JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Three Florida Gulf Coast University men’s cross country runners broke the previous school 5K record on Friday, powering the Eagles to a third-place finish at the Florida Intercollegiate Invitational hosted by North Florida at Cecil Field Golf Course.

The FGCU women’s team added a top-five performance of its own, placing fifth overall in a 19-team field.

On the men’s side, host UNF took the team title with 41 points, followed by Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in second with 62 points, and FGCU placing third overall among 18 programs with 82 points.

Innocent Ntwali led the way for the Eagles, finishing seventh overall with a team-best time of 15:03.37 to erase the program’s previous 5K mark of 15:24.1. Evan Casterline was right on his heels in eighth place, posting a time of 15:05.52, while Jacob Leon also surpassed the previous school standard with an 18th-place finish at 15:20.83. Andrew Wilcox crossed the finish line in 27th place (15:29.18), and Victor Kemboi rounded out the scoring for the Eagles in 29th (15:34.94).

“We came into this meet hungry to showcase our depth and prove that we can compete with the best teams in the state, and we delivered,” FGCU head coach Argeo Cruz told FGCU Athletics. “A huge congratulations to Innocent, Evan, and Jacob for making program history and breaking the previous 5k record mark. Now it’s back to campus, back to work, and back to building. The 8k and 10k are ahead and we are just getting started.”

In the women’s 5K, the Eagles placed fifth out of 19 teams with a team score of 140. The University of Central Florida claimed the team title with 43 points.

Alise Petrova paved the way for the FGCU women, taking 14th overall in 18:16.78. Addison Torres followed close behind in 17th place with a time of 18:19.76. Rhyen Foley and Juliana Courville crossed back-to-back in 30th (18:37.65) and 31st (18:38.55), respectively, while Tess Shultz finished 46th with a 19:00.20 to complete the team scoring.

“We are very proud of the team for a strong season opening performance,” Cruz told FGCU Athletics. “Despite weather delays, we were able to stay focused and compete fiercely together, including a strong benchmark established by Alise and Addison. We look forward to building on this momentum at our next meet in Tallahassee.”

FGCU travels to Tallahassee, Florida on Friday, September 18 for the Florida State Pre-Regional at Apalachee Regional Park.