Seashore Classic Half Marathon draws nearly 300

Just a tad under 300 runners participated in the 15th annual Seashore Classic Half Marathon, 5K and Relay, which left Irish Eyes in Lewes and ran south to Gordons Pond and back. The 5K turned around just before the park entrance.

Matt Sparacino of Harrington won the 5K title in 18:27, while Melissa Wiley of Ocean City, Md., ran 20:28 to win the female title. John Costello of Milton won the male masters race in 20:34, while Susie Snyder of New York won the female masters title in 24:32.

Joseph Goulet, 37, of Marydel won his first title in the half marathon in 1:31:52.3, while Lauren Moran, 44, of Virginia won the female half title in 1:32:22.9. Derrick Caruthers, 46, of Clayton won the male masters half in 1:33:22.8, while Carolina Urena, 48, of Baltimore ran 1:50:02.5 to take the female masters title.

A field of names that were new to the Seashore Striders saw 16 states represented and just as many female runners as male runners. Many folks were using the Seashore Classic as their 50-state qualifier and checking off Delaware.  

Notes - Local Karissa Lamaire, a former Seashore Striders runner in her elementary years, took part in the 5K, running 24:56 to win the 20-29 age group. Ruth Schneider, 12, of Royersford, Pa., ran an impressive 1:41:18 in the half. Local Mason Morrone ran 1:35:44 for his first half marathon, smiling at the finish. The top four in the female 60-69 group were from Pennsylvania, Texas, Kansas and Vermont coming from all over to run a Seashore Striders event. A total of 12 teams participated in the event.

AI DuPont Invitational

A handful of local teams traveled north to Greenville Monday to participate in the Tiger Open, better known as the last-chance qualifier before the conference and state championship meets. Cape had a pair of sixth-place performances, as Maddy Gazze ran 18.05 in the 100-meter hurdles and Elijah Shockley-Taylor ran 16.49 in the 110-meter hurdles. Another pair of eighth-place performances were turned in by Kennedy Johnson in the 400-meter dash in 1:01.61, while Shockley-Taylor also ran the 300-meter hurdles in 42.97. A pair of ninth-place performances were turned in by McKenzie Everson in the high jump in 4-feet-6-inches and Jade Warrington in the discus in 82-11.

Ryan Moody led his Sussex Academy team with a sub-10-minute two mile, as he went 9:57.07 to shatter the school record and finish third. Katya Geyer was fourth in the high jump at 5-0, while Emmanuel Charles Aine was also fourth in the triple jump with a hop-step-jump of 42-4 for a school record. Sprinter Ethan Boladas was fifth in the 200-meter dash in 22.90 for a school record, seventh in the long jump in 19-6, and ninth in the 100-meter dash in 11.27 for another school record. Jesse Jean Louis was ninth in the high jump in 5-6, while Duncan Winger was 10th in the 1,600 in 4:48.75. Josue Laurore was also 10th in the 300-meter hurdles in 43.53 for a school record, while a nice 2:01.45 was turned in by Justin Friscia in the 800-meter run just missing his own school record.

My old brain backfired last weekend when I gave Robert Marsh the Beacon record of 2:17 in the 800 meters when it was supposed to be Justin Friscia who ran 2:16 for the record. My apologies to Justin.

The Henlopen Conference takes May 9-10 at Lake Forest High School with my friend Freddie Johnson as meet director.  

Dover MS Invitational

Several Beacon and Mariner athletes finished in the top three at the Dover Middle School Invitationa. Dylan Harp of Mariner ran 5:22.45 in the 1,600 for third place. Claudia Stazzone of Beacon finished second in the 400 in 1:07.19, while Tytiana Floyd was third from Mariner in 1:08.78. Allison Ortiz-Rivera of Mariner won the 800 in 2:35.60. Aiden Crenshaw of Beacon also won the 800 in 2:20.63, while Quinn Kluchnik of Mariner was second in 2:26.62. The Mariner girls ran 2:02.76 in the 800 relay for third place. The Beacon boys finished third in 1:47.25 in the 800 relay. The Beacon boys won the 1,600 relay in 4:06.81. Ortiz-Rivera finished second in the triple in 27-9, while teammate Hannah Wells was third in 27-8 ½. Staying with the triple jump, Beacon’s Brayden Uszenski jumped 33-11 for second place, while Kristopher Ramos-Morales of Mariner was third in 31-3 ¾. Beacon’s Jayson Cohen tossed the discus 93-10 good for second place. Mariner Jumper Natalie Horsey won the high jump with a clear of 4-6. Beacon went 1-2 in the high jump with Aiden Crenshaw winning in 4-10, and Brayden Uszenski second in 4-10.

In the team competition, the Mariner girls scored 77 points and were second to Chipman by just five points, while Beacon was eighth with 20 points. In the boys meet, Beacon finished fourth with 68 points, while Mariner was fifth with 51 points.