Posted: Oct 03, 2025
Paul Short Run Rewards Cardinals with 8k PRs - Tough Lehigh University course does not intimidate young cross-country team
It is said that "challenging situations, hardships, and unexpected difficulties are often seen as a true test of character, as they reveal a person's resilience, compassion, and true nature." On Friday, on the campus of Lehigh University, the character of the CCBC Catonsville Men's cross-country team was truly tested. Head Coach Mark Pryor was very pleased and proud of how his young team handled their first ever 8k (5.0 miles) cross-country race over a very tough NCAA national caliber level course.
The Paul Short Run has been held in its 51st annual year this weekend and is a major test for college cross-country programs nationwide. The list of schools who traveled to Bethlehem Pennsylvania includes a who's who of cross-country powerhouses. Schools such as Syracuse, Harvard, Georgetown, Utah State, Villanova, Texas A&M, Naval Academy, Brown Univ. Coach Pryor uses meets of this caliber to test his athletes' mental and physical toughness since the racecourse has seen so many athletes over a 50-year period on all different levels. The Paul Short event has become a barometer for his team's individual training.
All of this year's athletes on the Men's cross-country team are freshman except for one - sophomore Ronak Rami. Ronak ran the Paul Short run back in 2023 as a freshman and posted a time for his first ever 8k distance at 34:19.2. It should be noted that later that year, Ronak and his teammates won the NJCAA Region 20 Cross-Country championship team title for the first time in over 20 years. Thus, Ronak has seen and experienced the very challenging Lehigh Univ. Course.
As the team arrived at the Lehigh campus, one could see a wave of colored tents, large crowds of people and small groups of athletes running around the sprawling 22-acre area. The sun was out, and the weather offered a comfortable 74 degrees. It was a perfect Fall day just right for running distance. Coach Pryor instructed team captain Ronak to take his teammates on a brief course review and show them the most difficult sections. That would include a series of hills just past 3.0 miles into the race.
CCBC Catonsville was assigned to the Men's 8k Green Race which included a magnitude of NCAA Division-III level teams as well as several NAIA schools. Coach Pryor made sure his team was aware of the large numbers of competitors (300 - 500 total) and schools (35-45) in each race and to not get caught up in "racing everyone". Confident that his athletes were ready for the challenge, Pryor positioned himself at the first mile to give each athlete a split and let them know the pace they had settled into. As the gun went off, all 300+ athletes charged off the starting line and funneled into an all-grass trail about 5-6 persons wide winding along this 5-mile course challenging all who accepted the task at hand.
As the race unfolded, Coach Pryor positioned himself at key points of the race to yell encouragements to his young athletes and instructions on what to do. At the 6k make of the race, all the hills were behind the runners, and it was time to open up and begin a long drive toward the finish line. Coach Pryor noted that while his athletes were feeling the pain of running 4.0 miles, their faces were positioned with focus and intent. There was not one look of distress on any of his young runners. That brought a small smile to Pryor's own face. He knew with a mile to go in the race; his team was having a good day.
As each CCBC Catonsville runner crossed the finish line, a look of relief came across and then the pain of running 5-miles settled in. Coach Pryor who ran cross-country in his college days at Syracuse University, knew all too well what his athletes were experiencing. Pryor greeted each of his athletes with a congratulatory hug and said, "Congrats, now you truly are a college athlete". Running and experiencing the Paul Short Run is like a rite of passage for those who compete in cross-country. Since this was his athlete's very first time running the 5.0-mile (8k) distance, they deserved to be congratulated. While it may only take each athlete approximately 30 mins to complete the course, it required over 60 days and over 300 miles logged to be able to master the distance.
Coach Pryor was more than excited as he recorded each athlete's time, especially when he realized that sophomore Ronak Rami had improved over 3 mins from his previous Paul Short time from 34:19 to now 31:46.5. Ronak's career best for the 8k distance is 31:21.3. That is why Coach Pryor considered his team's performance to be successful. Freshman Ohene Obiri Yeboah ran an excellent effort to record 30:10.8 for the 8k distance averaging 6:04 per mile for 5 miles. Fellow freshman Elijah Walker was next across the finish line in 32:37.3 which is an average mile pace of 6:33. Freshman Xavier Vallejo who had only run cross-country for one season in high school at the 5k distance, crossed the line in 35:57 and completed his first ever college 8k distance run. The team was without three (3) of its regular scorers as Freshman Malik Manzanera was sick and freshman Divino Lowe is recovering from a minor injury. Freshman Dallas Turner was rested for this meet to be at 100% when the team goes to the NJCAA Region Championships in 3 weeks.
Pryor is optimistic that when all of his team's athletes come together, the results will blend as well as the athletes have trained together since August. That date will be Saturday, October 25th at the Region 20 Championships hosted by Westmoreland CC.
Link for the official results of the 2025 Paul Short Run: TFRRS | Paul Short Run (College) - Meet Results
