Women’s Team Wins FAU Invite for Sixth Consecutive Year Highlighted by Kappeler’s Gold; Shiver Defends Title

Friday, August 30

Boca Raton, Fla.

6 PM

Florida Atlantic

FAU Cross Country Invitational

Photo by: JC Ridley/Owlpix.com

Women’s Team Wins FAU Invite for Sixth Consecutive Year Highlighted by Kappeler’s Gold; Shiver Defends Title

8/30/2019 8:53:00 PM | Men's Cross Country, Women's XC/Track & Field

Women's Results
Men's Results

BOCA RATON, Fla. – Florida Atlantic University men's and women's cross country commenced the 2019 season in dominating fashion on Friday at the FAU Invitational. The Owls had two top individual finishes with Madlen Kappeler (18.17.71) for the women and Lachlan Shiver (15:22.44) for the men. Additionally, the women's team kept the streak alive to capture their sixth consecutive win at the invite, which was capped by five top-10 finishes.

The other schools competing at the invitational were FIU, Florida Gulf Coast, Miami, Stetson, UCF, Ave Maria, Nova Southeastern and St. Thomas.

Coach Smolka's Take:

Opening Remarks:
"We would like to thank all of the visiting teams for making sure we were able to host the sixth annual invitational," said head coach Alex Smolka. "I would also like to thank our administration for working with us and making sure were able to host the meet today!"

On the Women's Performance:
"We had some very strong and encouraging performances today! It was extremely exciting for us to be able to extend our streak on the women's side and set a new record for the lowest average time for our top five runners. It is also super exciting how young out top-5 are! We are very happy for Madlen to start her FAU career off with a victory. It was awesome seeing her compete in an FAU uniform."

On the Men's Performance:
"Congratulations are in order to Lachlan for repeating his victory from last year! Our other guys had a little bit of a hard time today, but we have time to train hard and improve before we lace up our spikes again for the UF Invitational in two weeks."

Closing Remarks:
"Overall, it was an extremely encouraging day for the Owls' cross country program! We want to make sure everybody stays safe over these next few days and that we will be able to come together again soon to continue our progress."

Quick Hits – Women:

Kappeler claimed her first-place title in convincing fashion, crossing the finish line over 15 seconds before the next finisher. Her time of 18:17.71 puts her at No. 10 in the top-10 5K times in FAU history
Five Owls claimed top-10 finishes, which helped the women win convincingly
Freshmen Jordan Stevens (19:16.92) and Casey O'Connor (19:25.97) had a great opening race with sixth and seventh place finishes, respectively
Megan Giovanniello claimed eighth place, crossing the finish line at 19:26.81
Mikaela Jonsson rounded out the top 10 with a time of 19:35.35

Quick Hits – Men:

Shiver was able to finish his final FAU Invitational with another first place title
The men's team finished in third for the second year in a row. Stetson and Florida Gulf Coast came in first and second, respectively
Cristian Moreno was the next finisher for the Owls and claimed a new personal best at 16:47.24
Sean Barone crossed the finish line right behind Moreno at 16:50.44
In his first meet as an Owl, Preston Dunn finished in 28th (17:23.17)

Up Next:

On deck for the Owls is the Mountain Dew Cross Country Invitational hosted by Florida on Saturday, September 14 at 7:30 a.m. For complete coverage of FAU cross country and track & field, follow along on Twitter (@FAU_XC_Track) or Instagram (@FAUXC.TF).