Ryan Baker runs 15:36 at Nike Cross Country Regionals
Several members of the Cape Henlopen cross country team trekked down to WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, N.C., Nov. 26 for the Nike Cross Nationals Southeast Regional. The meet included nearly 1,100 athletes from 11 states and Washington, D.C., and the Vikings acquitted themselves well against high-level competition.
Lehigh-bound senior Ryan Baker led the way with a 21st-place finish in the boys’ championship race. His time of 15:36.6 – a blazing 5:01 per mile – was a season best and represented a 22-second improvement over his showing at last year’s meet. It also stands as the fastest 5K by any Delaware high schooler in 2022. Senior Katie Kuhlman clocked 19:32.8 to take 99th in the girls’ championship race, while junior Joey DeGregory stopped the clock in 17:13 to finish 207th on the boys’ side.
In the boys’ open section, a contingent of Cape harriers placed 19th of 29 scoring teams. Senior Liam O’Donnell (42nd, 17:00), junior Max Gillen (113th, 17:39), freshman Brayden Redd (180th, 18:31), freshman Jason Baker (208th, 18:45) and senior Declan Morrissey (209th, 18:46) scored for the Vikings. Morrissey made a bit of a scene near the two-mile mark, when an unidentified man tossed him a meatball left over from the previous night’s athletes’ dinner. Morrissey caught it in stride and gulped it down, cementing himself as a legend of some kind or another.
Coach Matt Lindell and the Vikings were treated to something special in the girls’ championship race, as Morgantown (W.Va.) senior Irene Riggs ran a mind-boggling 16:02 to record the second-fastest girls’ 5K in American cross country history. Team members also got the chance to meet world championship finalist and 3:51-miler Craig Engels, a Carolina native who was on hand as a Nike representative.
