Tag: Men’s Cross Country, Women’s Cross Country

LAKELAND, Fla. – The Sharks look to carry their momentum into the SSC Cross Country Championships in Lakeland, FL on Friday, October 25th.  

The men are scheduled to race at 7:45 a.m. and the women are scheduled at 8:45 a.m.  

“The time has come for us to showcase our talent at the conference level,” stated Head Coach Jonathan Carter. 

Jaime Blazquez and Will Watson have spearheaded the Sharks throughout the season. Blazquez is coming off a stellar performance in the 8K at the UAH Chargers Invitational. The junior ran a blazing time of 25:25.1 which catapulted him to the fifth fastest 8K time in program history. Watson has also been impressive, running a personal best in both the 6K and 8K to go along with two top 20 finishes earlier in the season at the STU Bobcat Open #2 and the Ave Maria Invitational.

On the women’s side, NSU looks to build off of last year’s second place team finish. With the addition of Jillian Thorning, the 2024 SSC Runner of the Year, the Sharks are primed to do so. Thorning, who’s coming off a stellar outing at the UAH Charger XC Invitational has finished in the top 10 in all four meets she’s appeared in. Leena Saidi, Eden Toal, and Ally Jakubiak, the driving forces behind last year’s second place team finish have also been impressive all season long and look to carry that momentum into tomorrow morning’s championship.  

For complete coverage of Saturday’s action, visit the schedule page on NSUSharks.com, or follow the Sharks on Instagram and Twitter at @NSU_XCTF.  

Click HERE for the live results. 

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HUNTSVILLE, ALA. – The Nova Southeastern Men’s and Women’s Cross-Country teams gear up for the SSC Cross Country Championships with one final meet at UAH Chargers XC Invitational. Jillian Thorning led the way for NSU on the women’s side, finishing 6th with a time of 21:04.80, ranking her second in school history in the 6k. Thorning’s performance helped lead the Sharks to a fourth place team finish. On the Men’s side, the Sharks placed 26th with Jaime Blazquez being the first Shark across the line. 
    

 (Women’s 6k)      

• Leena Saidi was right behind Thorning, placing 13th, running a time of 21:23.2.     

 (Men’s 8k)      

     
    
Head Coach Jonathan Carter – The teams stepped up and performed in a very challenging field today. Coach Debastos and I are extremely proud of  how well the teams ran and we are looking forward to our upcoming conference championship.
    

      

The Sharks will be back in action at the SSC Cross Country Championship on Friday, October 25th in Lakeland, Fla. 

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AVE MARIA, FLA. – The Nova Southeastern Men’s and Women’s Cross-Country teams competed at the Ave Maria Invitational. On the women’s side, NSU finished in second place with three top-10 finishers including Jillian Thorning, who finished as runner-up. On the Men’s side, the Sharks placed in fifth with Jaime Blazquez finishing in the top 10. 
    

(Women’s 6k)      

(Men’s 8k)      

     
    
Head Coach Jonathan Carter – Today’s races gave us an opportunity to see how our teams performed having a full men’s and women’s team. We haven’t ran our full teams since September 6th and missed the opportunity to run a full team last weekend due to the hurricane. We will use the upcoming race in Huntsville to sharpen up and become race-ready for the SSC Championship. 
     

      

The Sharks will be back next Saturday, October 12th for the UAH Charger Invitational.     

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MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern Men’s and Women’s Cross-Country teams competed at the STU Bobcat Open 2. On the women’s side, NSU finished in second place with five top 10 finishers including Amanda Stone, who placed fourth. On the Men’s side, the Sharks placed third with three top 20 finishers including William Watson, who placed 13th. 
    

(Women’s 6k)      

(Men’s 6k)      

     
    
Head Coach Jonathan Carter –  The teams were prepared to compete at FSU this weekend but due to Hurricane Helene the meet was canceled. So it was great to see that  the teams remained focused and took advantage of an opportunity to compete. We saw a few athletes on both teams for this meet but we will be at full strength next week at Ave Maria. 
     

      

The Sharks will return to racing on Friday, October 5th for the Ave Maria Invitational.     

To stay up-to-date on Sharks Cross Country, be sure to follow on Instagram and Twitter at NSU_XCTF.  

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MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern Men’s and Women’s Cross-Country teams competed at the STU Bobcat Invitational on Saturday evening. On the women’s side, NSU finished in third place with four top-20 finishers including Bella Ascone, who placed 12th. On the Men’s side, the Sharks did not place. 
    

(Women’s 5k)      

(Men’s 8k)      

      

The Sharks will be back in action on Friday, Sep. 27 for the FSU XC Invitational.     

To stay up-to-date on Sharks Cross Country, be sure to follow on Instagram and Twitter at NSU_XCTF.  

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LAKELAND, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern Men’s and Women’s Cross-Country teams opened their 2024 campaign at the Holloway Park Collegiate XC Opener this morning. On the women’s side, NSU finished in first place with three top 10 finishers including Leena Saidi, who won the meet. On the Men’s side, the Sharks earned a fifth place team finish.
   

(Women’s 4.2k)     

(Men’s 6k)     

    
   
Head Coach Jonathan Carter – Today our women provided a very good showing of our capabilities. We were led by our veterans Leena Saidi, Eden Toal and a newcomer Jillian Thorning. We will use today’s win as a momentum builder for the season. As for our men we were led by Freshman Marc Gonzalez. He displayed great confidence throughout the race which assisted his teammates to grind out some good results. Both teams will be working hard getting prepared for our next meet. 
    

     

The Sharks will be back Friday, Sep. 27 for the FSU XC Invitational.    

To stay up-to-date on Sharks Cross Country, be sure to follow on Instagram and Twitter at NSU_XCTF. 

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MELBOURNE, Fla. – The Sunshine State Conference released its 2024 Cross Country Preseason Coaches’ Poll on Monday morning. Nova Southeastern was projected to finish fourth on the men’s side and second on the women’s side. The Sharks men’s and women’s teams collected 39 and 44 total points respectively, with the women also receiving two first-place votes. 

Last season on the women’s side, NSU showcased a dominant performance at the Sunshine State Conference Cross Country Championship, which earned them a second-place finish, their highest finish since the program captured second place at the 2012 SSC Cross Country Championships. Leena Saidi led the way, running an impressive time of 21:40.0 in the 6k en route to a second-place finish. Eden Toal and Ally Jakubiak were right behind her, finishing fifth (22:10.9) and sixth (22:11.4) respectively.  

On the men’s side, Marcus Tortorella led NSU last season, Tortorella was the highest finisher for the Sharks at the Sunshine State Conference Cross Country Championships, finishing 24th with a time of 26:02.7. 

Below are the full results of the 2024 SSC preseason coaches’ poll. Coaches cannot vote for their teams (points: 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1, first-place votes in parentheses).    

2024 SSC MEN’S CROSS COUNTRY PRESEASON COACHES POLL 

Rank	Team	Total (First Place Votes)
1	Florida Southern	64 (8)
2	Embry-Riddle	55 (1)
3	Tampa	52
4	Nova Southeastern	39
5	Palm Beach Atlantic	36
6	Lynn	28
T7	Barry	19
T7	Florida Tech	19
9	Saint Leo	12

 

2024 SSC WOMEN’S CROSS COUNTRY PRESEASON COACHES POLL

Rank	School	Total (First Place Votes)
1	Tampa	48 (6)
2	Nova Southeastern	44 (2)
3	Embry-Riddle	32
4	Florida Southern	31
5	Palm Beach Atlantic	26
6	Lynn	18
7	Barry	15
8	Saint Leo	10

The Nova Southeastern Sharks kick off their 2024 season at the Holloway Park Collegiate XC Opener in Lakeland, Fla. on Friday, Sept. 6.

To stay up-to-date on Sharks Cross Country, be sure to follow on Instagram and Twitter at NSU_XCTF.   

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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – After a stellar 2023 campaign, Head Coach Jonathan Carter and the Nova Southeastern Men’s and Women’s Cross-Country programs have officially released their 2024 schedule. 

The Sharks will kick off the season at the Holloway Park Collegiate XC Opener in Lakeland, Fla. on Friday, Sept. 6, the first of four regular season races.  

“As we head into year two, we wanted to put together a schedule that would build off our previous year’s success,” stated Head Coach Jonathan Carter. “Our women’s team finished 2nd, and our men’s team placed 5th at last year’s SSC XC Championship, so we decided to start our season off at the site of the 2024 SSC Championship. Which in turn will give our team the opportunity to get familiar with the course early in the year. Later in the season, we will be traveling to the UAH Charger Invitational, a meet that we’re excited to compete in. The meet will be run on the site of the NCAA Division II South Regional championship at John Hunt Park and will have teams from the GSC conference and several other great schools. All in all, we feel very confident that this schedule will prepare our team on our quest to be the best.” 

After a brief hiatus, the Sharks will return to racing on September 27th at the FSU XC Invite in Tallahassee. NSU will then travel to Ave Maria for the Ave Maria Invitational on Oct. 5 before embarking on a long road trip to close out regular season at the UAH Charger Invitational on Oct. 12 in Huntsville, Ala.  

The Sunshine State Conference Championship race is on Sat., Oct. 25, in Lakeland, Fla. while the NCAA South Region Meet is set for Sat., Nov. 9, and the NCAA National Championship meet is on Nov. 23 in Sacramento, CA. 

On the women’s side, the Sharks are coming off an impressive second place finish at last year’s SSC Cross Country Championship led by top 10 finishes from returners, Leena Saidi, Ally Jakubiak, and Eden Toal. 

Marcus Tortorella and Jan Schmied look to lead the Sharks on the men’s side.  
 

To stay up-to-date on Sharks Cross Country, be sure to follow on Instagram and Twitter at NSU_XCTF.    

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MONTEVALLO, AL. – Leena Saidi made history on Saturday morning, finishing fourth at the NCAA South Region Championship with a school record time in the 6k.  Saidi also qualified for the National Championship meet, which will take place in Joplin, MO on November 18th.

Head Coach Jonathan Carter – Today our women’s team was very productive they produced several personal records and Leena Saidi earned a fourth-place finish and a spot at the national championship meet. We asked the team to go out and perform at their best, Coach De Bastos and I believed they would respond to the call by giving personal best efforts. As for the men they all ran personal best, responding to the call of the coaches and not giving up in the heat of the competition.
 

(Women’s 6K) 

• Saidi followed up her stellar performance at the SSC Championship with another incredible outing at the South Region meet. The junior finished fourth, running a personal best and school record time 20:48.20. 
• Ally Jakubiak picked up where she left off from the last meet, finishing 28th and lowering her personal best to 22:01.90.
• Nicole Branum was the third Shark across the line, finishing 46th with a personal best time of 22:33:30.
• Isabella Grant (54th/22:48.60) and Eden Toal (57th/22:58.80) rounded out the top five finishers for NSU.

 

(Men’s 10K) 

• On the men’s side, Marcus Tortorella was the first Shark across the line, finishing 50th with a time of 32:29.00.
• David Mahnke (32:35.70) and Adrien Zambaux (78th/33:54.40) rounded out the top three finishers for NSU.

 

The Sharks await the selection show at 6 p.m. on Monday, November 6th to see who will attend the national meet in Joplin, MO. 

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LAKELAND, Fla.- Leena Saidi, Eden Toal, and Ally Jakubiak led the NSU women’s cross country team to a 2nd place team finish at the SSC Cross Country Championships, their highest finish since the program captured second place at the 2012 SSC Cross Country Championships. On the men’s side, the Sharks earned a fifth-place team finish. 

Head Coach Jonathan Carter – Coach Debastos and I are extremely proud of the men’s and women’s performances today. The men improved their finish from last year by earning a fifth-place finish. The women outperformed the preseason rankings and displayed great strength throughout the race, many of the women set personal bests as well. Today our teams performed Sharktacular!
 
(Women’s 6K) 

• Saidi was the main catalyst for the Sharks success. The junior finished 2nd with a personal best time of 21.40.0, which was 2.6 seconds behind first and the highest individual finish for an NSU Shark in the last six years.  

•  Toal and Jakubiak rounded out the top ten finishers for NSU. Toal who finished 8th at last year’s conference meet, improved to fifth place, running a personal best time of 22:10.9. Jakubiak was right behind her, finishing 6th with a personal record of 22:11.4 

• Nicole Branum (19th/23:14.1) and Isabella Grant (24th/23:30.6) were also in the top 25. 

• Saidi, Toal, and Jakubiak’s top-10 finishes earned them a spot on the All-Championship Team. 

(Men’s 8K) 

• On the men’s side, Marcus Tortorella was the highest finisher for the Sharks, finishing 24th with a time of 26:02.7 

• David Mahnke and Adrien Zambaux rounded out the top three for the Sharks. 
   

RESULTS 

The Sharks will gear up for the NCAA South Region Championship, racing begins Saturday, November 4th in Montevallo, Al.  

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