Doubt, concern, hope, and anxiousness are just aselect few words to describe the feelings that wondered through the minds of athletes, coaches, and other onlookers as Southwestern Athletic Conference officials tallied up points Monday afternoon followingthe intense 2006 Cross Country Conference Championship meet.”I felt nauseous,” head men’s track coach Clifton Gillard said in his own way. “I didn’t know whether I messed in my pants or if I was just plain nervous. No one knew how to feel.” But after the announcement of the results came on the loud speaker, shouts of joy and relief swept through the corner of purple and gold attire as the Prairie View men’s Cross Country team had successfully defended their title. “I heard from (grad assistant coach) Hezekiah (Pascal) that we won but I was still in disbelief until I heard the official results,” said Senior Ashton Brown.
This years SWAC men’s and women’s Cross Country Championships were held in Clinton, Miss., by host Jackson State, Monday, Oct. 30. The men’s race (8,000 meter run) was won individually by Grambling State’s Kerone Fairweather. However, with a strong second, third, and fourth place finish by Sophomores Alonzo Thomas, Matthew Jones, and Brown, respectively, the Panthers were in great shape to win the meet. “What got me was that after A.B. (Brown) came in, all I saw were black uniforms come in,” said Assistant Coach Chris Clay.
Referring to the black uniforms, bothGrambling and Alabama State sported their two-piece black jersey tops and bottoms with miniature gold lettering on the front. In that mix-up, Alabama State had three out of the nextsixrunnersfinish while Grambling had two. Following the first four mentioned, nine runners hadfinished the racebefore freshman Roland DeJean, the next PV Panther, had come in. “He was our hero,” said Gillard. When he came down that hill and caught these boys from Grambling that gave us our shot.”
But Prairie View still needed one more runner to finish to havethe five memberrequirement according to rules of the sport. Following DeJean’s 14th place finish, Grambling immediately completed their five member crossing grabbing 15th and 16th place, then 17th for good measure. Defending indoor track champion Jackson State also completed their five members crossing, finishing in places 6,11,12,13, and 19. Fifty-nine seconds had passed before the fifth Panther came across the finish line represented by senior Thomas Rivera, a first teamAll-SWAC performer last year, in his final Cross Country Championship meet.
The remaining Panther runners represented by Tyrone Russell, Cecil Shy, Maurice Cavitt, Michael Miller, and Benjamin Green put forth great effort finishing in the top 38 slots out of 58 total competitors. Then, all that was left to do was wait. “I was nervous,” said Jones, referring to thewaiting periodafter his individual finish. “Just seeing all these people finishand knowing I still have teammates to rely on, all I could feel was nervous.”
Just about all the coaches and spectatorsscrambled with their own pen and paper to try to tally up the points themselves as runners came across the finish line and were given place markers to accurately track their finish.
Yet and still, the official word from the meet, Marshall was the only word that would be accepted by the many wondering minds this day. “And in first place…with 46 points, the team from Prairie View,” said the announcer half-enthusiastically as the purple and gold filled corner of the field erupted in cheers, fist pumps, and high-fives.
“A coupleof us cried,” said sophomore Green. “I just thanked God it was over and was glad I could be a part of such a successful team.”
Concluding, Coach Gillard said, “I wanted to harm Rivera because we know he can do better. But when I found out we won, I looked at (former runner) Sean (Celestine) and said ‘we won the son-of-a-gun.”
The Panthers have won two SWAC Cross Country titles in a row, last year doing it on their home turf here in Prairie View. “I think we can do it again next year,” said Jones.
First Team All-Conference honors were given to the top five overall finishers in which Thomas, Jones, and Brown all received, and Second Team All-Conference honors were given to the next five finishers. Sophomore Cecil Shy received honors on the SWAC All-Academic Team with a 3.82 GPA.
The men’s cross country team will be honored in this Saturday’s Homecoming parade titled, “The Parade of Champions”, as the second team in the line-upbehind last year’s Black College National Champions, the Prairie View A&M baseball team.