Milford High School Cross Country

Some days are better than others even if the time stays about the same as Ol' Bloomie snapped off a 20:09 to place 6th overall (and 1st in the 30-39 group) out of nearly 300 runners at the COPS 5K in Wyoming during a stormy Wednesday evening. The night proved to be a good one for the Special Saucers as CR assistant coach Matt Lindell ran low 19s to take third overall, and Joltin' Joe Beman placed 17th overall and fourth in his master's group with low 21s. Milford residents Brad "the Kickin' Kiwi" Dennehy (low 21s) and Runnin' Randy Fisher (27s) busted out the solid performances, while Dan, Dan the Running Man Pennington scored a runner-up run. And . . . a big shoutout goes to Lake alum and middle school CC coach Angela Brown who ran low 24s despite being six months pregnant!! Her mom, Linda, made sure she got to the line first (low 22s) just in case of an emergency. :) Hey, Mike Paul, we saw that sub-23! Special Sauce InsiderSaw Charter CC freshman Phil Depenbusch and Fifer mid schooler Jon Abbott cruising just ahead of Bloomie for most of the race. Big Nate Depenbusch took the high school male age group with low 23s. Congrats to MMSCCer Robert Fisher who ran strong.

Ol' Bloomie wasn't hangin' with 5K racing's elite class of Kenyans and local college athletes at Sunday's Run For JJ 5K in Rehoboth. Still, I knocked out a consistent 20:13, having to pour on the gas to finish with local Milford resident John Yanacek. Dover High alum Pat Boyle and Seaford alum Mitch Fryling ran well as did CR coach/Smyrna alum Matt Lindell, and Dan, Dan the Running Man Pennington notched a low 17. Of course, none of them came close to the Kenyan frontrunner who blazed the blacktop in 14:23. The top Kenya female cruised in the 16s!!! Special Sauce Insider saw Cape's P.J. Melendez cruising along in the 20s. Not too many other high schoolers made an appearance.

In 2003, Ol' Bloomie ran a second faster and got 5th in my age group, but this year's 20:32 proved good enough for 18th overall and first in my age group in the 26th annual Buffalo Stampede 5K & 10K on Saturday. My wifey, Shelly ran her season best of 27:55 -- yeah!!!! Congrats to MHSCC alum Jessi Rivera who broke 22 to win her age group and hooray, hooray for former Miss DE and MHSCC alum Erin Williams who got in the 27s. Sticking with the Milford folks, Randy Fisher ran his best Stampede time in the low 25s while his son, Robert represented the MMSCCers with a solid low 24. MHSCCer Jackie Creasey -- paced by her pop, Bill -- blazed to a CAREER-best 23:25, just missing third in a very tough 14-under female age group, while her mamma, Julie, picked up a buffalo for a great race. And ... MHSCC alumni-mom, Kathy Kunkle, scored a buffalo in that veteran 50+ age group!! Cheers to the Wing Night guys, Matt Lindell (ex-Smyrna CCer and CR assistant coach) who took the 20-24 age group with a 6th-place finish, just behind ex-LFCCer Eric Payne in the low 18s. Meanwhile, Joe "Bubbles" Beman scored a third-place Buffalo in the tough masters category! Sallies grad Eric Zeberkawiez (check spelling) took the 5k overall with a 17:11, holding off surges from Dan, Dan the Running Man Pennington and CR grad Kyle Luke. 5K record-holder Steve Sinko blazed to the 10K win in 33:34. Special Sauce Insider saw the Tri-Sports Leaguers run extremely well: CR runners David Moore, Jesse Brooks, Chris Marker, Liz Paul (overall female 5K champ), Ashley Johnson, Jen Lee and Jonathan Abbott scored trophies and/or great performances, while numerous other local high schoolers, like Phillip Depenbusch, looked strong after great league workouts. Even CRCC coach Bell got out and challenged folks in the race walk!!! St. Thomas More, led by coach and CRCC alum Nick Boggs who got a 10K buffalo, saw the likes of Cindy Sui and Nick Stubbolo run well as did alum Sheena McIntire. In fact, tons of ex-Henlopen stars like Smyrna CC alum Joe Morman, who blazed by Bloom midway through but ran out of gas later in the race, made their appearances. The Walsh family, led by mamma Mary who scored a buffalo and daughter Katie who took a 10K buffalo represented Dover High well, while Jenna Kemmerle and her father, Steve, represented Polytech CC in the 5K -- finishing much better than Polytech CC coach Chris Kenton looked in the 10K -- his first race back on the road again. :) Overall, a big congrats goes out to everybody and anybody I missed, especially LFCC alum and coach Angie Brown, who won her age group five months pregnant!!! :)

Ol' Bloomie officially wrapped up a busy 4th of July weekend with a third-place overall finish in the Laurel Independence Day 5K on Monday. In a heavy humidity, I notched a 20:35 (behind Seaford CC alum Mitch Fryling and Woodbridge alum Lyle Neal) just a day after surviving the Rehoboth Biathlon and two days after racing the Freedom 5K in Dover. SS has plenty of congrats to go out -- first to the wifey, Shelly who ran two sub-30s in her races to pick up awards and to the Milford folks: Bobby Spath (career-best 18:35), John Yanacek (20:02) and Brad Dennehy (20:24) at the Firecracker 5K in Rehoboth, Randy Fisher (25s at Freedom) and MMSCCer Robert Fisher (career-best 24:18), Stuart Barr (1st swimmer out of the water at Rehoboth), Clare Barr and MHSCCer Jackie Creasey (a super duo at the biath), Emma Barr (great work at the biath), Jan Kelley (swimming like a fish and finishing strong at the biath), Miss Jessi Rivera (super solo battle at the biath -- thanks for motivating me :) and MHSCCer James Starnes (busting out a 31:38 in his first official 5K). I hope I got all you Milford folks. And . . . Special Sauce Insider saw the benefits of the Tri-Sports Cross Country League at the Freedom 5K as the CRCCers led the way with David Moore, Jesse Brooks, Chris Marker, Ashley Johnson, Jenn Lee and host of other folks, including young racers like Jonathan Abbott. Hey, Depenbusch bros (Nate and Phil of Charter High), great run on Saturday and even better teamwork in the biath Sunday. Lake CCer Teddy Bobola held off Ol' Bloom and St. Thomas More's Cindy Siu had a great battle and finish. Bernie Yanos and the Walsh family (Brian, Mary, Katie, Ian and Mark) led the way for the Dover High folks. At the biath on Sunday, Dover High's Charles Gibson tore up the 5K in the team division while former teammate Pat Boyle represented the lifeguards by placing among the top soloists! Throw in Troy Bockius and Dover had a great showing as did the Lake CC alums like Lauren Jumper and Dan Matta. Holly Wilson helped from the sidelines after recovering from an ankle injury. And finally on Monday, the Sussex Tech girls made a visit led by overall female Hannah Bienoff who ran in the 22s as '04 state track champ Rebecca Ricksecker cheered from crowd. A number of Seaford alum made the run as did current CCers like Cassie Scott and Coach Morris' wifey who busted out the 25s en route to an age group win! Great running, gang! Keep up the good work! Hope to see you all out there racing soon! Have fun! Run!

For the second week in a row, Ol' Bloomie cracked the top 25 only to take fourth in the 30-34 age group. Oh well, I was pleased with my 20:10 in the Bill Degnan 5K Sunday. Dan, Dan the Running Man Pennington won the whole deal in 17:37 and another strong showing for Big John Yanacek who stayed a few strides in front of me. Good to see CP (Coach Perciful) from Seaford CC fame out running with his son, Andrew. Special Sauce Insider saw Seaford CC grad Mitch Fryling cruising along, while numerous Cape CCers and alums made the race, including Brittany Morris, Maggie Pederson, P.J. Melendez and Kenny Reidel (who held off Ol' Bloom in a dead sprint for the finish :).