News Journal Coverage
Division 2 Boys    Division 1 boys    Division 2 Girls    Division 1 Girls

Cape's pack carries the day

By BUDDY HURLOCK
Staff reporter
11/11/2001

BELLEVUE -- Putting six runners in the top 15 is usually enough to win a cross country meet.

Cape Henlopen accomplished that Saturday to win the Delaware High School Division II Boys Cross Country Championship at Bellevue State Park.

Tatnall sophomore Kyle Kershner won the 3.1-mile race in 16 minutes, 27 seconds.

In the team battle, Cape won 47-61 over Archmere, which had five runners in the top 20.

Cape won despite its best runner, Matt Jackson, having an off day. It was a runner the Vikings didn't even have in the preseason who led the way.

Cape senior Nick Adams, who didn't join the team until September, was the Vikings' top runner at 16:55.

"Early in the season, I was looking for a fifth man. We didn't have one until we got Nick," Cape coach Pat Pollock said.

Said Adams: "The coach had talked to me my sophomore year to come out. I just blew it off like it was no big deal. I'm very surprised. It still hasn't hit me yet."

Cape's win made the Henlopen Conference the first to win three of the four races at the state meet. The Caesar Rodney and Lake Forest girls teams won their races.

"I've burned out really bad at the end of races before, so I took it out slow and was probably 12th in the first mile," race winner Kershner said. "In the second mile, I started to pick off people."


The News Journal/GINGER WALL
The Division I boys race gets under way Saturday at Bellevue State Park.

 
RESULTS
Team: 1-Cape Henlopen 47, 2-Archmere 61, 3-Wilmington Christian 86, 4-Tatnall 167, 5-Dickinson 179, 6-Milford 201, 7-Hodgson 216, 8-Lake Forest 221, 9-St. Andrew's 238, 10-Sanford 341, 11-Smyrna 343, 12-Tower Hill 351, 13-Red Lion 361, 14-Seaford 378, 15-Mount Pleasant 381, 16-St. Thomas More 397, 17-Caravel 401, 18-Sussex Central 468, 19-Concord 515, 20-Polytech 551, 21-Howard 609.

Individual: 1-Kyle Kershner (Tat) 16:27, 2-Smith (TH) 16:47, 3-McBride (Arch) 16:50, 4-Adams (Cape) 16:55, 5-Holbrook (WCS) 16:55, 6-Freeman (Cape) 16:56, 7-Carpenter (Mil) 16:58, 8-Lucernoni (WCS) 17:04, 9-Heffron (Arch) 17:07, 10-Riggin (Cape) 17:07, 11-Reybould (WCS) 17:09, 12-Manlove (Arch) 17:09, 13-Jackson (Cape) 17:17, 14-Lemmon (Cape) 17:18, 15-Swift (Cape) 17:19.

 

 
Hajec back on top, takes CR with her

By BUDDY HURLOCK
Staff reporter
11/11/2001

BELLEVUE -- The comeback is complete for Jill Hajec.

After a season-ending ankle injury last year, the Caesar Rodney senior was an individual and team winner in the Delaware High School Division I Girls Cross Country Championship held Saturday at Bellevue State Park.

The Riders are the first Henlopen Conference team to win cross country's Division I girls title.

CR had four runners in the top eight to hold off Padua and defending champ Brandywine.

Hajec, also a state champ (in Division II) two years ago, had the fastest time among both championship girls races. She ran the 3.1-mile course in 19 minutes, 12 seconds.

She beat Brandywine's Jenn Kutney (19:45) and Jessica Leitsch (19:52), who were second and third, respectively, but the Bulldogs' next runner was 30th. Kutney won the Division I race the past two years.

"I felt I was in control almost the entire race,"said Hajec, who will attend West Point next year.

It was the first state title for CR coach Charlie Bell since winning with Dover Air's boys in 1971.

"I'm a little short on words," Bell said. "For me, this has been 30 years later. I'm just happy for the girls. They did everything I asked them to do and were really focused."

Sallies runners regain the crown

By BUDDY HURLOCK
Staff reporter
11/11/2001

BELLEVUE -- The Salesianum School boys cross country team can once again call itself the state champion.

With seven runners in the top 19, Sallies coasted to the title in the Delaware High School Division I Boys Cross Country Championship on Saturday at Bellevue State Park.

It is the Sals' 28th title in 33 years, after losing to St. Mark's last year.

Three Sallies juniors finished 1-2-3, including winner Tom Lord, who ran the 3.1-mile course in 16 minutes, 24 seconds.

Ryan Hamill (16:41) was second and Mike Zeberkiewicz (16:49) was third. Salesianum scored 28 points, with Middletown second at 78.

"Last year, we didn't win. We were trying to redeem ourselves," Lord said.

Said Hamill: "There's a lot to live up to, with the Sallies teams that have done so well before. But we thought about last year, about how we lost and how much we wanted to win this year."

Sallies' P.J. Meany (17:01) was seventh, followed by Liam Corey (15th, 17:11), Sean DeCecchis (18th, 17:20) and Joe Donnelly (19th, 17:24).

"It's great to be part of a strong team," DeCecchis said.

Newark's Austin Knight (16:53) was fourth and Middletown's Jeremy Lambert (16:57) fifth. Three other Middletown runners were in the top 20.

Tower Hill's Kline wins in upset

By BUDDY HURLOCK
Staff reporter
11/11/2001

BELLEVUE -- Tower Hill's Lisa Klein passed a staggering Meredith Lambert in the last 50 yards to win the Delaware High School Division II Girls Cross Country Championship held Saturday at Bellevue State Park.

Lake Forest edged Seaford for the team title 66-71.

Klein, a freshman, ran the 3.1-mile course in 19 minutes, 37 seconds.

Lambert (19:50) came in as the course record-holder and the defending champ.

"At the end, I saw her and I sprinted," said Klein, the first from Tower Hill to win the race. "I had no idea I had a chance to beat her."

Lambert was the first figure to pop up over a hill about 200 yards from the finish line, but the Tatnall senior was breaking down.

"I felt really confident going out and I didn't start out too fast," Lambert said. "The second mile, I started to feel tired, and it was just one of those days where it didn't go too well.

"The last stretch, I felt I was going to pass out. I don't know what was wrong but I just didn't feel that well."

Klein is the second Delaware runner to beat Lambert this year. The other was Brandywine's Jessica Leitsch at the mid-October Bellevue Invitational (Leitsch ran in the Division I race Saturday).

Lena Ewing (20:04) finished fourth to lead Lake Forest to the team title.

"Our girls have always worked together. It's always been seven. Not just one, two, three or five," Ewing said. "Without every single one of us, we couldn't have done what we did."