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GAINESVILLE, Fla. – FGCU’s Siyabonga Mokgothu ran a school record 5K time of 14:29.33 to win the event at the Pepsi Florida Relays on Friday night.
Mokgothu, who had the second-fastest time in school history entering the race, topped the old school record of 14:31.89. That mark was originally set exactly 12 years ago to the day by now head coach Argeo Cruz.
He spent the first 3,000 meters in second place behind Miami (Fla.)’s Enrique Borrego before overtaking the Hurricane senior runner at the 3,400-meter mark, where he had a half-second lead. From that point, Mokgothu pulled away. At the 4,200-meter mark he held a four-second lead ahead of Borrego and finished nearly 20 seconds ahead of Nova Southeastern’s Marcus Tortorella and Borrego, who dropped to third behind Tortorella in the final 400 meters.
In the women’s 5K, Alise Petrova was the runner-up and posted the eighth-fastest time in school history, nearly missing a personal best mark by 0.08 seconds. A sophomore, Petrova recorded her seventh career top-10 finish in a 5K. The native Latvian was in fourth place until the 3,000-meter mark, when she made a move to pass Army West Point’s Leah Richardson. Over the next 400 meters, Petrova made another move as she passed Army West Point’s Abigail Garner to move into second place and maintained that position across the finish line.
FGCU will wrap up the spring competition season on Apr. 17 in Atlanta, Georgia when the Eagles compete at the Georgia Tech Invitational.
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