2019 Cross Country Season Review
The College of Southern Maryland cross country season came to an end on October 26 when both the men's and women's teams competed at the Maryland JUCO/Region XX meet at Hagerstown Community College.
Sophomore Sierra Walker was named to the NJCAA Division I All-Region XX and All-Maryland JUCO teams with her performance at the meet, and freshman Brittney Douglas was named to the All-Maryland JUCO team.
CSM head coach Ken Killion said, "Sierra Walker had a pretty good career here at CSM, becoming the second-fastest runner in school history and placing each year in both the Regional Division I and Maryland JUCO events. I think that was only the second time in school history that this was done for any female cross country runner. It was good to have Brittney Douglas right there pushing her in our meets. They usually ran together through most of our meets until one of them took charge towards the end of their races. I think this was the first time in school history where the women's team had two individuals earn medals in the Maryland JUCO race."
Walker's fastest 6K time of the year came at the Hood College Open on October 19, running the race in 27:54.3.
Brittney Douglas' fastest 6K time of the year came in her first meet as a Hawk, at the Catholic University Cardinal Classic on September 14. She crossed the finish line at 28:30.4.
This was Brittney and her sister Briana's first year running for CSM. "Briana Douglas did a fairly good job backing up the top two while earning a trophy at the Goucher Classic," Killion said.
Briana and freshman Gabrielle Wilson ran their fastest 6K times of the season at the Hood College Open as well. Briana ran a time of 30:47.0, and Wilson submitted a time of 35:55.1.
After the first meet of the season, Wilson would improve her 6K times by about 25 second each race.
"I have never had anyone improve their personal best time in every race that they ran like Gabby Wilson did," Killion said. "I wish we had another meet or two to give her more chances to bring her time down!"
Freshmen Nathan Maldonado-Munoz and Brandon Harty were the only runners on the men's team this year.
Harty's best time of the year came at the first meet of the season, the Shannon Henretty Invitational hosted by Stevenson University on September 7. He ran the 8K race in 35:09.71.
Maldonado-Munoz ran his fastest time of the year at the Hood College Open, completing the 8K race in 34:21.9.
"The guys have a bigger adjustment to make in terms of the longer race distance," Killion said. "It is something that you have to learn real quick in pacing yourself and making the jump from racing 5000 meters in high school to 8000 meters in college. I think both Brandon Harty and Nate Maldonado-Munoz learned pretty quick that you have to respect the distance that you run in college. They both performed well throughout the season, learning the nuances of racing the longer distance. They both made some very good progress through the season and I expect them to even have a better year next in 2020."
"The cross country program still has a way to go before both teams are competitive on the regional level," Killion said. "We made a big step forward though, in terms of other schools recognizing that CSM is an up and coming program. It all points to this group starting it all."
