UF XC: Women’s Cross Country Punches Ticket to NCAA Championships

Women’s Cross Country Punches Ticket to NCAA Championships
Automatic qualification was awarded to the team after a 2nd place finish at the NCAA South Regional.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The No. 6 Florida Gators Women’s Cross Country team has punched their ticket to the NCAA Cross Country Championships.

Florida was one of two auto-qualifying teams to emerge from the 2023 NCAA South Regional which was hosted by the Gators at Mark Bostick Golf Course on Friday morning.

The team’s qualification for the National Championship marks the first time the women have done so since 2018 when the team placed 16th. The 2023 rendition of the National Championship will be held in Charlottesville, Virginia and will be hosted by the University of Virginia.

Despite no athlete on the current roster being present for the Gators last trip to the NCAA Championships, this group has a surprising amount of experience at the event.

Parker Valby participated in the event as an individual in 2022, finishing second and being named the 2022 NCAA Cross Country Runner-Up.

The Gators also have three other top-40 2022 NCAA Cross Country Championships finishers on their roster in Flomena Asekol, Amelia Mazza-Downie and Elise Thorner

Asekol finished 14th at the meet, Mazza-Downie finished 22nd and Thorner finished 40th. Asekol was a part of a third-place finish by the University of Alabama while Mazza-Downie and Thorner were part of a second-place finish by New Mexico.

With this in mind the team hopes to chase the program’s highest placement of 7th which they accomplished in 1981 and 2009.

HOW THE GATORS PUNCHED THEIR TICKET

The Women’s 6k Championship started promptly at 8:30 a.m. with the sound of the gun setting off the group of Gators including Valby, Asekol, Wilson, Thorner, Lucinda Rourke, Liina Winborn and Sayla Donnelley as well as the rest of the pack.

Valby continued her dominant 2023 season as finished first in the NCAA South Region for the second consecutive year. The redshirt junior from Tampa, Florida crossed the finish line with an outstanding time of 17:59.6.

Asekol also recorded a top-10 finish as she was slotted eighth at the conclusion of the race. She was the second Gator to score and did so with a time of 18:53.5.

Allison Wilson was flying on the course Friday morning as the redshirt junior finished in 14th with a time just over nineteen minutes: 19:02.0.

Thorner was the fourth Gator to complete the 6k race finishing 25th and recording a time of 19:16.7 and locked up the final spot of All-Region honors.

Liina Winborn finished just six spots behind Thorner as she powered past two runners in the final stretch to secure a 31st place finish with a mark of 19:45.1 and secured the fifth scoring finish for the Gators.

The quartet of Valby, Asekol, Wilson and Thorner were all awarded All-Region status for their finish inside the top-25. Their announcement of this honor will be officially released by the USTFCCCA on Monday.

Combining the scores from the top five finishers resulted in a point total of 79 which fell short of first place No. 15 Tennessee (61) but was enough to outscore No. 24 Ole Miss (95), No. 16 Alabama (98) and No. 19 Lipscomb (107).

Lucinda Rourke and Sayla Donnelley also logged strong performances as they finished 58th and 98th racing in their second and first NCAA South Regional, respectively.

MEN SHOW GROWTH IN 10TH PLACE FINISH

After finishing in 19th just a year ago in the NCAA South Regional, the Florida Gators Men’s program showed a quick turn around as they were able to climb nine spots and secure a top-10 finish as a team.

Ethan Geiger was the first Gator to finish in the Men’s 10k Championship, completing the race in under thirty minutes at 29:49.3 and placing 29th.

Joe Wester and Aiden Villasuso crossed the finish line in back to back places as the duo earned 56th and 57th behind 30:43.1 and 30:43.7 finishes, respectively.

Freshman Parvej Khan and redshirt freshman Adam Magoulas were the final Gators to score on the men’s side.

POINTS FROM PALMER

POST RACE WITH PARKER

RESULTS

Women’s Team Finishes
Team

Place

Points

Tennessee

1st

Florida

2nd

Ole Miss

3rd

Alabama

4th

Lipscomb

5th

107

Georgia Tech

6th

224

Belmont

7th

250

Florida State

8th

252

Auburn

9th

276

Samford

10th

292

Kennesaw State

11th

303

Vanderbilt

12th

322

Mississippi State

13th

387

Miami

14th

391

Middle Tennessee State

15th

403

Individual Finishes – Women’s 6k Championship
1) Parker Valby – 17:59.6
8) Flomena Asekol – 18:53.5
14) Allison Wilson – 19:02.0
25) Elise Thorner – 19:16.7
31) Liina Winborn – 19:45.1
58) Lucinda Rourke – 20:22.4
98) Sayla Donnelley – 20:51.9

Men’s Team Finishes
Team