First year team South Florida State College is already making waves. The Panther ladies are looking to move up in the national rankings this week.
The college field is smaller this year, due largely to the Holloway Park Jamboree's college races, hosted by Florida Southern, on the same night in Lakeland. Never the less, there will be some fast times and some skin on the line for some teams.
It is always a great time to put colleges and high school athletes together on the same weekend to get exposure in both directions. For this meet high school athletes get to see some new options outside of the big three, as they look forward to their college careers.
Women
The D1 schools stand above the rest of the pack, with University of Central Florida possibly looking to pull of a rare clean sweep. With new team leader Holly Wooley, not far from home as an alum of Brevard HEAT, they could score 15 in the D1 division.
Stetson and Bethune-Cookman will do all they can to interupt that attempt. The Stetson Hatters are fronted by Amy Ankli, formerly of Hagerty.
Meanwhile, in the Non-D1 division it is upstart new program South Florida State College who is looking to out-pace their larger rivals. Competing in the NJCAA (National Junior College Athletic Association), the four-year school out of Avon Park is in their rookie season.
The Panther ladies were ranked #25 in the September 16th first-ever USTFCCCA coaches poll for NJCAA teams. Since that time they had an impressive showing at UF Mountain Dew and beat #24 ranked in-state rival Pasco-Hernando. So they are already looking to move up in the rankings and will be hoping to use the flrunners.com Invitational as further progress. The next pole will be released on September 30th.
| Ave Maria University |
| Bethune Cookman |
| Florida Running Club |
| Johnson University |
| Keiser University |
| Miami Elite Track Club |
| Palm Beach Atlantic |
| Rollins College |
| South Florida State College |
| Stetson University |
| University of Central Florida |
Men
The Stetson Men will be the favorites for the mens team title. They have Joseph Beery up front. But Bethune-Cookman has a tough top two with Daniel Kiptoo and hometown hero Xavier Walton. Those two teams will be the D1 challengers.
Ave Maria University is the Non-D1 favorite coming in over Rollins College.
| Ave Maria University |
| Bethune Cookman |
| Florida Running Club |
| Johnson University |
| Keiser University |
| Miami Elite Track Club |
| Palm Beach Atlantic |
| Rollins College |
| Stetson University |