CARY, NC – Senior Fajr Kelly placed second at the 2024 Great American Cross Country Festival as part of the Cedric Walker HBCU Invitational Friday night at the WakeMed Soccer Park to lead the North Carolina A&T women to a third-place finish.
The A&T men also competed on Friday, finishing third. The ladies finished third with 80 points behind meet winner Fayetteville State (48 points) and North Carolina Central University (NCCU) (62 points). NCCU won on the men's side with 33 points, and Fayetteville State placed second with 58 points.
The Aggies finished with 92 points, placing three runners in the top 15, led by senior Kylan Willis, who placed fourth with a personal 8k record of 25:22.8.
Both teams were competing for the first time in a month. Kelly ran an 18:45.9 to finish second on Friday. She missed her 5k best by a few seconds. She completed the 5k 2023 Upstate Invitational in 18:43.1. On Saturday, she finished behind Virginia State's Rose Muturi, who won the Walker HBCU Invitational in 18:27.2.
Kelly had a slight lead over Muturi after the first 2k of the race after recording a 7:13.1 versus Muturi's 7:13.4 before Muturi pulled ahead. Sophomore Ryan Prioleau scored 12 points for the Aggies by finishing 12th. Prioleau ran a 20:31.0. Sophomore Nina Story nearly became the third Aggie in the top 15 for the ladies. Story placed 16th with a personal record of 21:04.2. It was approximately 30 seconds behind North Carolina Central University's (NCCU) Sharon Magut's 20:41.9.
Senior Ania Campbell, sophomore Jessica Daniel, and senior Jayla Jones also competed for the A&T women's cross country team. Campbell placed 22nd in 21:51.3, Daniel ran a 5k personal-best 22:39.0, and Jones finished in 22:47.1.
NCCU's men's cross country team placed runners in first and third to win the men's race. Meshack Kuyo won the event in 24:11.3. Meanwhile, Willis's previous personal record in the 8k came when he attended Iowa Western Community College, where he crossed the finish line in 26:12.3 on October 14, 2022. The two other Aggies who finished in the top 15 include junior Abdiselam Green and senior Jalen Chin.
Green finished 14th by crossing the line with a personal record of 27:13.3. Chin also had an 8k personal record by finishing 15th with a time of 27:13.8. Freshmen Abishek Pradhan and Glenn Stile also competed for A&T. Pradhan posted a 29:01.6 time, while Stile had a time of 29:32.8. Sophomore Kaleb Conway (29:34.4), junior Mamadu Tchamo (31:13.2), and sophomore Eddie Hall (31:27.2) closed out the A&T competitors.
In two weeks, the Aggies will compete at Elon's Phoenix Invitational.
