The high school cross country season wraps up this Saturday in Killens Pond with the DIAA State Championships. We will then move on to the post-season national championships stretching from North Carolina to Indiana to Texas with athletes from across the United States.
East Regional XC
The Seashore Striders hosted the East Coast Regional Championships at Sandhill Fields over the weekend with just under 400 young riders from all surrounding states descending on Georgetown for nine races over three hours, ranging from 5-year-olds and minus Mighty Mites at the 13-14 Youth Division.
Here’s how the members of the Seashore Striders fared:
Mighty Mites Girls 5U Division – 1. Sophia Stevenson, 3:45.
Sub-Bantam Girls Division – 2. Ruby Leps, 8:42; 5. Chloe Cawthern, 9:20 a.m.; 7. Anika Kane, 9:39; 11. Nora Furlong, 9:57; 22. Layla Stevenson, 11:00 a.m.; 26. Mary Bowe, 11:42; 29. Piper Matta, 12:51.
Boys Sub-Bantam Division 6-8 – 9. Quinn Peacock, 9:06; 14. Dane Cawthern, 9:36.
Bantam Boys 9-10 Division — 6. Nolan Furlong, 12:39; 12. Henry Neufeld, 13:36; 19.Lucca Tobias, 13:52; 21. Bennett Curry, 1:58; 22. Grant Sherman, 1:59; 25. Finley Sherman, 14:26; 29. Whit Leps, 15:24; 37. Nico Capobianco, 17:58; 38. Carsyn Uszenski, 18:22.
Midget Boys Division 11-12 – 18. Ryder Uszenski, 1:01; 22. Jude Peacock, 1:06 p.m.; 46. Cody Kuhlman, 16:28.
Midget Girls Division 11-12 – 11. Allison Ortiz-Rivera, 1:33 p.m.; 30. Grace Barthelmess, 15:54; 41. Destina Karaman, 25:39.
Youth Girls 13-14 Division – 9. Shiloh O’Grady, 16:32.
The Striders will compete in the Youth National Cross Country Coaching Championships to be held in Shelbyville, Indiana on Saturday, Nov. 19, at Blue River Memorial Park.
The Big Apple 26.2
The New York City Marathon drew more than 47,000 runners last weekend with a small group of downstate runners in the mix. Susan Dunn of Laurel ran 3:55:38, which put her in the top 300 for her age group, while Steve Spieker of Bethany Beach ran 4:41:05. Lauren Baker of Lewes ran 4:44:04, while Ryan Brown of Seaford ran 4:45:02.
Kenya’s Evans Chebet averaged 4:55 per mile (crazy) to cross the finish in 2:08:41 to win by 13 seconds. I thought it would be interesting to take a look at his consecutive 5K splits just to show how impressive his performance was. Here are his 5K splits in order: 15:02, 15:09, 14:47, 15:12, 15:31, 14:36, 15:29, 15:58. Each split in less than 16 minutes, which very few high school students can run.
By comparison, Vikings standout Ryan Baker could only hang on to this Kenyan for his eighth 5K. Chebet ran his opening half marathon in 1:03:36 and came back in 1:05:05.