Cardinal T&F Distance Runners Perform Well at Mid-Atlantic JUCO Invite
Cardinal T&F Distance Runners Perform Well at Mid-Atlantic JUCO Invite
Freshman Keynaud Randolph wins 5,000-meter run / Bush runs 400 meters
The CCBC Catonsville track and field team stayed local this weekend to support the first ever Mid-Atlantic JUCO Invitational hosted by Howard County Community College. The premise for this meet was to give local junior colleges in the Maryland, Virginia, and Washington DC area an opportunity to compete with the focus on supporting the Junior College endeavor of helping student-athletes move on to higher levels of athletics.
Howard County CC previously hosted the NJCAA Division III Outdoor T&F Championships in 2013, so they were the logical choice given their excellent T&F facilities and ability to contest all of the events (running, throwing and jumping). The day started early with the Hammer and Javelin throws beginning at 9:00am as well as the long jumps. Not only were Junior Colleges invited but also local NCAA Division-III schools and any Junior College wanting to participate. In all there were 11 junior colleges who competed:
Carroll CC
CCBC Catonsville CC
Delaware County CC
Harcum College
Hagerstown CC
Howard County CC
Montgomery College
Nassau Community College
Prince George's County CC
Community College of Philadelphia
Thaddeus Stevens
Goucher College (NCAA D-III)
CCBC Catonsville head coach Mark Pryor saw an opportunity for his athletes to compete in a low-key competition to work on technique, strategy and race tactics. His plan was displayed in the first running event, the 5,000-meter run (3.1 miles). Since the longest distance event in high school track is the 3200m run (2 miles), Pryor knew none of his athletes had any experience in this event on the track. While the distance runners who participated in cross-country are very familiar with this distance over grass, trails and hills, none had ever competed in a 5k on the track.
Freshman Ethan Bush was asked to set the pace for his other 2 teammates (Keynaud Randolph and Zachary Sanders) who were looking for their first career outing. The plan was for Bush to set the pace at :75 secs per lap for 12.5 laps which would bring the athletes home in 15:00. The NJCAA National Championship qualifying time for the outdoor 5,000m is 15:15. Bush did an excellent job making sure his teammates were on pace and giving them a chance to punch their tickets to Nationals. Keynaud stayed on pace for 8.5 laps and had to fight hard in the last mile. With fans and his teammates cheering him on, Keynaud sprinted the last lap and crossed the finish line in first place with a 15:48.05 clocking. Fellow freshman Zachary Sanders ran his career best of 17:52.09. Coach Pryor was extremely pleased by his athlete's efforts as they also battled the heat and humidity at 11:30am after rain fell all morning.
Ethan Bush was excited for his teammates and returned to the track to run the 400m dash. Pryor stated that Ethan had his best week of training and could see another career best performance. With about an hour rest from his run in the 5,000-meter race, Bush got out well and put himself with the leaders. Crossing the finish line, the clock read :48.90 for the winner. Bush and Coach Pryor were hopeful for a time in the :51 - :52 secs range. Official results have Bush running :52.69. His career best in high school was :52.45. Bush narrowly missed it by .25 secs. But Coach Pryor was very pleased because he knew that if fresh and not running a race before a 400m event, Bush was capable of much more. Mission Accomplished.
The next three meets on the Track and Field's team schedule will be highly competitive and excellent opportunities for his athletes to run well. This Saturday, April 22nd the team will be competing at the John Hopkins/Loyola Invitational at John Hopkins. Over 30 schools will be competing, creating a high energy atmosphere. It is exactly what Coach Pryor and his team need.
GO CARDINALS!!!!!! #JUCOProduct