LAKELAND, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern men’s and women’s cross country squads jumped into their first team competition of the season on Saturday morning at Lakeland’s Holloway Park, setting a preview for the upcoming conference championships in the race against six league schools during the Pre-Conference Challenge, hosted by Florida Southern. Rookie Maya Espinosa was the highest-finishing Shark at 12th on the women’s side, while junior Aaron Weimer led the men’s squad.
Taking on her first intercollegiate competition since arriving from Baker, Fla. in the rural Panhandle, Espinosa led the Sharks with a 24:34.1 for 12th place in the 6k – delivering what would have been the third-fastest time of last season. Birkenfeld, Germany freshman Julia Bruggner followed in 32nd at 26:53.2, ahead of Christina Adams (39th, 27:24.1), Leah Marville (40th, 27:31.0) and Lia Smerina (44th, 28:02.3) to round out the scorers.
Carli Etrick (48th, 28:45.0), Lauren Breski (50th, 29:16.8), Tessa Grotzinger (52nd, 29:43.5) and McKinzie Winget (55th, 32:45.5) were also in the field for the Sharks.
On the men’s side, Weimer made his cross country debut after arriving from Albion College last January – crossing as the first Shark in the 8k at 30th and 28:49.8, edging out Sarasota rookie Adrien Zambaux in 31st at 29:03.9. Holden Decker followed in 51st (31:33.0), ahead of Cormac Gilmore (56th, 32:32.6) and Cote Strike (57th, 32:34.6).
Allen Currie (60th, 34:16.0) and Cody Brown (61st, 34:50.0) also competed for NSU.
The women’s team finished sixth in the overall standings with 147 points and an average time of 26:53.0, while the men were seventh with 181 points and a 30:54.8 average.
In an abbreviated season, the Sharks have one meet remaining, with the Sunshine State Conference Championships slated for February 27 in West Palm Beach on the Plam Beach Atlantic’s Marshall & Vera Lea Rinker Athletic Campus.
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