Men's Cross Country Places Fifth at Regionals, Jubran Sets Program Record

Friday, November 12

Huntsville, Ala.

9:30 am

University of North Florida

NCAA Regionals

Nathan Jubran running at South Regionals

Photo by: Anderson Bobo

Men's Cross Country Places Fifth at Regionals, Jubran Sets Program Record

11/12/2021 2:00:00 PM | Men's Cross Country

Final Results Photo Gallery

Meet: NCAA South Regionals
Location: Huntsville, Ala.
Date: Friday, Nov. 12, 2021

COURSE REPORT: Nathan Jubran lead the North Florida men's cross country team to a fifth-place finish at the NCAA South Regional meet, while also setting the new program D-I record for the fastest 10k time at 29:51.73.

Jubran, Aidan O'Gorman, and Noah Perkins were all selected to the All-Region team after their performances at the regional meet in Huntsville, Ala. They helped the men's cross country team to their highest regional finish in program history on Friday morning.

FINISH LINE

Jubran set the program record time for a 10k race in the D-I at North Florida, after setting the 8k record earlier this season at the Gans Creek Classic. It is also the first-ever sub 30-minute 10k time in the school's history.
O'Gorman and Perkins also set top-three program-best 10k times right behind Jubran while placing within the top 20 at the NCAA Regional meet.
O'Gorman had a big jump from 34th to 20th in between the 3.4k and the 6.6k checkpoints to help boost UNF's standing in the race.
Jared Vazquez and Timothy Doyle placed 41st and 50th respectively with times of just over 31 minutes, which puts all five Osprey runners in the top 10 of the program-best 10k times in North Florida's D-I history.
Out of the seven runners at the meet for the Ospreys, four of them set new personal-best 10k times while the other three ran their debut collegiate 10k races.

SEASON WRAP UP

The men's team wrap up their 2021 cross country season. Their best performances of the season were first-place finishes at the Gans Creek Classic, with over half the team setting personal-best 6k times, and the ASUN Championship, where they became conference champions in back-to-back seasons. Jubran was the top runner for the Ospreys in four of their five meets, as he set program record 8k and 10k times in two of those meets. Perkins was the top runner for the Ospreys at the ASUN meet with a second-place finish and also had top-two team finishes in three races this season.

PIGG'S POINTS

"I think the guys had a great year and finished with three guys within the top 20, which is All-Region honors. We had some nice wins and it was a very exciting journey. We finished fifth today, which is very respectable, but not quite where we hoped to be to qualify for the national championships. I'm just really proud of how well the guys did and it's been a fantastic year. We're proud of what we've accomplished and we're excited for track season to get started." -- head coach Jeff Pigg

FINAL THOUGHTS

"Nathan [Jubran] has had an amazing career being in the top 15 every year. He's meant a lot to our program and he's been a great front runner for us for almost every single race he's been in since he was a freshman. He went out running well again with the fastest time that he's ever run in his life. I'm really proud of what he's accomplished throughout his career in cross country and what he's meant to our program in terms of elevating to the next level."

"Noah [Perkins] has been with us for six years and he's also been instrumental in helping elevate the level of performance. I think he and Nathan have elevated the level of work that we do and the level of expectations that we have. I'm really proud of everything that he's accomplished as a cross country runner and it's been a good year for him."

Aidan [O'Gorman] has really benefited from coming in and just seeing what it took from Nathan [Jubran] and Noah [Perkins]. He was ready to do it and has gone to work running 80-90 miles a week. He followed the example set by those two seniors and obviously we see it paying off today with him having a great performance."

"Timothy [Doyle] and Jared [Vazquez] both had a really good day as well and those were huge personal-best races for them. It was good for our team and for them, personally, to have the strength that they have now. It'll be exciting to see that pay off when they're running 1,500-meter races with all the strength that they have accumulated throughout the fall."

-- Head coach Jeff Pigg

UNF RESULTS

14. Nathan Jubran - 29:51.73*
17. Aidan O'Gorman - 30:19.44
20. Noah Perkins - 30:23.20
41. Jared Vazquez - 31:07.56
50. Timothy Doyle - 31:17.28
66. Robert Pedroza - 31:42.30
108. Jake Turner - 32:48.31

* - denotes school record