The Howard Community College cross country program made its 2016 debut at the 16th annual Wilmington University Invite Saturday at Carousel Park in Wilmington, Delaware.
The men placed fourth out of seven teams, while the women were incomplete due to illness.
Marriotts Ridge alumna Abigail Starks quickly established herself as a runner to keep an eye out for in 2016. The freshman placed third overall with a time of 20 minutes, 34 seconds. Returning All-American Maggie Niland (Reservoir) crossed eighth with a time of 21 minutes, 52 second, while freshman Brenda Rosas (Wilde Lake) and Kirsten Murill (Century) finished 19th and 37th overall, with times of 23:50 and 28:16, respectively.
The men were led by Ryan Clocker (Kent Island) who completed the 8k in 31 minutes, 33 seconds, which was good for 14th place. Corey Young (Springbrook) wasn't too far behind in 17th place (31:56), with Mt. Hebron alum Abraham Samuel following in 19th place (32:08). Garrett Birsa (Glenelg) finished 24th (32:42), Scott Camp (Springbrook) 25th (33:01), while Howard alums Nick Miguelino and Andrew Kastner, crossed with times of 35:27 and 36:56, respectively.
"I had let the program know well in advance that this was going to a tough course," said HCC coach Steve Musselman who is in his 31st season at the helm. "I just wanted to give them an early season test to see where we were. The men's gap between the first and fifth runner was not bad. We lost to some DII programs. Once the women get some consistent running in, they will be contenders as well."
Howard Community College's next race is Sept. 17 at Rowan University.