Men's Cross Country Clinches Sixth at NCAA South Regionals

Friday, November 10

Gainesville, Fla.

9:30 a.m.

University of North Florida

NCAA South Regionals

11/10/2023 10:00:00 PM | Men's Cross Country

Event Results

GAINESVILLE, Fla. - North Florida men's cross country notched a phenomenal sixth-place finish in the NCAA South Regionals at Mark Bostick Golf Course on Friday morning.

Aidan O'Gorman escorted the Ospreys across the finish line with a mark of 18th overall. The newly selected ASUN Scholar-Athlete of the Year produced a new lifetime best, as he clocked in at 29:32.0 in the 10k race. Robert Pedroza was right behind the fifth-year senior to also medal as an All-South Region with a lifetime achievement of 29:38.9 in 23rd overall.

FINISH LINE

O'Gorman placed 18th overall in the race and earned the highest individual ranking for the Osprey men.
He also bypassed eight contenders between the 1000-meter checkpoint and the finish line.
The New Smyrna Beach, Fla., native crushed a new personal-best time of 29:32.0 in the 10k.
Pedroza notched a lifetime mark of 29:38.9 in the 10k race as well.
Pedroza went top-25 in the regional meet to join O'Gorman as an All-Region selection, which is awarded to the top 25 runners.
Ilias El Khattabi earned the third highest rank for the Osprey men as the top freshman on the team.
He finished in the top 35 of his NCAA regional and 10k race debut at 30:03.1.
All Ospreys that finished the race stayed inside the top 100 individuals in Gainesville.

PIGG'S POINTS

"They just competed really well. They finished sixth, which was a really nice job. This was Aidan O'Gorman's last race, but everyone else will return, as he's our only senior. For an overall team effort, it was strong and the guys finished where we thought they would and where we hoped they would. I just thought they competed really hard and they know they belong in the hunt. They wanted to line up in the big meets and run with the good guys and see how they stack up. There were 34 teams and they finished sixth against very good programs, so I was really proud of the way they competed.

For Aidan [O'Gorman], we were hoping he might qualify individually, and he did have a great day and he did a really nice job. For most people, it'd be awesome, but he was looking for just a little bit more. He's done a great job for us this year and I am really proud of how he wrapped up his collegiate cross country career as well. This has been just a good job of being a leader for our team.

Robert [Pedroza] by far ran his best 10k ever and I thought he's had a fantastic season, as he did a fantastic job again today. I don't know where he was last year, but my guess is probably in the 40s or 50s. He really did a great job today too and that was awesome. Ilias [El Khattabi] was hurt in the summer and he kept getting better each week. This was his best race of the year and I was really happy with how he's kind of trusted the process along the way. It's hard when you're coming off a summer of not running in your training at about half the level of where you'd like to be. He's a great competitor and we're really thrilled with that. Cole [Perry] keeps having a tremendous year and did a great job for us today. That was really good finish for him. The young guy has a lot more running ahead of him, but I just was extremely impressed with him and thought he did a fantastic job. Wrapping up the top five was Aiden Arnold. His specialties are the 800m and the 1500m races, so for him to run a 10k and run that well was great. It was a great job for us today and I think it really speaks to the kind of track year he's going to have, as well as cross country in the future too.

In regard to Onix [Ortiz Vazquez], he put himself where he needed to be to make our team better. He got overheated and was not able to finish. He started suffering quite a bit at about the 5k point. I think most people would have called it quits and stepped to the side and he just kept digging and kept digging until he got to the point where he didn't ride the bus home. He's kind of really demonstrated the kind of competitive spirit that we want to see from anyone who puts on a uniform; it's tough to do. It's one thing to talk about it all the time, but when you're in the moment, it's hard to dig down and just continue to push yourself, so we're pleased. The cross country season is over, so we'll take a nice break and we certainly look forward to this cross country season, which is really going to propel us into what will be a track season like we've never had."
-- head coach Jeff Pigg