Falcons Fly High at NJCAA Division 2 Championships

The Daytona State men's cross country team made history Saturday at Pole Green Park in Richmond, VA, host site of the 2021 NJCAA Division 2 National Cross Country Championships. After battling hard over the 8000 meter course, and with three runners finishing in the top fifteen to claim All American honors, the Falcons finished just twenty points behind first place Cowley College.  Thirty teams competed in this year's championships. The Falcons were lead by Andy Martinez with his fifth place finish.  Martinez ends a remarkable career for the Falcons and will continue his academic and athletic career with Florida State University in January.  The Falcons bring home three All Americans as Martinez is joined by freshmen Sebastian Hernandez and Christian Ruocco, finishing in 7th and 12th respectively.  "Sebastian and Christian ran very strong races and I couldn't be happier for these guys.  When they joined us in August, the goal was to get them under 26:00 and they both achieved that on the big stage today." commented Coach Judy Wilson.  Running in 4th and 5th positions for the Falcons was Adolfo Castro and Jerdary Ayala, with Mitchell Curtis finishing 6th for the Falcons and Richie Lebron rounding out the top seven.   "I'm so inspired by the strength of this group today.  We had some mental and physical challenges hit this past week, but they were determined to run for each other as a family," Wilson said.   Results can be found at: https://www.tfrrs.org/teams/xc/FL_jcollege_m_Daytona_State_College.html    

The Falcons will compete in the NJCAA National Half Marathon Championship on November 16th at 10am at Dorey Park in Richmond.