SPARTANBURG, S.C. - The Flagler College men's cross country team ended their season placing fourth at the NCAA Southeast Regional Saturday morning at the Roger Milliken Center.
Francisco Ramirez led the Saints placing 15th overall.
The Saints came into this race with their hands full, as they competed against three nationally ranked teams - No. 1 Wingate University, No. 17 and Peach Belt Conference champion, Augusta University, and No. 27 Anderson University. Despite these adversities and being unranked, the Saints pooled together an impressive team effort to tie the Anderson in scoring with 102 points.
"What a day! As a coach, all you can ask of your team is that they follow the plan and do everything they can to execute, and boy did they do that," said head coach
Brian Beil. "The men put themselves right in it, and at every split mark during the race they were in third place. Anderson snuck up and got us right at the end, but they've been ranked all year and we knew they would be extremely tough to beat".
For the second time this season, Ramirez clocked in the fastest time for the Saints, with his 10K and new personal record of 30:50.9. This time earned the senior his first all-region honors and best finish at this race. Finnian Russell trailed behind Ramirez by a few seconds and with his impressive finish at the Peach Belt Conference, the duo was bound to make a difference for regionals, placing himself in 17th place with a time of 30:56.4, Russell also earned his first career all-region.
Jon Eide came in third for the team and 21st overall with a final time of 31:15.1. Despite narrowly missing the top 25 mark his past two years, Eide now caps off his collegiate career with all-region honors. In a neck and neck finish,
Will Stone and
Ethan Tank took home 24th place and 25th place capping off the all-region recipients for the Saints. Stone, a junior, has now finished in the top 25 in two of his last three years as a Saint, finishing with a time of 31:18.3. Tank finished his race in 31:21.3, marking this race his best finish among his four years as a Saint.
Kaleb Hollins was the loan underclassman to be representing the Saints at regionals. For the second race in a row, Hollins continued to build an impressive resume to build off of for next year. In his first collegiate 10K, Hollins finished in 31st place with a time of 31:41.1. Rounding out the Saints in 38th place was
Dieumerci Ufitimana who finished his day off in 31:55.1. This is the first time Ufitimana has completed a collegiate 10K.
Coach Beil had some final thoughts, "there's nothing to hang our heads about. We left it all out on the course today. This was the best team race I've ever seen from Flagler College and I am proud to be their coach.There is still an outside chance at an at-large bid. Either way it has been one heck of a season with an incredible group of guys".
