Cross Country Team Enjoys PRs for 8k Distance at Gettysburg - Freshman Ohene Obiri Yeboah impresses with 8k PR 28:49.9

 

As the teams from over 30 colleges descended upon Gettysburg College, the cold crisp Fall air greeted the athletes unloading from their buses. Temperatures were in the mid 40s at 8:30am and the chill was quite noticeable. CCBC Head Coach Mark Pryor was used to this kind of reception from Mother Nature during the Fall cross country season. He instructed his young team to keep all their warm clothes on and immediately start jogging to get their body temperatures up. Staying warm and preparing their muscles for the next 90 mins would be key.

 

Since the Cardinals had competed at Gettysburg College's annual cross-country event in previous years, it was easier to be accustomed to the racecourse and layout. Team Captain Ronak Rami had run here in 2024, so he was most familiar with the course and key points to gain advantage. His job, as it had been all year, was to make sure his freshman teammates were prepared for their 8k (5.0 miles) competition. The team line-up for this year's Aubrey Shenk XC Invitational named after long-time Gettysburg College track coach consisted of 34 teams from NCAA Division-I, Division-II, Division-III and the NJCAA. It was the competition Coach Pryor hoped for at this junction of the season.

 

This is the Cardinal's fifth cross-country competition since the team started training in August. Every aspect of training has been completed from long distance runs, intervals, uphill runs, tempo paced runs, fartlek, pool workouts and CORE exercises. Coach Pryor felt his team was ready for this high-level competition and needed to see his young freshman step up to the challenge. Physically the team was ready but there is always the mental aspect of any athletic competition.

 

Coach Pryor instructed his team to start out faster than they have in previous races since this racecourse was mostly all grass, wide turns and offered only modest uphill inclines. Ronak Rami was tasked to set the pace for the first mile, and his teammates are supposed to be right next to or behind him. That is the team aspect of cross-country. The first mile splits were as follows:  Ronak 5:18, Ohene 5:19, Walker 5:21, Turner 5:25 and Manzanera 5:40. Coach Pryor was concerned with his 5^th man's mile split since he wasn't with his teammates. The concept of "pack running" had been discussed and implemented in training all season. 

 

As each Cardinal runner passed the 5k (3.1 mile) mark, Coach Pryor knew his team was having an excellent day.  The 5k splits were as follows:  Ronak 17:18, Ohene 17:19, Walker 17:52, Turner 18:10 and Manzanera 18:23. Most noticeably about each of those 5k splits is that they are the fastest 5k times recorded ever by each athlete. So, with only 3,000 meters left in the race, each Cardinal was running faster than they ever had. It was now left to see how each athlete would finish in the remaining 2 miles.  Coach Pryor positioned himself about ½ mile from the finish line urging his athletes to start their finishing kicks and focus on their running form. 

 

As the race concluded and the runners from each team crossed the line, the look of accomplishment was apparent. Each runner who started the race stayed focused and managed the 5-mile course to the best of their abilities. Giving 100% effort is all a coach can ask of his athletes. The final results were posted on-line, and a wave of smiles and hugs covered the Cardinal student-athletes who realized everyone on the team had achieved a Personal Record (PR) for the 8k distance:

 

Ohene Obiri Yeboah improved his 8k personal record by 1 min 21 secs from 30:10...........to 28:49

 

Ronak Rami improved his 8k personal record by 21 secs from 29:29...........to 29:08

 

Elijah Walker improved his 8k personal record by 2 min 34 secs from 32:37...........to 30:03

 

Dallas Turner recorded his first ever 8k race with a personal record of 30:40

 

Malik Manzanera recorded his first ever 8k race with a personal record of 30:55

 

Xavier Vallejo improved his 8k personal record by 1 min 51 secs from 35:57...........to 34:06