The entire schedule was originally announced Tuesday afternoon on Twitter (FGCU_XC), as the Eagles will participate in four regular season meets before looking to claim its first A-SUN Championship in program history in October while trying to send a team or an individual to the NCAA South Regional Championships for a ninth-straight year.
"Our first meet is a great opportunity for our younger athletes to step up and compete," said Goodson. "We're looking forward to getting familiar with our A-SUN conference course early on in the season at the Fordham Fiasco meet. The Paul Short Run will be a perfect opportunity to compete against some of the best in the country. Finally, the FSU Invite will be a good tune-up before we compete at the conference championships."
Key Returning Runners:
From the women's side, key returning runners include seniors Carley Lutzow and Angela
Cruz Gonzalez.
Lutzow, a native of Belvidere, Illinois, got off to a blazing start at the FAU Invite clocking in a 5k time of 18:56.42 to finish 6th overall and the first runner to score for the 2nd place Eagles, and set a personal best time of 21:14.90 in the 6k run at the NCAA South Regional Championships.
As a result of her hard work, Lutzow was named a member of the A-SUN All-Conference First Team. Lutzow was one of the three cross country runners to go to the NCAA South Regional Championship.
After transferring from NJCAA Region 8 Pasco-Hernando State College last season, Gonzalez, a native of Immokalee, clocked in a season-best 5k time at the A-SUN Championships coming in second for FGCU with a time of 19:46.9.
On the men's side, key returners include sophomore Cole Pruim, junior Jan Figureoa and grad student Ronny Greenup.
Pruim, a native of Winter Garden, made his debut at the FAU Invite, finishing 24th overall with a time of 16:50.97 and closed the regular season with a 17th place finish at the USF Invite with a time of 27:26.60. As a result, Pruim was named a member of the A-SUN All-Freshman Team and joined Lutzow and former teammate Carlin Berryhill to compete in the NCAA South Regional Championships.
Figueroa, a native of Casselberry, Florida, opened the season at the FAU Invite with a 5k time of 16:23.35 for a 12th-place overall finish, 35th overall at the UF Mountain Dew Invite with a personal-best 8k time of 26:34.20, was one of two runners on the men’s time to race in the Notre Dame’s Joe Piane Five Mile Gold Race with a time of 26:43.90, before ending the regular season with a 16th place finish of an 8k time of 27:22.30 at the USF Invite and clocking an 8k time of 26:13.90 for 16th overall at the A-SUN Championships.
After missing the entire fall season with a foot injury, Greenup is set to return for the opening meet. Greenup has not competed since the 2016 NCAA South Regional Championship.
New Blood:
For the women's side, five newcomers join the squad: freshmen Jillian Felton, Julia Filip, and Emily O'Connor, junior Ciara Frame and redshirt junior Victoria SanFilippo.
Hailing from Inverness, Florida, Felton comes from Citrus High School where she competed under coaches Roselle Lattin and Owen Shott. Felton captured two individual district titles in track and field (800 and 1600-meters) while racking up another pair of titles in cross country and was the 2016 Citrus County Chronicle Runner of the Year. Last year, Felton wrapped up an illustrious cross country career in the 2017 FHSAA 2A Cross Country Finals clocking in a 5k time of 19:07.56 for 20th overall, etching a new school record in the process.
Filip, a native of Owasso, Oklahoma, competed at Owasso High School under coach Blake Collins. Filip was a state qualifier for all four years, and aided the team to third place at states her sophomore year.
O'Connor, a native of Twinsburg, Ohio, competed at Twinsburg High School under head coach Sarah Kmet. O'Connor was named First Team All-Conference in her freshman, junior and senior years while being a two-time state qualifier in her final two years, and holds the school record in the 5k with a mark of 18:35. In addition, she was tabbed First Team All-Conference in the 3200-meters event in track and field and named most improved distance runner her junior year and team MVP of both sports her senior year.
Frame joined the team in spring 2018 as a walk-on, and has not competed in cross country events, so this will be her first fall season with the team.
SanFilippo, a native of Staten Island, joins the team as a walk-on and is listed as a redshirt junior with supposedly two years of eligibility remaining. SanFilippo has not competed since 2015 as a student at now defunct St John Villa Academy. SanFilippo set personal bests in her sophomore and senior year in the Indoor Hispanic Games in New York (one mile and 800 meters) and a season best in the New Balance Games in her junior year.
On the men's side, six newcomers join the squad: freshmen Bryce Bell, Austin Redondo, and Bradyn Ricca and transfers Lucas Kiprotich, Leonard Kipruto and Boniface Mutai.
Bell, a native of Orlando, graduated from Lyman High School. Bell competed for coach Fred Finke and was a four-time All-Conference and All-District and two-time All-State in cross country, and a three-time All-Conference, All-District, All-Region and All-State in track and field.
Redondo, a native of Miami, graduated and competed for Coral Reef Senior High School under coach Mike Becker. Redondo was named All-Dade Athlete in all four years while collecting First Team All-Dade honors his senior year. In addition, Redondo was a cross country team states runner-up his freshman year while going on to become an individual state medalist in 2017 as well as being a state qualifier in track and field his junior and senior seasons (1600 and 3200-meters) while holding a personal best time of 15:48 in the 5k.
Kiprotich, Kipruto and Mutai all hail from Eldoret, Kenya and from three different colleges.
Kiprotich joins FGCU after spending his freshman season at Eastern Kentucky. There he raced in four of seven meets throughout the season and turned in three top-20 finishes during the cross country season while recording a season-best fourth overall finish in the season-opener versus Morehead State. Kiprotich's best 8k mark came at last year Adidas D-I Pre-Nationals where he placed 12th overall with a time of 24:34.9. Kiprotich joins the FGCU as a sophomore and will have three years of eligibility remaining.
Kipruto joins FGCU after spending his freshman year at NCAA DII Hillsdale College, however, he did not compete for the Chargers due to injury. Kipruto joins FGCU as a redshirt freshman and will have all four years of eligibility remaining.
Mutai joins FGCU after spending his freshman year at FAMU. Mutai competed in four races with the cross country squad with his best outing coming in the South Carolina State Cross Country Duals where he clocked in an 8K time of 25:14.40, crossing the finish line fourth overall. Mutai also saw action with the track & field program competing anywhere from the 1500 and 10,000-meter events.
The Eagles will open their season at the FAU Invitational for a third-straight season on Friday, Aug. 31. Last season in Boca Raton, the men scored three runners in the top-10 as they came just 10 points shy of repeating as FAU Invitational champions. The women's side has finished in the top-5 the last two of three years.
One week later, FGCU will travel north to the Bronx and get an sneak peek of Van Cortlandt Park, the site of the 2018 Men's and Women's Cross Country Championships, as they will partake in the 38th annual Fordham Fiasco on Saturday, Sept.. 8
After a three-week layoff, the Eagles return to action in the 45th taking of the Paul Short Run on Saturday, Sept. 29. The high-profile race last year featured over 4,200 finishers and nearly 400 teams competing in 14 different races.
To end the regular season slate, FGCU will travel to the state capitol for what will prove to be another tough competitive field at the FSU Invitational in Tallahassee, Fla., on Friday, Oct. 12 before returning to the Bronx to toe the starting line with the A-SUN crown on the line Friday, Oct. 26.
The NCAA South Regional Championships are scheduled to take place in Tallahassee on Friday, Nov. 9 as the Eagles will try to make it nine-straight seasons in which a team or individual (s) have gone on to represent the Green and Blue.
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