Clayton State men place 8th at Disney Cross Country Classic
Kissimmee, FL – Despite being banged up, the Clayton State men's cross country team gutted out a top-10 finish in the Disney Cross Country Classic held in Kissimmee, FL Saturday.
The Lakers placed eighth in the 8K race of 23 teams with 192 points. Malone, from Ohio, won the event with a team low 36 points in the race. NCAA Division I teams Florida Gulf Coast, Citadel and Tulane placed second through fourth with the Savannah College of Art & Design rounding out the top five. Johnson County CC finished sixth, followed by Florida Atlantic four points ahead of the Lakers.
"We began this meet not knowing if we'd have five guys finish, but they all sucked it up for a Top 10 team finish," said head coach Mike Mead. "We've been pretty beat up the past few weeks. Despite the conditions (humidity & muddy course), our guys managed a respectable finish."
Junior Ayrton Azcue led the Lakers with a time of 27:07 to place 16th in the race of approximately 200 runners, followed by junior Charles Anderson in 20th with a time of 27:18. Junior Ciaran Lane finished in 32nd spot with a time of 27:45, followed by freshman Job Kemboi in 59th with a time of 28:51. Sophomore Matthew Bailey rounded out the scoring for Clayton State in 79th with a time of 29:37.
"Ayrton (Azcue) had his best race of the season with a steady effort to lead us to the finish," said Mead.
Senior Ricky Fort and sophomore Tanner Thomason finished with times of 30:05 and 30:55, respectively.
Clayton State will take off next week before returning to action on October 6th for the Disney Classic in Kissimmee, FL.
