After a quick several weeks of competition, the Cross Country
season is coming to a close. The DIAA Cross Country State Championships
will take place this Saturday, November 9th at Killens Pond State Park in
Felton, DE. Killens Pond features a relatively flat course, which levels the
playing field for downstate runners who do not have as easy access to hill running like runners from the northern part of the state. 7 Runners from each team will compete in each division on the 5,000-meter course.
The following is a listing of the scheduled start times for each race:
Division II Girls 1:00 pm
Division I Girls 1:40 pm
Division II Boys 2:20 pm
Division I Boys 3:00 pm
Last year in the Division I Boys race, Salesianum took
the winning team trophy, scoring a five-runner total of 19 points. Charter finished in second with a score of 67. Last week in the New Castle County
Championships Charter topped Sallies 54 to 58. The team title is to be determined
and could go to either team. Andrew Avila (Charter) enters as the boys'
individual favorite to take the Division I race. However Aidan Higley and Ryan Banko (Salesianum) have put down times this season that could slate them as a
strong contenders for the Division I title.
In 2018 Tatnall edged out a one-point win over St Andrews with a score of 43 to 44, capturing their 10th Division II team title in a row for the boys. Will Tatnall be able to keep the streak going with an 11th win over Friends? On the contrary, the door sits wide open for a new Division II DIAA XC Individual Champion. Connor Nisbet, one of Delaware's top all-time distance runners, graduated this past spring and was the winner of the past three Division II titles. Declan McDonnell (Tatnall) tops the leaderboard and is followed closely by Blake Hundley from St. Andrews.
