Cross Country Announces 2025 Meet Schedule
8/7/2025 3:00:00 PM | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - North Florida men's and women's cross country officially reveals its meet schedule for the 2025 season, as announced by head coach Jeff Pigg on Thursday afternoon.
The Ospreys' schedule starts off at home on Friday, Aug. 29, with the Florida Intercollegiate Cross Country Invitational hosted at Cecil Field starting at 7:30 p.m., in Jacksonville, Fla. The season continues on the road with familiar trips to Florida State and Alabama before returning to Cecil Field for the ASUN XC Championships on Friday, Aug. 31.
UNF will make its postseason push during the NCAA South Regional Championship meets set in Huntsville, Ala., on Friday, Nov. 14. Teams and individuals who qualify from the Osprey squads will advance to the NCAA Championships on Saturday, Nov. 22, in Columbia, Mo.
Florida Intercollegiate Cross Country Invitational
North Florida will compete in its first event on Friday, Aug. 29, as the hosts of the Florida Intercollegiate Cross Country Invitational at Cecil Field. The meet will feature premier programs from across the state to face off during the Ospreys' only night meet of the season set for a 7:30 p.m., start time.
The men's course will be an 8k race, while the women will compete in a 5k race. This will be first of two races set this season at Cecil Field with the season-opening race being set just over two months before the ASUN Championships.
This will be the third time in four seasons that UNF will host a competition in cross country. It will be the Ospreys' first time hosting a regular season meet away from the UNF Hayt Golf Center and the second time running at Cecil Field after competing there in the ASUN meet last year.
Seminole Invite
After a three-year hiatus, the Ospreys will return to the Seminole Invite in Tallahassee, Fla., on Friday, Sept. 26 at 7:30 a.m. ET, for a regular season meet for the first time since 2021. It will be the second time seeing the Apalachee Regional Park course in less than a calendar year after Florida State hosted the NCAA South Regional in 2024.
This will be the first 6k race of the season for the women's team, while the men will remain at an 8k pace. It will a notch down from the 10k race that was ran on the same course by the men during the NCAA regional meet last season.
Ana Markovina and Ella Chandler were the top two returning performers for the women's squad at Apalachee Regional Park during the NCAA regional race. Seth Martinez highlighted the men's side in the race during the 10k meet in Tallahassee.
Crimson Classic
The Ospreys will compete at the Crimson Classic hosted by Alabama on Friday, Oct. 17, in Tuscaloosa, Ala., starting at 9:30 a.m. ET. It will be back-to-back seasons, as well as the third time in four years, that UNF will be making an appearance in the Crimson Classic at Harry Pritchett Running Park.
The men have placed in the top four on both occasions, including a runner-up finish in 2022, while the women have been top 11 overall in each meet. Cole Perry joins Martinez with a pair of top-25 individual finishes at Alabama in their 8k race, while Ella Chandler led all the Osprey women in their 6k meet.
Atlantic Sun Conference Championships
For the 21st time in program history, North Florida will take part in the Atlantic Sun Championships on Friday, Oct. 31, hosted at Cecil Field in Jacksonville, Fla. The Ospreys will be one of 12 ASUN teams for both the men's (8k race) and the women's (5k race) sides competing for the top spot at the conference meet.
Six of the 10 Osprey runners at last season's ASUN Championship meet for both squads will return for the 2025 season, including five combined All-ASUN selections. Smilla Kolbe and Seth Martinez are the top returning cross-country runners, as they both bring First Team All-ASUN distinctions from 2024.
Both teams look to get over the hump with a pair of team runner-up placements at the conference meet in 2024 to bring home an ASUN XC Championship for the first time since the fall 2021 season. The women have improved their team finish in each of the past three seasons at the ASUN meet looking for their first conference win since 2017.
NCAA South Regionals
The Ospreys will head up to Huntsville, Ala., to continue their postseason run at the NCAA South Regional Championship meet on Friday, Nov. 14, at John Hunt Park. UNF will look to improve from its sixth-place finish from the men and top-25 finish from the women in 2024.
Both teams will be looking for a chance to advance to the NCAA Championship meet either as a team or individual qualifier on Saturday, Nov. 22, at Gans Creek Course in Columbia, Mo. It would be the first time this occurred since Nathan Jubran qualified as an individual during the spring 2021 season.
The top two teams from each of the nine regions automatically qualify for the national championships. In addition, 13 more teams are selected as at-large bids, making a total of 31 teams competing at the national meet.
A total of 38 individuals will also be selected to participate as an automatic qualifier or an at-large selection process. The first four regional finishers not from an automatic qualifying or at-large team also secure an auto-bid to the championships.
The 2025 cross country schedule has a nice variety of competition leading to a strong finish at the ASUN Championships here in Jacksonville, Fla., as well as the NCAA South Regional Championships in Huntsville, Ala. Our season opener will have good competition here in Jacksonville with Florida and Florida State, along with many other in-state schools, as we compete on the ASUN course. The FSU trip will be a great course and strong competition as well. We also always enjoy a first-class meet at Alabama. It will be the deepest meet we will see all season and that time of year as perfect prep for the ASUN Championships.-- Jeff Pigg, Director of Cross Country / Track and Field
