Florida State University Athletics
No.26 Noles, Churchill, Await NCAA Championships
11/17/2023 9:41:00 AM | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country
Live Timing | ESPNU | Women's Course | Men's Course
Tallahassee, Fla.- The No. 26 Florida State men's cross country team is set to take on the 2023 NCAA Cross Country Championships on Saturday in Earlysville, Virginia in front of a capacity crowd at the Panorama Farms.
Alyson Churchill will start off the day by racing in the women's 6K at 10:20 a.m. The men's 10k will follow at 11:10 a.m. Coverage will air on ESPNU starting at 9:30 a.m. and postrace awards will be streamed on WatchESPN and the ESPN app starting at 12 p.m.
"It's the biggest race of the year," FSU head men's coach Bob Braman said. "We've done the hard work, we just have to get our emotions in check one more time here at the national championship. We were pleased with how we ran at ACC's, we stepped up at regionals and we're peaking at the right time. But, the national meet is a whole other beast. The course is tough, the field is incredible. You've got 30 teams that you're racing against, and you have to take care of your business and do the best you can."
The Seminoles climbed to No. 26 in the USTFCCCA rankings following the second-place finish at the NCAA South Region Championships last Friday in Gainesville, Florida, scoring 71 points, finishing just behind No.21 Tennessee (68 points) and ahead of No. 18 Alabama (86 points).
David Mullarkey, Abdirizak Ibrahim, Cooper Schroeder, Matthew Neil and Ahmed Ibrahim captured All-Region honors by finishing in the top 25 of the men's 10k. It was the first time since 2015 FSU had all five scoring runners in the top 25 and just the ninth time in history at least five student-athletes captured All-Region honors.
Mullarkey, who has captured All-Region and All-ACC honors led the Noles by placing fourth with a time of 28:45.0 as he spent most of the race in the top five.
Abdirizak Ibrahim, who also added All-ACC accolades to his accomplishments this season crossed the first checkpoint in 80th place, finished 10th at 29:14.4. Ibrahim will be racing in his fourth NCAA Championships, producing his highest finish in 2021 at the Apalachee Regional Park, where he was 33rd after taking 35th in 2020.
Schroeder followed in 14th (28:18.7) and Neill was 19th (29:32.8). Both Schroeder and Neill ran the entire race in the top 30 with Schroeder making his move around the 8k to push for the top 15, capturing his second All-Region honor. Neill slipped to 29th in the middle of the race and fought back to capture a top 20 finish.
Ahmed Ibrahim rounded out the scoring five, placing 24th at 29:40.1. Zach Cloud (30:11.8) was 40th and Zach Leachman (30:29.2) placed 45th.
Ibrahim will be stepping to the line in his second NCAAs after competing in the 2021 meet.
Churchill has led the women's team all season, capturing All-ACC and All-Region honors after ending the 2022-23 season in 11th place at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in the 5,000M (16:02.40).
The Tallahassee, Florida, native, will be racing in her third NCAA Cross Country meet. She previously helped the Noles to a pair of top 20 team finishes in 2020 and 2022.
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Players Mentioned
