Saint Mark’s edges Cape in XC action
The Cape cross country teams hosted Sussex Tech and Saint Mark’s Sept. 16 on the rain-soaked Sandhill Fields 5,000-meter course in Georgetown.
The traditionally fast course had several areas where athletes were slowed by mud along and the popular 13-foot wide bridge became very slippery.
“I would not say that today was the normal fast Sandhill course because of the race conditions with the water and mud,” said Cape assistant coach Martin Rodriguez. “The times were still impressive, and many still ran their fastest of the season.”
The Cape boys, a Division I team, and visiting Saint Mark’s, now a Division II team, matched up well on paper, with each team having a sub-16 minute front runner and a top five that has gone under the 17-minute mark.
The race up front went as planned, as Cape’s Jason Baker and the Spartans’ Alec Jurgaitis, both seniors, raced stride for stride through a 4:55 opening mile and 10:02 at the two-mile mark. With 800 meters to go, the pace picked up. With 400 meters to go, they both went into a higher gear again. Baker had the slight edge coming off the three-mile mark in 15:05 and held on for the win in 15:37. Jurgaitis was a step behind in 15:38. The final mile covered in an impressive negative split of 5:03.
The Spartans put all five of their scorers under 17 minutes and in the top eight, while sixth runner junior Landon Baker also broke 17 minutes in ninth in 16:52. Senior Abner Murillo and junior Evan Paskevicius grabbed the important third and fourth position in 16:14 and 16:26, respectively, to hold off Cape senior Riley Stazzone, who was fifth in 16:27.
Senior Connor Wrinn of Saint Mark’s held off Cape sophomore Nick Petito in 16:35 for sixth place, with Petito running 16:39 for seventh. Saint Mark’s closed the door when fifth man Nate Plouffe crossed the finish in eighth in 16:50.
Cape’s fourth finisher Andrew Radka finished 10th in 17:05, while senior Brayden Redd finished 11th in 17:10 to complete the Vikings’ scoring.
Cape freshmen duo, Dylan Harp and Jude Peacock, each ran impressive races of 17:26 and 18:10 for 14th and 15th place.
Senior Bennett Brumbley led Sussex Tech in 21st place in 18:37.
In the team scores, the visiting Spartans beat Cape 23-34, while Cape topped Sussex Tech 15-50.
The Saint Mark’s girls were equally successful, as they beat the Cape girls 25-30 in a closer meet, while Cape topped Sussex Tech by a 16-47 final.
Sophomore Natalie Murillo won the girls’ race in a time of 20:00, while senior Natalie Schneider of Cape was second in 20:24. Saint Mark’s grabbed third and fourth with sophomore Sadie Trumbull in 20:28 and senior Tessa Palm in 20:51.
The Vikings grabbed the fifth through seventh to make the meet interesting, with sophomore Claudia Stazzone in fifth in 20:53, junior Logan Crotty in sixth in 21:15 and freshman Bree Terhune in 21:33 for seventh.
Spartans senior Aleksandra Kushkieva finished a solid ninth in 22:24, while junior Olivia Hardy finished 10th in 22:26 to round out St. Mark’s scoring.
Just behind in 11th was Cape’s final scorer, sophomore Alisa Tsirtsan, in 22:54.
Junior Savannah Stevenson led Sussex Tech in eighth place in 21:37, nearly a minute faster than her run last week on the same course.
Sussex Academy
Senior Ryan Moody ran a nice time of 16:07 at Sandhill Fields Sept. 17 to lead his Sussex Academy team over Seaford 15-50 and Indian River 16-39. Moody’s time moves him from third to second on the Henlopen Conference top 20 list.
Will Parker and Ben Moody were second and third, respectively, each in 18:31, while Seth Moore finished fourth in 18:45. Rounding out the scoring for the Seahawks was young Nolan Furlong in 19:04 for sixth place.
The girls’ individual times were not available by deadline, but Sussex Academy went 2-0 with wins of 15-50 over Seaford and 20-35 over Indian River. The top five was Riley Moriarty of Sussex Academy, Leila Hernandez of Indian River, Jordan Blades of Sussex Academy, Katya Geyer of Sussex Academy and Teagan Forester of Sussex Academy.
Henlopen Conference XC Top 10
Boys - 1. Jason Baker, Cape, 15:32; 2. Ryan Moody, Sussex Academy, 16:07; 3. Riley Stazzone, Cape, 16:21; 4. Evan Easton, Caesar Rodney, 16:39; 5. Brayden Redd, Cape, 16:45; 6. Nick Petito, Cape, 16:39; 7. Andrew Radka, Cape, 16:55; 8. Eli Parfitt, Milford, 17:14; 9. Jonathan Bush, Caesar Rodney, 17:15; 10. Joshua Cohen, Cape, 17:19.
Girls - 1. Morgan Thompson, Caesar Rodney, 19:39; 2. Claudia Stazzone, Cape, 19:48; 3. Natalie Schneider, Cape, 20:13; 4. Riley Moriarty, Sussex Academy, 20:38; 5. Jordan Blades, Sussex Academy, 21:11; 6. Logan Crotty, Cape, 21:15; 7. Lindsay Mollura, Polytech, 21:17; 8. Bree Terhune, Cape, 21:23; 9. Grace Walker, Smyrna, 21:23; 10. Vivian Klige, Caesar Rodney, 21:33.
Finish Chute
More than 100 folks turned out for the second annual Prostate Cancer Walk at Cape Henlopen State Park led by Coast TV’s Paul Williams and his team.
Dover High graduate Sean Saxton, a multi-champion in the local Dave Reynolds Biathlon, won the overall title in the Ironman Michigan 70.3 in a time of 4:01:14. Sean ran the half marathon in 1:18:31 and finished four seconds ahead of a fast-closing Drew Nesbitt who ran 1:15:04.
If the half was 13.2, it may have been a different story, but a half is a half.
