The Harrington Harrier, Matt Sparacino, 47, easily took the overall male title at the Lover’s Lane Valentine’s 5K in Rehoboth Beach Feb. 15, recording a time of 18:40, averaging six minutes a mile. Caleb Abbott, 24, of Georgetown finished third overall in a time of 20:27 to win the 20-29 age group. Paul Montini, 57, of Huntingdon Valley, Pa., finished fourth in 20:57 to capture the male masters championship, while Kevin Kennedy, 29, of Ocean View was sixth overall in 21:20. Wrapping up the male top five finishers was Dylan Green, 21, of Ashburn, Va., in 21:57.  

Andrea Stevko, 31, of Northampton, Pa., finished second overall in 20:21 to average 6:33 per mile. Melissa Wiley, 39, of Ocean City, Md., ran 21:02 to finish 40 seconds back in fifth place and claim the 30-39 age group. Kelsey Oliphant, 32, of Laurel finished ninth overall in 22:14, while Alexis Oliphant, 32, finished 10th overall in 22:38. Masters runner Mardiny Ung, 58, of Elizabethtown, Pa., finished 14th in 23:33 to claim the masters title. 

The event began with a kids’ Cupid Dash, with a handful of runners racing bikers Joe and Doug down the Rehoboth Boardwalk and back. The 5K kicked off next with just over 150 participants.  

Jamie Hicks of Milford beat hubby Robert by two places. The Hickses are both 47, and each won the 40-49 age group, with Jamie at 23:39 and Robert at 23:56.

The cutest couple award went to Laurie and Kevin Milnes, as Kevin wore the “LO” and Laurie wore the “VE” for a creative Valentine’s project.  A quick glance looked as if Kevin was wearing “LOL.”

Striders supporter Tabitha Palkewicz of Fruitland, Md., was the third finisher across the line in the 40-49 age group in 26:30, just two seconds ahead of the fourth-place finisher, Kimberly Nguyen of Washington D.C. However, Nguyen’s chip time of 26:26 bested Palkewicz’s time of 26:29 to give Nguyen third and Palkewicz fourth. What this means is that one started near the front and the other started near the back. Age groups are based on chip time, beginning when a runner crosses the starting-line mat and ending when they cross the finish line.

Richard Tikiob is now in a new age group of 70-plus, where he finished third in 27:20. If my man Richard decided to train just four days a week and sell houses the other three days, he would go low 22 in a 5K this summer and be very competitive. Michael Dobak of Lewes is 27 and ran 29:11 to finish with Robert Dobak of Lewes who is 54 and ran 29:12.

How about Abby Bryson of Lewes at age 11 running 29:13 to win the 10-13 group, while Lexi Bryson, 14, of Lewes ran 29:15 to win the 14-19 age group?

A nice Valentine’s moment happened when Parker Bishop, 14, of Lewes ran with mom Rebecca Bishop, 46, and hit the line in 37:38.

Jamie Wollard at age 86 finished under an hour for the 5K.

Kathleen Gallagher, 66, and Bernie Gallagher, 84, closed up the event in 1:04:49 and it was a Lover’s Lane 5K wrap! 

DIAA Championships

Cape Henlopen, Sussex Central and Sussex Academy, all from the lower part of the state, will head to compete in the DIAA State Indoor Track & Field Championships this Saturday at the Ott Center in Philadelphia. The Cape boys have set some impressive school records this season and should be in the mix for the team title. In my opinion, the Vikings spread out through 13 events better than any team in the state, and I see the Vikings boys scoring in 11 events on the day. Of course, anything can happen, as we well know, and of course all athletes have to show up and perform on the same day, but my prediction is the Vikings bring it home. Get the fire trucks ready, Bill Henry. Good luck to all our local athletes.

State flashback

I was coaching the last Cape state championship team at the University of Delaware Fieldhouse in 1993, when we were down 22 points to Sallies heading into the triple jump. We needed 24 in that event. My fourth-best triple jumper, Nashon Selby, could go over 44 feet, while my other three (Willie Savage, Bruce Pitts and Art Hugger) could all go over 45 feet, so I felt pretty good about our chances. Two hours later, with all upstate eyes on every jump, we got our 24 points and loaded the trophy into the Cape station wagon. I took the boys to McDonald’s for a Happy Meal celebration. Willie Savage scored 38 points that day, and we only scored on the track in one event – Willie’s second place in the 55-meter hurdles. We scored eight points on the track and like 57 in the field with only five scorers.