Milford High School Cross Country

Congrats go out to the 11 die-hards (including 3 MHSCCers and Ol' Bloomie) who completed Seaford High CC's inaugural Survival of the Fittest event -- a collection of seven track events totaling 7 miles. Seaford track alum Jamie Parks won the men's overall in just over 40 minutes, edging out Smyrna and Wesley CC alum Matt Lindell who couldn't make up a 13-second difference in the final event -- 3200 meters. Ol' Bloomie took third with a 44:01 holding off MHSCCer Jon "Pre" Luiken who won the 100, 200 and 400, but couldn't get enough lead to overcome Bloomie's 20:12 5K (to Luiken's 21:25). Luiken scored a slight edge in the 1600 (5:54 to 5:56), 800 (2:44.2 to 2:45) and 3200 (13:08.5 to 13:08.9), but finished 55 seconds behind in 44:56. MHSCCer Christian "Playa, Playa" Dubsky got a big boost with a sub-30 5K and finished 7th in 64 total minutes, just behind Racin' Rob Perciful of Seaford High coaching fame and Seaford CC alum Donald Abrams. Senior MHSCC teammate Dashin' Dana Rathfon scored several sprint wins and made a killer comeback in the 3200 to finish second overall for the ladies in just over 70 minutes.

I guess it's time to call my former high school CC coach Jim Blades and tell him that the scrawny senior team captain of his finally broke his goal time -- even if it is 13 years later. . . . Though I'm certain the clock said 19:19, Ol' Bloomie bounced with joy to know I had hauled in an official time of 19:24 -- some 21 seconds faster than my previous career best of 19:45, set back in early November of 1990 in the Henlopen Conference Championship at Killens Pond. Of course, I'm in unchartered territory and can't even begin to believe that 18s are right in front of me . . . Whew. At any rate, a big thanks goes out to the Milford Marathon Mates Bobby Spath and Brad Dennehy. I kept Bobby in my sights the whole way as he finished just seconds ahead of me. Brad kept the target on me and also beasted a career-best under 20. A big thumbs up goes to MHSCC alums Scott Hall and Justin Bloom who paced Bloomie through the two-mile mark. Hall battled Dennehy to a sprint and Bloom rallied to finish a few spots back. Also congrats to Lexington Miller Anne Beals and Milford runners Randy Fisher and John Yanacek, plus Lake CC alum Eric Payne. Special Sauce Insider saw Polytech asst. coach Charles Bailey blaze to a runner-up finish in 17:29, while his top boys and girls runners, Bostik Johnson, Amy Dempsey and Jenna Kemmerle, all followed suit with solid times. Lake's Teddy Bobbola and gang also made a solid showing. Hey, Ruth Ann, sorry I didn't get to shake your hand. I had to run to Brandywine for the Sallies Invite!

Senior captain Jon Wyman came up with a career-best 18:27 and Marissa McDonnell ran a season-best 23:57 to pace the Bucs Wednesday versus Sussex Tech. Unfortunately, despite earning 28 season-best times, the boys fell to Tech, 23-32, and the girls fell, 16-39. Marcus Matthews, Rashad Matthews, Jon Luiken, Chris Pettyjohn, Derek King and Ben Smith each helped the entire varsity break under 21 for the first time in '03. Brent Leitzell, Matt Holloway, Andrew Meade, Andre Purnell, Matt Esposito, Mike Pastor and John Gonzalez each posted career-bests. For the girls, Jessica Fitzpatrick, Lindsay Kenton, Kourtney Short, Jackie Creasey, Tricia Gerken and Candice Young ran season-best times to pace the varsity, while Deshauna Purnell and Meredith Muskovich also added career-bests. Click on the above headline for complete results and click on the pix for more pix.

Marissa McDonnell ran a great final mile to reel in Polytech's top runner and to pace the girls to a 19-44 win Wednesday. The girls also shut out Sussex Central, 15-50. For the boys, Jon Wyman led the entire way, but Polytech outpacked the Bucs to pull off the early season upset, 24-31. The Bucs did shut down Central, 19-44. Erica Godwin, Jessica Fitzpatrick, Jackie Creasey (career-best 26:19), Lindsay Kenton, Kourtney Short and Tricia Gerken (career-best 28:18) completed the girls varsity, while Marcus Matthews, Rashad Matthews, Chris Pettyjohn, Derek King, Chris Battaglia and Andrew Meade (career-best 21:51) rounded out the boys. Andre Purnell, Mike Pastor, Trevor Jefferson and Meredith Muskovich each added career times.

Jon Wyman and Jessica Fitzpatrick paced the boys and girls to solid team finishes at the Lake Forest Invitational on Saturday. The boys finished 13th and the girls 14th out of 23 teams. In all, 12 of 13 runners who ran the invite last season got faster in '03 -- nine shaved off nearly a minute or more. :) Rookies Cody Houck, Matt Esposito, Andre Purnell and Trevor Jefferson earned career-best times for the boys, while Tricia Gerken shattered a career-best with a 27:42. Chris Pettyjohn, Chris Battaglia, Matt Holloway, Lindsay Kenton, Maire O'Neill and Julee Farley added season-best times. Click on the above headline for complete results. Click on the pix for more pix.