Milford High School Cross Country

Senior co-captain Jon Wyman ran his final home race in 18:44 (his fastest at MHS) to pace the boys to a 22-37 win over Delmar Wednesday. Meanwhile, Marissa McDonnell ran her fastest time at home as the girls took seven of the top eight spots in a 18-45 win over Delmar. Against CR, the boys fell 18-39 and the girls, 15-50. For the boys, senior Jon Luiken scored his best race of his short career with a 19:41, right behind Marcus Matthews. Rashad Matthews, Brent Leitzell, Ben Smith and Derek King rounded out the varsity, while Greg Smith, William Willey, John Gonzalez and Trevor Jefferson scored career-best times. For the girls, Kourtney Short, Jackie Creasey, Lindsay Kenton, Tricia Gerken, Candice Young and Mallory Littleton led the varsity and Rosie Seagraves added a season-best time. For complete results, click on the above headline.

The MHSCC program got a big boost Wednesday as the Middle School Cross Country/Fitness Club coached by Bobby Spath made its debut in a 1.5-mile time trial at the MHS home course. Brandon Klein busted out a 9:31 for the boys, while Emma Barr notched a 10:30 for the girls to lead the way. Other finishers included: Brett Butler (11:09), Robert Fisher (11:54), Bret Hall (11:55), Jonathan Masten (12:09), Matt Huber (12:09), James Cetner (12:40), Kyle Fitzpatrick (13:07), Ali Clendaniel (13:17), Jacob Murray (14:16) Rossing Beau. (14:17), Michael Schlegel (15:08), Allan Lane (15:18), Daniel Wheeler (21:04) and Ellen Yelk (24:08).

All 16 boys and 12 of 14 girls who ran in Saturday's Salesianum Invitational scored their best time at Brandywine Creek State Park. For the boys, Rashad Matthews and Matt Holloway made the best improvement by shaving more than two minutes off their previous Brandywine best. Girls' frontrunner Marissa McDonnell (24:23) lowered her best by nearly five minutes while Julee Farley dropped nearly seven minutes from hers. Candice Young, Monica White and Dana Rathfon subtracted at least three. Congrats go out to Greg Smith and William Willey who completed their very first 5K . . . at Brandywine, nonetheless. :) Click on the above headline for complete MHS times and click on the pix for more pix.

Just missing the MHS all-time fastest list with a 17:55, senior co-captain Jon Wyman highlighted a sizzling day at Salisbury in the Tidewater Classic Wednesday as 26 of 27 runners posted season-best times and 19 scored career days. The boys finished sixth and the girls seventh out of 21 teams. The boys varsity finishers included Marcus Matthews, Rashad Matthews, Derek King, Ben Smith, Jon Luiken and Brent Leitzell, while Marissa McDonnell, Lindsay Kenton, Kourtney Short, Jackie Creasey, Tricia Gerken, Candice Young and Deshauna Purnell rounded the girls varsity. Click on the above headline for official updated times from Salisbury.

So, Ol' Bloomie didn't quite hit 19s, but 20:05 makes it pretty close in Saturday's Stockley Stride 5K. That was good enough for 10th overall and 2nd in my age group -- just 15 seconds behind Smyrna CC Coach Michael Kennedy (Hey, Coach K, if you're reading this, you're going down :). Milford Marathon Men Bobby Spath (19:41) and Brad "Aimin' for Bloom" Dennehy (21:10) got some speed work in as did Bobby's wife, Courtney (23s) who took third overall female. Other congrats go out to Milford res John Yanacek (surviving from an illness) and Bloomie's former W.T. Chipman middle school CC coach Baxter Smith and his son. Special hooray to MHSCC alum Justin Bloom who finished in the 21s. Special Sauce Insider saw Smyrna's senior Joe Morman run 19s just a day after medaling at the Middletown Inv.