Cape XC teams win Lake Forest Cross Country Festival

The Cape Henlopen boys’ and girls’ cross country teams kicked off their seasons in dominant fashion Sept. 7, at the Lake Forest Cross Country Festival in Felton, sweeping the large-school team titles and delivering some quick early season times.

Three months after a breakout outdoor track season that saw him clock 9:28 for 3,200 meters, junior Jason Baker came to Lake’s Killens Pond course fitter than ever. The 2023 DIAA Division I bronze medalist gapped the field after a mile and broke the tape in a personal best of 16:01, triumphing by 42 seconds. An army of Columbia blue and gold followed him home, as junior Riley Stazzone (fourth in a personal best of 17:13), junior Brayden Redd (sixth, 17:38), freshman Nick Petito (eighth, 17:56) and junior Andrew Radka (12th, 18:27) all medaled. Petito’s showing was particularly noteworthy, as it may represent the fastest ninth-grade debut in school history. 

The Vikings collected 31 points, outpacing Caesar Rodney (74) to put hardware on the bus. Cape also won the large-school/small-school results merge, finishing with 59 points to pip St. Andrew’s by two.

The Cape girls were paced by senior Hailey Hassell, who stopped the clock in 22:00 to earn fourth. Also scoring were promising freshmen Claudia Stazzone (sixth, 22:33) and Lindsay Hassell (10th, 23:21), junior Zoe Miller (11th, 23:35), and senior Ally Miller (14th, 23:49). The Vikings’ 45-point total was 35 clear of runner-up Caesar Rodney.

“Our preparation for meet one is all about building a foundation in the preseason,” Cape coach Matt Lindell said. “From there, we continue to build on that foundation in the early season, chip away at times, and go after [personal records]. This meet was a good benchmark to see where we are.”  

Lindell had high praise for Baker and others. 

“Jason put in a great summer and had many others training with him,” Lindell said. “They’re seeing the fruits of their hard work over the summer." 

The Sussex Academy boys’ team finished third in the small-school division. The Seahawks’ top runner of the day was Ryan Moody, who logged a time of 17:22 for 10th overall. Duncan Winger ran to a time of 17:51.3 for 15th overall. 

Katya Geyer led the girls’ team to a third-place finish in the small-school division with a time of 21:34 for ninth overall. Taking 10th and 11th, respectively, were Riley Moriarty (21:49) and Brianna Sordi (22:03).