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 at 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 led the Sharks to a sixth-place team finish and 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.
