By ED MURPHY
Staff reporter
05/20/2001
WOODSIDE - Charlie Dielmann set a new precedent for Salesianum School distance runners at Saturday's 58th annual Delaware High School Track and Field Championships.
Dielmann, a senior, won four gold medals in the state meet, including the 800-, 1,600- and 3,200-meter distance events, to lead Salesianum to the Division I team championship at Polytech.
It was the first time a runner swept all the distance events since Orlando Walker of Delcastle accomplished the feat in the 1985 Division I state meet.
"Obviously, it was a great way to end my career," Dielmann said. "We were favored coming in and had to defend our No. 1 status."
Dielmann began the state meet by anchoring the 3,200 relay squad to a first-place finish Friday. He finished with an inspiring performance in the grueling distance races.
Salesianum won the team title with 97 points, and Dover finished second with 77 points.
"They have tremendous competitive spirit," Salesianum coach Ralph Heiss said. "We had some things going against us, and we just kept fighting."
Salesianum senior David Robinson pulled a hamstring in the long jump at the New Castle County meet and missed the state meet. He was to compete in the high jump, long jump and 400 relay.
Then, senior Jim DelGrosso suffered a hamstring injury while competing in the 110 high hurdles. He limped around the track in the 300 intermediate hurdles but couldn't run in the 400 relay.
Sophomore Eric Brooking and junior Carl Hansen substituted in the 400 relay and helped Salesianum finish third, earning six key points.
Dover's Jason Lilly finally broke through with his first state titles in outdoor track. He anchored the 800 relay team to a pending meet record (1:28.37) and won the 200 and 400. Lilly also anchored the third-place 1,600 relay team.
Brandywine senior Ishmael Lewis won the 100 after finishing fourth at the New Castle meet and ran the third leg of the winning 1,600 relay team.
Christiana's Quinn Martin won the 110 high hurdles and 300 intermediate hurdles.
| Randolph's
four golds lead Hillers to title
By ED MURPHY WOODSIDE - Rob Randolph won four individual championships to lead Tower Hill School to the vacant Division II boys team championship in Saturday's state track meet. The defending champion, Cape Henlopen, moved up to Division I this year. Randolph claimed his first gold medal by winning the long jump Friday, and Saturday added wins in the 110-meter high hurdles, 300 intermediate hurdles and the 200. "In the beginning of the year, I never thought we'd be fighting for the team championship," Randolph said. "We realized we could do it at the New Castle County meet." Tower Hill won the team championship for the fourth time in five years with 93 points. Lake Forest finished second with 85 points. Randolph, who won eight gold medals in his career, captured his third consecutive title in the 110 hurdles with a 14.46-second clocking. "I ran against better competition at the New Castle meet in the 110 hurdles," he said. "There wasn't anybody to push me." Randolph also ran away from the competition in the 300 intermediate hurdles and the 200. "I didn't compete in the hurdles my freshman year because [state champion] Mike Roberts was running for us," he said. Tower Hill's Adam Kalamchi finished first in the 400 and ran the third leg on Tower Hill's winning 3,200 relay team Friday. Polytech senior Chris Boyles won the pole vault at 12 feet, 6 inches. He said he could have gone higher had someone not broken his favorite pole in the gym before the meet started. "I had to go back to the old pole," he said. "I was hitting 13 feet and 13-6 in practice." Woodbridge eighth-grader Ross Horsey, who was fourth in the high jump, surprised the field by winning the 100. Smyrna junior Shawn Thomas claimed the discus. Lake Forest's Mike Gleeson won the 1,600, Polytech's Colin Dental-Post claimed gold in the 3,200 and Smyrna's Anthony Still won the triple jump. |