The Morgan State Bears cross country team has seen consistent success this year. With their season almost coming to an end, the Bears have competed at every 2023 invitational.
One of their most impressive performances was at the Delaware State University (DSU) Sting XC Invite. Here, the women finished second in the 5k run with a total time of 1:52:09 and scored 58 points. In the individual results, Abigail Fisher, junior, finished third with a time of 20:57.2 and senior Jalissa Emmens finished fourth with a time of 21:00.3.
Neville Hodge, the team’s head coach, said that Fisher is one of the women that standout on the team. She was named MEAC women’s cross country runner of the week at the Soaring Hawks Invitational, finishing the 5k run with a time of 20:41.8.
The men had an impressive performance at the DSU Sting XC Invite as well. They finished third out of the eight teams in the 5k run at the meet with a total time of 1:30:15 with 77 total points.
Collaboration is one of the things that has carried the team to victory this year, and Perry Bennett, junior, has been part of the reason for the Bears’ success. Hodge says Bennett is a magnificent athlete on the men’s side, but he knows that he cannot solely rely on Bennett and Fisher for the team’s success.
“We could get better leading up to the conference, not just them but the whole team is going to have to carry some weight,” he said.
Bennett was named the MEAC (Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference) men’s cross country runner of the week at Soaring Hawks Invitational, completing the meet in 27 minutes and 3.5 seconds. He finished in the top five with 23 points.
Senior Devion Bryant is another accomplished Bears runner that contributes to the team’s legacy. He runs both track and field and cross country.
“I use cross country as a way for me to get in shape and enhance my endurance,” Bryant said. “I typically do not like running really long because I am a mid-distance runner so I focus on events like the 800m and sometimes the 400m. I try to do my best in cross country because when we switch over to track and field, those events will not tire me.”
Cross country, as you can imagine, would be tiring for anyone as it involves a copious amount of running. Bryant’s words of encouragement for his team are simple–don’t give up.
“Just keep pushing, it [pushing yourself physically] is gonna hurt,” he said. “But when it is over you will become a stronger runner.”
Hodge is always looking for ways to improve the team. “[My goal is to] just get most of the kids to bind, bind to the process, work a little harder and get better one percent a day,” Hodge said.
The Bears will travel to Gettysburg, Pa. this Saturday for the Aubrey Shenk Invitational in their regular season finale.
