RUSH HAS RECORD-BREAKING DAYPRINCESS ANNE, Md. – The Rush family are slowly becoming the equivalent of the Kennedy family of North Carolina A&T Athletics.
First, there was Hope Rush who helped the North Carolina A&T women’s basketball team to back-to-back regular season MEAC Championships in the early 90’s. Then there was her son Steven whose 3-point shots helped the men’s basketball program become a MEAC contender again.
Now there is cousin Kristin Rush. Rush, a freshman out of Greensboro Day School, finished second at the 2009 MEAC Cross Country Championships on Saturday to lead the Aggies to a second-place tie with Maryland-Eastern Shore. Norfolk State’s women and men won their respective championships. The Aggie men finished ninth.
Rush’s time of 18:35.70 marked a new school record as well as the women’s second-place finish.
“This is an outstanding step forward for North Carolina A&T’s track program,’’ said North Carolina A&T’s director of track and field programs Roy Thompson. “We have a group of young people committed to building our track programs, and Kristin is certainly an important of that. She ran a great race today.”
Janessa Bess and Samira Johnson underscored Thompson’s point. Bess, a freshman of Pittsburgh, placed 12th with a time of 19:34.87. Meanwhile, Johnson placed 16th with a time of 19:56.75, while senior Janee Cadlett’s 20th place finish gave the Aggies four top 20 runners.
The men’s top runner was Steven Liggins with a time of 28:26.10 in the 8k race.