University of Delaware Athletics
The 302 Pride Runs Deep
11/29/2023 2:00:00 PM | Women's Cross Country, Track & Field
Kuhlman and Dougherty are both freshmen this year on Delaware's track & field team. Kuhlman is also a member of the cross country program and just wrapped up her first season with the cross country team and will run distance events on the track team, while Dougherty is still in preseason for competing in the 400m hurdles during track season.
Bamforth on the other hand is a Blue Hen alum serving as an assistant coach of both programs. After graduating from Delaware in 2021, he spent some time coaching middle school and high school cross country/track & field in the Wilmington area before returning to Newark in August 2023. Bamforth, now known as 'Coach Ben' was born and raised in Lewes and his running career started back when he was 6 years old when he started running for his father, Tim Bamforth.
Tim Bamforth, aka Coach B, founded the Seashore Striders in 1988, an organization that includes a youth cross country team, a community race production group and a small trophies/awards engraving business. Both Coach Ben and Kuhlman ran for Coach B for the Striders for many years — some of which overlapped. Even though this is the first year Bamforth and Kuhlman are at UD at the same time, they have been well-acquainted since Kuhlman was in middle school.
Hand pointing to Katie Kuhlman | Coach Ben Bamforth in bottom left corner with navy shirt on
During the their junior year, Dougherty joined the Striders team to compete at the cross country nationals, but she and Kuhlman spent most of their time together competing for Cape Henlopen.
The two first became teammates when Dougherty joined the Cape Henlopen team during their sophomore year. They ran together for three years at Cape, graduated in 2023, and both planned to attend the University of Delaware for college. However, Kuhlman was the only one who went through the recruitment/commitment process for the D1 program.I'm not a cross country person clearly but it was still so fun," Dougherty admitted, "plus I got to run with Katie.
Kuhlman officially committed in March of her senior year. Dougherty on the other hand had her eyes set on UD from the very beginning, but was not originally looking to run in college.I definitely looked at a bunch of schools but when I came here to tour I just saw a great opportunity because everything is localized," shared Kuhlman. "Plus it just felt like home.
Following high school graduation, Kuhlman had been on campus prior to the start of the first semester due to cross country season. She knew Dougherty was coming to Delaware as well and decided to shoot a shot at prolonging their teammate relationship by encouraging Dougherty to walk onto the track team.Delaware was the only school I applied to because I'd always known I wanted to come here," said Dougherty. "Ever since middle school I always wanted to stay in-state.
Now, both official Blue Hens, Dougherty, and Kuhlman are a power duo of Delaware pride. They are also reunited with Coach B, who only adds to the long, strong 302 roots of the otherwise diverse Delaware team. There is no double that they are proud to run for the 302 at the NCAA Division I level.I got a text from her in August that said something like 'hey do you wanna run track at Delaware?' and I was like 'uh YEA!' with no hesitation." shared Dougherty.
People forget about Delaware a lot so when people see Delaware across our chest in uniform, they're like oh it's Delaware and they get to see what Delaware has to offer," said Dougherty.
Both Dougherty and Kuhlman raved about the Blue Hen team community, how every athlete takes competing seriously, and how incredible Delaware's athletic facilities are. With the cross country season just recently coming to a close and indoor track season right around the corner, Dougherty and Kuhlman are still at the beginning of their college careers. They have plenty of time to wear the Delaware uniform with pride.Kuhlman added, "When we show up and compete well, it puts our name out there and opens people's eyes to how great it is here.
I love Delaware, I love this state, and I wanna stay here the rest of my life." - Alexa Dougherty
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