By
BUDDY HURLOCK
Staff
reporter
11/12/2000
FELTON — Champions old and new highlighted the afternoon at the 20th annual State Girls Cross Country Championships at Killens Pond State Park on Saturday.
In Division I, Brandywine slipped past St. Mark’s to win its third state title in four years. Heading the effort was Jenn Kutney, who won the 5-kilometer race in 19 minutes, 59 seconds. Kutney also won in 1998.
In Division II, Seaford edged Lake Forest for the title while Tatnall’s Meredith Lambert won in 19:13, a Division II meet record.
Brandywine outscored St. Mark’s 61-72, with Seaford ahead of Lake Forest 74-83.
The scoring breakdown for Brandywine’s top finishers was 1-9-11-13-27, with St. Mark’s finishing 2-8-17-22-23.
After Kutney, Bulldogs finishers were Kimmi Lopata, Leslie Wason, Alison Sanchez and Abby Nerlinger, with Jeanna Wood 29th and Hilary Taylor 35th.
Wason (21:14) capped a strong end-of-season run, after starting the year on Brandywine’s JV team. She was 13th overall at last year’s state meet.
“I really wanted to get back to where I was,” said Wason, who helped Brandywine to the New Castle County title last week. “That was my best race of the season, and that motivated me [Saturday].”
St. Mark's Jacki Justison was second at 20:06, followed by teammates Kristen Sullivan, Michelle Spadaro, Andrea Marinelli, Lisa Brothwood-Goldfarb, Katie Park (25th) and Nora Miller (26th).
Lambert came in as a heavy favorite to win the smaller schools race. She lowered the Division II meet record by two seconds, as Lake Forest's Holly Wilson won at Killens in 19:15 in 1998. Wilson was fourth Saturday (20:12).
Lambert came in 22 seconds ahead of Ursuline's Colleen Taylor, the defending champ.
"I was nervous about [Taylor], but I tried to run my own race and not think about the others," Lambert said. "I started out pretty well but I wasn't able to really maintain that pace as well as I wanted. I wanted to break 19 [minutes], but I was just glad to finish first by the end of it."
In the team battle, Seaford's top five were 5-9-15-22-23. Lake was second with a top five of 4-7-13-26-33.
Jenn Willis (20:45) was fifth for the Blue Jays, followed by Caitlin McGroerty (21:07), Greta Knapp (21:36), Kate LaPrad (22:01) and Cristina Garmendia (22:04).
CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSIHIPS
GIRLS DIVISION I
1-Brandywine 61, 2-St. Mark's 72, 3-Cape Henlopen 113, 4-Padua 119, 5-A.I. du Pont 150, 6-Caesar Rodney 154, 7-Middletown 171, 8-McKean 217, 9-Newark 290, 10-Dover 301, 11-Delcastle 302, 12-Christiana 344, 13-William Penn 349, 14-Sussex Tech 356, 15-Glasgow 365.
Individual. 1-Jenn Kutney, B, 19:59, 2-Jacki Justison, SM, 20:06, 3-Kashante Codner, CR, 20:26, 4-Erin Lord, Pad, 21:00, 5-Kasheka Codner, CR, 21:01, 6-Betsy Hicks, Cape, 21:07, 7-Sami Nimmerichter, Mid, 21:11, 8-Kristen Sullivan, SM, 21:11, 9-Kimmi Lopata, B, 21:13, 10-Brittany Morris, Cape, 21:14, 11-Leslie Wason, B, 21:14, 12-Jessica Dennis, Delc, 21:15, 13-Alison Sanchez, B, 21:22, 14-Carly Anderson, AI, 21:24, 15-Beth Redden, Cape, 21:25.
GIRLS DIVISION II
Team. 1-Seaford 74, 2-Lake Forest 83, 3-Ursuline 106, 4-Charter 153, 5-Archmere 168, 6-Milford 192, 7-St. Andrew's 193, 8-Hodgson 205, 9-St. Elizabeth 272, 10-Concord 296, 11-Tatnall 329, 12-Tower Hill 345, 13-Wilmington Christian 346, 14-Smyrna 413, 15-Caravel 423, 16-Mount Pleasant 425, 17-Dickinson 435, 18-Howard 465, 19-Laurel 468, 20-St. Thomas More 480, 21-Sussex Central 489.
Individual. 1-Meredith Lambert, Tat, 19:13 (meet record), 2-Colleen Taylor, Urs, 19:35, 3-Jessi Rivera, Mil, 19:59, 4-Holly Wilson, Lake, 20:12, 5-Jenn Willis, Seaf, 20:45, 6-Jill Brobst, Con, 20:52, 7-Lena Ewing, Lake, 20:56, 8-Julie Taylor, Urs, 21:03, 9-Caitlin McGroerty, Sea, 21:07, 10-Kenima Hall, How, 21:12, 11-Lydia Singer, WCS, 21:12, 12-Ashley Whitesell, Hod, 21:15, 13-Tina Knotts, Lake, 21:28, 14-Kristen Travers, Arch, 21:33, 15-Greta Knapp, Sea, 21:36.
BOYS DIVISION I
Team. 1-St. Mark's 44, 2-Salesianum 64, 3-Middletown 95, 4-Caesar Rodney 135, 5-Brandywine 146, 6-Newark 146, 7-McKean 157, 8-A.I. du Pont 170, 9-Cape Henlopen 208, 10-Dover 274, 11-William Penn 321, 12-Christiana 362, 13-Glasgow 378, 14-Delcastle 424, 15-Sussex Tech 428.
Individual. 1-Matt Gordineer, CR, 16:13, 2-Kyle Berseth, SM, 16:39, 3-Chris Coyne, SM, 16:42, 4-Brian Gladnick, SM, 16:47, 5-Kevin Winchell, Sal, 16:49, 6-Tom Hunt, Sal, 16:58, 7-Austin Knight, N, 16:59, 8-Mike Lahm, SM, 16:59, 9-Greg Whitton, CR, 17:00, 10-Paul Tuoni, McK, 17:00, 11-Andrew Bennett, McK, 17:11, 12-Dan Bowser, N, 17:12, 13-Jeff Wilber, Mid, 17:13, 14-Matt Ayars, Mid, 17:18, 15-Brian Monaghan, Sal, 17:19.
BOYS DIVISION II
1-Archmere 61, 2-Wilmington Christian 72, 3-Lake Forest 81, 4-Seaford 111, 5-Dickinson 145, 6-Hodgson 162, 7-Charter 218, 8-Sanford 305, 9-St. Andrew's 310, 10-Milford 318, 11-Mount Pleasant 351, 12-Tatnall 357, 13-Sussex Central 368, 14-Smyrna 398, 15-Tower Hill 394, 16-St. Thomas More 401, 17-Laurel 452, 18-Polytech 468, 19-Concord 472, 20-Caravel 531, 21-Howard 621.
Individual. 1-Chris Lucenoni, WCS, 17:10, 2-Mike Gleeson, Lake, 17:19, 3-Tim Hancock, Sanf, 17:21, 4-Jeff Raybould, WCS, 17:22, 5-Peter McBride, Arch, 17:22, 6-Chad Carpenter, Milf, 17:32, 7-Rich Heffron, Arch, 17:38, 8-Kyle Kershner, Tat, 17:39, 9-Jason Nista, Arch, 17:44, 10-Andrew Scarpetti, Hod, 17:47, 11-Scott Cherry, WCS, 17:51, 12-Mike Hazeltine, Lake, 17:52, 13-Eric Longo, Arch, 17:53, 14-Seth Elder, Sea, 17:55, 15-Cameron Fitzgerald, Sea, 17:56.
By BUDDY HURLOCK
Staff reporter
11/12/2000
FELTON -- St. Mark's lived up to the top billing it was sure it deserved, and Archmere Academy won a championship in a squeaker at the 47th annual State Boys Cross Country Championships on Saturday at Killens Pond State Park.
In the Division I race, St. Mark's broke Salesianum's six-year championship streak. The Spartans scored 44 team points, with Sallies second at 64.
Caesar Rodney's Matt Gordineer won the race, covering the 5-kilometer course in 16 minutes, 13 seconds.
The top three Division II schools -- Archmere, Wilmington Christian and Lake Forest -- each had five runners finish in the top 30. The Auks scored 61 points, with WCS second at 72 and Lake next at 81.
Chris Lucernoni won the Division II race in 17:10 to become Wilmington Christian's first cross country state champ.
Sallies' 1999 title was its 27th in 31 years. But St. Mark's recognized this year as its best chance to win since taking the title in 1993. Still, the Spartans started to doubt themselves after a narrow dual meet loss to Sallies late in the season.
"We had that one little slip," St. Mark's coach Joe O'Neill said. "Maybe it just was what we needed to realize that anything worthwhile is hard to get."
The Spartans put four runners in the top eight, including a 2-3-4 finish by Kyle Berseth (16:39), Chris Coyne (16:42) and Brian Gladnick (16:47). Mike Lahm (16:59) was eighth.
"That [dual-meet loss] put things in perspective," Gladnick said. "We realized that if we deserve this it's not just because we worked so hard. We had to reach out and take it."
Kevin Winchell (16:49, fifth) and Tom Hunt (16:58, sixth) paced Sallies.
Gordineer is the first Caesar Rodney individual winner since Steve Dunham in 1975.
"The start was slow, and that was a good thing," Gordineer said. "You don't want to burn yourself out. ... I know there were some really good runners, but you have to run scared when you're leading. I just had to push it as hard as I could."
Archmere's first four finishers were 5-7-9-13 in the Division II race. Peter McBride was fifth (17:22), followed by Rich Heffron (17:38), Jason Nista (17:44) and Eric Longo (17:53). Ryan McSpadden was 27th.
Archmere and Wilmington Christian fought nip and tuck all season. The Warriors' top three finished 1-4-11.
"It was pretty much back and forth all season, pretty competitive between us," McBride said. "Our parents had kept an unofficial score, but we didn't know."
By BUDDY HURLOCK
Staff reporter
11/14/2000
An eventful cross country season came to a rousing conclusion Saturday at Killens Pond State Park.
If anyone had said at day’s start that the widest winning margin would be between St. Mark’s and Salesianum (Division I boys), I would’ve asked park rangers to show them the exit.
But that’s what happened, as each race kept everyone intensely focused on stopwatches and clipboards. Closely bunched packs, closest to the top, won the championships.
“After our first meet,” said Seaford coach Vince Morris, “our times were just so close together.”
In Division II girls, Seaford edged Lake Forest 74-83. The Division II boys saw Archmere slip past Wilmington Christian and Lake Forest, 61-72-81.
“All season long we’ve been running in that pack and [Saturday] we had a different five finish," Morris said. "Our girls were that close together. If someone doesn't have a good day there's somebody else to pick up the slack."
Most coaches, including Morris, eventually knew their team had won. But they held back the good news from their runners, just in case of a miscount.
It made for high emotion as each of the races' team scores were read in reverse order, spawning a celebratory hug between Seaford's Jenn Willis and Caitlin McGroerty.
"We all ran our best," said Willis. "We went to running camp, and then that's when we knew we had something."
The Division I races were also competitive, as the Brandywine girls were nearly caught by St. Mark's. The Bulldogs won 61-72.
"Initially, the girls were disappointed," said St. Mark's coach Joe O'Neill. "The girls did want to win. We thought we could do it and each one of my girls tried their best. I couldn't have asked for them to do any more."
O'Neill did get to celebrate a boys title, his second in 32 seasons, as St. Mark's topped Sallies 44-64.
Salesianum's Charlie Dielmann, second-team All-State in 1999, ran sparingly this year because of a broken arm. He was 52nd Saturday in 18:34.
"He was healthy enough to try to race and gave the best he could," said Sallies coach Ralph Heiss. "But he knew in the middle of the race he didn't have it. ... That's a team player. And St. Mark's is a worthy champion. The way they ran, they proved that they were the best overall team."
Among other highlights:
• Caesar Rodney sisters Kashante and Kasheka Codner finishing third and fifth in the Division I girls race. Makes you wonder what might have been had Jill Hajec remained healthy.
• CR's Matt Gordineer and Wilmington Christian's Chris Lucernoni winning their respective divisions. Gordineer's achievement was special, since individual champs from downstate are rare in the Division I boys race.
• Among girls, Ursuline's Colleen Taylor made the victory by Tatnall's Meredith Lambert not too much of a runaway. Taylor and Lambert, as well as Milford's Jessi Rivera and Brandywine's Jenn Kutney, each beat the 20-minute mark. It was also nice to see Lake Forest's Holly Wilson bounce back from stress-fracture problems and finish fourth among Division II girls in 20:12.