St. Mark’s Girls Upend Brandywine, Sallies Repeats,

                                       Cape Sweeps Division Two

 

By Chuck Durante

Special to The News Journal

 

            MONTCHANIN -- The state’s two top-ranked girls teams were each upset by two points in yesterday’s state cross country championships at Brandywine Creek State Park.

 

            In Division One, St. Mark’s placed five runners among the top 17 to supplant Brandywine as team titlist.  Jill Hajec of Caesar Rodney, individual winner in 19 minutes 33 seconds, broke the course record, as did Padua’s Jennifer Oakes and defending champion Jenn Kutney.

 

            In Division Two, Ursuline’s Colleen Taylor and Kristen McGough finished 1-2 but Cape Henlopen, with six runners among the top 18, won its first girls state championship, ending Ursuline’s five-year championship reign.

 

            Cape Henlopen won the Division Two boys title as well, while Salesianum won its sixth consecutive Division One title.

 

            Eric Eckstrand of Salesianum and Morgan Scoville of St. Andrew’s repeated as individual boys champions.

 

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            When a school wins 27 state meets in 31 years, they may look deceptively easy.  This year, though, Salesianum needed special performances from its fourth and fifth runners to edge a resourceful St. Mark’s for its sixth straight state championship.

 

            The Sals’ Eckstrand pulled away after one mile to cap a glittering career with his second straight individual title, finishing 42 seconds ahead of Dan Oren of Brandywine.  Third-place Kyle Berseth led spirited St. Mark’s, which placed three runners in the top seven.

 

            “Their top three were great today,” said Salesianum’s Kevin Winchell, who finished fifth. “Our fourth and fifth place guys (Brian Monaghan, who finished tenth, and Justin Herman, 15th) won it for us today.  They carried us.”

 

            Salesianum uses Brandywine Creek as its home course, but didn’t visit this week.  “We know it so well.  It’s hard to bring 70 guys here on a regular basis, but we train on hills a lot at Rockford Park,” said Eckstrand.

 

            “All the physical work was done.  This week, it’s mental,” said Charlie Dielmann, who finished sixth.

 

            Salesianum runners carried a bowling pin and a plumber’s plunger as its mascots this year.  “We’re a school without mascots.  Two years ago, it was a cone.  Last year, it was a pink flamingo.  We think of something every year,” said Eckstrand.

 

            Chris Coyne, Josh MacPherson and Mike Lahm also finished in the top 11 for St. Mark’s.  A sterling performance from fifth runner Mac Griffith did not match Salesianum’s depth.

 

            In Division Two, Cape won its first state championship in 17 years.  Its secret?  “Recruiting,” said coach Pat Pollock.  “I seek out these guys at school.  I check gym class.  I go to the wrestling coach.  People who wrestle tend to do well at long distance running.”

 

            Chris Jackson, a converted quarter miler, and Dean Popovich, a lacrosse player, finished fourth and fifth, while Matt Jackson, Brandon Streit and Matt Riggin also finished in the top 20, to give Cape a 10-point margin of victory over Wilmington Christian, which placed Andy Cherry and Chris Lucernoni in the top ten.

 

            St. Andrew’s senior Scoville ran a near-perfect race to win the Division Two race by 24 seconds over Archmere’s Dan Kane.  Taking a big lead after the first mile, Scoville finished in 16:54, making him the third fastest Delaware runner in the history of the course, behind Eckstrand and 1997 state champion Pat Riley of St. Mark’s. 

 

            “This is the race I like to run, with consistent, even mile splits,” said Scoville.  “If I go out too quickly, it’s not good for me.”

 

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            Every defending champion was dethroned in the girls races.  St. Mark’s and Cape Henlopen relied on depth to win their divisions by two points each.

 

            A week ago, St. Mark’s finished 49 points behind Brandywine in the New Castle County meet.  Yesterday, St. Mark’s beat the two-time state champions the narrowest way possible.  Three of the top five Spartans beat their corresponding Brandywine runner by eight seconds or less.

 

            Cape Henlopen placed six runners in the top 18 to topple Ursuline.  While Ursuline’s Taylor and McGough finished 1-2, six Cape runners finished ahead of Ursuline’s third athlete.

 

            “At the beginning of the race, we knew where we had to be, and who couldn’t beat us if we wanted to win,” said Katie Park, St. Mark’s leading runner in fifth place.  “We concentrated on beating that person.”

 

            By one estimate, St. Mark’s was eight points behind Brandywine at mid-race.  Stefanie Lazorick passed many runners in the final half of the 3.1 mile course to finish 17th.  “We’ve worked on the hills so much,” said Lazorick, the team’s only senior.  “In practice, we’d run up the hill four times.  Mr. (Joe) O’Neill told us that all seven of us had to do our best if we were to win.”

 

            “We had to run with each other if we were going to win,” said Jackie Justison, St. Mark’s fourth runner, who finished 14th.

 

            “Sometimes your best time isn’t enough,” said St. Mark’s freshman Mandy Hewes, whose improvement to ninth place was critical.

 

            Hajec, a sophomore from Caesar Rodney, took a large enough lead to survive the vaunted kick of Padua’s Oakes, to win in a course record 19:33.

 

            Hajec did not let her unfamiliarity with the hilly course intimidate her.  “I just ran the race in my head.  I made sure to be mentally prepared,” said Hajec, who runs off-season for a team from the Delaware Prevention Network, a Kent County youth organization coached by former Dover miler Steve Pickering.

 

            “Jill was so awesome to race with,” said Oakes of Hajec, who pulled away along Route 92, during the final mile.  “We were back and forth, head and head.  She pulled me along.”

 

            Four Brandywine runners had personal bests, including both their past state champions.  Defending champion Kutney broke the course record in finishing third.  Abby Nerlinger, the 1997 state champ, completed a remarkable comeback after 18 idle months from injuries in each leg, with a 21st place finish that might have proven the difference had St. Mark’s not put together its best performance of the season.

 

            “They had a better team than we did today,” Brandywine coach Michele Lucey Flanagan told her team, each of whom was thinking of a runner she might have passed.

 

            “We had a good run this season,” said Flanagan later.  It’s an unpredictable sport.”

                                               

            Cape Henlopen achieved its goal of parting the red sea of Ursuline jerseys. Only freshman Tiffany Melendez cracked the top 10, but the next five runners on her team finished within a 15-second pack.

 

            “In practice, we work on running together,” said Melendez, who finished ninth.  “We’ll call out each other’s name so that the girl whose name is called will run out to the front.”

                                                           

            It worked last week when Cape won the Henlopen meet without a single runner in the top seven that made all-conference.  The Vikings simply took the next five finishes, its first and fifth runners separated by just 21 seconds.

 

            “We have been healthy all year,” said Ursuline’s Colleen Taylor of herself and runner-up Kristen McGough, “But our other runners have been fighting asthma, problems with their knee.  You can’t ask anything more than their best.  I know that’s what they gave and we have to be happy with that.”

 

            Defending Division Two champion Holly Wilson of Lake Forest ran well to finish 11th after a season plagued with tendinitis, pulled tendons and bruised bones.