FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. - The Nova Southeastern men's and women's cross country teams will look to leave their mark, in Saturday's Sunshine State Cross Country Championship.

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

Head coach Bryan Hagopian stated, " I feel very confident about both programs going into the meet. On the men's side, our number one runner, David Mahnke, has faced some setbacks, so we hope to have him ready for the conference meet. He has a high potential of being on the All-Conference First Team, which we haven't had in a long time, this would give us a great boost for our program. On the women's side, we have an amazing returning class this year, so we expect some good results and a high finish. We have Kamila Soja leading the team who is in the top 10 all-time in the 5k, as well as Eden Toal who joins her in the top-10. This team going forward is going to put us back on top where we use to be". 

Mahnke has been the focal point for the Sharks, recently becoming the third fastest runner in school history in the 8k, with a time of 25:21.9. He also had a second-place finish earlier in the season at the STU Bobcat in the 5k. Mahnke looks to continue to build off of his already impressive season at the conference meet.

Soja and Toal have been the driving forces for NSU. Soja earned Runner of the Week earlier this season, as well as several top five finishes. Toal has been right behind her finishing in the top-10 once and earning a top 20 finish as well. Both Sharks had top-10 finishes at the Florida Atlantic Home Invitational, beating several Division 1 and SSC opponents. 
 

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.