WINTER PARK, Fla. – Nova Southeastern cross country and track and field head coach
Bryan Hagopian was named Sunshine State Conference Men’s Cross Country Coach of the Year, while three of his runners were named to the All-SSC teams.
On the men’s side,
Kevin Meagher (Sr., Mansfield, Mass.) and
Timo Kilp (Jr., Tallin, Estonia) were both named to the eight-runner squad.
Alexandria Palm (Jr., Winnebago, Ill.) was named to the women’s All-SSC team for the third straight season.
In his fifth season at NSU, Hagopian led the Sharks to the first SSC Men's Cross Country Championship in school history. Hagopian's squad tallied three top-five finishes in five races this fall. In addition to winning the SSC Championship, the Sharks finished second at the USF Invitational and third at the Florida Gulf Coast Invitational. Three NSU male runners earned All-Championship honors by placing in the top 10 at the SSC meet.
Palm earned SSC honors after becoming the first woman in NSU history to win the SSC individual championship. Palm clocked in at a 6K time of 21:51.80. The time surpassed her own school record by 12 seconds. No Shark in school history has come within a minute of Palm’s best time in the 6K event.
Meagher earns All-SSC honors in back-to-back seasons after placing second at the SSC Championship with a time of 26:06.30. His time was 10 seconds off the winner of the meet and SSC Runner of the Year, Chris Cacciapaglia of Florida Tech, and three seconds off his career-best time from last season. Meagher recorded three top-5 finishes in 2012.
Kilp makes his first appearance on the All-SSC team after a top-5 finish at the SSC Championship. Kilp finished in fifth overall, defeating the top runners from half the teams in the field. Kilp finished with a time of 256:20 flat. Kilp’s time was the best of his career and one of the 15 best 8K finishes in school history. The race was one of two top-10 finishes for Kilp this season.
The Sharks will ride their recent wave of momentum into the NCAA Regional meet, scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 3 in Huntsville, Ala.
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