Beacon boys’ and girls’ track teams rolling at 7-0
The Beacon and Mariner middle school track & field teams traveled to the annual Blades Invitational April 12 at Lake Forest High School to compete with 12 other middle school teams in the conference. The meet is named after the late Jim Blades, a longtime track & field coach at Lake Forest High School. When the dust had settled through 13 middle school events, the Beacon girls had easily won their second consecutive championship, scoring 133 points, with the next closest team, W.T. Chipman, in second with 64 points. The Beacon boys finished a surprising second overall with 98 points, only eight points behind first-place Postlethwait. The Mariner girls placed 10th with 16 points, while the Mariner boys finished ninth with 12 points.
Beacon's Dane Palmer, competing with two fractured bones in his hand, won the 400-meter dash in 57.4; he also was second in the long jump. Michael Loessner won the shot put at 35-feet-10 inches, but the surprise of the night on the boys' side was eighth-grader Sam Nye capturing the 1,600-meter run in a new personal best of 5:14.
The Beacon 400-meter relay team broke the school record with a 50.5 clocking as the team of Ryan Head, Ira Bell, Brad Hitchens, and Curtis Purnell finished fourth in the field.
The Beacon Middle School girls' team was led by the duo of seventh-grader Alia Marshall and eighth-grader Zoe Scott, who each won two events. Marshall won the 400 meters, breaking the meet record as well as the school record held by former standout Hannah Pepper with a 1:03.0 time. Marshall also won the long jump and was third in the triple jump. Scott tied the meet and school record in the high jump with a 5-2 height, which ranks her as one of the top jumpers on the Delaware high school list as well as having the No. 2 jump in the country. Scott also won the triple jump at 33-6 for her second meet record, and she anchored the winning 800-meter relay with teammates sixth-grader Rose Minni and eighth-graders Katie Frederick and Jody Boyer.
Lakendra Harpe captured the 200 meters in 27.2 for the Mariner girls, while Aidan Spoor won the 800 meters wire-to-wire in 2:21.
Beacon topped Seaford and Millsboro April 15 in a meet highlighted by a 200-meter school record of 28.1 by Alia Marshall breaking the 28.2 record held by Hannah Pepper. On the boys' side, DeMarcus Perry set the shot put record of 42-0 on his final throw of the competition.
The Mariner team traveled to Selbyville April 17, but results were not available at press time.
Both Beacon teams are 7-0 on the season with two meets to go as well as the Cape Classic Championships to be held Thursday, May 1, at Cape Henlopen High School.
Coach Jules Jackson of the Mariner team will expose her athletes to the best track & field meet in the country at the end of next week as they will travel as spectators to the Penn Relays at Franklin Field in Philadelphia.
Seashore Classic Half Marathon
The Seashore Classic attracted 430 runners April 14 taking part in the 13.1-mile distance, the 5K, and the two-person relay held at Irish Eyes in Lewes. The race took runners down Cedar and Bay avenues before heading to Cape Henlopen State Park for an out & back course toward Herring Point. The relay handoff was held in historic Fort Miles. Strider Enos Benbow, 32, of Georgetown easily won the half-marathon title in 1:23:29, while Daniel McConnell, 35, of Wilmington was second in 1:24:28. Elizabeth Swierzbinski, 26, of Wilmington was third overall to win the female title in 1:27:12, while 23-year-old Caitlin Maher of State College, Pa., was fifth overall in 1:28:35.
Winning the 5K event was a tough Dillon Gracey, 27, of Lake Orion, Mich., in a time of 16:46, while Kim Geyer of Millersville, Pa. won the female title in 23:13.
The event was the first in the new Irish Eyes 6-Pack Series with the next event, the Mother's Day Remembrance Run, to be held at 9 a.m., Saturday, May 10, in Lewes.
Boston Strong
A huge and emotionally charged Boston Marathon will be held Monday as thousands will toe the line for the 26.2-mile trip to the finish line. Last year’s marathon will be on everyone’s minds as several Delaware runners will make the trip. From the local area, Bobby Spath of Milford, Brandt Chi of Rehoboth Beach, Linda Schwartz-Chi of Rehoboth Beach, Bruce Clayton of Rehoboth Beach, Linda Reck of Rehoboth Beach, and Mary Beth Evans of Rehoboth Beach will go. (Evans will not compete due to injury). Good luck to all runners, and safe travels and safe racing.
