By Roscoe Nance
The University of Maryland-Eastern Shore is located on 620 acres in picturesque Princess Anne, Md., a town that dates back to 1733 and is a treasure trove of historic buildings and landmarks.
The trouble is, not a lot of people are aware of its location. Hawks athletic director Keith Davidson hopes that will change when the Hawks host the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Region Cross Country Championship Nov. 14 at the UMES Golf Course.
"We are the best kept secret on the East Coast, but nobody knows where we are,'' Davidson says. "We have known for years we have a beautiful campus and a natural layout for cross country. We're going to let our light shine. Whenever you can get 35 institutions on your campus, it's a great opportunity.''
Davidson says hosting the Mid-Atlantic Region Championship will bring a large number of visitors to campus who otherwise probably would never be exposed to the 3,300-student university. The exposure, he adds, should be beneficial in recruiting for track and cross country and the university in general as well.
"It will expose our athletes to the best talent in the region,'' he says. "It gives us a chance to expand our recruiting base. Kids who might not ever known we existed might consider us.''
Thirty-six schools from Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington, D.C., and West Virginia comprise the Mid-Atlantic Region. Princeton, Georgetown and West Virginia traditionally are the strongest teams on the women's side. Villanova, Georgetown and Princeton are the traditional powers on the men's side.
The first and second place teams on the men's and women's side automatically qualify for the NCAA Championship, which will be held Nov. 23 at the LaVerne Gibson Championship Course, Wabash Family Sports Center in Terre Haute, Ind. Indiana State will host.
Princeton and West Virginia tied for first on the women's side in the 2008 Mid-Atlantic Region Championship with 51 points each. Georgetown won the men's side with 27 points. Penn State was second.
Maryland Eastern Shore has a strong history of hosting smaller meets during Coach Ernest Barrett's 10-year tenure. They hosted two meets, the eight-team Lid-Lifter Invitational and the 13-team Cappy Anderson Invitational, in September to help prepare them for MEAC Championship and the Regional Championship.
"We're no strangers to hosting meets,'' Barrett says. "The meets (this year) got bigger, and it does gives team opportunity to see what we have to offer.''
Princeton, St. Joseph's, Howard, Penn State, Pittsburgh, West Virginia, Maryland, Norfolk State, Morgan State, Delaware State and Hampton were among the teams that competed in the two meets.
Maryland Eastern Shore began the bid process to host the Region Championship two years ago. Barrett says he threw the Hawks hat in the ring after seeing the difficulty Championship organizers had getting schools to host.
"Since we had the facility, we said why not put in a bid,'' Barrett says. "We wanted the chance to show we could host. Whether we got it or not wasn't a big deal to me. If got to do it once, it would be a positive. But I don't know if I'd want to do it again. It's a whole lot of work."
Hosting the NCAA Division I Cross Country Region Championship, Davidson says, is another sign of growth in Maryland Eastern Shore's athletics, which had the most successful year in school history in 2007-08. The bowling team won the first NCAA championship in school history while making Maryland Eastern Shore the first HBCU to win a women's national championship.
The department won four MEAC Championships - women's bowling, men and women's cross-country and women's indoor track and field. Two teams - volleyball and women's outdoor track and field - were runners for conference titles.
Last year, the Hawks boasted five MEAC Coaches of the Year, four All-Americans and number of All-MEAC selections.
"Across the board we've raised the level for all sports,'' Davidson says. "Our approach is to build a program that when all athletes in all sports step on the field they not only have a chance to win but to compete for a championship.''
The women's programs have been especially successful, finishing second to Hampton in the race for the MEAC Mary McLeod Bethune All-Sports Trophy each of the past two years. Hampton out-pointed Maryland Eastern Shore 79-77 for the 2007-08 crown and 77-76.5 last year.
"We have consistent level of competitiveness that we have been able to establish and expand on,'' Davidson says, singling out the coaches and athletes for competing at a high level against fully funded programs while not being fully funded themselves.
Maryland Eastern Shore finished seventh in the men's all-sports race. The Hawks totaled 42 points and were eight points out of second place despite not receiving any points in football, a sport in which the Hawks don't compete.