Florida A&M finished runner-up at the 2026 Southwestern Athletic Conference Women’s Cross Country Championships on Tuesday at Apalachee Regional Park in Tallahassee, Florida. Alabama A&M won the 12-team championship with 37 points, four fewer than Florida A&M’s 41. Rose Muturi led Florida A&M with an individual runner-up finish in 18:27.9.
Muturi earned the first runner-up trophy of her career at a SWAC Championship. The runner from Nyahururu, Kenya briefly held an advantage over Alabama A&M’s Laura Avila at the four-kilometer mark before Avila pulled away over the final kilometer of the 5K course. Avila won the individual title in 18:16.4.
Florida A&M places four runners in the top 10
Christina Fitzpatrick was Florida A&M’s second scorer, finishing seventh in 18:50.2. Leandra Ferrell placed ninth in 18:59.1, and Niya Coleman finished 10th in 18:59.7. Crystal Malaykhan completed the scoring five with a 13th-place finish in 19:13.5.
All five of Florida A&M’s scorers finished in the top 13 and crossed the line within 46 seconds of one another. The group included four top-10 finishers, helping Florida A&M remain within four points of Alabama A&M. Alabama A&M placed all five of its scorers in the top 16, with Sanyae Gibson fourth, Minka Isom fifth, Iyndia Bey 11th and Mariana Bentancourt-Dennard 16th.
Jaade McBride added an 18th-place finish in 19:36.3 as Florida A&M’s sixth runner, while Bree Brooks placed 31st in 20:56.9. McBride is a junior, and Brooks is a freshman. Texas Southern finished third with 93 points, followed by Alabama State with 120 and Jackson State with 131.
Kinchen points to continued development
Tamika Kinchen, Florida A&M’s cross country head coach, credited the team’s effort after the championship. “I’m so proud of this group, and I am just happy for the effort and performance they gave today,” Kinchen said. “The team ran so well, and you can see there’s so much to build on for the future, and not to mention distance events as the indoor and outdoor seasons roll around here soon.”
FSB Take
Florida A&M’s four-point finish behind Alabama A&M was supported by consistency across its scoring five. Four runners placed in the top 10, and every scorer finished within 46 seconds of the others. That combination of front-end placement and tightly grouped scoring gave Florida A&M a strong runner-up result at the SWAC championship.
Source: Original report