TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – For the second time in three events, Andrew Kiplagat set a new personal- and school record for Bethune-Cookman Men's Cross Country as he finished second overall Friday morning at the Florida State University Cross Country Invitational at Apalachee Regional Park in Tallahassee, Florida.
 
Andrew Kiplagat, a junior from Chebara, Kenya, turned in a second place overall time Friday morning as he crossed in a new school-record fashion of 24:07.7 – shattering the previous school record held by Kiplagat from the season-opening UNF Invitational last month by more than 30 seconds. For Kiplagat, he was just one second back of winner Ryan Olree of Georgia on the day, after the Bulldogs performer ranked 24th nationally a season ago.
 
Twice this season, Kiplagat has been named Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) Men's Cross Country Runner of the Week for his performances at UNF and Embry-Riddle, respectively.
 
Finishing 33rd overall in the field of 317 runners was Bethune-Cookman senior Victor Kibet, the 2024 SWAC Men's Cross Country Individual Champion. Kibet, a native of Eldoret, Kenya, crossed in a time of 25:39.2 – his second-fastest mark of the campaign.
 
Majet Bethely, a sophomore from Lauderdale Lakes, Florida was the third-fastest Wildcat on the men's side with a time of 28:10.4. Teammate Gerrard Griffin followed in a time of 28:18.8, while Andre Sewell, a freshman from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, recorded a finishing mark of 29:38.1 on the day.
 
Meanwhile, Dashon Gill (30:03.2) and Dashawn Buist (31:20.0) rounded out the scoring times for the Wildcats in the first of two races at Apalachee Regional Park this season.
 
As a team, the men finished 21st overall with 517 points, while Georgia (21) ran away with the team trophy. North Florida (91) and host Florida State (113) followed to conclude the top three teams.
 
In the women's event, head coach Garon Jackson saw senior Valencia Butler lead the pack once again with a time of 25:32.4 for the Augusta, Georgia product. She was almost one minute faster than her teammate Riana Walford who finished with a mark of 26:57 on the morning.
 
Bethune-Cookman's Shelvany Goin, one of three freshmen for the Wildcats on the women's roster, was third-fastest for the Maroon and Gold with a mark of 28:49.3, matching that of Seminole State's Madeleine Coffee. Classmate Sada Franco was fourth in team scoring as she managed a mark of 29:43.6 in her first event of the season.
 
It was Jamariya Robinson turning in a time of 31:41 to round out the women's side for the Cats in a jam-packed field of 351 collegiate runners.
 
The Bethune-Cookman women took 33rd as a team. The SEC completed a men's and women's team sweep with LSU staking first place with 30 points, followed by Florida State (51) and Georgia (87) to finish the top three teams.
 
Bethune-Cookman next competes in the 18th Annual Sand Shark Invitational hosted by USC Beaufort on Saturday, Oct. 11, in Hardeeville, South Carolina.
 
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