The Saint Leo University men’s cross-country program took team and individual medalist titles at last month’s Sunshine State Conference (SSC) Championships in Boca Raton.
The Lions, coached by Kurt Reiber, tallied 40 points to best second-place finisher Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (54) on the 8K course at Burt Aaronson South County Regional Park.
Junior Shane Bracken paced the Lions with a winning time of 25:25.6, while senior Shawn Bell (sixth, 26:16.1), junior Felix Nadeborn (ninth, 26:10.5) and junior Tadgh McGinty (10th, 26:16.1) all finished in the top 10. Scoring the last point for the Lions was senior Blake Watson who finished 14th overall, at 26:38.5.
Bracken joins Carl Dunne (2013), Niclas Bez (2014), Valentin Lenz (2015) and Ronald Cheserek (2016, 2017) as Lions’ SSC individual champions.
The SSC title marks the fourth for the men’s program. It won three straight in 2014, 2015 and 2016.
Saint Leo will next compete in the 2019 South Region Championships on Nov. 9 at Holloway Park in Lakeland.
