Tampa, Fla. – The University of South Florida men's and women's cross-country teams were back in action at the FSU Invite in Tallahassee, Fla.
The men's team secured fourth place out of 11 teams in the 8K, earning 119 points. They held their own against Power 5 programs like Florida State, which led with 41 points, and LSU, which tied with Jacksonville State at 49 points.
Senior
Karim Belmahdi led the way for the men's team, clocking a fine 24:46.1 to secure 8th place overall. Following him were sophomore
Sean Perry (25:59.3) in 30th, junior
Jayven Garcia (26:13.9) in 33rd, and freshman
Clayton Knight (26:21.8) in 35th. Rounding out the Bulls' finishers were freshman
Andrew Marello (26:39.3) in 49th, John Keester (26:48.3) in 54th, and senior
Sebastian Edwards (27:15.2) in 65th.
The women's team placed fourth out of 15 teams competing in the 5K race with 122 points. The Bulls produced two runners in the top 25, with junior Giovanna Meade finishing in 15
th place (17:53.4) and
Hailey Cohen placing 21 (18:09.7).
Sophomore
Delaney Stephens crossed the line in 33rd with a time of 18:26.5, followed by senior
Sydney Granack in 43rd at 18:37.9. Junior
Chloe Fernander placed 58th with a 19:22.5 finish, while sophomores
Catalina Edwards (19:32.6) and
Cora Kolodge (19:32.9) finished back-to-back in 64th and 65th, respectively. Senior
Victoria Valdez took 70th at 19:42.7, and sophomore
Katelyn Thompson rounded out the team in 75th with a time of 19:59.8.
Next up, the Bulls will travel to Witchita, Kansas for the AAC Championship on Saturday, November 2.
About USF Cross Country
The USF Cross Country team has earned 2 All-America selections, Christina Benton in 2002 and Gray Mavhera in 1994. The Bulls have advanced to the NCAA Cross Country Championships seven times in program history, three times for the men and four times for the women. The USF men's teams have won seven team conference championships and the women have won five team championships. Director of Track & Field and Cross Country Erik Jenkins took over the program in 2019 and during his tenure the Bulls posted twelve program records and 106 top 10 all-time program marks. USF hosted the 2018 NCAA Track and Field East Preliminary and the 2021 AAC Outdoor Championship at the USF Track and Field Stadium, as well as the 2022 AAC Country Cross Country
