ELON, NC – The 2023 season is underway for the North Carolina A&T cross country teams. The A&T men's and women's teams competed at Elon University's Elon Opener on Friday night, with the women finishing eighth and the men finishing 11th. 

Duke won the women's 4k event with a combined time of 1:06:49.5 and 15 points. High Point University followed in second place with 45 points, followed by Elon (80), East Carolina University (95) and UNC Wilmington (176) in the top-5. 

Duke also won the men's 6k event with a combined time of 1:28:24.0 and 15 points. ECU finished second with 65 points, followed by ECU in third with 91 points. Elon (99) and Winthrop (181) rounded out the top-5. 

Duke's Austin Gabay won the men's event in 17:38.5, and Duke's Emily Cole won the women's event in 13:11.3. 

On the women's side, junior Fajr Kelly led the way for the Aggies again. For the ninth straight A&T race, Kelly A&T's fastest time as she finished in 35th place in the 4k event. Kelly ran a 4k personal-best 14:49. She was followed by freshman teammate Ryan Prioleau, who finished in 39th place with a debut time of 14:53.9. Senior Camille Herring posted a career-best 15:07 to finish 46th. 

Junior college transfer Kylan Willis led the men. Willis ran 18:43.6 in his Aggies debut to finish 32nd. Freshman Kaleb Conway also made his Aggies debut as he finished 94th with a time of 20:31.8. Another A&T freshman, Kamren Kennedy, finished in 21:18.4. Meanwhile, junior Dae'Shawn Griffin finished with a 6k personal-best 21:36.1. 

The Aggies return to action in two weeks at N.C. State's adidas XC Challenge at the WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, N.C.