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Aug. 31, 2007
PRINCESS ANNE, Md. - The University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) proudly sports six different cross-country/track and field programs. They compete with men and women's teams in cross-country, indoor track & field and outdoor track and field. Last season in six attempts at a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) title, Head Coach Ernest Barrett brought home five second place finishes with his Hawk squads. This season, beginning with cross-country, they hope to continue that success and turn one or more of those seconds into a first and in turn, a MEAC championship. "We open at home on September 1st," said Coach Barrett. "We hope that a small meet like ours will be a good place to see where the squad is and how some of the competition is in the conference." That meet is the UMES Lid Lifter Invite, one of two home cross-country meets this season for the Hawks. They also host the UMES Cappy Anderson Invite on Saturday, September 22nd. "We think we have a challenging schedule that allows us to compete regionally against programs similar to ours and allows to see some MEAC schools on a regular basis," added Barrett. The Hawks also travel to meets at Towson University, Norfolk State and the University of Delaware before running in the MEAC Championships on October 27th. They hope to again qualify athletes for the NCAA Mid Atlantic Regional Meet two weeks later in Bethlehem, Pa. Last season three Lady Hawks, Betty Chumbe, Merrecia James and Janeth Chelangat all competed along with four men, Alfred Singoei, Samuel Mwangi, Solomon Kirongo and Jerome Pyuzza in the NCAA Mid Atlantic Regionals. Barrett hopes that since all return but Singoei, another strong showing is due for the Hawks in the conference standings. Immediately after last season's final meet Barrett was pleased with the prospects of the upcoming season. "We had an outstanding cross-country season," he said. "We had some impressive finishers today and at the MEAC Championships. The great news is that almost all of our runners return next year and our cross-country program will continue to improve," he added. Improve it looks to have. Barrett added five men and nine women to the roster, replacing just four letter winners on the men's side and just three on the women's that will not return. Leading the pack for the Fighting Hawks, a team that came home second in the MEAC last season will be returnees Kirongo, Mwangi and Pyuzza. All of which ran in the NCAA Regionals last season. Kirongo was the strongest in the 178 man field coming in 121st with a time of 33:42.50. Mwangi turned in a time of 36:38.80 and Pyuzza a 40:15.10. While the loss of graduating senior Singoei will hurt, he was an All-MEAC performer and finished third at the MEAC championships, the four aforementioned runners can make up the slack. Two are juniors and Pyuzza is just a sophomore. Barrett is also looking towards returnees Clayton James, William Kennedy and William McCullough to help pace the squad. The Hawks will also get a boost from Peter Sang who competed in distance events in the indoor and outdoor season and will make his cross-country debut this year as a sophomore. Newcomers Amon Kiprotich and Nathaniel Taylor will also provide a boost. On the women's side UMES returns three of the top five runners in the MEAC last season. James, Chelangat and Chumbe held the number two, four and five spots last season for top times in the MEAC. James, just a junior, ran a 17:50.70 while Chelangat and Chumbe posted great times of 18:13.10 and 18:16.60 respectively, all came when it counted, at the MEAC Championships. Those same three also ran in the NCAA regional meet with Chumbe finishing first among Hawks with a 55th place and James and Chelangat 59th and 79th in the 195 woman race. The star trio of juniors also showed well at the conference championships with James taking second, Chelangat fourth and Chumbe fifth. James even earned CoSIDA All-District first team honors for her performances in cross-country and the indoor and outdoor seasons last year. With those three stellar runners many wondered how the Lady Hawks came home fifth in last season's MEAC Championships. Coach Barrett hopes he has answered that question this year bringing in Tamica Thomas, Tiffany Spencer, Rashida Beckford, Danielle Spencer and Celia Whyte who will all compete for the Lady Hawks. Tanisha Wisdom and Candice Anderson also return to help round out the squad. UMES has not a MEAC title on the men's side since 1995 and on the women's side it has been since 1983. Barrett hopes to change that this season. |
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