BOCA RATON, Fla. – Saint Leo men's cross country raced to the programs fourth title at the Sunshine State Conference Championships on the 8K course at the Burt Aaronson South County Regional Park in Boca Raton, Fla. with a total of 40 points. It was junior Shane Bracken that ran ahead of the pack to take first place becoming the sixth individual title in program history.
 
"We battled as a team today," head coach Kent Reiber stated following the race. "The start of the season, I told the team don't set limits for yourselves and while other teams counted us out, we know what we had. This is a special group, and we are not done yet."
 
Bracken held off Florida Southern's Mason Jones for first place in a time of 25:25.6 while he helped paced the Green and Gold to a first-place team finish with a total of 40 points, ahead of Embry-Riddle with 54 points.
 
Bracken joins Carl Dunne (2013), Niclas Bez (2014), Valentin Lenz (2015), and Ronald Cheserek (2016, 2017) as the Green and Gold SSC individual champions. The 2019 team title goes along with the Green and Gold's three-straight SSC titles in 2014, 2015, and 2016.
 
Shawn Bell, Felix Nadeborn, and Tadgh McGinty all finished in the top-10 of the pack in sixth, ninth, and 10^th, respectively. Bell crossed the line in a time of 25:57.0 with Nadeborn across in 26:10.5 and McGinty in 26:16.1.
 
Scoring the last point for the Lions was Blake Watson who finished 14^th overall at 26:38.5, beating out teammate Fabio Fornarello in 15^th at 26:45.8. Pierre Galdbourdin crossed the line in a time of 27:11.5 for 20^th place, putting seven Lions inside the top-20 of the field.

Bracken and Bell earn first team All-SSC accolades while Nadeborn, McGinty, and Watson earn second team nods. 
 
Up Next
Saint Leo will travel to Lakeland, Fla. to compete in the 2019 South Region Championships hosted by Florida Southern on Saturday, Nov. 9^th at Holloway Park.
 
For the latest news, updates, and information on Saint Leo men's and women's cross country and track sure to visit SaintLeoLions.com. Fans can also stay up-to-date on the latest Lions news by following Saint Leo Athletics on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.