It has been a busy few months for Pasco-Hernando State College. In addition to the various projects that the school has been carrying out across 2024, one Bobcats sport now boasts a major accomplishment.
On Friday, October 25, the state college celebrated the induction of its Women’s Cross-Country Head Coach, Jacqueline “Jacki” Waller, into the Florida College System Activities Association (FCSAA) Hall of Fame. Coach Waller received the honor at the Region 8 Cross Country Championships in Tallahassee.
“It was a great honor to nominate and announce Jacki’s induction to the FCSAA Hall of Fame,” said PHSC Athletic Director Steve Winterling. “Jacki’s compassion for the sport of cross country is easily felt by those who know her. She works tirelessly for our student-athletes and leads by example in all walks of life. She is not only respected in the community but by her colleagues throughout the state.”
Created in 2005, the Bobcats’ women’s cross-country team was the very first such program in the FCSAA. Over the last two decades, Coach Waller and company have seen 11 other organizations join the fray. Waller started the team and has been with the program since its inception. The PHSC head coach received her bachelor’s degree from Ohio State University as well as her master’s from the University of South
Florida.
Coach Waller’s team accomplished a great deal this season by winning the 2024 FCSAA DII Region 8 Championship, but that was only a fraction of why her name was added to the prestigious list. This year’s championship was her team’s seventh in the last nine years, including the inaugural event in
2016.
Across her time as the team’s leader, Coach Waller has seen five of her runners achieve All-American status: Kayla Bratcher (2011), Samantha Greenlee (2012, 2013), Olivia D’Angelo (2018), Grace D’Angelo (2018), and Quincy Mayer (2018). Greenlee and Olivia D’Angelo earned this honor due to their success in the 5K National Cross-Country meet, while all five excelled at the Half Marathon Nationals.
Beyond this, the newly minted Hall of Fame coach led PHSC’s women’s cross-country squad to national tournaments on several occasions. Their most recent showing saw her group finish in seventh place at the NJCAA DII National Championships, which are located in Huntsville, Alabama, in 2023.
The season is not over yet, either. With their victory in the regional tournament last month, Coach Waller’s cross-country squad will again be advancing to Nationals. They competed in a pair of events this month, one taking place on November 9 (5k race) and the other on November 12 (NCJAA Half Marathon).
The FCSAA Hall of Fame inductees are those “administrators, coaches, advisors, officials, students, and other nominees that have contributed a minimum of ten years to FCSAA or one of its member institutions,” noted a press release from the college.
It continued that entrants’ selections are done so by their peers based upon “the merits of their community and state college contributions and achievements as well as significant accomplishments.” For more information on Coach Waller and her Bobcats, visit bobcats.phsc.edu/sports/cross-country.
