LAKELAND, Fla.- The Ave Maria University cross country teams competed for the second week in a row Friday evening, with the Gyrenes placing teams in the Sunshine State Conference Preview at Holloway Park in Lakeland. With the Gyrenes slated to run again next weekend, head coach Alan Webb used the Lakeland event as an opportunity to spotlight some of the younger runners on the AMU roster. The Gyrene women placed seventh, while the men came in 12th.

Seven Gyrene women competed Friday in Lakeland, with Regina Baird crossing first among AMU runners. Baird ran the course in 27:31.45, and was followed less than 20 seconds later by Gabrielle Sjostedt, who clocked in at 27:50.19. Two more Gyrenes crossed the finish line in under 29 minutes, with Alexis Kazanas (28:41.34) and Maria Talafuse (28:45.68) adding to the team score. That team score was concluded by Noelle Davidson's tome of 29:09.60

The top 17 collegiate runners in the field came from either the University of North Florida or the University of South Florida. With five of the top seven runners, North Florida claimed the team championship with 19 points, ahead of the 40 points from runner up South Florida. The Ospreys also accounted for the individual champion Friday night, as Gianna Forte was almost 13 seconds faster than anyone in the field, clocking in at 22:42.99.

Joseph Flynn was the top Ave Maria runner on the men's side, running the Holloway Park course in 32:29.88. Two more runners finished the course in under 35 minutes, as Daniel Schneider (33:09.13) and Erick Lopez (33:33.97) were second and third among Gyrenes. AMU's fourth and fifth place finishers were Kevin Barrett and Daniel Torreyson, who ran the course in  35:44.67 and 36:29.84, respectively.

Similar to the women's race, the NCAA Division I teams dominated the action, but the domination was even more centralized with North Florida on the men's race. North Florida finished the meet with a perfect team score of 15, as the top five individual runners were all Ospreys. The individual champion was decided by almost ten seconds, as UNF's Seth Martinez finished the 8k course in 26:21.81.

Ave Maria will compete again next weekend, with the team's standouts back in action at the NAIA Great Lakes Challenge. The 15th annual event will be held at Riverside Park in Grand Rapids, Michigan, with Aquinas College playing host. It will mark the final event for any Gyrene runners before The Sun Conference Championships come to North Park in Ave Maria in November.