EST PALM BEACH, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern men’s and women’s cross country teams competed on Saturday morning on the Rinker Athletic Campus at Palm Beach Atlantic in the Sunshine State Conference Cross Country Championships. Led by freshman Ivanova Yanes, the women’s squad tied for fifth, while junior Aaron Weimer topped the men in a seventh-place tie.
Making her first cross country appearance for the Sharks, Hollywood, Fla. rookie Yanes came in fourth in the conference championships’ 6k – running a 23:19.59 to produce the highest finish for an NSU performer since Annabel Knoll earned third in 2015. She was also the top-performing freshman for any institution in the race. Classmate Maya Espinosa followed with a 13th-place time of 24:45.27, ahead of Taylar Sherman (39th, 26:53.48), Julie Bruggner (42nd, 27:19.78) and Leah Marville (48th, 27:41.29). Freshman Lia Smerina also competed for the Sharks (52nd, 29:02.16).
The women’s team tied for fifth with Saint Leo on a score of 130 and average time of 26:00. Tampa topped the women’s teams with 41 points. Yanes becomes to garner first Shark with first-team All-SSC honors since 2016, while Espinosa’s second-team honors make it a double-honor year for NSU.
On the men’s side in the 8k, Weimer led NSU with a 26th-place time of 28:34.49, just ahead of Adrien Zambaux in 29th with a 29:00.02. Trey May was next in his first race of the year, coming in at 36th in 29:28.92, ahead of Cody Brown (48th, 30:50.17) and Cote Strike (49th, 30:55.81) to round out the scorers. Also competing for the Sharks were Holden Decker (62nd, 33:16.52) and Cormac Gilmore (64th, 34:49.72).
The Sharks men tied with Lynn for seventh on 172 points and an average time of 29:46. Embry-Riddle topped the men’s field with 38 points.
“We had one of our highest-performing freshmen in school history with Ivanova. The women did a great job while we had some struggles on the men’s side, but still had good performances,” head coach Bryan Hagopian said. “We’re really happy for how both teams performed in the heat and conditions. This is going to lead us with some momentum into track season. This is going to lead into great things because of the confidence built, which will help our freshmen come along.”
Today’s race concluded the abbreviated spring cross country season for the Sharks, who now turn their focus to the in-progress track and field season – with the second NSU meet coming up on March 9 in Miramar.
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