Freshman Aaron Lippman Scores PR at Goucher XC

 

 

The Coach Caslin Classic cross-country race at Goucher College has become a mainstay on the CCBC Catonsville cross country schedule. The racecourse is perfect as described by CCBC Catonsville head coach Mark Pryor who said, "it's an excellent combination of grass, wooded trails, rolling terrain with just a few hills into a looped 5-mile course". It is the perfect course to test one's fitness level over the 8k distance without beating up your legs. Some courses in cross-country are designed to "break" or greatly challenge the most seasoned distance runners. That's not what we are looking for from the meets the team races, stated Pryor.

 

This year's race at Goucher once again did not disappoint. Goucher College head coach Erick Camodeca has done an excellent job at designing the course to suit the needs of all levels of collegiate programs from Division-I, II, III and Junior College. With Goucher located in Towson Maryland, the CCBC Catonsville team is only a short ride away on 695.

 

Freshman Aaron Lippman got his first taste of the college 8k or 5.0-mile distance two weeks ago at the Dickinson Long-Short Invitational. Coach Pryor didn't place any expectations on his talented freshman as he needed to get adjusted to the increase in race distance. His time at Dickinson was a modest 31:22.1. But more importantly, Lippman's body experienced the 5-mile distance and now knows how it feels.  On Friday at Goucher, Lippman ran with a sense of urgency racing the distance and not just surviving over the course.  Lippman was in the Top 5 after the first mile as he looked very relaxed. His 5k (3.1 mile) split was 18:45. In Lippman's first college race, he ran 19:05 for 5k. So with just 2 miles remaining after 5k, Coach Pryor knew his young freshman was rolling towards a PR.

 

Over the last 2 miles, Lippman began to battle for position and was able to pass two competitors in the last 1,000m to place 9^th overall with a time of 30:07.4. It was an improvement of over 1 minute 15 secs from his last race but short of the goal Coach Pryor had set for Lippman to run under 30:00. Nevertheless, Coach Pryor was most pleased at how assertive Lippman was in getting out in the front, maintaining his pace in the middle stages and still finishing strong at the end. That mental part of racing over 5-miles is critical in how well an athlete will perform. That's the part Coach Pryor feels Lippman needs to continue to work on.

 

Coach Pryor was pleased with Lippman's performance as he ran well against colleges from Division-I (Coppin State), Division-III (Goucher, PSU-York and Galludet), NAIA and Junior College (Hagerstown, Caroll CC) ranks. Now it's time to increase the level of competition which should increase his performance output.

 

Here is a link to the full results of the 2024 Coach Caslin Classic XC:  Coach Caslin Classic - Results - Cross Country Meet (athletic.net)

 

There are only two scheduled competitions remaining for this Fall season. The next scheduled race is on Saturday, October 19^th Aubrey Shenk Invitational hosted at Gettysburg College, PA. After next weekend, the NJCAA Region XX Championships are scheduled for Oct 26^th hosted by Hagerstown Community College.