With senior runner, Danzeto Cephas, racing in the MEAC
championships for his last time, the men’s cross country team
finished fifth while Norfolk State once again prevailed finishing
first.
With senior runner, Danzeto Cephas, racing in the MEAC championships for his last time, the men’s cross country team finished fifth while Norfolk State once again prevailed finishing first.
Junior Janessa Benn has improved each meet, with a little over a second shy of being All- Conference, Benn showed great progess and leadership for the Lady Aggies.
Overall Benn placed 16th out of 84 women with a time of 19:47.98. The first 15 runners are considered to be all conference.
Kristin Rush was not far behind placing 23rd with a time of 20:29.67.
Juniors Samira Johnson and Arianna Betts followed up shortly behind with times of 21:01:48 and 21:12.37.
Junior Jenea McCammon and sophomore Natalia Bygrave, two sprinters for A&Ts track team, also ran in the meet helping the Lady Aggies place eighth out of twelve teams as Hampton cruised into first. The Lady Aggies ran a total time of 1:46:40.54.
Head coach James Daniels stated, “The women did not have the depth like our men and we will compete at a much higher level next season. We had some good performances throughout the year, but we really had an off day this weekend. We are looking forward to our Indoor and Outdoor season.”
Though not first, the men of A&T’s cross country team had one of their best finishes in several years placing fifth out of 13 teams. Junior Paris Simmons finished 31 out of 88 men with a time of 28:27.70.
Freshman Christian Harrison was right behind finishing 32 out of 88 with a time of 28:29.09.
Cephas had a strong finish with a time of 28:38.50 overall placing 34th. Junior Steve Liggins and freshman Saed Jones followed up helping the Aggies claim fifth overall with a total time of 2:23:42.70.
“Even with the bizarre conditions we encountered, we stayed mentally tough and we were able to still compete and help A&T men’s cross country team have its best cross country finish in history,” said Simmons, a promising candidate to help the team to go all MEAC next year.
Finishing fifth was one of our better finishes in several years. You always want to finish better and we will next season. All the guys return except for Danzeto Cephas,” said Daniels.
The Aggies are preparing to take the title next season. With the exception of Cephas everyone is expected to return, to dominate next years cross country field.
“The performance of the athletes was exceptional,” said Cephas. “And [this] being my last year, I am truly grateful I had to the chance to represent such a great institution and to be apart of a talented team.”
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- Meagan Jordan, Register Reporter