Lainey Shockro, Luke Burton win titles at Brandywine Invite

The Seashore Striders traveled north to Wilmington Oct. 4 to take part in the CYM Invitational at hilly Brandywine Creek State Park, hosted by the teams from Ursuline and St. Edmonds. The JV course is 1.07 miles for the third- through sixth-graders and 2.26 miles for the seventh- and eighth-graders, which are considered varsity.

The course is well known through the high school ranks and is considered one of the top three most difficult 5,000-meter courses on the East Coast of the United States. So what makes the shorter 2.26 course so challenging? The designers simply kept all the hills and removed the flats to make the course just one hill after another. The 2.2-mile course to me is actually tougher than the 3.1-mile course because the runners simply cannot recover before reaching another incline.

The downstate Striders crowned two individual champions, as Lainey Shockro won the third/fourth girls' race in a time of 7:34 over the course, while Luke Burton captured the fifth/sixth boys' race in a time of 6:15. Burton’s time is one of the top three fastest all-time performances on the course.

Salisbury Invitational

The Sussex Tech Ravens finished second overall this past Wednesday at the Salisbury Invitational, placing three runners in the top 14 led by junior Ben Bamforth in his personal best time of 16:30. Bamforth tied the Sussex Tech cross country all-time school record set last year by Sam Hete at Bellevue State Park in October. The overall champion was Branson Oduor out of Northwest High School in Mongomery County, Md., who circled the 5,000-meter course in 16:07. Bamforth lowered his personal best by over 20 seconds with a tough third mile of 5:23. Other finishers for Sussex Tech include Ian Carlisle in 11th, Jay Hinds in 14th, Graham Spellman in 27th and Connor Morrow in 28th to make up the top five scorers.

The Cape Henlopen boys finished seventh among the 22 teams and were led by Sam Nye in 21st in 17:43. Other Cape finishers include Greg Boyce in 40th, Ricky Brokaw in 51st, Lance White in 58th and Joey Montabell in 63rd.

On the girls' side of the action, the Ravens of Sussex Tech finished fourth overall, while the Vikings of Cape finished ninth in the standings. Senior Roxy Ramirez ran the course in 19:07, just missing the school record to finish second overall. Lakendra Harpe, just a sophomore, finished 23rd in the race, while Chloe Fisher was 44th. Regan Banning finished 48th, while Ciera Edwards rounded out the scoring in 53rd.

The Cape girls were led by senior Sarah Dziak in 10th overall, while frosh Zoe Callard finished 29th in sub-22. Senior Grace Brokaw was 42nd, while first-year runner Carly Truitt was 67th. Shea Sugrue rounded out the scoring in 80th place overall in the race.

Ritter named Runner of the Week

Senior Emily Ritter of Rider University (Sussex Tech) was named Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Runner of the Week for all competition the first week of October.

Ritter ran at the Paul Short Run and finished 16th among 312 runners, covering the 6,000-meter course in 20:59. That time converts to an impressive 17:30 5K.

“Emily ran an outstanding race at Paul Short,” said Rider head coach Bob Hamer. “She was tripped and fell early in the race, but she recovered nicely.”

Ritter was an All-East and All-MAAC harrier last fall and earned All-America honors in the spring, finishing ninth in the nation in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.

Ritter will compete in the Princeton Invitational Oct. 17.

Mariner over Providence Creek

The Mariner boys' cross country team evened its record on the strength of a gutsy run by eighth-grader Levi Clifton, defeating visiting Providence Creek Academy 19-42. Clifton took control of the race early and never looked back, leading a 1-2-3 Vikings sweep with an 11:31 clocking for 1.8 miles. The time is a new Mariner record on the reconfigured Virden Center course in Lewes. Sixth-grader Ronnie Lofland crossed the line second in 12:19 - a 13-second personal best - while eighth-grader Collin Mallet chopped more than a minute from his personal best to take third in 12:27. Eighth-grader Bryan Ciabattoni delivered a nice 12:57 time, good for sixth place and a 33-second improvement on his result in the season opener. Seventh-grade stalwart Jordan Jefferson continued his rapid improvement by slicing 1:04 from his previous best, placing seventh in 13:16. Sixth-grader Malikye Wells chased Jefferson home, improving on last week's time by 46 seconds to finish eighth in 13:18. Fellow sixth-grader Elliott Bastian closed out the Mariner scoring by crossing ninth in 13:50.

The Mariner girls' cross country team claimed its first win of the 2015 campaign Oct. 7 with a 25-32 triumph over visiting Providence Creek Academy at the Virden Center in Lewes. Seventh-grader Lindsay Rambo capped off a busy week of racing with an eye-popping individual win. Rambo blazed through the recently redesigned 1.8-mile out-and-back circuit in 11:54, a new course record and the equivalent of a 12:50 two-mile time. She knocked 51 seconds off her clocking from last week's meet against Fifer. Rambo was so dominant that she would've placed a close second in the boys' race. Fellow seventh-grader Fallon Moore notched a very strong performance of her own, taking second in 13:15 and shaving nearly two minutes from last week's time. Eighth-grader Akera Turnage (fourth, 16:56) and sixth-grader Kimberly Cooper (sixth, 17:08) blew away their personal bests by five minutes apiece, scoring key points for the Vikings in the process. Turnage and Cooper answered their coaches' call for a solid No. 3 runner with blistering performances that sealed the Mariner win. Sixth-grader Lorna Attalla was every bit as impressive, as she sliced more than two minutes from her PB to finish 14th in 22:08. Mariner (1-1) returns to action Oct. 19 when the Vikings visit Woodbridge.

Upcoming races

Raven Classic 5K, Saturday, Oct. 10, 9 a.m., at Sussex Tech High School, Georgetown.

Raven Youth Open Invitational, Saturday, Oct. 10, 10:30 a.m., at Sussex Tech High School, Georgetown.

Dewey Goes Pink, Saturday, Oct. 10, noon, The Starboard, Dewey Beach.

Greene Turtle 5K, Sunday, Oct. 11, 9 a.m., Greene Turtle Rehoboth Avenue, Rehoboth.