GREENSBORO – The North Carolina A&T men's and women's cross country teams will compete in four regular-season meets before running in the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) Cross Country Championships on Oct. 27 in Mechanicsville, Va. The A&T cross country teams released their schedule on Friday, with their first three meets within an hour of driving distance from A&T's campus.
Aggie fans can watch the Aggies compete in their season opener on Sept. 1. The men and women will travel 25 miles to Elon University to participate in the Phoenix's Friday Night Lights meet at the Elon Cross Country Course. The women's race begins at 8:15 p.m., followed by the men's at 8:45 p.m. Last season's Friday Night Lights meet included a 4K race for the women and a 6K race for the men.
Two weeks later, on Sept. 15, the Aggies travel to the WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, N.C. They will compete in the 2023 adidas Cross Country Challenge. The women's 5k race starts at 5:40 p.m., followed by the men's 6k race at 6:20 p.m. At last season's adidas Cross Country Challenge, the men and the women finished seventh in their respective races.
After competing in Cary, the Aggies will get a three-week break from competition before returning to the Wake Med Soccer Park for the Cedric Walker HBCU Cross Country Challenge on Oct. 6. The race returns after a four-year layoff. Before the race was halted, the Aggie men had won five of six HBCU Cross Country Challenges, and the women had the individual winner for two consecutive years.
The women will compete at 5 p.m., and the men will start running at 5:30 p.m. The Aggies close out the regular season in Spartanburg, S.C., at the Upstate Invitational hosted by USC Upstate on Oct. 14. The women start competing at 9 a.m., followed by the men at 9:30 a.m. The CAA championships will take place at Pole Green Park. Elon is the four-time defending champion on the women's side. The Stony Brook men won their first-ever CAA title when they earned the championship last season.
A&T finished 11th on the women's side and ninth on the men's side.
Talented junior distance runner Fajr Kelly returns for the women along with Camille Herring. The men return Abdiselam Green, Dae'Shawn Griffin and Dawson Grogran. Cross Country and distance coach Quamel Prince also looks for big things from junior college transfer Kylan Willis. Willis qualified for the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division I Cross Country Championships last season.
"We're looking for strong performances from both the men's and women's programs," said Prince. "I believe all of the athletes are capable of running new lifetime bests by the end of the season. I'm expecting Fajr Kelly for the women and Kylan Willis for the men to lead the team in points with their teammates not too far behind."
North Carolina A&T is located on the east side of Greensboro, where it makes a large economic impact on the city. Embracing the principles of academic and competitive excellence, the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics supports the educational mission of North Carolina A&T by engaging students, faculty, staff and the broader community through intercollegiate athletics competition conducted at the highest levels of integrity and sportsmanship.
