Former holder of the Fordham cross country record at Van Cortlandt Park with a time of 24.50, John Jurgens captained the 1974 cross country team that qualified for the NCAA championships. Jurgens also excelled in track and was a member of the 1973 NCAA champion two-mile relay team. In 1979, he teamed with the Trammell Brothers, Eric and Alex and Gene McCarthy for a first-place finish at the IC4A Indoor Championships with a time of 7:27.2. The relay would go on to finish second at the NCAA Championships, earning for them NCAA All-American honors. Jurgens would finish his Fordham career as a two-time All-American.