Dover, Delaware, CR win conference crowns

Race winner Liz Paul of Caesar Rodney leads a pack that includes Dover's Jasmine Baldwin, right. Staff photo by John King

By Gary King

Staff writer

FELTON - The Dover High boys and the Caesar Rodney girls both won team titles in convincing fashion at the Henlopen Conference Cross Country Championships at Killens Pond State Park Saturday afternoon. Both teams also won the regular-season titles.

The Dover boys team won the end of the season championship for the first time since 1988 and the regular season title was the school's first since 1973.

It was a great day for Dover High School, said Dover head coach Jim Solomon. This was just a great day for our program.

We will see what we can do next week at the state championships. We have to get our fifth man healthy. Gary (Smith) has a great commitment and he has great courage and is capable of running in the mid 17s so we will see.

Smith finished 46th at the meet Saturday and has been hampered by back problems all season.

Charles Gibson led Dover, winning the individual championship with a time of 16:53. Gibson ran a 16:43 at the Lake Forest Invitational earlier this season on the Killens course.

Milford senior Chad Carpenter finished second place just nine seconds behind Gibson.

I didn't know whether I would make it and I jumped out at the midway point, I just felt like I had the energy to do it then, Gibson said.

Chad was right on my shoulder the entire race and I thought he was going to get me. We are good friends and have had a great relationship since we met each other. I want to enjoy the win today for a little bit and if I am not ready to contend for a state championship I don't think I will ever be.

Pat Boyle finished third, Richard Worley fifth and Aaron Baldwin sixth to ice the win for the Dover boys.

Saturday's crisp but sunny fall day was a welcome change from Wednesday when the Kent County meet was run under cold and rainy conditions.

The weather today wasn't bad after running the county meet earlier this week in wind, rain and cold, said Carpenter.

They changed the rule and allowed us to bundle up some and that really helped,

Caesar Rodney finished second. B.J. Friend finished in seventh place to lead the Riders while Kyle Luke finished eighth.

Greg Swift led third-place Cape Henlopen with a fourth-place finish. John Worrall led eighth-place Smyrna with a 10th-place showing and Kyle Morgan finished in 14th to lead fifth-place Seaford.

The Caesar Rodney girls continued its dominance by winning the team's second straight Henlopen Conference Championship and its third straight regular-season title.

Sophomore Elizabeth Paul won the individual championship for the Riders with a time of 20:03

The girls did a fine job again, and Elizabeth Paul did a fine job today to get the individual win, said Caesar Rodney coach Charlie Bell, whose team will try to defend its state title next week.

My focus now is to keep everyone healthy and keep the girls spirits up.

Rider Kashante Codner finished second while Jenny Friend was fourth. Kasheka Codner finished in eighth while Ashlee Miller placed 11th and Natalie Robbins finished 14th.

I think our team's effort just showed how hard everyone has worked this season, Kashante Codner said.

Losing (standout graduate) Jill (Hajec) made us all work harder from the start. We want to defend our title next weekend.

Seaford, which finished second, was led by Caitlin McGroety who finished third. Amy Mallamo led third-place Cape Henlopen with a fifth-place finish. Allyson Wilson led fourth-place Lake Forest with a ninth-place showing while Jasmine Baldwin lifted Dover to fifth with a sixth-place finish. Seventh-place Sussex Tech was led by Rebecca Singh who finished 12th.