Tag: Women’s Cross Country

SACRAMENTO, CA. – The Nova Southeastern Women’s Cross-Country team ended their season Saturday afternoon at the NCAA Division II Cross Country National Championships, earning a 29th place team finish. 

 (Women’s 6k) 

• Isabella Grant (219th/23:47.9), Eden Toal (225th/23:54.6), and Bridget McGarth (257th/26:11.3) rounded out the remaining runners for NSU. 
   

The Sharks will return to competition in the spring of 2025 for the upcoming Track season.
To stay up-to-date on Sharks Cross Country/Track & Field, be sure to follow on Instagram and X at NSU_WCTF. 

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MELBOURNE, Fla. – After leading the Sharks to their first SSC Women’s Cross Country Championship in program history, the conference office has tabbed Head Coach Jonathan Carter as the SSC Women’s Cross Country Coach of the Year. Jillian Thorning, Leena Saidi, Eden Toal, Ally Jakubiak, and Isabella Grant also earned All-SSC honors. 

Head Coach Jonathan Carter – What an incredible feeling to have 5 women  on the All SSC team is truly a testimony to these student athletes commitment to the sport and themselves. I would like to thank my colleagues that thought enough of my leadership and coaching abilities to vote for me to become Coach of the year. There have been several coaches that have received this honor and I am extremely proud to be among this esteemed group. This is a shared honor with Coach Debastos and myself as she has been very inspirational in our team’s success. 

In just his second season at the helm, Coach Carter has cemented himself into the NSU Women’s Cross Country record books, becoming the first SSC Women’s Cross Country Coach of the Year in program history. 

Jillian Thorning, the SSC Women’s Cross Country Runner of the Year and SSC individual Champion lands on the All-SSC First Team after an impressive championship performance. 

Leena Saidi and Eden Toal joined Thorning on the All-SSC First Team after finishing second and fourth respectively at the SSC Cross Country Championships.  

Ally Jakubiak and Isabella Grant rounded out the All-SSC performers for the Sharks, earning a spot on the All-SSC Second Team after finishing 10th place and 14th respectively. 

The Sharks will look to punch their ticket to the NCAA Championships at the NCAA South Regional meet. Racing begins on Saturday, November 9th.  

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LAKELAND, Fla. – For the first time in program history, the Nova Southeastern Women’s Cross Country team claimed the 2024 SSC Women’s Cross Country Championship. The quartet of Jillian Thorning,  Leena Saidi, Eden Toal, and Ally Jakubiak helped lead the Sharks to their first title, finishing first, second, fourth, and tenth respectively.  
 

Head Coach Jonathan Carter – Today our teams performed very well. Coach Debastos and I are extremely proud of the team’s performance. We set our core values of having tenacity and being resilient and relentless in our efforts and those core values shined today as were Sharktacular! It was a great day to be a Shark! 
  
(Women’s 6K)  

Thorning continued her impressive racing, winning the meet with a time of 21:45.2 to become the third SSC Women’s Cross Country Individual Champion in Nova Southeastern history. Saidi was not far behind, earning her second consecutive second-place finish at the SSC Women’s Cross-Country Championship, running 21:58.9.  

Eden Toal also earned a second consecutive fourth-place finish at the SSC Women’s Cross-Country Championship with a time of 22:14.9. Ally Jakubiak rounded out the top ten, finishing with a time of 22:49.7. Bella Grant crossed the line shortly after, finishing 14th and running 23:06.1. 

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

(Men’s 8K)  

On the men’s side, Jaime Blazquez was the highest finisher for the Sharks, finishing 21st with a time of 26:03.3 

Marc Gonzalez and William Watson rounded out the top three for the Sharks, finishing 40th and 44th respectively.  

RESULTS  
 

The Sharks will gear up for the NCAA South Region Championship, racing begins Saturday, November 9th in Huntsville, Ala. 

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MELBOURNE, Fla. – The Sunshine State conference announced the 2024 All-SSC Cross Country Runner and Freshman of the Year Honors on Thursday morning. Jillian Thorning was named the SSC Female Runner of the Year, becoming the first Shark to win that honor since Alexandria Palm received it in 2013.  

Thorning, a transfer from High Point University has made an immediate impact in her first year as a Shark. The sophomore kicked off her 2024 campaign with a third-place finish in the 5K against a quality field at the Florida Atlantic University Collegiate Cross Country Invitational. Thorning would continue to impress, earning top-six finishes at the 2024 Holloway Park Collegiate Opener and Ave Maria Invitational. She would close out the regular season with a sixth-place finish at the UAH Chargers XC Invitational, running 21:04.8 in the 6K, which places her second in program history. Thorning’s blazing performance earned her SSC Runner of the Week. 

Thorning will be back in action tomorrow at 8:45 am as the Sharks kick off the action at the Sunshine State Conference Cross Country Championships.  

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MELBOURNE, Fla. – The Sunshine State Conference announced the Players of the Week for the week of September 2 – 8, on Monday afternoon. Nova Southeastern Sharks student-athlete Leena Saidi earned honors following her performance this past week. 

Saidi earned her first career runner of the week honors after finishing first in the 4.2k with a time of 15:15.61 at the Holloway Park Collegiate XC Opener. The junior’s performance helped guide the Sharks to a first-place team finish in their season opener. 

To stay up-to-date on Sharks athletics, be sure to follow on Instagram and Twitter at NSUSharks. 

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JOPLIN, Mo. – The NCAA Division II Cross Country National Championship was held on Saturday morning from the Tom Rutledge Cross Country Course. Leena Saidi, representing the Nova Southeastern Women’s Cross Country team, placed 102^nd with a time of 21:39.0.

Prior to the NCAA National Championship race, Saidi set a Nova Southeastern Women’s Cross Country program record at the NCAA South Region Championship, finishing that race in 20:48.20. Saidi also was recognized as an All-Sunshine State Conference First-Team honoree.

Head Coach Jonathan Carter – Leena Saidi ran a very competitive first mile of her race, where she was within the top-25. She ran into some trouble going into the second mile and had to adjust her pacing, setting her up for a better finish. This was definitely an experience she can build on going into track season. For her to be able to compete with the best NCAA Division II student-athletes in the country and finish just outside the top-100 is an accomplishment.

The NCAA National Championship meet concludes the Nova Southeastern Cross Country season. The Sharks, under the direction of Head Coach Jonathan Carter, will return to competition in the spring of 2024 for the upcoming Track season. To stay up-to-date on Sharks Cross Country/Track & Field, be sure to follow on Instagram and X at NSU_WCTF.

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MELBOURNE, Fla. –  The Sunshine State Conference released its 2023 All-SSC Women’s Cross Country selections on Tuesday afternoon. Leena Saidi, Eden Toal, and Ally Jakubiak were recognized by the SSC, earning All Sunshine State Conference First-Team honors after their performances at the SSC Cross Country Championships.

League coaches voted for Runner, Freshman, and Coach of the Year awards, while runners who finish Top-14 at the 2023 SSC Women’s Cross Country Championship earn All-SSC status. Florida Southern College hosted this year’s championship at Holloway Park on October 21st.

Saidi makes her first appearance on the All-SSC first team after her second place finish at the conference meet. Her time of 21:40.0 was not only a personal best but also the fastest time ran by a Shark this year.

Toal earns her second All-SSC honor after placing on the All-SSC second team last year. The junior finished fifth with a personal best 22:10.9, an improvement from her eighth place finish the year prior.

Jakubiak rounded out the top-10 finishers for NSU, running 22:11.4 and earning a sixth place finish en route to her first All-SSC honor.
 

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

2023 Women’s Cross Country All-SSC Teams 

SSC Finish	First Team	School	Yr.	Hometown
1	Aspen Gordon*^^*†	Tampa	Sr.	Morton, Illinois
2	Leena Saidi	Nova Southeastern	Jr.	Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania
3	Emma Skinner†	Tampa	So.	Morton, Illinois
4	Emma Hanstveit	Palm Beach Atlantic	Fr.	Osterøy, Norway
5	Eden Toal^	Nova Southeastern	Jr.	St. Charles, Missouri
6	Ally Jakubiak	Nova Southeastern	So.	Cumberland, Rhode Island
7	Olivia Harp	Tampa	Gr.	Novi, Michigan
SSC Finish	Second Team	School	Yr.	Hometown
8	Emily Kriney	Tampa	So.	Perkasie, Pennsylvania
9	Sadie Nordmeyer	Palm Beach Atlantic	Jr.	Djibouti City, Djibouti
10	Taylor Roth	Embry-Riddle	Fr.	Minster, Ohio
11	Ellie Fluman^^	Florida Southern	Jr.	St. Augustine, Florida
12	Abby Valley	Embry-Riddle	Jr.	Princeton, Massachusetts
13	Jessica Hernandez	Tampa	So.	Milton, Georgia
14	Ella Malone	Palm Beach Atlantic	Fr.	Barrington, New Hampshire

* = # of Previous All-SSC First Team Honors
^ = # of Previous All-SSC Second-Team Honors
† = Previous Freshman of the Year Honors
 

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SEATTLE, WA. – After an impressive season, Kamila Soja’s season concludes at the NCAA Championship, the sophomore ran her second-fastest time of the year despite losing her shoe 10 minutes into the race. 

Head Coach Bryan Hagopian had this to say about Soja’s performance, “She ran great, at about the 2k mark she lost her shoe but she kept going without it. The conditions were not ideal considering that it was under 40 degrees and being from Florida, we aren’t accustomed to that type of weather but she really stepped up to the plate. We ended the season in an amazing way, although we did not accomplish all the goals we set out, this was a great learning experience for her. Overall, I’m proud of her performance and how she persevered through the adversity, we will build on this going into next season”. 

HOW IT HAPPENED (Women’s 6k) 

• Soja finished 115th in a field of over 250 athletes, running a time of 22:12.4, her second fastest time this year. To add to being a national qualifier, the sophomore finished her season with a handful of individual accolades, including, All-SSC first-team honors, a member of the All-Championship team, and breaking the NSU school record in the 6k.  

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.- Kamila Soja will head to Seattle, Washington to represent Nova Southeastern’s women’s cross-country team at the NCAA Championship. The sophomore looks to pick up where she left off at the NCAA South Region championship. 

Soja is scheduled to race Friday, December 2nd, at 8:00 a.m.  

The Chicopee native has been stellar all season long, leading the Sharks to high team finishes and collecting several individual accolades along the way. Soja claimed second in the 6k at the NCAA South Region Championship with a time of 21.39.1, which was not only a significant personal best but an NSU school record as well. Leading up to the South Region championship, Soja also claimed All-SSC first team, and All-Championship honors at the SSC Championships, to go along with her third-place finish. Her impressive racing helped lead NSU to a 3rd place finish, the program’s highest finish at the SSC Championships since the 2012 season. The sophomore has four top-3 finishes in her races this season.  

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

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MELBOURNE, Fla. – Officials from the Sunshine State Conference office announced the women’s cross country All-Conference teams, as well as the conference award winners for the 2021 cross country season. Ivanova Yanes earned the second All-Conference honor of her NSU career, being selected to the First-Team.  

Yanes was named the Sunshine State Conference Freshman of the Year, in addition to her first selection on the All-Conference First-Team, during the spring cross country season in 2021, becoming the third NSU Shark to earn the honor. The freshman earned the First-Team nod following a sixth-place finish in the SSC Championship meet on 10/23. 

“I am so proud of Ivanova on being named as a First-Team All-Conference runner,” said Head Coach Bryan Hagopian. “It is amazing to watch her race and she keeps getting better each day. She excels both academically and athletically; we’re thrilled that she represents the Sharks.” 

Yanes won the first meet of the 2021 campaign, claiming a victory at Palm Beach Atlantic and leading the NSU women’s cross-country team to the win. Yanes also added a first-place finish in the Florida Runners meet on 10/1, completing the race in 18:55.  

Yanes looks to lead the Sharks at the NCAA South Region Championship Meet on Sat., 11/6 from Saint Leo, Fla.  

To stay up-to-date on Sharks Cross-Country, be sure to follow on Twitter and Instagram (@nsu_xctf) and Facebook (Nova Southeastern University Cross Country/Track & Field) 

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