Ronak Rami Wins Individual Race at Westmoreland CC

 

Head Cross-Country coach Mark Pryor enters his 10^th year at the helm of CCBC Catonsville's program looking to establish a winning tradition. After securing the commitments of 15 new in-coming freshman, Pryor is determined to mold these young student-athletes into a cohesive team focused on success. The first step took place on Friday at Westmoreland Community College.

 

With one month of training under their belts, the young cross-country team comprised of 14 freshmen and just 1 sophomore showed a glimpse of the transition Pryor is hoping for. The key Pryor noted is having sophomore Ronak Rami leading the way in practice as well as in races against NCAA and NJCAA level teams. "Ronak has learned so much in his 2 years here under our training and now he can help serve as a living example to the young freshman of what to do, how to do it and when to do it", stated Coach Pryor. Often times, young students find it hard to understand the lessons being taught from a historical point. But Ronak's transition is blossoming right before his teammates' eyes, and they can bear witness to the level of hard and focus it requires to perform on a college platform. It is very hard on the Junior College level with only 2 years allotted to improve without an increased commitment.

 

On Friday, Ronak made the 3-hour ride from Catonsville to the Pittsburgh area a fruitful trip. Coach Pryor's pre-race instructions to his young team were simple: "Follow Ronak".

To be successful in cross-country, the 5-man pack of scorers on each team needs to try and run together for 3.1 (5k) to 5.0 (8k) miles. The difficulty lies in the terrain of the racecourse which can vary from grass, gravel, dirt, flat, uneven and rising hills.  The Westmoreland Community College course offered all of those for 3.1 miles or 5-kilometers. Coach Pryor tried to ease his young freshman into college cross country which is traditionally 5.0 miles or 8-kilometers. And of course, there is the competition of running against other cross-country runners from the teams competing. 

 

As the gun went off to start the race, Ronak Rami positioned himself directly behind the leaders of the race from Penn State - DuBois, Univ of Pittsburgh at Greensburg and Potomac State College. After 1 mile, Ronak continued to hold his position in the lead pack, but hoping his teammates were close behind. Coach Pryor was also hopeful since this was 90% of the team's first ever college experience. But it was very nice to see Elijah Walker, Ohene Obiri and Dallas Turner all in a line together working hard to keep Ronak in their sights.  The team's fifth man scorer Divino Lowe was lagging behind near the back. Coach Pryor held out freshmen Malik Manzanera and Xavier Vallejo from racing at Westmoreland since they were nursing minor injuries that Pryor hopes will not become a bigger issue at crucial times in the season.

 

At the 2-mile mark, Ronak was now in 3^rd place following the two leaders closely. Elijah continued to work hard accompanied by his teammate Ohene. And what a nice surprise to see Dallas Turner (who specializes in the 800m event) close behind his two teammates.  The scoring pack was performing well from 1-4, but the score entails the first 5 team scorers. That's why being a cohesive team, working together is so important and having all your team's athletes performing on a similar level.  With less than a mile to go before the finish, the race to decide the overall individual winner was down to just two athletes, one from Potomac State College and CCBC Catonsville's Ronak Rami. As the two runners approached the homestretch into the finish line, Ronak surged ahead decisively and put on a driving sprint to the finish line to score his first college individual victory in a cross-country race by a 3-second margin. That was the highlight of the day for the Cardinals.

 

But what was most pleasing to Coach Pryor was seeing three of his young freshmen all battling together to finish as strong as they could to score as best they could for the team. Ohene Obiri finished well to place in the Top 10 just ahead of his teammate Elijah Walker. Coach Pryor was excited to see Dallas Turner also finish with a strong kick only 2 places behind Elijah. All four of CCBC's top placers scored Personal Bests for the 5k distance (see illustration of finishing times below).  Fellow NJCAA member Potomac State College had all five of its pack finish in the Top 10 to secure the team victory. But the Cardinals ran well enough to place 2^nd and came away with a positive first ever college experience. It was an excellent first step in a season that extends until November.