The Boys team battle was very similar to last year with Archmere edging Tatnall 48 to 68 for the title.  Both squads were hit hard by graduation and deserve much credit for keeping their high level of performance going.  The Auks logged a 46 second spread from 1st to 5th and it proved the deciding factor.  Chris Bourke led the way as he has all season.  Fine frosh Scott Tibbetts was next followed by veterans John Corsini and Tom Procopio.  Mike Zufelt proved to be the missing part of the puzzle with an outstanding 17th place.  Brian Sklodowski was the individual winner for Tatnall while teammates Nick Jennison, Will Vinton, Mark Giblin and  Andrew Ruoss had fine races.  Sallies with Dominic DellePella and Mike Kowal 6th and 7th grabbed third.  Joe Debus led the pack oriented Charter Force to 4th overall.  Big props to Concord's guys who finished 5th behind Chris Slate (4th,) and Pierce Conlon (5th) who became the first Concord All County runners since 1994 (pictured right).  Special mention to Russ Yetter of Hodgson's second ever All County guy and first since '96 with a nice 13th place run.  Notable also was the fact that 13 of the 20 All County boys are Div II Runners.
                 Padua won its second County title in a row with 4 runners in the top 15 led by Jen Watunya's big 5th place effort.  Tatnall girls were a solid 2nd led by individual runner-up Lisa Klein and crucial 5th runner Taylor Webster.  Archmere nosed out St Mark's for third on the strength of their 6th runner (Kate O'Flynn O'Brien).  Only two 9th graders made All County which goes against the recent trend but both had a big impact for their teams.  Erica Jackey led Archmere  with her 13th place while Katie Kershner (made it as 8th grader last year) of Tatnall (8th) had a huge race.  (pictured left with teammate Joanie Castagno)                         

ETCETERA: Thanks to Kevin Kelly, John Lannutti and Steve Lantz for the organization and setup of the meet.  All the rain and leaves earlier in the week made for a lot of work.  Wouldn't it br great if the path along the Brandywine could be paved with that same crushed stone they used around the entire track at Bellevue. 

HENLOPEN CONFERENCE MEET  by Mike Kennedy

At the Kent County Championships, Caesar Rodney's girls took care of their business, anchored by Liz Paul's win, and Sussex Tech's girls had enough to win the Sussex County Championship meet setting the stage for a re-match of the meet that decided the outcome of the Henlopen Conference Regular Season Championship won by Tech. Saturday, at Killens Pond, there were ideal conditions, few breezes, course in great condition (everyone should thank Lake Forest Coach Ray Parker for his hours of effort behind the scenes), temperature wasn't hot or cold... nothing left to do but run the race and crown a champion. Although Rebecca Ricksecker won the individual title, CR's pack had enough glue to hold together for the win. Ricksecker, Paul and their respective teams will be factors next weekend. The best Division II teams and individuals that will branch out from the Henlopen Conference are Cape Henlopen paced by Jen Betts and Becky Riedel, Lake Forest with Danielle Riley and Tiara Brooks, Milford with 5 girls all in the 22 range or better, and Smyrna with Rachel Taylor and Ashley Rogers.  For Henlopen Boys, Cape's boys won their Sussex County meet, and CR won the Kent County meet as expected. They met along with the other 9 teams Saturday at Killens to decide the Henlopen Conference Championship. During their infamous duel meet decided by the 6th man, it was too close to call... Saturday there was no doubt. Cape's boys have the stuff and are ready to welcome the Northern schools in Division II down to the downstate XC hangout hangout. Dover's Otis Worden came out of nowhere and won the meet which was great for him in his final Henlopen XC meet. Other runners sure to challenge next week are Lake Forest's Teddy Bobolla, CR's Jesse Brooks, and Tech's Dave Demarest.

               The final week of dual meet action got under way on Tuesday with a big schedule in both the Blue Hen and Henlopen Conferences.  Charter School boys wrapped the Flight A Title defeating Newark along with 4 other teams at Bellevue.  Mt Pleasant boys also won their first Flight B crown in a long time knocking off McKean and Howard also at Bellevue.  Congrats also to the Delcastle Cougars who won their first dual meet of the season behind the Shellem brothers big races.  On the girls side Newark and Brandywine ran the table in their respective flight and deserve a lot of credit for their fine seasons.  Christiana girls turned the tables on Delcastle in their dual meet, winning their first league meet despite Keira Dickerson's nice win.  Coach Pat Riley's McKean squads also took home their first victories of the season over Howard at Bellevue.
                       Wednesday's big race was the Catholic Conference showdown between #1 Padua and #2 St. Mark's at White Clay.  The Pandas' Samantha Lichtner had her biggest race of the season, outsprinting Spartan Cassie White in a big stretch battle.  Super consistent Jenn Watunya was third only another second back, keying Padua's 25-30 win.  The Catholic Conference Meet is at Bellevue on Monday.  Also noteworthy was AI DuPont's 29-30 win over Brandywine at Carousel.  The loss snapped Brandywine's 7 year dual meet winning streak and it was a total team triumph for the Tigers.  Dan Kowal led the way as Sallies toppled St Mark's at White Clay.

Henlopen Report by Michael Kennedy:OK… last week of regular season competition:
Cape Henlopen’s boys can thank several people for their 8^th overall Henlopen Conference regular season championship starting with Sussex Tech’s boys for knocking off Dover last Wednesday at Shuttie Park. Tech’s 2 point win gave Dover their 2^nd loss, leaving Cape and CR with 1 loss each. CR lost the title because their one loss came against Cape in a 28-28 thriller decided by the 6^th man… lesson learned by you young 6^th men out there- you count!!! Delmar’s boys completed their unlikely run by winning the Henlopen Divisional title for the first time in school history. Congratulations to Coach and athletes for a tremendous effort. The Kent and Sussex County meets are Election Day at Killen’s Pond and Redden State Forest, respectively. Favorites on the boys’ side are CR for Kent and Cape for Sussex. An all out brawl is likely when the Conference gathers next Saturday for the Henlopen Conference Championship Meet- and don’t count out Dover or Tech to make noise in the big meet scoring.

Sussex Tech’s girls didn’t need any help to win their title- they just went ahead and beat everyone. Congrats to Coach Nicolleti’s crew for their first title in school history. Lake Forest’s girls won their 6^th conference meet on Wednesday and thus their 2^nd overall Henlopen Divisional Title. Coach Parker has his girls running well. At the County Championships look for CR to own the Kent meet and Tech at the Sussex encounter. Things won’t be so cut and dry at the Henlopen Conference Championship meet next Saturday.

BLUE HEN CONFERENCE MEET: This was the first time the championship meet was ever held at Dickinson/ Carousel and there was considerable uncertainty amongst the coaches and teams in the days leading up to it.  The coaches, team, administration and staff at Dickinson put many hours labor into fixing the rough spots and the consensus after the meet was very positive.  The favored Charter guys put their pack to use in a relatively easy victory while Phil Weigel, as the individual winner, led the Mt. Pleasant Green Knights to an excellent 2nd place in the team standings.  Congrats to their team and coaching staff.  Newark ended Brandywine's ten year run at the top in the girls team race behind Jenna McCartan's 3rd and another solid run by their top 5.  Anna Brousell and Jessica Leitsch ran 1-2 as they have so often this year.  Partial Results       

              Tuesday morning rains resulted in numerous postponements and very soggy conditions for the meets that were held.  The mud and deep water spots made Anna Brousell's Delaware record 19:19 at Brandywine Creek all the more amazing.  Christiana girls won a double header over Howard and Sanford at their Iron Hill course behind Reava Potter.  On the Boys side Sallies knocked off Brandywine and Middletown at the Creek with Joe Donnelly leading the way in a solid 18:02.  The Flight A showdown meet between Charter and Newark was postponed again until this week. 
                     Friday was the day for the Vo-Tech Championships at Killen's Pond.  Rebekah Ricksecker (pictured left)led Sussex Tech to a convincing win as the Ravens' top 5 girls recorded an impressive 73 second spread.  Russ Yetter led the Hodgson Silver Eagles to a 7 point win over the ST guys in the boys competition. Full Results

 Henlopen Report by Michael Kennedy: Here goes for the action on Wednesday, October 20th: With one day of competition remaining on the Henlopen regular season calendar; the overall and divisional championship picture for both boys and girls needs one more hard shake to fully develop. Sussex Tech's girls have the clearest path to an undefeated season and the title if they don't pull "a Yankees" and lose to Dover, Delmar or Polytech next week. CR's girls' slip in week two has haunted them all year, the Henlopen Conference Championship meet will be a war between these two loaded teams. Smyrna's and Lake Forest's ladies teams are down to the wire for the Divisional title. Smyrna wins with a win over one of Cape or Milford at Milford, Lake Forest wins if Smyrna loses to both. Lake Forest is running very well of late, and should be watched during the championship season. They actually race CR on Wednesday at the new, but not improved Redden State Park course, we will see if Lake can break into CR's top group. Other young teams looking to make names for themselves in the last 3 weeks are the Milford Buccaneers, and rapidly improving Seaford BlueJays. Those 2 teams meet on Tuesday along with Smyrna and Cape.
                   The boys puzzle is shuffled, missing pieces, and might need a court order to figure out. Somewhere along the line Dover beat Cape, but CR beat Dover, and Cape beat CR Wednesday by virtue of their 6th man. This leaves 3 teams with 1 loss heading into the last week, but none race one another. Dover has the toughest task as they have to get by a quality Sussex Tech team, likely divisional champ Delmar and dangerous Polytech. Cape shouldn't have too much trouble with the re-building Smyrna, Milford or Seaford teams. CR has Sussex Central and Lake Forest, neither of which go deeper than a couple guys. Prediction: Dover loses to Tech, giving the title to Cape. Don't be shocked by a 3-way tie though, Coach Soloman will have his men ready for war. Delmar can win their first ever Divisional Title by beating Polytech, Dover or Sussex Tech. Poly is their best chance. Seaford's boys would back in if Delmar gets swept and they manage to beat Milford and Cape.
                The Kent County Championship meet is Election Day at Killen's Pond, the Sussex County Championship meet is the same day at Redden State Forest. For you northern schools: our Conference Meet is our big one, the opposite of your respective situations. Our county meets only have 6 and 5 schools, respectively.

BELLEVUE INVITATIONAL
This meet is quickly becoming one of everybody's favorites because just about everybody feels like they are going home a winner with a nice new PR to be proud of.  Last year's race was superfast but this year topped it.  Twenty guys broke 17:00 as compared to 14 last year while 50 girls ran under 22:00 compared to 42 in '03.  Anna Brousell of Brandywine set yet another course record, blazing to a 17:56 which is the first time a DE runner has broken 18:00 on a 5k course.  The competition was fierce in both races as well.  In the boys race Brian Sklodowski (Tat), Chris Bourke (Arch) and Phil Weigel (MP) had opened up on the field by the mile and finished 1-2-3 as Sklodowski pulled away late in a fast 15:56.  Andy Riesenberger (AI) and Alex Gambogi (Sal) steadily made their way through heavy traffic to take 4th and 5th while Mike Kowal (Sal) passed a lot of guys in the last 400 to take 6th.  Pierce Conlon (Con) continued his fine season with a 7th place while Kevin Wulff was Sallies third guy in the top 10.  Nick Pyle (StM) had a breakout 9th.  Procopio, Corsini and Tibbetts of Archmere went 10-11-14 to make the Auks the first team with 4 in but it was Mike Zufelt (25th) who sewed it up for his Archmere squad.  Archmere's 62 was good enough in a race that saw the top 3 teams separated by only 8 points.  Sallies, missing DellePella and Donnelly, edged Tatnall for 2nd.  Charter's pack attack guys got a solid 4th while St Mark's was an improving 5th.
On the Girls' side the Padua Pandas showed that they are still clearly the team to beat with a 28 point win over Catholic rival St Mark's.  The Pandas bunched their top 5 in a 62 second spread that was tough to beat.  Jen Watunya (8th) and Sam Lichtner (10th) spearheaded the attack.  Jessica Leitsch of Bry would have won her 4th straight Bellevue title if it weren't for her teammate as she took second.  Lisa Klein was third for Tatnall  who put 4 runners in the top 16.  Jenna McCartan was a steady 4th while Sara Casscells (5th, TH) warmed up for her course record at Rockford on Saturday vs St Andrew's with another nice performance.  Cassie White and Maureen Stringham (25th at mile) took 6th & 7th to lead the Spartans whose 19:58 average time was an all time best for StM.  Tatnall took a solid 3rd while only 7 popints separated Archmere, Newark and Caesar Rodney for 4th, 5th and 6th.  All in all it was a super day.

BTW: Regarding times and records ..... Anna Brousell's official time was 17:56.97 but will be recorded as 17:56 as we will drop the tenths from all XC times for record and PR purposes ..... Looking at the week ahead: Blue Hen showdown between Charter and Newark boys, Padua - St Mark's for Catholic honors, Wednesday 3:45 at White Clay along with Sallies- St Mark's ....... Henlopen Finales on Wednesday ....... Blue Hen Meet Saturday at Carousal.      

              Tuesday was a huge day upstate with a full slate of meets.   Newark behind Evan Kalbacher swept District mates Glasgow and Christiana in the Christina Cup at White Clay.  Charter Boys packed their top 7 in behind AI's Andy Riesenberger in a virtual 17:38 tie at Bellevue and moved one step closer to the Flight A title.  The Force has a rescheduled match with Newark this week which could decide things.  Middletown is still alive as well and a Newark win could produce a three-way tie.  Mt Pleasant guys won a huge match with Concord 27-28 at Bellevue.  Phil Weigel 16:50 win was crucial as well as the 5 through 8 performances of Knights White, Creppon, Rulon and Conlin.  On the Girls side, Newark made it a sweep in the Christiana Cup with Jenna McCartan leading the way, edging Latoya Murray of Glasgow.  The Jackets are positioned to win the Flight A title as Brandywine is in Flight B as they remained undefeated in dual meet action.  Jackie Reifschneider outdueled Colleen McCarthy in a fast (5 under 21:00) AI win over Charter at Bellevue.
                     Wednesday saw Dover's Otis Worden edge out Lake's Teddy Bobola in a tight battle at Chapel Branch as the Senators swept LF and Seaford.  It seems that the majority of the Henlopen meets aren't being reported in the upstate edition of the NJ.  Check Coach Kennedy's Smyrna site for up to date info.
                     Friday was going to be a big day but the very real threat of heavy thunder and lightning caused the postponement of the Bellevue Inv.  It will be held next Friday (10/22), same time, same place, same schedule.

UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE INVITATIONAL

                 Friday was pretty warm and so was the action at White Clay.  Padua is rounding into form as returning Samantha Lichtner solidifies their top five runners.  The Pandas first four were within 15 seconds of each other and their spread for all 5 was an excellent 52 secs.  Lisa Klein of Tatnall was relaxed early but won going away. Colleen McCarthy of Charter has been good all year but she really exploded here with a 20:07 runner up finish.  Newark was a solid 2nd overall led by Jenna McCartan and Claire Kubizne.  Archmere's pack style led to 3rd place.  Brian Sklodowski of Tatnall clearly established himself as the top guy at this point with a sizzling  16:19 effort which was 45 secs ahead of Andy Riesenberger of AI who ran a very nice race as well.  Chris Bourke in 3rd led Archmere to a 30 point win over Charter with  Sallies and Tatnall, both apparently experiencing some difficulties, in 3rd and 4th.  The Auks spread for their top 4 guys was a good 29 seconds.

MANHATTAN COLLEGE INVITATIONAL            
Brandywine, St. Mark's and Christiana competed in this one at Van Cortlandt Park in NYC.  Brandywine's girls were in the Eastern States Championship Race, giving Anna Brousell and Jessica Leitsch a chance to face possibly the toughest field any Delaware squad has ever gone up against including nationally number 1 ranked Saratoga NY.  Anna ran 15:07 and Jess Leitsch 15:32, fine times on the rugged 2.5 m course.  Anna's 15:07 may be a Delaware record but we need to check.  Maureen Stringham (16:16, 10th) and Cassie White (16:22, 13th) led St Mark's to 7th in their race. 

          Tuesday was scary with the tornado and the floods.  Many teams were at the parks waiting to race when the worst of it hit and we should be thankful everyone got home safely.  While there was no action upstate on Wednesday as the courses dried out the Henlopen teams went  to Salisbury MD for the Tidewater Classic.  Caesar Rodney's Girls romped to victory putting all 5 scorers in the top 11 (Liz Paul 2nd, Ashley Johnson 4th, Ashlee Miller 5th, Melinda Schlecht 7th & Jessica Kapes 11th) with the first four under 21:00.  Rebekah Ricksecker of Sussex Tech won it and led her team to second overall.  Lake Forest and Milford went 3-4 for a big Henlopen sweep.  Jesse Brooks' 5th place finish led the CR boys to second overall.  Andrew Rogan and Evan Mock of Cape, Teddy Bobola of LF and Scott Johnson of Delmar also had top 10 runs.
              Thursday saw limited action but one trimeet had big Flight A implications.  Middletown and Newark visited BCSP to take on AI Dupont.  The Cavalier guys took a big step forward winning both races with depth.  Andy Riesenberger won easily for AI in 18:04 and Evan Kalbacher led the Jackets by finishing 2nd but MacKinnon, Hammer and  Bramwell came next to make it tight.  The biggest heroes were Garbini and Barry whose 8th and 9th place finishes sewed it up for Mtown.  The top ranked Newark girls edged AI and shut out the Cavs in a big double dip.  The Jackets are a solid 5, led by Jenna McCartan and Claire Kubizne.

         Tuesday was the big dual meet day upstate as the Blue Hen Conference got into full swing.  Concord, led by Chris Slate, got 2 Flight B wins at the Creek over Howard and Dickinson.  Matt Collins had a nice victory but his McKean squad lost to new Flight B member Brandywine and Hodgson at Brandywine Springs.  The Silver Eagles wracked up two wins.  The top Flight A matchup was at Lum's where Middletown hosted Charter.  Ben MacKinnon won it for the Cavs but Charter's depth was too much in a 26-32 close one.  Newark shut out Delcastle but lost to Salesianum at White Clay.  Shawn Crowley and Dan Segars, the Sals 6th and 7th runners at LFI, went 1-2.  AI duPont got off to a 2-0 start with wins at Iron Hill over Wm Penn and Christiana.  Mark Giblin and Brian Sklodowski had fast times at BCSP in Independent Conf wins over Tower Hill and Westtown.  Sam Baroody helped St Andrew's to a split with Sanford and Friends at Sanford.  In girls action Britta Bimbi edged Sarah Vernon to lead her Dickinson team to a tight 27-28 win over Concord.  Brandywine's Flight B debut was successful with a pair of wins at The Springs.  Guess who ran 1-2 for the Bulldogs?  Delaware Military Academy got its' first official varsity win over Mt Pleasant at Bellevue led by Hannah Derby.  In Flight A the Kaufman twins led AI to a double victory over Penn and Christiana.  Middletown also won two, over Charter and Glasgow at Lum's.  Latoya Murray had a very impressive 20:31 for Glasgow while Colleen McCarthy also looked sharp for Charter.  Jamie Priessler led the Cavs.  Tatnall and St Andrew's girls both got a pair of Independent Conference wins.  Sara Casscells of Tower Hill had a huge 20:30 win at the Creek against Tatnall.  Marti Dumas and Jesse Siprelle backed up their nice performances at LFI leading the Saints over Sanford and Friends.
             Wednesday was Henlopen Day.  The biggest eye-catcher of the day was the Sussex Tech- Caesar Rodney Girls race at Chapel Branch in Seaford.  Eight runners under 22:00!!  Rebekah Ricksecker edged Liz Paul for the win as ST eked out a 26-29 victory.  Both teams will be Div I factors in November.  Milford, led by Elizabeth Butterly, and Smyrna wracked up double wins to get off to a flying conference start.  Sarah Murphy led Dover to a win over traditional contender Cape Henlopen at Shutte.  On the Boys side, Dover  successfully kicked off the post Charles Gibson era with a solid win over Cape whose Evan Mock took individual honors.  Perennial favorite CR knocked off Seaford and Sussex Tech led by Jesse Brooks.  Bostik Johnson Led Polytech to a sweep over Milford and Sussex Central.  Congrats to the surprising Delmar Wildcats who won competitive affairs with Lake and Smyrna.
             Thursday's light schedule featured a power matchup between Numbers 1 and 2 as Sallies hosted Archmere at Brandywine Creek.  The Sals solidified their top spot with a 25-32 win but it was a battle.  Chris Bourke has really stepped up this year and he won it in 17:51 but the Sallies guys packed in (56 sec spread 1-6) after that and prevailed.  Kowal and DellaPelle led the Sals.  Scott Tibbetts is a strong freshman.
             Friday was the annual Middletown Invitational.  The host Cavaliers edged Cape by 2 in the Boys action led by Hammer and Bramwell.  Andy Riesenberger of AI won individual honors.  AI's girls took home the winning trophy with a 13 point win over the Cavs.  Sara Casscells finished a big week with a fast win over Rebekah Ricksecker.  Results
             Saturday:  the only local teams in action on this day were Charter and Tatnall who competed very well in the Paul Short Invitational at Lehigh U.  Lisa Klein was 5th overall in 19:12, leading her team to a fine 8th place finish in a 27 team field.  (Aislinn Ryan of Warwick Valley NY, a Footlocker finalist last year, won in 17:24 !!!.).  Katie Kershner got back in stride in a big way with a 20:27 as did Rachel Ogburn of Charter who ran 20:14.  Brian Sklodowski (7th, 16:15) and Mark Giblin (9th, 16:17) led the Hornet boys to 10th place overall.  Results

            Things were still pretty quiet on the dual meet front last week.  The Blue Hen Conference gets going this week and the Henlopen slate of meets was rained shortened last week.  Sallies had a busy week with wins at Arch Wood on Monday and then back at the Creek over  AI on Wednesday.  Archmere and St. Mark's duked it out on Wednesday at Bellevue. The Auk boys team lost a lot but are reloading quickly and Chris Bourke looks very strong, leading his team to a 19-38 win over the Spartans.  The girls race was very tight.  Cassie White and Maureen Stringham went 1-2 but St Mark's needed big races from Jess Bogia, Sarah Frydrych and Alison Zukowski to overcome Archmere's tight pack.  The addition of frosh Erica Jackey gives the defending Div II champs a chance to be even better than last year.  

LAKE FOREST INVITATIONAL

What a day weather-wise and it could have been a lot worse.  While downpours drenched New Castle County the sun was shining brightly at Killen's for the Varsity races.  The humidity was off the charts however and it was a tough day to run.  DIVISION I GIRLS: Last year on another hot and humid day 17 girls broke 22:00; this year at least 32 did.  Anna Brousell's course record run was outstanding.  I almost wanted to say "amazing" but I don't think we should be amazed by anything she does from here on .... more course records to come!  The team competition was wide open and everybody had to wait for official word to figure out who won it.  Big congrats to Newark who won their second consecutive Invitational.  Jenna McCartan and Claire Kubizne  led the way on a day when no team had more than 2 runners in the top 15.  Thomas Jefferson from Alexandria VA was a solid second.  Padua without an ill Samantha Lichtner edged Catholic rival St Mark's for third.  The talent in Div I is deep and both team and individual honors are more up for grabs than they've been for awhile.  DIVISION II GIRLS:  Archmere's powerhouse pack had a big day with a 9 point win over Maryvale MD.  The Auks only had two in the top 15 (Erica Jackey, 9th, Katie Rath, 13th) but bunched the remaining scorers up close.  Lisa Klein won for the third straight year and the Castagno twins were 6th and 7th as Tatnall edged Cape for 4th place.  Independent Conference rivals Tower Hill and St Andrew's put 2 runners in the Top 15.  DIVISION I BOYS: Thomas Jefferson of VA, 7th ranked in the Southeast, arrived to do battle with 10th ranked Salesianum and scored an impressive victory with the top 3 individuals and a 22 point score which would have beaten the field in a dual meet.  Sallies was a clear 2nd led by Dominic DellaPelle's 4th place run and a fine 7th by Kevin Wulff.  Joe Debus led Charter to a good third place overall.  DIVISION II BOYS: Chris Bourke lead Archmere to an easy win here with the second fastest DE time of the day.  Joe Corsini, Tom Procopio and varsity newcomer Scott Tibbetts all medaled while the fifth man was 18th.  Tatnall's Brian Sklodowski had the fastest DE time of the day while teammate Mark Giblin was 4th in a fine XC debut. MISCELLANEOUS: Former Coach of the Year at Cape Pat Pollock is back from his service commitment and is coaching at Glasgow; former U of D and St. Mark's star Pat Riley is a rookie coach at McKean taking over for Dave Byers who stepped down over the summer; Concord Boys' 4th place in Div2 led by Pierce Conlon and Chris Slate is nice to see.  The former perennial title contenders have been down for a while.  It will take a while to get the full results but we'll get them up as soon as possible.  Congratulations to Bonnie Blades and all her helpers who made sure everything went smoothly yesterday including the rain swept Awards Ceremony.  Once again, hats off to all the boys and girls who battled the elements in the Classic Third Team races yesterday .... more than 100 girls and 200 guys going for 5 medals and all giving it their best.  This is a great Sport!!

The 2004 season has arrived and we thought we would take a look at what’s new.  The biggest news so far is the preseason inclusion of Salesianum and Padua in the Top 10 of the Southeastern rankings for the new Nike Team National (NTN) event. Check out the NTN homepage  for details on the plans for how this first ever team title will be decided.  By the way, Delaware is still included in the Northeast Region for the Foot Locker competition.  Once a border State, always a border State I guess.   
            The concerns about problems with the course at White Clay remain.  Over the summer several coaches met with the officials of the park to see what might be done to correct the two swampy wet spots that have developed on the course.  Park officials were in favor of a total relocation of the course across Wedgewood Rd to an area where the course would have consisted of 3 laps around the outside of an open field.  Needless to say the coaches preferred to discuss means of fixing the wet spots.  It was at least tentatively agreed to keep the course as is for this year as methods of drying out the bad spots were tried.  Latest reports say that progress has been made.  We’d still love to take a serious look at the Fair Hill race track as a potential course but we understand the reluctance of the U of D and DIAA to run their events in Maryland.  
            With Brandywine moving to Flight B for league action this year questions have arisen about the Division 1 & 2 breakdowns for XC and Track State Meets.  This is the year for realignment and the word is that the Divisions will be announced within the next week.  Sources tell us that things will be virtually unchanged from the last 2 years but we’ll wait to make it official. 
            There is a big void in Delaware sports these days with the passing of Jim Blades.  He was an exemplary person and coach.  Jim won’t be forgotten by the many people who were fortunate enough to come in contact with him over the years.  Check out these tributes: News Journal Story, Obit,  DelStateNews Story

AND THEY'RE OFF .....
Friday 9/10:  What a matchup to start the season! Defending State champs Padua and Archmere squared off at Bellevue on a hot day.  The Pandas were without Sam Lichtner (sick) and Jenna McCartan (transfer to Newark) but Brittiny Rhoades, MaryKate McCaffery and Jenn Watunya went 1-2-3 to insure the victory.  The Auks were equally impressive with a strong pack that took the remaining scoring spots.  Archmere's boys put four men under 18:00 in another impressive debut race led by Chris Bourke.
Saturday 9/11: Delaware teams had a lot of options on this first big meet day of the year.  Salesianum was a strong 3rd at the always tough DeSales Centaur invitational  in Allentown PA. Dominic DellaPelle, Joe Donnelly, Alex Gambogi and Mike Kowal finished within 26 seconds of each other (17:28 to 17:54) on a tough course.  Anna Brousell (19:40, 2nd) and Jessica Leitsch ( 20:03, 5th) led Brandywine to a solid 6th place finish in a 40+ team field.  Liz Paul of Caesar Rodney (20:58, 12th) led the Riders to 7th place. Centaur Results.  Newark and St. Mark's took part in the Mid Atlantic Invitational at Goucher College in Towson MD (Full Results available on Homepage).  Newark had the individual winner in both races as Evan Kalbacher outlasted Nick Pyle of St Mark's in the boys event and Jenna McCartan had a solid soph debut with a 20:00 victory.  Newark's girls have a strong 5 and are a team to be reckoned with this year.  St Mark's Boys edged the Jackets in their race and also showed promise.  Ron Powell Memorial at Smyrna.  Cape and Middletown looked strong in this one.  Coach Kennedy of Smyrna reports the details.   Pencader Invitational at Iron Hill Park, Newark.  The meet was lightly attended this year but we know that Andy Riesenberger had the fastest guys time of the day.  We'll try to get full results.