DSU Sting XC Invite Recap

 

Sept 18, 2023 - Smyrna Delaware

 

In cross-country, high school teams compete over a 3-mile (5-kilometer) distance. In college, the distance raced in cross-country is 5-miles (8-kilometers). Head Coach Mark Pryor has historically used 5k races to ease his young in-coming freshman to the college distance. The first college race was a wake up call for both Ronak Rami and Gamaliel Adejo who were welcomed to college athletics at Goucher College two weeks ago.  Both performed admirable.

 

Their second cross-country race was also a 5k but this time against a mixture of HBCU and local Delaware competition. The course as Delaware State University's Outreach and Agriculture Farm is 100% grass, flat but challenging as the athletes race along the tall corn fields.  With the weather in the high 70s, it was a good day for distance running.

 

The Delaware State Sting XC Invite gave Coach Pryor an indication of where his athlete's training is and where it needs to go.  Gamaliel Adejo is new to cross country having only ran track at Western Tech HS in Baltimore County. Coach Pryor has been impressed by his strong drive to be successful with little fear of the work required. Gamaliel has been a very pleasant surprise running his races fearlessly.  That served him well at Goucher College when he produced a 18:50 time in his first ever 5k race. At Delaware State, Gamaliel again ran well and improved his 5k time to 18:23.1, enjoying a 27 second improvement.  

 

Fellow freshman Ronak Rami ran T&F at Franklin HS without competing in cross-country so his performance at Goucher College was a modest 19:36 for his first ever 5k. At Delaware State, Rami ran a lot better enjoying a :39 second improvement over the 5k distance with a creditable 18:57.  Coach Pryor was very pleased with his efforts.

 

Both of these performances will hopefully serve the athletes in the next scheduled cross-country race which will be 5-miles (8-kilometer). Those additional 2 miles can he humbling but Coach Pryor is confident both young student-athletes are up to the tasks.  Sophomore Keynaud Randolph was under the weather before the race at Delaware State but still led the team with his 18:03 performance.  His sophomore teammate Ethan Bush was only :7 secs off his 5k best time running a 18:35.  

 

Here is the link to the full team and individual results:

 

The next scheduled competition for the Cardinal cross-country team will be the national-class Paul Short Run hosted by Lehigh University in Bethlehem PA.  This cross-country meet has been held since the late 70s and is historically a national caliber event attracting schools from Division-I, D-II, D-III and Junior Colleges across the country. It will be the team's first 8k race of this season and a very competitive test in the middle of the season.  But a test that Coach Pryor thinks his athletes can handle as they remain focused and training very well.