FORT MYERS, Fla. – As the 2022 cross country season prepares to get underway, FGCU head coach Cassandra Goodson will welcome eight highly talented newcomers for the men's and women's programs.
 
On the men's side, senior Bus Baker joins the Eagles after running last season at Louisville, while junior Abel Ramos joins the program after two standout years competing at Riverside City College in Riverside, Calif. Junior Bramwell Havi also joins the Eagles after two seasons at Lindenwood University. Goodson also added three runners from the Sunshine State with Cape Coral natives Ryan Kinney and Matthew Speruta joining the squad along with Israel Gamez from Ruskin. On the women's side, Gabrielle Spain joins FGCU as a freshman along Mercy Kosgei who enrolled prior to the past spring semester.
 
The addition of Kinney and Speruta keeps a pair of talented local products in Southwest Florida as they also join former Bulldog and rising junior Franklin Caceres who is a 2020 Ida Baker High School graduate.
 
2022 FGCU Men's Cross Country Newcomers
Bus Baker – Sr. – Richmond, Va. – Appomattox Regional Governor's School – Radford/Louisville
Israel Gamez – Fr. – Ruskin, Fla. – Lennard HS
Bramwell Havi – Jr. – St. Louis, Mo. – Principia HS - Lindenwood
Ryan Kinney – Fr. – Cape Coral, Fla. – Ida S. Baker HS
Abel Ramos – Jr. – Riverside, Calif. – Patriot HS – Riverside City College
Matthew Speruta – Fr. – Cape Coral, Fla. – Ida S. Baker HS
 
"Adding elite athletes like Abel and Bus as well as an experienced runner like Bramwell is exciting. They will join our returning record-holder Osman Humeida and Austin Redondo who is also one of the fastest in FGCU history," said Goodson. "Israel, Matthew, and Ryan are all hungry and eager to work hard and contribute to the team. All three will also blend nicely with our culture of teamwork and supporting one another."
 
2022 FGCU Women's Cross Country Newcomers
Mercy Kosgei – Fr. – Eldoret, Kenya – Nyabururu Girls
Gabrielle Spain – Fr. – Sioux Falls, S.D. – St. Charles North HS
 
"We are just as excited to have Gabrielle and Mercy join our women's team," said Goodson. "Both bring high-level experience with them, but more importantly, they impressed us with their maturity and positivity."
 
Baker competed for the Cardinals last fall after running his first two seasons at Radford. At Radford, he earned Big South All-Conference Team honors after recording a personal-best 8K time of 24:44.6 to place 11th at the 2020 Big South Conference Championship during his sophomore season (Spring 2021). That 8K time would rank as the third-best in FGCU history and just over seven seconds ahead of former record holder Argeo Cruz. Baker finished as a top-three scorer in all three meets. In his freshman season, he competed at the 2019 NCAA Southeast Region Championships, where he recorded a personal-best 10K time (34:31.4).
 
Ramos had an outstanding fall campaign at Riverside City College as he took seventh at the 2021 CCCAA State Championship to earn All-California honors and was sixth at the Southern California Regional Cross Country Championship. He won the Orange Empire Conference Championship individual title leading the Tigers to their fifth conference title in the past six years. Ramos became the first RCC harrier to earn the OEC Individual Championship since 2018. His top 8K time of 24:35.4, which he ran last October, would rank third-best in FGCU history which is just four seconds shy of teammate and current record holder Osman Humeida. He was also named the league's Male Runner of the Year last fall.

Havi was an Academic All-GLVC selection at Lindenwood during his freshman campaign at Lindenwood. Last fall, he competed in all seven meets during the fall highlighted by a season-best 25:14 8K performance at the GLVC Championship. That time would have been among the top-five 8K marks for a sophomore at FGCU.
  
Kinney and Speruta will remain teammates after competing together at Ida S. Baker HS in Cape Coral.
 
Kinney competed at both the FHSAA 3A State Championship meet this past fall as well as the regional championship. He also competed on the track team primarily in the 4x800 relay and the 3,200 meters. He helped Ida Baker win the 4x800 at the district meet before taking second at the regional championships.
 
Speruta ran his career best time in the 5K (16:38.0) during FHSAA 3A State Championship meet this past fall after placing 10^th at the regional meet. He was also a member of The News-Press 2021 All-Area Cross Country Team. In track, he logged personal-best marks of 9:46.0 in the 3,200 meters and a 16:03 in the road 5K. He was the 3,200 meter runner-up which helped Ida Baker win the regional title.
 
Gamez placed seventh at the 2021 FHSAA 4A Cross Country Championship this past fall after winning both the district and regional titles. This past spring, he also took ninth in the in the 1,600 meters (4:23.00) at the FHSAA Championships after placing third in the district and fourth in the region. His performance in the 1,600 meters set a new school record for the event which he had previously held. At the regional meet, Gamez also took eighth in the 3,200 meters. He was named the Lennard High School Athlete of the Year.
 
On the women's side, Spain holds personal records of 2:19.59 in the 800 meters, 5:23.34 in the 1,600 meters, and 11:45.86 in the 3,200 meters. She also holds a top 3-mile time of 17:44. At the SDHSAA Class AA Cross Country Championship this past fall, she placed 20^th overall. During the outdoor track season, she was eighth in the 800 meters, and 20^th in the 1,600 meters. Before transferring to Washington High School, Spain attended Shelbyville High School where she won the Carlinville Class 1A Regional Cross Country Championship as a junior leading the squad to the team title. Additionally, she swam competitively for 10 years and competed in the pole vault during her freshman year of high school where she finished third at the state championship meet.
 
Kosgei joins the Eagles after graduating from the Nyabururu Girls School in 2019.
 
For complete coverage of the FGCU men's and women's cross country programs, follow the Eagles on Twitter and Instagram at @FGCU_XC, on Facebook (@FGCUXC), and online at www.FGCUAthletics.com. You can also sign-up to have news on FGCU cross country or other programs delivered directly to your inbox by visiting www.fgcuathletics.com/email.

COACH GOODSON
FGCU is led by Cassandra Goodson, whose 14 seasons at the helm have taken the Eagles from their humble beginnings to a competitive D-I program, highlighted by eight trips to the NCAA South Regional Championship. Every mark in the FGCU all-time record book has been etched during the Goodson era, as she has coached 23 ASUN All-Conference selections, the 2013 Female Conference Runner of the Year, and three members of the NCAA South All-Region Team.

#FEEDFGCU
FGCU Athletics sponsors events in November and April to benefit the FGCU Campus Food Pantry (www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry) and the Harry Chapin Food Bank (www.harrychapinfoodbank.org), FGCU Athletics' charities of choice. For more information, including how to make a contribution, please visit www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry and utilize the hashtag #FeedFGCU to help raise awareness.
 
ABOUT FGCU
FGCU teams have combined to win an incredible 92 conference regular season and tournament titles in just 15 seasons at the Division I level. Additionally, in just 11 seasons of D-I postseason eligibility, the Eagles have had a combined 45 teams or individuals compete in NCAA championships. In 2022, the men's golf team became the first program to earn at at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament. Eight FGCU programs have earned a top-25 national ranking in their respective sport - including women's basketball (No. 20, 2021-22), beach volleyball (No. 20, 2022) and both men's soccer (2018, 2019) and women's soccer (2018) as four of the most recent. In 2016-17, the Green and Blue posted a department-best sixth-place finish in the DI-AAA Learfield Directors' Cup and top-100 showing nationally, ahead of several Power-5 and FBS institutions. In 2018-19, the Eagles had an ASUN and state of Florida best seven teams earn the NCAA's Public Recognition Award for their Academic Progress Rate in their sport. FGCU also collectively earned a record 3.50 GPA in the classroom in the fall 2020 semester and has outperformed the general University undergraduate population for 26 consecutive semesters. The past five semesters (Fall 2019 – Spring 2022) saw another milestone reached as all 15 programs achieved a 3.0-or-higher cumulative team GPA. The Eagles also served an all-time high 7,200 volunteer hours in 2017 - being recognized as one of two runners-up for the inaugural NACDA Community Service Award presented by the Fiesta Bowl.