Although Morehouse College's cross country team fell short of its goal of qualifying for the national championships, at least sophomore Abraham Korir will represent the Maroon Tigers in the individual competition.
Huddled in a circle, heads bowed and eyes closed, the cross country team began to pray their ritual prayer at the start line before last Saturday's 10-kilometer run. The seven-member team participated in the NCAA Division II South Regional Cross Country Championship that was held at Sharon Johnston Park in Huntsville, Alabama.
After practicing their typical 10K run daily, the team finished in sixth place out of 19 colleges present at the regional race, compared to a seventh place finish last year.
"I went to the competition with high hopes of winning or at least getting second place," senior Julius Hanks said. "Winding up in sixth place isn't what I wanted to hear but I knew that everyone gave their best and I am proud that everyone finished the race. It was an overall learning experience."
Even though Hanks will graduate this spring, he still has goals for the team to complete next year.
"I want the guys to compete at nationals next year," Hanks said. "They are going to be an amazing team and I wish them the best."
Although the team as a whole did not place high enough to continue to nationals, one person on the team did. With a final time of 32 minutes and 16 seconds, Korir did extremely well in the competition by placing third individually. This qualifies him to go onto the national competition next week.
The NCAA Division II Championships will take place on November 17th at Missouri Southern State University in Joplin, Missouri.
"It feels great to know that I am going on to nationals," the eager Korir said. "I feel that I could have done much better because I did my average running and I messed up on the second part of the race course. I know if I had put more time and effort in it, I could have done twice as better."
Korir, who is a transfer student from Chattahoochee Technical College, has high goals for the national championship.
"I want to come back from nationals smiling with winning the title of All-American," Korir said. "I feel like it is going to be a very shaky race, so I am preparing mind and body-wise for the race."
In his preparation for nationals, Korir completes long runs of about 90 minutes daily on top of very intensive speed walks with pace makers.
"I am just really trying to clock my time," Korir said. "I just want to be comfortable in the race."
