Men's Results | Women's Results

WASHINGTON, D.C — The University of Maryland Eastern Shore saw six Hawks finish in the Top 20 at the Howard University Labor Day Invitational on Saturday (Aug. 31) highlighted by the debut of freshman Nahom Ftwi (Germantown, Maryland), who finished the 5K course in fourth place.

Sophomore Edwin Kipruto (Iten, Kenya) was just over 12 seconds off Ftwi's pace and finished sixth, while senior Amirah Jones (Suffolk, Virginia) used a personal record performance — 21:15.9 — to grab sixth place.

"I was very Impressed with the veteran style running performances from Amirah, Nahom and Edwin," Eastern Shore head coach Damion Drummond said. "Amirah stepped in her role as captain with a huge PR."

Ftwi, a freshman, finished in 16:41.92 in his college debut.

"Nahom is no stranger to success having been a track & field state champion numerous times as a member of North West High School," Drummond said. "He was poised trotting the 5k course like a veteran for an impressive finish which was approximately 6 seconds slower than his PR over the 5K distance from high school."

Kipruto was competing in his first college cross country event as well, having attended just the second semester last year and competing in outdoor track.

"Edwin will be good over the longer distances as his approach to the event is to build up his strength which is more compatible to the 8K races," Drummond said. "Duvaire Wauchope (Portmore, Jamaica) eased his way into the top performance list (18^th) as well, which is huge for the 800 meters specialist holding his own for a distance race outside of his comfort zone."

The men and women both finished in fourth place as a team.

Sophomore Nikiya Wooten (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) finished 18th with a time of 23:02.34, while classmate Fancy Kipyego (Kiptagap, Kenya) came in nine seconds later to grab 19th. Kipyego, like Kipruto also competed in just Outdoor Track last year, so this was a strong debut.

"Holistically, the women's squad was close together for half the race prior to Jones pulling away," Drummond said. "Her efforts motivated teammates Nikyia and Fancy to push toward top performances."

The men were without senior John Akakeya (Staten Island, New York) — last year's fifth-place finisher at the MEAC Championships — who is sidelined. Neither squad was a full strength. The women were without freshman Aurelia Jepkorir (Eldoret, Kenya) who Drummond expects to be a strong contributor this season.

"Overall, I'm excited for this start and look forward to open up with the 8K distance at home September 21 where senior John Akakeya hopefully will be full go to display his leadership with our young core for both men and women squads."

The Shore will first travel to William & Mary for a Sept. 13 meet before hosting the Eastern Shore XC Invitational the following weekend.