The Tribune

TYLER Gardiner dropped almost 40 seconds off his cross country time to lead The University of The Bahamas Mingoes men’s cross country team to its 20th place finish out of 27 institutions at the Florida State University Invitational over the weekend.

The women’s team, led by Alena Mackey, who dropped 49 seconds off her time, placed 21st out of 27 institutions.

“This was a packed field with some of the best cross-country competitors and top schools in Florida and Georgia,” head coach Ednal Rolle said. “We performed extremely well with all but one of our competitors posting personal bests.”

Tyler Gardiner had the best finish for the men’s team, placing 174th out of 211 competitors in the seven kilometre run in a time 30:56.6.

“My main goal was to get out and stay with the main pack,” he said. “I wanted to stay with the pack for the first three miles and pull away. I felt good that I turned in a better time than my last meet.”

Ralph Wood had the second-fastest run for The Mingoes as he ran the course in 33:24.0 for the 189th spot. He improved on his 33:49.36 run from two weeks ago.

“The course was flatter compared to the Embry-Riddle course two weeks ago and I was able to use that to my advantage and really pick it up on the downhills,” Wood said.

“My strategy was to go out hard and keep a constant pace throughout the whole race so that I could turn in a personal best.”

Leonardo Swain was 194th in 34.01.9.

Elijah Swain placed 195th in 34:13.3, which was an almost two-minute improvement from his 36:15.55 PR.

Joshua Davis was 196th in 34:14.2, which was also about a two-minute improvement on his 36:20.36 personal best.

On the women’s side, Alena Mackey was the top finisher with her 173rd place out of 228 competitors with her 22:44.7 performance in the five kilometre run. Her personal best before this competition was 23:27.04.

“My strategy was to take the first lap easy and then come back in the second lap,” she said.

“I got stuck in the second wave of runners and just couldn’t get into that first pack.”

Romica Josey was the second-fastest Mingoe and took 182nd spot in 23:18.5 and shaved more than half a minute on her personal best of 24:46.55. “I realised it was a difficult course and was happy that I was able to PR,” she said.

Gabrielle Shannon was the third-fastest competitor for the Mingoes girls with a 23.56.9 performance. It was her first collegiate cross-country.

Davia Mckinney was 198th in 25:23.9 and Sierra Sears was 202th in 26:04.9, shaving more than two minutes off her personal best of 28:47.00.