Cross Country | 10/3/2025 11:48:00 PM
CARY, NC – Senior North Carolina A&T women's cross country runner Deavion Deleon won the 2025 Great American XC Festival HBCU Women 5k on Friday at the WakeMed Soccer Park, finishing 69 seconds ahead of her closest competition.
It marks the first time an A&T female runner has won a cross country event outside of a dual meet since G'Jasmyne Butler won the Robert Shumake HBCU Challenge on October 5, 2019, at the WakeMed Soccer Park. Deleon's 17:36.2 marks a personal record in a 5K event for the Division I transfer, besting her 17:38.8 from two weeks ago at the adidas XC Challenge.
It is Deleon's first career cross country win, which includes her time at the University of Nebraska. The Aggie women finished fourth overall with 81 points as junior Ryan Prioleau also finished in the top 10, placing eighth with a time of 19:31.5. She missed her 5k personal record from her freshman season by approximately 10 seconds.
Freshman Taysaun Wilson led the A&T men's cross country team in the Great American XC Festival HBCU Men 8k by finishing 12th place in 26:29.6. Friday marked Wilson's first career 8k event. A&T finished in fourth place as a team with 107 points, as two other Aggies finished in the top 20. Senior Abdiselam Green finished 17th with an 8k personal record of 26:49.0.
Sophomore Abishek Pradhan secured 20th place by beating his previous 8k personal record by nearly two minutes, running a 27:06.8. His previous best time came at last season's Great American XC Festival when he ran a 29:01.6.
North Carolina Central University (NCCU) won the women's event with 62 points, followed by the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (66) and Fayetteville State (79) in the top three. On the men's side, Fayetteville State took the title with 32 points, followed by NCCU (72) and UMES (77).
Freshman Aniyah Francis ran a 5k season-best 20:04.5 to finish in 15th place. Freshmen Taylor Washington (21:14.3) and Micah Nunn (21:30.0) also scored for the Aggies. On the men's side, freshman Demonte Peterson (28:33.2) and Glenn Stiles (29:18.6) also scored for A&T.
Both teams return to action on Friday, October 31, to participate in the 2025 Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) Cross Country Championships in West Long Branch.
