Heather Nicolosi Wins Florida Southern Invite, Leads Team To Title
LAKELAND, Fla. - Heather Nicolosi outpaced all female runners at the Florida Southern Invitational, helping The University of Tampa to a first-place finish at the Spartan men finished second behind host Florida Southern College.
With 29 points in the women's 6K, Tampa edged Florida State University (66) to claim first-place. With a total of 10 teams, UT also out-ran Sunshine State Conference opponents Florida Tech, Saint Leo, Rollins and Florida Southern. UT also finished ahead of the University of South Florida.
Nicolosi's first-place finish marked the first of her career as she won with a time of 20:59. The time was also a personal best for Nicolosi in the 6K. Lindsay Edwards (4), Kaia Hampton (5) and Katie O'Brien (6) joined Nicolosi in the top-10 as Chanelle Cox finished out the scoring with a 14th-place showing.
Iolani Scanlon (18), Kelly Hagan (27), Hailey Smith (31), Kaitlyn Martin (39), Jessie Luttenschlager (41), Patricia Gillezeau (62), Rachael Beightel (73) and Kaitlin Kearney (94) also ran for head coach Jarrett Slaven's women's squad.
Finishing second to Sunshine State Conference opponent Florida Southern, the Spartans defeated SSC opponents Florida Tech, Saint Leo and Rollins in the 10-team field.
Tony Nicolosi and Charles Toledo were the first Spartans to cross the finish line, placing 11th and 12th respectively. Nicolosi recorded a time of 26:25 in the 8K as Toledo also finished at 26:25. Lewis Price, Kevin Lane and Jeremy Lautzenheiser then finished 14th through 16th to comprise the Tampa scorers.
Eddie Paniccia (20), Ben Hilton (26), Tory Webb (28), Zach Stackhouse (31), Mike Leone (36), Michael Zwijacz (38), Jacob Bailey (46), Sage Jacobs (57), Adam Weiner (59) and Brandon Stower (94) also ran for Tampa.
The Spartan women now aim to capture its fourth consecutive SSC title at the SSC Championships on Friday, Nov. 6. The event will be held at Wickham Park in Melbourne, Fla., and hosted by Florida Tech.
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