Cape girls capture Tidewater Invitational in Salisbury

The Cape Henlopen girls’ cross country team captured the title at the Tidewater Invitational in Salisbury, Md., Oct. 3, with a team score of 68 points, 20 points ahead of second-place Northwest with 88 points. A total of 23 teams competed in the meet. The Vikings put three runners in the top 11, and, more impressively, the top six runners for the Vikings were freshmen and sophomores.

“Both teams ran well today given the warm conditions,” said coach Matt Lindell. “Most of our runners are ahead of where they were at this point last year, and they are running with a pack mentality. Today, our boys today had a 59-second differential from 1-5 and our girls had a 60-second differential between 1-5. Once we get Mother Nature to provide us with cooler weather, I believe we will see another major improvement in our times as we get closer to the championship phase of our season.”

Cape was paced with a seventh-place finish out of Mia Neubling in a time of 21:31, while sophomore Aya Daisey was ninth in 21:58. Freshman Liz Melson finished 11th in 22:05, while sophomore Taylor Johnson was 20th in 22:31. Sophomore Caroline Maull rounded out the top five in 21st with a 22:33. Sophomore Lindsay Rambo ran 23:05 for 29th, while senior Hadley Rhue was 49th in 24:09, sophomore Amaya Daisey ran 24:35 and senior Erin Cannon ran 24:43. Cape’s top runner Olivia Brozefsky did not travel for the meet.

Hannah Murphy paced Sussex Tech with a time of 22:30, while Alex Herber paced Milford with a time of 22:22.  Another local and former Seashore Striders runner, Myranda Beebe of Rehoboth, was 27th in 22:56 for Worcester Prep.

Following Cape in the team scoring was Sussex Tech in fifth with 149 points, Milford in seventh with 209 points, Polytech in 10th with 296 points and Dover in 11th with 318 points.  Sussex Central was 14th, while Woodbridge was 16th and Delmar had an incomplete score with only four runners.

On the boys’ side of the action, the Vikings grabbed second place in the field with 95 points, well behind champion Northwest with 45 points.

Delmar senior sensation Austen Cave ran 15:50 to average 5:06 a mile and easily get the win over Nahom Ftwi of Northwest who was second in 16:34. Sussex Tech runner Ryan Morrow was eighth overall in 17:05, while Nate Guy of Dover was 10th in 17:26. For the Cape Vikings, John DiStefano finished 11th to lead the way with a time of 17:30, while Kolbe O’Donnell was 12th in 17:33, Tristan Holland was 21st in 18:21, Bryan Ciabattoni was 25th in 18:26 and Owen Allen was 26th in 18:29.

Dover, Polytech and Sussex Tech teams placed fourth through sixth overall.

The Vikings will compete in the always-tough Salesianum Invitational this Saturday, Oct. 6, at Brandywine Creek State Park, home of the Delaware State Championships in November.

Striders to host Open Cross Country Meet

The Youth Seashore Striders will host an open Cross Country Invitational Saturday, Oct. 13, at the College of Earth, Ocean and Environment in Lewes. The meet is open to any runner age 14 & under, and there will be four courses, from 1K to 4K. Runners do not have to be on an organized team to compete in the meet. The entry fee is $10 and you can register on race day. For more information, go to www.seashorestriders.com.

Fall Speedwork 101

My oldest, Jake Bamforth, is into the triathlon circuit in Florida and training for the Great Floridian Sprint Triathlon on Oct. 20, just outside Orlando in Clearmont, Fla. The Great Floridian is a full ironman triathlon, as well as an aqua bike, a relay, a sprint triathlon and an open-water swim. There’s something for every multisport athlete, and this is one of the oldest and most popular events in the United States.

Jake recently won the Fort De Soto Triathlon Series, and Oct. 3, Jake stepped on the track for the first time since his high school senior year in 2014 for a speedwork session at the University of Tampa track facility.  Jake did three sets of 800-400-400 with a minute rest between each and three minutes’ rest between sets. Jake averaged just over a five-minute mile pace for each of the sets and said it was one of the hardest workouts he has done since his days with coach Lou Nicoletti at Sussex Tech. Truthfully, I told Jake that I do not think he could have done that workout in high school, and he is in much better shape now as a 21-year-old than back then as a 17-year-old.