GREENSBORO – North Carolina A&T State University men's and women's cross country teams are off to the races with the release of the 2025 schedule.
The Aggie women return three runners this season, including junior Ryan Prioleau, who has developed into a key piece of this team. She clocked a personal best of 14:52.9 in the 4K event at the 2024 Friday Night Lights Elon XC Opener, and a 19:21.2 5K in her freshman season at the 2023 Upstate Invitational.
A&T's women hope a group of talented freshmen can make up for the loss of Fajr Kelly, who finished as A&T's fastest runner in all 18 of her career cross country meets. Kylan Willis is the big loss on the men's side. He finished in the top-5 three times last season, including running a personal-best 25:22.8 in the 8k HBCU Challenge at the WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, NC.
The men return seven runners, including senior veteran Abdiselam Green. At the 2024 CAA Cross Country Championships in the 8k event, he had the second-fastest Aggie time of 28:02:10.
Sophomore Abishek Pradhan is a part of the returning list as well. He finished a few seconds behind Green with a time of 28:12:80. During his freshman season campaign, he also posted a 28:23.4 at the Elon Phoenix XC Invitational 8k event.
The season opens Friday, August 29, with the annual visit to Elon University for the Elon Opener. The women's start time is 8:15 p.m., and the men will start running at 8:45 p.m. Last year, both teams finished fifth overall, with the men gathering 138 points, including two top-35 finishes. The women posted 143 points with two top-25 finishes.
The following Tuesday, September 2, the Aggies will take a trip to Durham for the Duke University Dual Meet. Ryan Prioleau had an outstanding performance against the Blue Devils last year, finishing the 3.5K event right behind Kelly for second place with a time of 12:50.4.
The following two meets will be a trip to the WakeMed Soccer Park for the Adidas XC Challenge (September 19) and the HBCU Challenge (October 3). Last season, both teams finished third at the HBCU invite.
The Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) conference championships will follow on October 31 at Ocean County Park in Lakewood, NJ. Last season, the men finished ninth and the women 13th in the 8k event. The men's event will feature 11 teams, and there will be 12 CAA teams competing on the women's side.
