Mariner, Beacon track teams head to Jim Blades Invitational

The sun is back (for this weekend), and track & field is in the air in the Cape Region, as the Beacon and Mariner track & field teams are off and running. This past week, Beacon hosted a quad meet marathon with Mariner, Selbyville and Milford.

When the dust had settled, the young Beacon girls added three wins to their season total to walk (or run) away 5-0, while the Beacon boys came away 1-2 and have a 2-3 overall record. The Mariner boys’ team, under the direction of coach Kenny Riedel, also came away 1-2, topping Beacon by a score of 62-47, but losing to Milford 65-44 and Selbyville 55-54. The Beacon boys’ team topped Selbyville 55-54 and lost to Milford 78-31.

On the girls’ side, Mariner was 1-2, with a win over Selbyville 60-49 and losses to Beacon 80-29 and Milford 56-33. Beacon was 3-0 and raised its season record to 5-0 with wins over Mariner 80-29, Milford 89-20 and Selbyville 98-11.

Individual highlights for the Mariner boys include a double win by eighth-grader John Small, as he won the 55 hurdles to kick off the meet in a time of 9.6 and also won the triple jump in 35-feet-1-inch. Small also was second in the long jump in 16-feet-7-inches.

Mekhi Smith, an eighth-grader, won the high jump in 4-feet-8-inches and was second in the 55 hurdles in 9.7. Eighth-grader Dawson Clifton won a close 200 meters in 25.8 over Beacon sprinter Jordan Baines.

Baines, an eighth-grader, was the only individual winner for Beacon, as he took the 100 meters in 12.3.

Beacon also won the 400-meter relay with a team of sixth-graders Jeremiah Jackson, Ruben Lourenco, Julian Calloway and Baines in a good time of 51.7.

Individual highlights on the girls’ side include the meet’s high scorer Mariner’s Reagan Ciabattoni, an eighth-grader, who won three events, capturing the 400 meters in 1:07.0, the long jump in 15-feet-4-inches, and the triple jump in 32-feet-6-inches.

The Beacon girls won eight of the 13 events to lead the way. Seventh-grade thrower Haley Archambault captured the shot in a personal best 27-feet-1-inch and the discus in 61-feet-6-inches. Eighth-grader Tia Jarvis won the 100 meters in 13.6 and anchored the winning 400 relay in a time of 54.6. Eighth-grader Mehkia Applewhite won the 200 meters in 28.4, while sixth-grader Lainey Shockro won her very first 800 meters in 2:50.2. Eighth-grader Noelle Sabbagh won the 55 hurdles in 9.5, while Beacon won the 800 relay in 2:04.1  

Both Mariner and Beacon will travel to the state’s largest middle school invitational this Friday at Lake Forest High School in Felton. The Beacon girls have won six team titles and the last five in a row. The Beacon boys won in 2015. The Mariner boys won a close four-point meet last year over Milford.

"This is our first real test to see how the kids respond to a big-meet atmosphere with 12 to 14 teams," said coach Gilbert Maull. "Last year, we lost so many eighth-grade point scorers that this year we are very young with a lot of first-year athletes. But we are sitting at 5-0, and every meet a few more kids rise up and surprise us. I like where we are right now, and I like the direction we are going."

Hustle 4 Hooch 5K

The inaugural Hustle 4 Hooch 5K Run and Walk will take off from the Gordons Pond trailhead at 9 a.m., Sunday, April 15, in Rehoboth Beach. Custom wood awards will go to the top three finishers in 10 age groups. T-shirts are guaranteed to all preregistered participants. Registration will remain on through Saturday at noon at www.seashorestriders.com and will continue race day from 8 to 8:50 a.m. at Gordons Pond. Race-day registration fee is $25.  

All proceeds will go to Grass Roots Rescue, an all-volunteer, 501c3 nonprofit group that saves dogs, cats and other animals that are at risk in shelters and in the community. For details, go to www.grrde.org.