COMPLETE RESULTS

JOPLIN, Mo. – The Nova Southeastern University men's cross country team and SSC Freshman Runner of the Year, Anabel Knoll, faced their toughest opponents of the year at the Tom Rutledge Cross Country Course for the 2015 NCAA Division II Cross County Championships in Joplin, Missouri. This was the last race of a long journey for the Sharks.
 
The men had to experience their toughest competition of the year in cold course, the coldest they have experienced all year. The 10K race consisted of 246 runners and 32 teams from all around the nation. Although the men's overall team performance had a large spread, two individual runners broke NSU's best 10K time of all time.
 
Senior runner for the Sharks, Christian Oppel (Lautertal, Germany) led the Sharks and broke the school's record for a 10K race with a time of 31:23. Following Oppel closely was his fellow countryman, Maximilian Sperl (Fr., Regensburg, Germany), who also broke the existing school's record and now holds the second best mark of all-time for a 10K race with a time of 31:58. Senior runner, Wade White (Bangor, Pa.) also recorded his best 10K time with a time of 32:47. With just a difference of two seconds finished Thomas Ingalls (Jr., St. George, Utah) with a time of 32:50 and Long Tran (Sr., Saigon, Vietnam) with 32:52.
 
When asked about the outstanding performance of the team leaders, head coach Bryan Hagopian said: "It was an awesome race for these two runners; they stuck to race plan and raced smart throughout which allowed them to break the previous institutional record."
 
He added, "Next year we will have a large pool of experienced runners and we look forward to a great future in the conference and the national tournament."
 
The only runner from the women's team that advanced to the national tournament was freshman Anabel Knoll (Fr., Ingolstadt, Germany). In a race with 247 runners and 32 total teams, NSU was well-represented with Knoll. The Sharks witnessed another institutional record as Knoll finished in 55th place overall with a time of 21:42, the fastest for a 6K competition of all time. Knoll not only led the Sharks multiple times throughout the season, but now also holds the institution's all-time best time.
 
"I was really happy for Anabel's effort and hard work, she fell in the beginning of the 400 meters of the race and caught back up to finish in 55th place overall," said Brian Hagopian with a lot of enthusiasm. "She was the fourth freshman overall to finish the race. There is a bright future for her next year along with the women's team as we expect to advance even further as a team next season."