XC

Cross country races

Delaware Cross Country Takes Control of the Season Opener 5k

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A new season has begun for the University of Delaware Club Cross Country and Track and Field team. Distance, sprinters, and alumni alike, went down to Dewey Beach, Delaware for the 46th Gary P. Lister Bottle & Cork 5k road race. 

Despite it being very early in the season, the team put up many good performances, including complete ownership of the overall top 10 from nine current Delaware runners and one alumni. 

Senior Alex Horgan finished first with a dominating 15:47.3. He finished over a whole minute ahead of junior Dan Giron (16:51.3) and senior Sasha Latina (16:59.9), who rounded out the podium. Freshman Evan Diefenbeck (17:04.5) and first year competing sophomore Arvind Arunachalam (17:12.8) showed their potential with 4th and 5th place finishes. Delaware rounded out the top 10 with sophomore Brett Balthis (17:21.0), senior Chris Calandra (18:09.4), freshman Branden Debrosse (18:12.1), and sophomore Caden MacHenry (18:15.6). 

On the women’s side, freshman Geneva Laur led the Delaware pack with a second place finish of 21:21.3. The freshman girls continued their reign with CJ Williams securing the third podium spot at 21:34.7 and Jade Barrett getting Delaware’s third spot at 21:56.5. Junior Jenna Mlecko (22:05.6) and freshman Hannah Heredia (22:09.7) went back-to-back to attain the final top five spots for Delaware. Rounding out the Delaware top seven placing 8th and 9th overall came junior Natalie Pinto at 22:26.2 and sophomore Lauren Pollock at 22:47.5.

The cross country team will get their collegiate season started on September 24th at the DC Invitational. 

Full meet results can be found here.

Women Take Home Third Place Finish at Mid-Atlantic Regionals

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The Delaware club cross country team traveled to Lehigh University over the weekend to compete in the NIRCA Mid-Atlantic Region Race. The women’s team headlined the morning with a third place finish in a 13-team field. Full results can be found here.

Bailey Davin once again led the way for the Blue Hens crossing the line in 23:33 — just one second off her all-time personal best of 23:32. Davin’s 11th place finish is the third time she finished as the Hens’ top runner. Delaware’s next three runners in Talia Brookstein-Burke (24:20.60), Leena Saidi (24:22.50) and Allison Einig (24:29.60) secured three valuable top twenty spots to help secure the top three finish. The trio placed in 18th, 19th and 20th respectively. 

Emily Ward rounded out the scoring five for the women with a time of 26:22.30 and 56th place finish. Madeleine Dorley and Lauren Pollock took the final two top seven spots in times of 26:25.30 and 27:11.30. 

For the men, Alex Horgan continued his dominance on the course with a third place finish and time of 25:23. In each of the last three meets, Horgan has taken home a top three individual finish. The remaining four scoring spots for Delaware were all secured within a minute of each other. Sasha Latina’s new personal best of 28:08.50 started the trend with Bryant Cordova (28:15.50), Paul Filipow (28:21.70) and Schuyler Reed (28:31.50) following shortly after. 

Daniel Giron and Chris Calandra both broke the sub-30 mark to secure the final two top seven spots in 29:27 for Giron and 29:41.50 for Calandra. The men finished the day with a sixth place team finish.

The regional meet performance marks the end of three straight weeks of racing for Delaware. The upcoming Halloween weekend will serve as a way for the Hens to get a much needed break before returning to the course on Nov. 6 in its season finale at NIRCA Nationals in Shelbyville, Indiana.

The women finished  in third place with an average time of 24:37.20.

Alex Horgan’s time of 25:23.00 marks the second straight week of Horgan going under 26 minutes.

The Blue Hens will have a two weeks to prepare for NIRCA Nationals on Nov. 6.

Women, Men’s Teams Place in the Top Three at Princeton Invitational

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Delaware club cross country ran in its first NIRCA sanctioned race of the season at the Princeton Invitational Sunday. Princeton historically is a longer course and this year it was no different. Despite the slightly longer course, over 14 personal bests were set across the board!

The women led off the afternoon in the 6,000 meter-race with a third place and 87-point performance out of 11 teams. Three senior runners finished inside the top twelve positions for the Blue Hens. Bailey Davin finished sixth with a time of 24:49.47, while Talia Brookstein-Burke and Allison Einig came in eighth and twelfth with finishing times of 25:17.16 and 25:38.84. 

Sophomore Natalie Pinto placed inside the top seven for the first time on the year with a 28:53.14 performance. Freshman Lauren Pollock rounded out the scoring five right behind Pinto in a time of 28:57.55. Junior Kayla Johnson and senior Liz Steenkamer took the final two top seven spots.

Similar to the women, the men finished the day with a third place finish and tallied 91 points in a 12 team field. Junior Alex Horgan headlined the 8,000 meter-race and became the first club cross country runner to win an individual title since Michael Durkin in 2019. Horgan won the race with a time of 25:55.16.

Graduate student Bryant Cordova (27:38.87) and senior Schuyler Reed (28:00.07) took 15th and 24th place. Junior Sasha Latina (28:18.42) and senior Paul Filipow (28:24.71) went back-to-back to finish off the scoring five with 31st and 32nd place finishes. Sophomore Cam Harrington (29:07.56) and junior Chris Calandra (29:26.17) took the final two spots in the top seven.

The team’s second meet of the week is set for Oct. 23 at Lehigh University in NIRCA’s Mid-Atlantic Regional race. Full meet results can be found here.

Alex Horgan pulls away from the field for a first place finish.

Bailey Davin led the way for the women placing sixth.

Four Delaware runners won awards for their top 12 individual performances!

Cross County Returns to the XC Course at Delaware Invitational

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The Delaware club cross country team made its return to White Clay Creek State Park for the first time since September of 2019 in the 2021 Delaware Invitational on Saturday. Full results can be found here.

The women started off the morning with a 57 point, second place finish out of a six team field and placed all of its seven runners in the top 30.

Senior Bailey Davin finished 12th and led the way for the Blue Hens with a time of 25:14. Davin’s time is only five seconds off her 2019 performance of 25:09 at White Clay, which is sixth all-time. Senior Talia Brookstein-Burke ran a course personal best of 26:00.2 and in her first ever college race, sophomore Jenna Mlecko finished 17th with a time of 26:04.2.

Senior Allison Einig and junior Madeleine Dorley rounded out the scoring five for Delaware with times of 26:52.5 and 28:36.7. Sophomore Emily Ward and freshman Lauren Pollock in their college cross country debuts took the final two top seven spots with times of 28:55.5 and 29:37.6.

“It’s a really tough course to start out with, but everybody put in a lot of good work today and we had a lot of great results,” Davin said.

On the men’s side, two runners broke the sub-30 barrier including a top 10 all-time performance by junior and Boston College transfer Alex Horgan. Horgan surpassed Chris Kitson and now sits sixth all-time with his 27:04.8 time. Horgan took second place overall.

Senior Paul Filipow placed 12th and crossed the line second for Delaware with a personal course best of 29:38.5. Senior Schuyler Reed, graduate student Bryant Cordova and junior Sasha Latina all finished in under 31 minutes, with times of 30:25.3, 30:28.5 and 30:45.3 respectively. Sophomore’s Cam Harrington and Daniel Giron rounded out the top seven with their first ever 8k times of 31:15.1 and 31:46.3.

“I really enjoyed the hill mid race, it’s in fact so nice I could do it twice,” Filipow said. “Overall, really proud with the team today, really proud to see what we can do for Princeton, Lehigh and beyond.”

The cross country team will travel to Princeton University on Oct. 17 to race at the Princeton Invitational.

UD vs. Duke Virtual 5k

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This weekend, the University of Delaware’s Club Cross Country team started the 2020 cross country season in a way no hen, blue or otherwise, could have ever predicted. The new normal of virtual races is sweeping the running community as competitors seek to test themselves even without the promise of a pre-race corral or post-race festival. Our opening invite featured 20 blue hens racing against Duke University’s (somewhat measly) turnout of five blue devils in a virtual 5k.

Junior Morgan Gallagher placed first overall for the women with a time of 20:03, paced by her boyfriend and done along the scenic Hudson River. Following her race, Gallagher reported, “Not an easy run but I definitely surprised myself.”

Senior Emily Magoon, a veteran runner, and solo running expert surprised herself as well, not just with her time of 22:11, but with how she was able to stay focused throughout. Her tips for those running virtual races: “Wear your race day outfit, imagine your support squad cheering,” and “imagine you’re in a pack or chasing the next pack.” Thanks, Emily!

For the boy’s team, sophomore Sasha Latina snagged first place in a time of 16:27- a 35 second PR! “I have been working my a** off this summer,” Latina said, “and everything finally clicked.”

Junior Schuyler Reed crossed the (virtual) line just 20 seconds after Latina (virtually!) in a time of 16:47. Freshman Cam Harrington rounded out the boy’s top three with a time of 17:13.

“This was the first hard effort for me in a long time,” Harrington said, “so it was exciting and felt good to get out and push it again.”

Next up for us is a virtual 5k against the Minnesota Running Club on September 26th- stay tuned to see who would win in a fight: blue chickens or golden gophers.

Sophomore Sasha Latina wins the boy’s race in 16:27