High school athletes head to national meets

We’re in the midst of big national championship meets, as athletes are traveling to New York, Boston and Virginia Beach to compete in the Big Three sponsored by Nike, Adidas and New Balance. 

The Adidas Track Nationals will be held this weekend at the Virginia Beach Sports Center, and several teams from the First State will take part. Cape Henlopen, Polytech, Sussex Central, Dover and Caesar Rodney will each take athletes to the meet from the Henlopen Conference. The facility in Virginia Beach is one of the fastest tracks – if not the fastest – in the United States. It ranks right up there with Ocean Breeze, the Reggie Lewis Center, and the Track at New Balance. The Cape boys’ and girls’ teams will each send a mile relay team to the meet, while middle-distance standout Ben Clifton will compete in the 800 meters.   

At the New Balance Nationals held last weekend in Boston, Cape’s Bailey Fletcher jumped 14-feet-3-inches to finish 24th of 32 jumpers in the pole vault. The winning jump was 17-8. Four athletes cleared the 17-foot mark. In the freshman 400-meter dash, Cape’s Jamar Beasley ran 54.97 to finish 59th of 97 athletes. Robert Redden ran 8.52 in the 60-meter hurdles to finish 111th in the field of 227 hurdlers. An interesting result from Boston that I thought was amazing was the homeschooled distance runner who ran 4:24 in the middle school mile. A total of 47 middle school boys broke the five-minute mark. The middle school girls’ race winner set an impressive 4:51 finish.

One of the most outstanding races of the meet was the 5,000-meter win by Daniel Simmons of the American Fork XC Club in 13:38, which qualifies the high school runner for the USA Olympic Trials this summer. Highlighting the First State, Padua’s team ran 8:53 in the 3,200-meter relay to win the championship, coming off a U.S.-leading 8:49 victory a week earlier at the Armory in New York City. 

College track

Delaware State recently traveled to the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Championships in Virginia Beach. Highlighting the Hornets was a weight throw championship by Tyrell Martin, who logged a distance of 52-feet-4 ¾-inches, while Peter Kamanu won the pole vault at 14-5. The Hornets won the distance medley relay in a good time of 10:11, with one-mile run champion Marian Drazan on the anchor. Drazan earlier won the mile in an impressive 4:12. On the female side, the top Hornets athlete was second-place finisher Annalise Bond in the pole vault in 11-0.  The Hornets will kick off the outdoor season Friday, March 22, at the Raleigh Relays in Raleigh, N.C.

University of Delaware will host the Delaware Invitational Friday and Saturday, April 5 and 6, with the high school meet Friday and the college meet Saturday. The Blue Hens will kick off their outdoor season Friday, March 22, at the Fred Hardy Invitational in Richmond, Va.

Lucky Lep bits and pieces

Cape standout distance runner Jason Baker, 16, of Lewes, fought through the late-morning wind and a few 684 hills to capture the male championship March 10 at the 11th annual Lucky Leprechaun 5K. Melissa Wiley, 38, of Ocean City, Md., captured the female championship in 21:21.

Mike Sewell, 54, won the male masters race in 20:27, while 684 racer Debra Isser, 69, won the female masters title in 24:05.

Three runners averaged under the six-minute mark, while 43 ran under the seven-minute mark.  

The largest male age group in the race was the 60-69 with 39 athletes, while the largest female age group in the race was also the 60-69 with 56 athletes.

The oldest female in the race was Frances Garvert of Arlington, Va., 83 years old, while the oldest male in the race was her husband William, age 85.

The youngest female in the race was one of my former students, Finley Allen of Lewes, age 7. She ran an impressive time of 29:20. Beckett Waugh of Rehoboth Beach, 4 years old, was the youngest boy.

Shamrock Shuffle 

The annual Shamrock Shuffle 10-miler, 5K and 2-person relay event will be held Sunday, March 17, at Cape Henlopen State Park. Because of the recent downpour of rain, the course has slightly changed. The start will be at the Hawk Watch pavilion with parking at the main bathhouse lot. The field will exit the Hawk Watch pavilion area and loop the bathhouse parking lot; then the 10-mile course will head to Fort Miles, Herring Point, and off to Gordons Pond. The turn-around will be at the south side of the Gordons Pond parking lot. The 5K course will turn around at the 1.55-mile mark on “marathon road.” Happy St. Patrick’s Day … over and out!