Cardinals Cross Country Team Runs Well at Delaware State
Catonsville, MD - Sept 19, 2022
The great thing about cross-country and Track & Field is that numbers don't lie. There is no personal subjection when it comes to fully automated timed results of races run in either sport. The time recorded by each athlete who finishes measures their output and effort levels. So both Coaches and athletes can clearly see how training is progressing, their race tactics and the race splits for specific distances.
College cross-country is routinely 8k (5-miles) or 10k (6.2 miles). Sometimes, the races are shorter in the early season to help the athlete's progression. CCBC Catonsville cross-country head coach Mark Pryor has utilized the shorter races this early season to help his young team comprised of mostly freshman. So far, that plan has worked, and his team is running with a lot of confidence. The results this past weekend in the Delaware State XC Sting 5k Invite helped to add to that confidence.
Coming into Saturday's race, the team's training had been going very well. Coach Pryor was concerned about the increase in mileage, but he was happy to hear that the athletes ran in the summer months and didn't just relax. That preparation in the summer shows, as there have been no reported injuries, each athlete is seeing a steady improvement in practice and their races times continue to get faster. Freshman Keynaud Randolph is the perfect example. Coming from a Baltimore City school system that doesn't put very much emphasis on the cross-country season, Keynaud is a true novice. With only 1 season (3 months) of high school experience, Keynaud was able to place 2nd in the City XC Championships. That performance is what attracted the attention of Coach Pryor. When asked about his young runner Pryor stated, "Keynaud's time wasn't what attracted me to recruit him. It was his innocence and positive attitude in a sport that tests your mental toughness. Even though he didn't win that City Championship, it was apparent that he was the most talented runner that day who just needed to learn how to run with that great attitude he already had. It was like looking in the mirror for me because I only ran one season of cross-country in my high school days."
At Forest Park High School, Keynaud's personal best for cross-country 5k was 19:23.5. At the Goucher Baltimore Metro 5k on Sept 1st, Keynaud ran his 5k in 18:27.3. On Saturday at Delaware State, Keynaud's 5k time was 17:48.4 finishing in 16th place. He averaged 5:43 per miles, which was definitely the highlight of the weekend for this young CCBC team. Fellow classmate Ethan Bush came withing 6 secs of his 5k personal best of 18:22.7 when he ran 18:28.5. These two young men have been leading practice and working together on their distance runs so it was not a surprise for Coach Pryor. Now the coaches hope that the other athletes can follow both Keynaud & Ethan in their pursuit of faster performances. Fellow Freshman Zachary Sanders ran 19:52.5 for 5k at Goucher on Sept 1st. At Delaware State, Zach finished the 5k race in 20:00. Delaware State was Ryheim Hall first cross country race and first ever 5k distance. Having missed 3 weeks of training with the team, Coach Pryor was pleased with his effort. As his training progresses, Hall should be running with Etan and Keynaud. Freshman Joshua Blackston's time didn't improve but having never run cross country in high school, he is giving the team his maximum effort.
Please find the link to the official team and individual results for Saturday's event at Delaware State:
The next schedule event for the cross-country team will be this Saturday, Sept 24th at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore Farm Run in Princess Anne, Maryland. The men's 8k race will start at 10:00am, while the women's race starts at 11:00am.