Women’s cross country raced to victory this past weekend, taking their fifth SSC title in six years.
The Spartans hosted five other conference teams at the Brandon Trails.
It was a cool and rainy morning, making the six-kilometer (4.8 miles) race easier for the women.
Jessica Forrester got out ahead of the pack early in the race and finished first with a time of 21:33. Finishing third was sophomore Heather Nicolosi with a time of 22:18, and fourth place went to Alysha Duffy with a time of 22:24.
Forrester once again proved her superiority against Florida Southern rival Carolyn Kwambai, who finished second.
“I feel great,” Forrester said. “I think the team really stepped up and I was happy with the way I ran. I am just praying we can perform our best at regionals because that’s what we are going to have to do to advance to nationals.”
For Nicolosi, this was the best finish all season.
“I had never ran a 6k before,” Nicolosi said. “I was really happy with my performance and excited for regionals. I can’t wait to see if I can improve my time.”
Katie O’Brien and Sarah Nelson rounded out the top five finishers for Tampa, while Dara Fox finished eighth overall, giving the Spartans enough points to claim another Conference championship.
In addition to winning conference, the team placed six runners on the SCC All-Conference Team. Forrester, Duffy and Nicolosi placed on the first team, while O’Brien, Nelson and Fox placed on the second team.
The men’s team ran an eight-kilometer (4.9 miles) right before the women’ s race. The team was disappointed they didn’t get the win, although they placed second to Florida Southern.
Top Tampa runner Tony Nicolosi finished third with a time of 25:09. He was hoping for a first-place finish, but was just eight seconds short of the first place finisher Scott Mackley of Florida Southern.
“We did all we could do,” Nicolosi said. “We ran as well as we could, they just had more weapons than we did.”
However, even without a conference win the team is optimistic about 10-kilometer (6.2 miles) race at regionals.
“We will get another shot,” Nicolosi said. “We will race against Florida Southern in a race we think we have a better chance in. We are not making any crazy changes at this point. We are happy with what we have got and are going to train the same way we would have if we had won.”
The next stop for both teams: regionals. They will travel to Searcy, Ark. next weekend to take on the South Region and hope for a repeat of a regional championship for the woman, and another chance to defeat Florida Southern for the men.
Sara Belsole can be contacted at sblesole@ut.edu.
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