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Running

Beacon and Mariner finish off dual-meet season

May 2, 2014

The Mariner boys outscored the Milford boys 61-38 in middle school track action, led by double event winner Isaiah Morris, who won the long jump in 17-feet-10-inches and the high jump in 5-feet even. Other highlights include Isaac Whaley winning the hurdles in a good time of 16.0 seconds, while Aidan Spoor continues to have a fine season, winning the 800 meters in 2:20.7. Christian Partlow won the 400-meter dash, while Zach Gilbert won the 100-meter dash. Turrayana Wright won the hurdles for the Mariner girls in 10.0 seconds, while Marley Enright won the 800-meter run. The Milford girls topped Mariner 59-35.

On the Beacon side of the action, the girls won 90-21 over Milford and put together their fourth straight undefeated season led by an impressive 15-meet performance by sprinter/jumper Alia Marshall. Marshall won the long jump in 16-feet-1-inch, the triple jump in 33-feet-4-inches, and the 200-meter dash in 26.9 seconds for a new school record and a time in the National Top 10. All three performances would place in the high school conference championships in Delaware for this talented seventh-grader. Eighth-grader Annie Judge led off the meet running her final dual-meet 55-meter hurdle race in 9.1 seconds and has never been beaten by anyone outside of a Beacon uniform, while talented sixth-grader Rose Minni won the 100 meters. Logan Shuttleworth returned from an injury to win the 1,600 meters in 6:13, while Zoe Callard won the 800 meters in 2:58. Cerra Middleton won the shot put in 31-feet-4-inches and the discus in 69-feet-10-inches.

For the boys, Dane Palmer won the 400-meter dash, the long jump in 18-feet-1-inch for a new school record and anchored the 800-meter relay team. DeMarcus Perry set the school record in the shot put in 44-feet-6-inches as well as the school record in the discus in 126-feet-3-inches. Curtis Purnell continues to excel in the sprints, as he won the 100-meter dash, the 200-meter dash and anchored the 400-meter relay team. Sam Nye won the 1,600-meter run in 5:22, while Garrett Elgin won the triple jump. Ryan Head won the high jump.

Palmer, Purnell, Nye, Robert Marsh and Ben Anderson will compete Friday at the McKinnon Invite in individual events.

Delaware Invite

Last Saturday in a unique high school and college track meet at the University of Delaware, the Cape Vikings competed and were able to see former high school athletes like Shanel Dickens, Hannah Pepper and Paige Morris also compete for the Blue Hens of Delaware. The meet is a great concept for recruiting, and the high school athletes can see the competition intensify as high school athletes turn to college athletes. One of the biggest adjustments a high school athlete has to make is that as a college athlete they will focus on one area or event instead of four different areas or events in high school. The focus in college is more on the performance, the time or the distance, rather than scoring points for a dual-meet win in high school.

The training at the college level is geared more toward your event, like the long jump or the triple jump and you don’t see too many distance runner and pole vault combinations as you do in high school.

Little Mac wins the Steeplechase

Cape distance runner Madison MacElrevey competes in events from the 400-meter dash all the way to the 3,200-meter run, and races well anywhere she is placed. She is a perfect example of a team player for coach George Pepper who usually has her hand up, saying, “Sure, I’ll do it.” The one thing coach Pepper can count on is that she will give what she has in her tank each time out, and for a track coach that is what most of us look for - a 100 percent effort. Last Saturday at the University of Delaware, the meet director added a high school 2,000-meter steeplechase where athletes have to hurdle multiple barriers each lap as well as one of the barriers being the water jump. The water jump is a barrio that you step on and jump over the water, with the idea being that maybe one foot will land in the water, and most good steeplechasers remain pretty dry. Madison won the high school girls' race in a time of 8:34, setting a new Cape school record as the first person to ever compete in the race, while Alyssa Mocci also competed, finishing fifth in 9:37. I ran 9:20 in college in the 3,000-meter steeple for Delaware State, which is five minutes per mile pace for two miles and finished last in my college debut race at Franklin Field. The problem I kept having is I would hurdle the water jump by mistake and before I knew it I was wading in water neck deep. Congratulations, Maddy and Alyssa for trying the steeplechase - most viewers do not realize, but this event is definitely one of the most difficult in a college track meet.

McKinnon Invite

The Rich McKinnon Championship Invitational will be held Friday, May 2, at Mount Pleasant High School in Claymont, with 14 of the best middle schools from the area competing in the event. The gathering of the top teams should produce some top track and field performances. There has not been a team from below the canal ever participating in the meet, but this year the Beacon girls' team and a group of individual boys have qualified to take part in the meet that will end the Beacon season. It will be a great opportunity to showcase some downstate talent in the sport. Both Beacon teams finished undefeated this season, the first in quite a while for the boys and the fourth in a row for the girls' team. The girls also captured the Jim Blades Invitational, while the boys were second overall.

Upcoming races

Saturday, May 3 - 4th Delaware Tech Roady 5K, Georgetown, seashorestriders.com.

Saturday, May 3 - Big Fish Grill 5K for CHEF, Rehoboth, races2run.com.

Sunday, May 4 - 4th Delaware State Police/Camp Barnes 10K/5K/1M walk, Bethany Beach, seashorestriders.com.

Sunday, May 4 - Daffodil Dash for Spring, Lewes, races2run.com.

Saturday, May 10 - 6th Mother’s Day Remembrance 5K, Irish Eyes Series No. 2, Lewes, seashorestriders.com.

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