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RUNNING

Henlopen Conference 3,200-meter relay race should be an exciting time

May 13, 2016

With the championship track and field season upon us, I thought I would take a look at one of the featured relay events that will kick off this weekend’s Henlopen Conference Championships - the 3,200-meter relay, or simply named the 4-by-8 relay or two-mile relay. This past Monday at Legends Stadium, I watched the Cape relay team, led off by senior Lance White, a former runner of mine at Beacon and student of mine at Shields, go head to head with Sussex Tech leadoff runner Ben Bamforth.  Both runners went stride for stride with Bamforth handing off just a second ahead of White with a 2:04 opening leg. Cape would open up a sizable 80-meter lead, which forced coach Lou Nicoletti to shut down his anchor leg to save his legs for later in the meet. Cape ran an 8:35 in the race for the win, which averages out to just over 2:08 per leg. Cape looks to be a surprise in the event in the shadows of powerhouses Dover, Smyrna and Caesar Rodney.

Distance runners love the 4-by-8, just as much as sprinters love the 4-by-4. When you find a team that has four decent half-milers who each can turn in a low two-minute split, it’s a beautiful and exciting event to watch. Smyrna has run 8:15, and Dover and CR are always in the mix when the championship season rolls around. Then there are Cape and Sussex Tech, and don’t forget about the Czar Bloom-coached Polytech boys who are tough as well. When you put it all together in a big-meet atmosphere like the conference championships, you get a crowd-pleasing event that many times comes down to the anchor runner.

The Cape school record was set during my sophomore year in high school in 1983 at the Dover Relays with the team of Darren Purcell, James Johnson, Hank Stack and the late Danny Harmon. The foursome circled the old Dover High oval eight times, turning in a time of 7:59.

My greatest memory indoors of this classic relay was the championship section of the 4-by-8 at the Delaware Valley Scholastic Track Championships at the Philadelphia Civic Center on the historic banked wooden track. I teamed with James Boyer, exchange student Axel Sjoblad and Tony Horsey as we clocked an 8:43 indoors to finish fourth overall behind Philadelphia track powers Overbrook, Trenton Central and Central of Philadelphia.

The same Cape foursome ran in the high school section of the Penn Relays that year, as we turned in an 8:12 to finish surprisingly near the rear of the hot field that was won by Jamaican College in 7:44. Finishing nearly last at 8:12 shows the talent that you run into at the historic Penn Relays.

Cape has always had a tradition of being able to put together a decent two-mile relay and has been fortunate in the past to run some fast times early in the season. In the first week of April 1978, Cape upset Wilmington by running 8:13, as Lance White went 1:57 on the third leg and Glen Smith anchored with a two-flat split.

The Cape girls have a school record performance of 10:00 on the nose from back in the '80s with Sonja Friend-Uhl, a Delaware state high school champion and now a national masters champion, on the anchor, which is impressive at 2:30 per girl. This year's Cape girls, with frosh Zoe Callard leading off, recently broke 11:00 May 9 for their season best, while Roxanne Ramirez anchored Sussex Tech to a 10:26 win for their season best and a No. 1 ranking in the Henlopen Conference.

At the middle school level, the Beacon girls recently ran a new school record performance of 11:05 with the team of Meredith Lockwood (2:38), sixth-grader Mia Neubling (2:50), Lindsey Guida (2:48) and Olivia Brozefsky (2:47) to win the McKinnon Invitational. Their performance is the 21st best in the country, according to middle school rankings online.

This year’s version of the 4-by-8 relay should be another exciting display of distance runners excelling at the two-lap race and trying to turn all their strength into speed for as little as two minutes. In the boys' conference race, look for Dover and Smyrna to battle up top, while the more exciting race may be for third as Cape, Polytech, Caesar Rodney and Sussex Tech will battle for the next four scoring spots.

Run Happy 5K

The inaugural Run Happy 5K will be held at the Coastal Club development this Saturday at 1 p.m., hosted by the Schell Brothers and produced by the Seashore Striders. The course will loop the new development on the beautiful Eagle View trail in the woods and pop out of the trail just past the two-mile mark for the road race to the finish. Registration will open up by noon, and runners can pick up their number and shirt or register for the race at that time.

Race participants are invited to the after-party celebration that will take place outside of Schell's Whimbrel model home. This party is a combination of the best of the best in our area: special entertainment by LauraLea and our favorite food trucks Taco Reho and Hopkins Creamery, plus libations by Crooked Hammock.

Proceeds will benefit Homes for Hope, a local nonprofit organization that is transforming old shipping containers into sustainable homesEntry fee is $30. Go to www.seashorestriders.com for more race info.

Upcoming races

• Saturday, May 14, John M.Scharp Geck-Go 5K, 8:30 a.m., Dewey Beach, races2run.com

• Saturday, May 14, inaugural Schell Brothers Run Happy 5K, Coastal Club, Lewes, 1 p.m., www.seashorestriders.com

• Sunday, May 15, Wild Goose Chase 5K Run & Walk, Trap Pond State Park, Laurel, 9:30 a.m., www.seashorestriders.com

• Sunday, May 15, inaugural Milton Fire Department Memorial 5K, 9 a.m., Milton, races2run.com.

 

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