Flower & Suflita Make History at Nationals to Become All-Americans
Brockport Sports Information Department
Lansing, MI – At the NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships, both Paul Suflita and Kerry Flower cemented their place in the program history books by earning All-American status.
Kerry Flower created her spot in history in dramatic fashion in the women's championship 6k. With a time of 22:44.6, she placed 40th to earn All-American honors by beating the 41st place runner by just 0.2 seconds.
Flower's spot in the Top-40 is the fourth best individual finish at nationals in program history. She becomes just the second runner on the women's side of history to earn All-American status at Brockport.
After the first mile Kerry found herself at 47th in the pack of 293 runners in the women's 6k. By the time the second mile marker was passed, she had already climbed up seven spots on the leaderboard. At 40th in the race, the first two miles were finished in 12:04.4.
She kept within striking distance of the Top-40 and All-American status through the 5k checkpoint at 43rd in the race. Flower gave it her all down the final stretch and it took everything she had to cross the finish line 0.2 seconds ahead of a UC Santa Cruz runner for 40th place.
Paul Suflita placed 28th in the in the men's 8k championship race, earning the third best individual finish at nationals in program history. With his Top-40 finish at 25:29.9, he becomes just the third men's runner in program history to become an All-American.
Suflita ran the first mile in 4:57.9 to hold a spot outside the Top-20 early on. After the second mile he remained in 21st in the championship field of 295 runners competing. He then surpassed the 4.6k mark at 14:38.2, dropping to 32nd in line.
He remained at a similar pace heading to the next check point at the 6.3k marker. Paul climbed up four spots at 7k into the race, with the final stretch coming up. Edging the nearest runner by 0.6 seconds, Suflita moved up into 28th place as he crossed the finish line.
The Golden Eagles earned All-Americans on both sides of the field for the first time in school history to conclude the 2022 NCAA Division III Cross Country National Championships.
