Caesar Rodney girls defend Delaware cross country title

Liz Paul's third-place finish led the Caesar Rodney girls to a state title in cross country Saturday at Killens Pond State Park. Special to the State News/Linda Laird

By Mike Lewis, Staff writer

FELTON - Sometimes in cross country, the events that occur in the middle of the pack are just as important as what happens in the front.

Caesar Rodney High's girls' team discovered that Saturday afternoon as it won the Division I title at the cross country state championships at Killens Pond State Park.

The Riders, who also won the Division I title last year, finished tied with Padua with 57 points but were awarded the tiebreaker by virtue of their sixth-place runner finishing higher. Points are awarded based on a school's top-five finishers.

CR's Natalie Robbins placed 19th overall while the Pandas' sixth-place runner came in 34th.

"This is the first time for that," said CR coach Charles Bell. "We've talked about the team aspect all season and that it takes seven runners. They really believe it's a team sport."

Sophomore Liz Paul paced the Riders with a third-place finish in 19:55 over the 3.1-mile course. Last week, Paul won the Henlopen Conference title in 20:03 on the same course.

"I feel comfortable running here," Paul said. "I was so happy when I found out the state meet would be here. It's a fun course."

Bell praised Paul's season-long efforts following the meet.

"She's been very consistent this year," Bell said. "She's not going to set the world on fire with speed but she's a blue-collar runner. She gets in there, does the job and does what she has to do."

CR placed three runners in the top 11, with Kashante Codner finishing eighth (20:34) and Jenay Friend (20:59) finishing 11th. Brandywine's Jessica Leitsch, won the individual title in Division I.

In the Division I boys' race, Henlopen champion Charles Gibson, a Dover junior, placed third, leading the Senators to a third-place team finish (with 77 points), the best placement ever for the school.

"We made some school history this season," Gibson said. "We had a bunch of positive things happen this year."

Dover coach Jim Solomon praised the leadership ability of his senior runners in helping the Senators complete a solid season, which included the Henlopen Conference team title.

"I can't express how happy I am for everybody, especially the seniors," Solomon said. "They worked hard this year, did their training in the summer and it's paid off."

Seniors Patrick Boyle (16:46) and Richard Worley (17:12) placed fifth and 10th, respectively for the Senators. Salesianum, led by individual champion Ryan Hamill (16:28), won its second consecutive Division I state title with 28 team points.

Archmere placed five runners in the top-12 to cruise to its third straight Division II boys' title (32 points), led by individual champion Peter McBride (16:32). Matt Hall of St. Thomas More placed fifth (17:08), Chad Carpenter of Milford finished seventh (17:10) and Greg Swift of Cape Henlopen placed ninth (17:21).

Cape finished fourth in the Division II boys team standings (158), with Seaford placing sixth (207) and Lake Forest finishing seventh (218).

Seaford's Caitlin McGroerty was the top Henlopen Conference runner in the Division II girls race, placing seventh in 20:53. Teammate Maggie Trefney finished ninth (21:02). The team standings were dominated by Tower Hill (22 points) who placed five runners in the top 10, including individual champion Lisa Klein (19:49).

Cape (87) finished third in the team standings, followed closely by Seaford (89).

For many Henlopen Conference runners, this was their third time traversing the course at Killens Pond, as many schools participated in both the Lake Forest Invitational in September and last week's conference meet.

"I love this course," Boyle said. "We are not used to training on the hills so its nice to have the meet down in our territory."