Personal Records
Cross Country
8,000 Meters: 24:47.80 (2010 Great American)
Indoor
Mile: 4:12.75 (2011 Penn State National)*
3,000 Meters: 8:27.76 (2010 CNU Holiday Open)*
5,000 Meters: 15:03.24 (2011 MEAC ID)
Outdoor
1,500 Meters: 3:51.94 (2010 Sea Ray Relays)
5,000 Meters: 14:46.85 (2011 MEAC OD)
* School Record
2010-11: Cross Country: Earned his third All-MEAC honor in a row with a fourth-place finish (25:00.60) at the conference championship meet…led NSU to the team title at the U.Va. Lou Onesty Invitational with a first-place finish of 25:03.25…earned MEAC Runner of the Week honors for that performance, his first of three such awards during the season…also earned MEAC weekly accolades with a first-place effort at the Colonial Inter-Regional Challenge…finished the 6K Colonial course in 18:27, again leading NSU to a team title…clocked a personal-best time of 24:47.80 to again finish first and spearhead a Spartan victory at the Great American Cross Country Invitational, picking up his third MEAC weekly honor in the process. Indoor: Claimed three individual titles and ran a leg on the victorious distance medley team to earn MEAC Indoor Most Outstanding Runner honors at the conference indoor meet…clocked a PR of 15:03.24 to win the MEAC indoor 5,000m title…won the mile in 4:16.32 and the 3,000 in 8:51.49…ran the lead-off (1,200m) leg on the MEAC championship DMR team that clocked a 10:17.17…earlier in the year, set school records in both the mile and the 3,000…ran a 4:12.75 to break his own school record in the mile and earn 13th place at the Penn State National…clocked a school-record 8:27.76 at the CNU Holiday Open to finish as runner-up. Outdoor: Ran a PR of 14:46.85 in taking third place in the 5,000 at the MEAC Outdoor Championship…also placed third at the conference outdoor meet in the 1,500 (3:56.82)…clocked a season-best 1,500 time of 3:52.79 and took fourth place at the Sea Ray Relays…ran a 3:55.35 at the Florida Relays…won the 5,000 in a time of 15:00.25 at the Tribe Open.
2009-10: Cross Country: All-MEAC cross country runner, placing ninth at the championship meet (26:43 in 8K)…led NSU with a 60th-place finish out of 231 runners at the 10K NCAA Southeast Regional. Indoor: Ran the MEAC’s fastest time and broke a school in the mile at Penn State (4:13.14), taking first place…finished 11th in the 3,000m at Maryland (8:50.86)…ran a 5,000m time of 15:05.52 to take fourth place at Virginia Tech…at the conference championship, placed fourth in the mile (4:20.77), fifth in the 5,000m (15:32.78), second in the 3,000m (8:50.38) and ran a leg on the winning distance medley relay team (10:14.08). Outdoor: Conference champion in the 1,500m (3:52.88)…ran his fastest time – and the MEAC’s – at the Sea Ray Relays, where he finished eighth (3:51.94)…posted the conference’s fourth-fastest 5,000m clocking at the Penn Relays (14:47.61)…took fifth place in the 5,000m at the MEAC Outdoor Championship (15:22.26).
2008-09: Cross Country: An All-MEAC cross country performer…placed fourth at the MEAC championship (25:59). Indoor: Ran the MEAC’s fastest time in the mile during indoor season, with a winning time of 4:14.91 at Penn State…other best indoor times were 8:48 in the 3,000 meters and 15:37 in the 5,000…finished second in the mile at the MEAC Indoor Championship (4:21.86)…placed fourth in the 3,000 (8:55.48) and ninth in the 5,000 (16:11). Outdoor: Tessema ran the second-fastest 1,500-meter time in the MEAC with his 3:53.43 at the Raleigh Relays…ran a time of 15:15.17 in the 5,000 meters at Wake Forest, his best effort of the season…at the MEAC Outdoor Championship, came in fourth in the 1,500 (4:01.97) and eighth in the 5,000 (15:57.05).
2007-08: Attended NSU, but sat out the season as a non-qualifier.
High School: First-team All-Northern Region cross country selection as a senior…was the Northern Region and Patriot District cross country runner-up that year…also placed second in the region (indoors and outdoors) in the mile run, and placed in the top six at both the indoor and outdoor state Group AAA meets…top high school times were 4:16 for the mile, 9:27 for the two-mile, and 15:49 for 5,000 meters.
Personal: Josef A. Tessema was born on April 11, 1989…son of Asnake Getachew and Tigest Gebre…majoring in building construction.
