Freshman Distance Runners Enjoy Excellent Season Start
Towson, MD - Sept 6, 2022
The Baltimore Metro Cross-Country Meet on Sept 1st on the campus of Goucher College ushered in a new cross-country team for 2022. Normally, college cross-country is 5.0 miles or 8 kilometers. But Head Coach Mark Pryor decided to open his freshman college career with a distance they are more familiar with; 3.1 miles or 5 kilometers. After the results were posted, it was a wise decision by the 5th year head coach of the Cardinal running program.
With an all-freshman team (see picture) and only 1 returner from last year, Coach Pryor wanted to ease his young student-athletes into collegiate competition and protect their confidence. As his first-year students lined up before the race, Coach Pryor's instructions were simple: "Don't get caught up trying to run fast in the first mile". Patience was the word of the day. According to Pryor, the team has been building an excellent base of strength which will be greatly beneficial in the later stages of the season. The results at the beginning of the season are not as important as the team's confidence and ability to finish strong.
What the 5k race distance did was give his young team some familiarity in their first race and a way to measure their fitness level. The team's summer training started on August 5th. So with almost 30 days under their belt, everyone could see what kind of shape they were in compared to their high school race times in the same distance. That plan worked very well for Coach Pryor and his distance runners.
Frosh Keynaud Randolph was the first CCBC Cardinal to cross the 5k course finish line. His official time was 18:27.3. Keynaud's best high school cross country 5k time was 19:23.5; an improvement by a whopping 56 seconds. Ethan Bush crossed the 5k finish line next with a time of 18:52.5. His best high school cross country 5k time was 18:22.7.
Zachary Sanders nearly matched his 5k PR coming within 24 secs. Since Joshua Blackston never ran cross-country in high school, every time he runs a race, he could achieve a personal best.
In a 30-day period, this young group of distance runners either ran faster than they had ever previously run for 5k distance or came within a few seconds of their best time. That means that training is going very well and toward the end of the season, every athlete could be running and racing faster than they have ever been before.
The team's next competition will be on Saturday, Sept 17th at Delaware State Farm in Dover DE. The team is excited to have sophomore Ryheim Hall rejoin the team for this meet.
GO CARDINALS!!!!!!