JACKSON, MISS.-In forty degree, cold and rainy weather, the Southern University men’s and women’s cross country team ran to their own victory, with the men bringing home the first conference championship of the year for Southern.
“It is like the SWAC (Southwestern Athletic Conference) is determined to make us underdogs, but as long as they keep putting us under, we are going to keep rising to the occasion and doing what we have to do,” said team captain Charles Moon.
Jackson State University in Jackson, Miss, hosted the championship on October 4th. For the men, this was their second consecutive SWAC title. The Lady Jags placed fifth overall in the championship. Head coach Johnny Thomas was named Men’s Cross Country Coach of the Year.
The Jaguars won with a total score of 62 points. Following behind was Grambling State University with 69, Jackson State came in third with 77 and placing fourth was Alcorn State University with 94.
The men felt like they could win and knew who their opponents were.
“We’ve got a surprising finish out of Clary Reed. If Clary had not completed the way he did we would have had a major problem, because our usual three runners were ill,” said Thomas.
“The real surprise was actually the kid we call, ‘Red Oak’ Anthony Lee. He ran an excellent race and we had the outstanding leadership from Charles Moon. Freshman Darnell Parker came through in fine style. The whole strategy of the cross country race was not mine at all it-was the Captain Charles Moon and it worked just great.”
Southern started and finished strong with three men in the top 10. Last year they had four men to finish in the top four, however this did not hurt the team at all.
“We trained hard all season and going into the championship. I felt confident about how the team worked together. We worked with each other and came out on top,” said Parker.
Parker placed fifth overall and finished the five-mile run in 27 minutes, and 43.72 seconds. He was the first to run across the finish line for Southern. Two minutes and 74 seconds behind Parker in sixth place was Moon with the time of 27:46.46.
The third Jaguar finisher for the men was Clary Reed, with the time of 27:49.09. The fourth man was Lee in 21st place, with the time of 29:40.70.
The fifth man, which is as important as the first, was senior Murray Guillory in 22nd place with the time of 29:42.24. Holding others off were the Jags sixth and seventh runners, Korey Crump and Rashaad Cave.
“With what we had done during the season, I had already figured that the best we could possible do with the women was fifth place. If we had gone below fifth place I would have been very disappointed. The girls did an excellent job. They ran with heart all year,” said Thomas.
The Lady Jaguars scored 111 points and lost to first place Grambling, who had 51 points. Placing second was Alabama State University with 71 points, third place Alcorn with 73, and fourth place Jackson with 108.
The Lady Jaguars have not brought home a championship since 1994. Last year they placed second with three seniors and two distance-running freshmen. Starting this year off as a very young team still rebuilding with only two distance runners.
“We did good considering the conditions, our top two girls finished in the top ten and the rest of the girls worked hard and did well,” said Erikka Thomas.
Leading the Lady Jaguars for the second time this year in eighth place was Rayla Hunt with time of 20 minutes, and 57.0 seconds. Following in at ninth was Thomas clocking in at 21:10.63. Coming in third was Jovanni Anderson with the time of 22:17.53 and fourth was Aisha Harris with time of 22.56.31. The fifth runner was Brandi Angrum with her best time this year at 23.47.25 in the worst conditions. The sixth woman, Natosha Bradshaw raced to the finish holding off opponents.
“This was a tough one and I’m going to recruit a little better and get some more distance runners in. We are not going to sit back and be satisfied with winning this year because next year we plan to go to regional and nationals,” said Thomas.
The women and men now look forward to the indoor track season, which starts in January. The men will be looking to defend their title and the women to win one.
