friday and finished 13th over the 6-kilometer course.
Men’s
Cheruiyot’s 16th-place finish on this course last month was merely an introduction to the NCAA. This win was an assertion that he is one of the most talented runners in the nation.
After starting his last race too conservatively to be a true contender, Cheruiyot was intent on sticking with the leaders all around the course Friday. He was 11th at the one-kilometer mark, and that was the farthest from the front he was all race.
By the midway point, Cheruiyot has slotted into second, locked in a battle with Arkansas junior Timothy Chesondin. They passed the lead back and forth as the race went on, but neither man was able to shake the other. Wichita State sophomore Elkana Kipruto had closed the gap on them by the seven-kilometer mark, and the three leaders were separated by less than a second as the race came down to the wire.
Chesondin fell a few seconds back over the final kilometer while Cheruiyot was able to surge ahead, finishing in 22:44.6 and securing the biggest win by a Florida man in many years.
Cheruiyot’s increased aggressiveness translated to the rest of the team as well. At Gans Creek, Cheruiyot was the only Gator inside the top 150 runners after one kilometer. In this race, there were six Florida athletes inside the top 100 at the one-kilometer mark.
Freshman Oussama Allaoui, who dropped out of the Gans Creek Classic after coming through five kilometers in 243rd place, finished 40th this time out, only once losing any places between kilometers. Sophomore Riley Novack strung together one of the best races of his collegiate career, moving from 91st to 64th over the course of the race, while redshirt freshmen Jonathan Leon and Riley Smith finished 89th and 107th to round out Florida’s scorers.
The Gators ended the day in 10th with a total of 293 points. It was a 13-place and 316-point improvement from where they finished last month.
Women’s
The startline looked very different for the Gators from when they were on this course last month. Florida’s top four scorers from a dominant team victory at the Gans Creek Classic – sophomore Judy Chepkoech, seniors Tia Wilson and Hilda Olemomoi, and freshman Desma Chepkoech – weren’t racing today.
The key aspect to pay attention to in this race was who emerged as the strongest option for Florida’s fifth scorer as the postseason looms. Sophomore Reagan Gilmore and seniors Beth Morley and Caroline Wells seemed the strongest candidates to fit that bill through the Gators first two races, but freshman Claire Stegall and Isobelle Jones were making their collegiate debuts with an eye on making a statement.
The Gators’ scorers came through the first kilometer separated by only eight spots and less than half a second. With Gilmore leading the way in 37th, the places weren’t anything flashy but the strong pack running had Florida in third.
At 3 kilometers, Jones had started to slip off the back of the pack, coming through halfway eight seconds and almost 30 places behind Gilmore. She dropped out of the race in the fourth kilometer, meaning Florida’s final scorer was now sophomore Kate Drummond, who was 262nd at the time. This dropped the Gators from a steady third-place showing to 13th in the team race in a matter of seconds.
Stegall made a strong move in the second half of the race, even inching ahead of Gilmore at the five-kilometer mark, but the final kilometer hit her hard. Dropping 30 spots, she crossed the line in 62nd, behind Gilmore, Morley and Wells.
Gilmore, who was second in the Gators’ opener at UNF in August, finished 31st in 20:19.8. The Louisville native improved her position in each of the last four kilometers and produced a very strong race after missing out on the Gans Creek Classic.
Morley finished 35th, a 42-place improvement from when she ran on this course last month, while Wells’ 46th-place effort rounded out a good day for Florida’s top three.
Drummond managed to climb 12 spots once she was inserted into a scoring position, finishing 250th overall. Florida finished 13th with 378 points, but that finish is far from reflective of where this team hopes to be when the postseason begins in two weeks.
Florida’s next date on the calendar is a trip to Knoxville for the SEC Championship on Oct. 31. 2024 saw the Florida men finish 12th and the women third at this meet.
Contact Paul Hof-Mahoney at phof-mahoney@alligator.org. Follow him on X at @phofmahoney
Paul is a senior sports journalism student and is the cross country/track and field reporter in his third semester with The Alligator. In his free time, you can catch him scrolling Twitter to keep up with an endless flood of track results and training for the media 800-meter race at the World Athletics Championships.
