Beacon girls’ track and field rolls to 5-0
On April 18, I directed a middle school track & field quad meet with about 230 sixth- through eighth-grade young athletes running, jumping and throwing their way into high school.
When the dust had settled in the boys' meet, Selbyville was on top with 93 points, followed by Beacon with 49, Millsboro 41 and Mariner 17. In the girls' meet it was clearly Beacon with 99 points on top, followed by Mariner with 38, Millsboro 33 and Selbyville 30.
Cape girls' head coach George Pepper and boys' head coach Matt Lindell were both on the finish line watching the future of the Cape program put in some decent performances. Selbyville was loaded with sprinters who looked as if they could give many high school sprinters a run for their money right now, while Millsboro had some real quality athletes like Naiya Smith, who won the 800 meters in 2:41 with a nice finishing kick looking like the late Cape great, Danny Harmon.
Mariner, with new coach Julie Jackson at the helm, continues to improve every week and led off the girls' meet with Maddie Bada capturing the 110-meter hurdles in 10.5 seconds and Suprenia West-Burton winning the triple jump in 30-feet-3-inches. But it was the depth of the Beacon girls that carried them to 99 points on the day with two relay wins and six first-place finishes. Allison Palmer, a first-year track athlete, remains undefeated in the high jump with a 4-feet-8 leap and in the 400-meter dash, this time a lean at the tape, in 1:07.6 for 13 1/2 points scored.
Sixth-grader Logan Shuttleworth was the meet's high scorer with 14 points, grabbing a win in the 1,600 meters in 5:52 as well as two seconds in the triple jump and 800m. Miquaine Hollins grabbed 11 1/2 points with a win in the 200m in 28.9 and a second in the 100m; she also anchored the winning 400m relay team of sixth-grader Annie Judge, Leran Boyer and Marnea Duffy to a season-best time of 57.5, just two 10ths of a second off the school record. Duffy closed out the meet anchoring the 800m relay team of Judge, Palmer and sixth-grader Katie Frederick to another season best of 2:04.3.
On the boys' side, Dylan Alves leaned at the line in the 110m hurdles and went down hard on the track after racing to a time of 15.6, while Mike Williams was the other winner in the shot put with a 39-3 throw. Williams also broke his second school record of the season with a toss of the discus of 101-3, breaking the record set last year by J.C. Ashby of 99-6. Jack Kyritsis tied the high jump school record by leaping 5-0, finishing second place on misses. Ben Bamforth ran a nice mile for second in 5:34, closing a 40-meter gap every lap to nearly catch the leader at the finish. Both teams are in action this Friday evening at the Jim Blades Invitational at Lake Forest High School beginning at 4:30 p.m.
Seashore Classic
The Seashore Classic 5K and Half Marathon attracted 185 runners and walkers to Lewes' Irish Eyes April 14 as the events raised a donation to Lewes teacher and friend Betty Gooch and her battle with cancer. The half-marathon course was an out-and-back journey to Cape Henlopen State Park as runners covered eight of the 13 miles in the state park.
Several of the runners in the post-race celebration mentioned to me that the course was too hilly, taking in several of the long inclines along the bike path, while one runner, Clydesdale Lance Fargo, wrote me that he loved the challenge. “Tell those whiners that if Lance Fargo doesn't mind hauling his 240 pounds up the CHSP hills, then they shouldn't either.”
Steven Eshelman of Lincoln won the 5K in 18:09, while Erin Graves of Dover won the female 5K in 23:18. In the featured half marathon, Sarah Zephir-Thomason of Forest Hill, Md., won the women's half in 1:34:27, while Tracey Meder won the men's half in 1:23:16. Results can be found by going to seashorestriders.com.
Boston or Bust
How do you get more than 4,000 runners to drop out of a race? Raise the temperature to the 80-degree mark and it will happen, as it did in this year's Boston Marathon, held April 16. Race organizers scrambled in the final 48 hours to get the word out, “Drink up and slow down,” to the thousands of runners who have dedicated their last six months to training for the country's most historic marathon. Delaware results can be found at www.baa.org.
Upcoming SS Race Events
8 a.m., Saturday, April 28 - Oxford Day 10K, Oxford, Md.
9 a.m., Sunday, April 29 - Quest Fitness Mud Run, Milton.
