JACKSONVILLE, Fla.- The Florida Gulf Coast Eagles kicked off their 2026 season with a bang Friday night in Jacksonville as three runners broke the previous school record in the 5k while the Eagles finished third as a team ahead of Stetson, Miami, and FIU.

FGCU finished on the podium with a third-place finish, wrapping the evening with 82 points, behind only North Florida with 41 and Embry-Riddle with 62. All five Eagle point scorers finished in the top 30 with their next two coming in just outside that. The Eagles finished ahead of Stetson and Miami who rounded out the top five.

Three Eagles broke the previous program record of 15:24.1 in the 5k with Innocent Ntwali recording a 15:03.37 to finish seventh and put himself on the top rung of the FGCU record books. Evan Casterline was right behind him in 8^th with a 15:05.52 while Jacob Leon also went under the previous mark with a 15:20.83 which was good for 18^th. Andrew Wilcox ran a 15:29.18 to come in 27^th while Victor Kemboi was 29^th with a 15:34.94 to round out the Eagle point scorers. Nick Moore came in just out of the points in 32^nd with a 15:39.21 and Hector Toro and Joel Jean both turned in top 40 performances as well.

"We came into this meet hungry to showcase our depth and prove that we can compete with the best teams in the state, and we delivered" FGCU head coach Argeo Cruz said. "A huge congratulations to Innocent, Evan, and Jacob for making program history and breaking the previous 5k record mark. Now it's back to campus, back to work, and back to building. The 8k and 10k are ahead and we are just getting started."

The Eagles will return to action on September 18^th in Tallahassee when they compete in the Florida State Pre-Regional.

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