PRINCESS ANNE, Maryland — University of Maryland Eastern Shore Kenyan freshman Aurelia Jepkorir (Eldoret, Kenya) ran away with the victory at the Eastern Shore Invitational Cross Country meet on Saturday (Sept. 21) with a time of 18:28.40 in the 5K helping the host Hawks to a second-place finish as a team.

Fellow freshman Edwin Kipruto (Iten, Kenya) paced the men in the 8K event with a fourth place (26:55.70) to help the men to a third-place finish.

"You get nervous when you see your chips lined up and you know what they can do," Drummond said. "They did well. I've very pleased the way the women finished. We had some huge  Personal records and I expected that going in on the women's side. I think we are set for conference."

Jepkorir's effort was a PR for her — and just her second competitive 5K. She finished more than 30 seconds ahead of second place and looked strong from start to finish.

"That wasn't unexpected," Drummond said. "For a second, I started to think maybe she's running a course record, but that is 17 minutes and change. She hasn't been pushed to her potential quite yet. I think the way the schedule is set this year is going to keep her grounded and push her to improve."

Senior Amirah Jones (Suffolk, Virginia) posted another PR with a 20:30.80 and finished in 15^th. Sophomore Nykia Wooten (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) also poster her PR with a 20:43.90 and finished 18^th.

Junior college transfer Asshani Robb (Carson, Iowa) came in 10^th in her first competition for the Hawks with a time of 20:06.80.

"It was a great having Asshani in the fold," Drummond said. "But I wasn't expecting that from her the first time out."

On the men's side, freshman Nahom Ftwi (Germantown, Maryland) finished ninth (27:44.70), while senior John Akayeya (Staten Island, New York) was 21^st (28:59.80).

"On the men's side, we have some work to do, but our leadership up front is so good," Drummond said. "This is John's second race back from an injury. Our freshmen are killing it. Nahom is still learning how to do it, but Edwin did have a semester last year with us last year."

The men finished third as a squad (97) behind Navy (17) and Howard (91).

The women's second-place day put them behind Navy (57) which took places three through nine.

"Both groups are running for me," Drummond said. "They are having fun. They are working. They keep me grounded. They work when I'm not around. When you start having teams like, that its good and it's hard to get as coaches. I'm excited we have that type of group where I'm not stressed out.

"We are going to be good. We have five more weeks of training before conference and we are going to be ready."