The Sunshine State Conference selected University of Tampa men’s cross country runner Elijah Rivera as its Men’s Cross Country Runner of the Week for the week ending Oct. 11, 2026.
Rivera placed third among 275 runners at the Lewis Crossover in Orlando, Florida. The sophomore from Dallas, Texas, completed the eight-kilometer course in 24:21.8, a personal-best time.
His performance broke the University of Tampa 8K school record by more than 20 seconds. Rivera also improved his previous personal best by 44.7 seconds.
Rivera Helps Tampa Finish Fourth
Rivera helped the University of Tampa finish fourth among 27 teams at the Lewis Crossover. Tampa scored 137 points, finishing seven points behind third-place UC-Colorado Springs.
Tampa also finished ahead of several nationally ranked NCAA Division II programs. Rivera shared the weekly award list with Luke Gabrielle of Eckerd and Tom Evans of Florida Tech, who were listed as nominees.
2026 Sunshine State Conference Men’s Cross Country Runners of the Week
Rivera was listed as the Oct. 14 honoree. The earlier honorees were Jevin Luna of Saint Leo on Oct. 7, Nick Scarangelli of Embry-Riddle on Sept. 23, Andrew Youssef of Nova Southeastern on Sept. 16 and Taye Newman of Embry-Riddle on Sept. 9.
The Sunshine State Conference sponsors 21 NCAA Division II sports. The conference is headquartered in Orlando, Florida.
FSB Take
Rivera’s conference honor follows a performance that combined a personal best, a University of Tampa 8K school record and a third-place finish in a 275-runner field. His 24:21.8 effort also contributed to Tampa’s fourth-place team finish with 137 points. The seven-point margin behind UC-Colorado Springs further defined the team’s result at the Lewis Crossover.
Source: Original report