CARY, North Carolina — The University of Maryland Eastern Shore coaching staff had planned to use Saturday's (Oct. 5) HBCU Challenge to continue to test the mettle of the Cross Country squad as they approach the MEAC Championships on Oct. 26.

The hilly course in Cary, North Carolina — during the Great American Cross Country Festival — was supposed to push the athletes to perform at their peak. Instead it pushed them past the intended distance of the race. Race officials improperly led the men through one loop of the course twice resulting in a longer race and during the women's race the lead vehicle left the front running pair leading to a wrong turn for the race leaders.

Men's times for all competitors were significantly affected, while the mistake during the women's race punished only a pair of runners.

The first problem occurred during the early morning men's race when punishing all competitors equally with at least additional 700 meters added to what should have been an 8K course.

Edwin Kipruto (Iten, Kenya) finished sixth, John Akakeya (Staten Island, New York) was ninth and Nahom Ftwi (Germantown, Maryland) came in 16^th.

The men finished third as a team.

In an email to participating coaches, event organizers said: "This past Saturday, during the Men's HBCU Challenge at the Great American Cross Country Festival we regret that there was a significant error on behalf of the meet administration resulting in additional distance being added to the 8k race. The driver of the lead cart made an inexcusable error after rounding the first inner loop and incorrectly made a right hand turn to proceed into a second lap of the inner loop. The result of this mistake caused all runners in the race to have to complete an additional and unexpected 700 meters. We sincerely apologize that we allowed this mistake to happen."

The official results of the race still reflect as if the teams ran an 8K.

The second problem occurred during the women's race where Hawks freshman Aurelia Jepkorir (Eldoret, Kenya) was part of the lead duo along with Benedict College's Stellah Kiptui, when the lead vehicle left the course.

The pair made a wrong turn in an unmarked area of the course and by the time they made it back to the course found themselves significantly back in the pack.

Jepkorir — who with Kiptui had a six-second lead on the pack at the 2K mark — was able to work her way up the pack to come in ninth with a 20:06.1.

Several other Hawks had a strong women's race with Asshanne Robb (Carson, Iowa) finishing 10^th (20:11.9), Amirah Jones (Suffolk, Virginia) taking 14^th (20:19.0) and Nikyia Wooten (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) coming in 16^th (20:34.9).
Jones, Wooten, Fancy Kipyego (Kiptagap, Kenya) Naomi English (Kensington, Maryland), Destiny Parker (Ocean Pines, Maryland) and Jazmyne Walker (Norfolk, Virginia) all posted PR's in the 5K event.

Despite the setback for Jepkorir, Eastern Shore finished second as a team by a margin of just six points.

The Shore returns to action Oct. 11, when they travel to Dover for the DSU Alumni Cross Country Run.