On Oct. 22, NSU cross country hosted the SSC championship for the second time in the program’s history.
The women finished second, while the men finished third. This was Head Coach Bryan Hagopian’s first time hosting the event, and he said it was a success.
“It was fantastic. It was the best experience that both our athletes and my staff could have had. We had a lot of people who helped out, [such as] Keith Smith, Kim Carbo, Adam [Tsakonas] and Mike Mominey. My assistant coaches, Yanique Booth and Jennine Strange, they did a great job, and it ran perfectly,” said Hagopian.
Alexandria Palm, sophomore, finished with the best time on the team and sixth overall out of 53 competitors. She said hosting the event was a lot of fun, and she was pleased with how the team performed.
“I thought we did really well. We’re starting to come together as a team, which is usually what we expect at the end of the season [after] working so hard,” said Palm.
Taylor Stokes, sophomore, finished tenth overall, and after the competition, she felt the team was ready for regionals.
She said, “I think a lot of it depends on how bad you want it. I think everyone on our team wants to do well, not only individually but as a team, and we want it for everyone else, so if we go out there and put our heart into it, we’ll do really well.”
Hagopian said both the men and women were strong enough to qualify for nationals, and he was looking forward to their performance at regionals.
“[I’m] hoping that we’re going to nationals. All my kids are going to do great. They look good now. They feel good. They’re running hard, and they’re real fired up. I’m pretty excited to be honest,” said Hagopian.
The South Regional championship took place on Nov. 5, and nationals will take place on Nov. 19.
