The 37th annual Bottle & Cork 10-Miler and 5K was dominated by a host of upstate runners who made the trek down to Dewey Beach. Wilmington Cross Country - a club with a mix of high school and recreational runners - showed up and cooked the competition, winning both races. Many Tatnall cross country runners opted to use the 10-mile course as a training session over the Lake Forest Invitational, held farther north in Felton.
One of those Tatnall runners, Stephen Garrett, won the 10-miler in a course record time of 54:19, eclipsing last year's winning time by more than six minutes. Chris Slate, a former Clemson runner and member of the Wilmington Cross Country club, followed shortly behind Garrett in 55:51. Tatnall senior captain Jack Hagood logged a time of 56:16. Last year's winner Enos Benbow, 31, of Georgetown, broke up the Wilmington parade in fourth at 56:44, topping his 2012 time by 3:45.
Tatnall runners then rounded out the top eight spots with Henry Paul (56:50), Ben Boswell (56:59), Patrick Lynch (57:11) and Michael Flanagan (58:11).
Winning the women's 10-mile race was Denise Knickman, 45, of Baltimore, who crossed the finish line in 1:06:24, good enough for 22nd overall. This is the sixth time Knickman has won the Bottle and Cork 10-Miler, previously winning in 2002 (1:03:03), 2003 (1:02:55), 2005 (1:02:44), 2008 (1:06:06) and 2011 (1:06:20). Her 2013 time was fast enough to set a new course record for the female 45-49 division.
Dan Simmons, 66, of Newark also set a course record in the 65-69 age group with his final time of 1:13:19.
Rounding out the top five female finishers were Cory Boyd, 23, of Dover in 1:07:07; Jen Cawthern, 29, of Dewey Beach, in 1:09:05; Kristen Stump, 24, of Wilmington, in 1:09:12; and Kieran Hanrahan, 16, of Wilmington, in 1:09:36. Hanrahan is a junior on the Tatnall girls cross country team. Rehoboth Beach's Mary Beth Evans completed the course in 1:15:54.
Tatnall's dominance continued in the 5K race, with the Hornets girls placing second through fourth in the women's race. Rachel Lee, 21, of South Hadley, Mass., was the women's winner in 19:41. She was followed in by Kate Hastings, 16 (19:59); Quinn Teklits, 14 (20:12) and Kenra Riley, 16 (20:17). Liz Clinton, 19, of Havertown, Pa., rounded out the top five with a time of 20:20.
The overall 5K winner was Wilmington Cross Country runner Chris Warren. The 22-year-old Newark resident kept a frenetic 5:05-per-mile pace to log a winning time of 15:46. Upstate runners followed Warren in with 19-year-old Vince Kahler of Newark in 16:28, Patrick Boettcher, 32, of Newark, in 16:41 and Collin Lenoir, 18, of Wilmington, in 17:00.
Bryan Mack, 23, of Lewes, was the first downstate runner to cross the finish line at 21st overall in 19:34.
