By Chuck Durante, For the State News

GREENVILLE - On Delaware's toughest course Saturday, Jill Hajec showed that she has overcome last year's stress fracture and returned to the top of Delaware high school cross country class.Pulling away after two miles, the Caesar Rodney High standout beat her prime First State rivals to win Class B, for medium-sized schools, in the 28th Salesianum Cross Country Invitational at Brandywine Creek State Park.Returning to the 5,000-meter course where she won the 1999 state title, Hajec finished in a time of 20:42 to vanquish her likeliest Division I challengers. That group includes 1998 state champ Jenn Kutney of Brandywine (second in 20:58) and Brandywine freshman Jessica Leitsch, who beat Hajec at Lake Forest two weeks ago (third in 21:06).

Meredith Lambert, a Pennsylvanian who runs for Tatnall, had the best time for a Delaware girl, winning the small schools division in 19:54.

Run on Delaware's hilliest course, the Salesianum meet is Delaware's biggest fall carnival with 60 schools, from Long Island to Virginia, and nearly 1,500 varsity and JV runners taking part.

Alan Webb of South Lakes (Va.), who last spring became America's first sub-4 minute high school miler since 1967, won this meet two years ago.

Though Hajec's time was 69 seconds slower than her state title run of two years ago, she has five weeks left to peak before this year's state meet. Last week, she missed several days with a cold. Last year, a stress fracture prevented her from defending her state and Henlopen Conference championships. Hajec's remedy has been steady running.  I continue to run all year round," she said. "It helps prevent injury. It keeps the legs strong and the calcium level high."

Hajec and freshman Elizabeth Paul (11th) led CR to fourth-place finish among 17 schools in its division. The Riders ended up behind winner Brandywine and Padua and ahead of Middletown, Seaford, Cape Henlopen and Dover.Other than Hajec, a senior who hopes to attend West Point, coach Charlie Bell's Riders are a young team.

Cape Henlopen's boys established themselves as an early favorite in the Henlopen Conference. Matt Jackson (seventh in 17:57) and Matt Riggin (20th in 18:20) led Cape to seventh place in the medium schools group.

The Vikings finished just behind defending state champion St. Mark's. With Andrew Freeman (18:30) and former football player Greg Swift (18:42), Cape has a strong four-man nucleus. If coach Pat Pollock can develop a fifth strong finisher, the Vikings may be among the best teams in the state.

Milford's Chad Carpenter finished eighth in the small-schools division. It capped a week in which he finished first among 185 runners at the Salisbury Invitational, where Czar Bloom's young Bucs finished first among 24 teams. Carpenter hopes to go under 17 minutes to break Chris Ayers' 15-year-old school record. Milford sophomore Amy Mallamo finished 13th in the girls race.

Seaford's Caitlin McGroerty, who has lost just once in dual meets so far, finished eighth in 21:42 to lead Seaford to seventh in the medium-school division, ahead of upstate powers McKean and A.I. du Pont.

Charles Gibson and Gary Smith finished in the top 40 to help Jim Solomon's improved Dover team finish 10th among 18 medium schools.

Chuck Durante is a free-lance writer living in Wilmington.