Seven seconds.
That’s all that separated 2023 Lebanon High graduate and current Georgetown University star Birhanu Harriman from achieving exalted status at last weekend’s NCAA Division I cross country championships in Columbia, Mo.
The junior finished 53rd in a field of 261, three spots and those seven seconds back of the cutoff for All-American. The cause? A slip and fall at the starting line, which resembles nothing so much as the Oklahoma Land Rushes that famously allowed settlers free land if they settled on it for five years in the late 1800s.
At the 1-kilometer mark of the 10-kilometer race, Harriman was 205th. His finishing time of 29:16 was a personal best at that distance, but earning All-American honors had been his goal entering the competition.
“Most people would really freak out,” said Georgetown coach Brandon Bonsey, noting that Harriman finished 15th among American citizens. “But Birhanu dealt with it well. He’s so levelheaded. If you would have seen him warm up before the race, you would have thought he was about to go on a training run.”
The weekend before nationals, Harriman won the Mid-Atlantic Regional title in 29:20, beating a persistent Princeton Tiger down the stretch.
“The last 400 (meters) or so was pretty much all out,” Harriman said. “There’s so much adrenaline that for a while afterward, I couldn’t really feel anything. It took a couple of minutes for (exhaustion) to hit me.”
Harriman was third at the Big East championship meet in 23:16 over an 8k course on Halloween. Ten-kilometer courses are used at the regional and national levels, for reasons Bonsey admitted he can’t explain.
What the coach is sure of, however, is that the student he plucked from relative obscurity in rural New Hampshire has flourished at Georgetown. The Washington institution claims among its graduates former U.S. President Bill Clinton, actor Bradley Cooper, King Felipe VI of Spain and other assorted monarchs, military figures, journalists and political figures.
“I remember telling people during his freshman year that he doesn’t say much but he’s as good a leader as there is on this team through his actions,” said Bonsey, a Maine native who always keeps an eye out for New England prospects. “He’s an intellectually curious person and he has at least some knowledge about almost everything. But he’s also the most coachable guy we have. Coaching him has been an absolute joy.”
Harriman arrived at Georgetown as a math major but pivoted to Spanish and will spend next summer in Barcelona as part of Georgetown’s study abroad program. It’s a time of year when Hoyas runners often log more than 100 miles per week in training.
Harriman competed in both cross country and soccer through his junior year at Lebanon, helping the Raiders capture their first state futbol title in 30 years. As a senior, he moved to cross country full time in the fall, but Bonsey still limited his training load when he first arrived at Georgetown.
“He won the genetic lottery, his stride is incredibly efficient and he lives a very healthy lifestyle,” the coach said. “The way he fuels himself, how he does all the little things to get better, it’s conducive to good performance.”
Harriman credits being able to live off campus for helping him in those efforts. He can cook for himself and consumes a pescatarian diet, which involves primarily vegetarian meals with the addition of fish and other seafood. He can also sleep more soundly and avoid the various waves of sickness that wash over dormitory residents.
That being said, Harriman’s 2024 season was constrained by a bout of Lyme Disease, a bacterial infection carried by ticks that causes fever, headaches and chronic fatigue. He guesses he was bitten while in Colorado for altitude training with the Hoyas the previous summer, but it didn’t catch up to him until October, when it became clear his times were slower and that he was constantly tired.
“He was just not himself and I made him go get blood work,” Bonsey said. “He was still a good teammate, still running because we needed him to score points even though his times weren’t his best. Then, once he got truly healthy, his track times in the winter and spring improved so much.”
Harriman works to have an uncluttered mind in the days and hours before he races. It seems safe to say, however, that he’ll have his national-meet misfortune in a back corner of his brain for the next 12 months.
“I think he saw what he was capable of and it’s going to leave him very hungry for next year,” Bonsey said. “I think he can be one of the top American finishers in the field.”
Tris Wykes can be reached at ctwykes@aol.com.