The cross country team traveled to Atlanta to the Morehouse Invitational on a weekend during which the city was filled with Rattlers.
The men finished second place overall. Shuaib Winters won first place overall on the in the 8k run with a time of 28 minutes 10 seconds. The sophomore also received Mid-Eastern Atlantic Conference (MEAC) cross country athlete of the week. The announcement was made on Wednesday by the conference.
Men’s head coach Wayne Angel was pleased, but wants Winters to keep a level head.
“He is way ahead of the game. I was very proud of him.” Angel said. “He needs to continue to be consistent in his training, race smart and not have any extra burdens so that he has the best shot at accomplishing his goal of being the individual conference champion.”
Women’s head coach Darlene Moore, who coached Winters last year, knew that Winters was poised for a breakout year.
“It wasn’t a surprise to me,” she said. “I knew what he could do and I was just waiting for the time when he put it all together. We look for him to finish strong as he goes for the MEAC individual title.”
The women’s team finished first overall for the third time this season.
Clarissa Golden led the way, as she finished in first place as well in 20 minutes 39 seconds.
Moore acknowledged the difficulty the lady Rattlers faced during the competition.
“This was by far the toughest course that we have competed on in our life. It was a great training tool and we will just use that to have a great showing at our only home meet of the season,” Moore said.
It showed as two Rattlers were unable to finish the race.
Lamere Buchannon and Chandelic Jackson both retired from the race early due to heat exhaustion. Both athletes are fine now.
Angel said the teams are on the correct path for success and just need to remember the little things to be prepared for the upcoming conference meets.
“The most important things are running in a pack, communicating and helping each other throughout the race,” Angel said.
The wins helped provide momentum as cross country team prepares to compete in its only home meet of the season Saturday at 10 am.