Despite a cold and rainy afternoon, the Howard University Men's Cross Country team pulled off a third place title at this weekend's MEAC Conference Championship tournament held at the University of Maryland-Eastern Shore. Walking away with a top three team ranking and with three runners placing within the top 15, the bison men had a perfect end to a long season.
"The unity they showed was good for the team and the fact that they're all new … ," said first year, head coach, Curtis Pittman. "They haven't bit the apple so they're not spoiled yet which makes them more focused."
Sophomores, Aaron Harrison and Elly Rono, were named members of the MEAC conference All Men's Team along with freshman, Giovani Mowatt. Henderson finished in ninth place with a time of 26:35.40, Rono finished in 15thplace with a time of 27:16.94, and Mowatt finished in seventh place with a time of 26:26.57.
"We went out there focused on winning, but the weather conditions were just not good," said Harrison. "But we still came out there ready to run and gave it our all."
As a freshman, Mowatt said that he is content with his placing this weekend, but knowing his own potential, he hopes to do much better in the future.
"If I had made a move at a certain point in the race, I could have placed higher because I only missed fifth place by four seconds," said Mowatt. "Overall, [the] tournament was okay but there is room for improvement."
Harrison, even after suffering a hip injury at the team's previous meet against Delaware State, did not show much of a deterrence in his performance.
"Once you're racing you just have to block those injuries out and run," said Harrison.
Coming in ninth place, Harrison said he is excited about his accomplishments and those of the team but he would like to see more.
"I feel like we'll all be better next year because we'll be more of a unit," said Harrison. "So, I hope to win MEAC and definitely go to NCAA regionals and see how we place."
Rono, the native Kenyan who transferred from the University of Pennsylvania finished his first year on the team not too pleased overall with his performance. He said though he finished 15th, he is used to doing better in such races.
"This season I didn't perform the way I wanted to," said Rono. "But I'll keep training and going and I know things will get even better for me."
Not only did the team make its mark at the conference tournament individually, but also collectively the bison men put on an impressive show. In the team rankings, the bison came in third place with a total of 76 points out of all 13 conference teams. The men fell under second place Florida A&M University who had a total of 54 points and first place Norfolk State University who had a total of 30 points and also were the winners of the 2011 MEAC championship.
"The team has grown and we really work well together. We're like brothers," said Mowatt. "Everyone is out there working hard because we have certain goals that at the end of the season we want to accomplish together."
Having ended the season with success, the team said they could only go up from here.
"I'm impressed with they're performance and they've improved with every week," said coach Pittman. "But we want to win this MEAC," Pittman said in regards to next season. "That's the goal."
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