LIVE RESULTS
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern cross country program will look to take another step forward this Saturday, competing in the NCAA Division II Cross Country National Championship in Spokane, Wash. at the Plantes Ferry Athletic Complex.
Thirty-two men's and 32 women's teams will compete for the national team title. In addition, 26 men and 25 women qualified for the meet as individuals. The women's 6K race kicks off the competition at 10:30 a.m. followed by the men's 10K run at 11:30 a.m. (Pacific time).
For the women's team, the meet is the culmination of the hard work this senior class has put in. Prior to the Sharks' current senior class (
Peri Bowman (Virginia Beach, Va.)
Brandi Nichols (Inverness, Fla.),
Alexandria Palm (Winnebago, Ill.),
Brittaney Smash (Arlington, Texas) and
Shannon Sullivan (Chicago)) coming to campus, NSU had never advanced to the national stage as a team. Now, the Sharks are making their second straight appearance at nationals and will look to improve upon last season's 29th-place finish.
Although this is the last race for the Sharks' seniors, the rest of the squad will show how bright the future is in Spokane. Juniors
Rose Howell (St. Louis, Mo.) and
Aimee Sims (St. Anne, Ill.) have been essential to the Sharks' success this season. Although
Katey CoDyre (So., Bowmanville, Canada) will not be able to run Saturday due to injury, freshman standout
Dominique Grasso (Raleigh, N.C.) will step in and provide depth for the team.
NSU will look to send the seniors off with a top-25 or top-20 showing at nationals, a milestone for NSU. With a strong performance from their expected returners for next season, nationals may serve to establish NSU as the Sunshine State Conference favorites in 2014.
On the men's side,
Long Tran (Sr., Saigon, Vietnam) emerged as the bright spot this season on an injury-laden team. Tran, who did not compete until the postseason of his junior year, has served as NSU's top runner all year and earned All-SSC and All-Region status. He qualified for nationals as the third best individual at the NCAA South Region Championship from a non-qualifying team. He claimed 11th place with a time of 33:07.30. Tran's time beat West Florida's Tim Wenger by more than 16 seconds to book his ticket to Spokane.
A great finish at nationals for Tran would be the ultimate period at the end of his short but accomplished career at NSU. Tran can improve upon personal bests if he can beat his time of 32:49.30 from last year's meet and place inside of the top 200. On top of that, he can also shoot to be the first runner in NSU history to post a sub-32 minute time in the 10K event.
Tran and the women's team will also have to brave the elements Saturday. The Sharks will have to run in a much higher altitude than they are used to and deal with a high of 41 degrees that is expected on Saturday. However, the NSU runners and coaching staff are confident that they will set a new standard for the program on Saturday.
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