Milford High School Cross Country

Chad Carpenter ran a 17:17 (6th overall) to make boys' first-team All-Henlopen while Amy Mallamo ran a 21:02 (9th overall) to make the girls' second-team, pacing the Bucs in the Henlopen Conference Championships at Killens Pond Saturday. As teams, the boys placed 5th, while the girls placed 6th. Amanda Meade, Amber Zedney and Maire O'Neill each scored career-best times and Megan Pastor added a season-best time to lead the girls. For the boys, Keith Short ran a course-best 18:21 to place 20th overall, while Brandon Miller and Joey Palumbo each broke 19. For complete results and more pictures, click on the above headline.

Jessi Rivera (Class of '01) capped her rookie college season at Messiah with an second-team All-Conference peformance in her conference championships Saturday. On a hilly course comparable to Brandywine Creek, Jessi stormed through the pack with a 20:13, placing 15th overall and 4th on her team. Her Messiah Falcons finished runner-up to Moravian - the top-ranked team in NCAA Division III. Inside note: Jessi said she fought off the flu earlier in the week and then had her ceremonial pre-race burp on Saturday! Way to go!

SEE MORE PICTURES IN THE MEET WRAPS & PIX. On a near-perfect day for running, more than 130 runners blazed through the 3.1-mile course at the Kent County Cross Country Championships Tuesday. The Dover boys - led by individual champion Charles Gibson - took the team title, while the CR girls - led by individual champion Jill Hajec - also won a team trophy. Chad Carpenter led the MHS boys with a 17:05 just seconds behind Gibson, while Amy Mallamo (6th, 20:35) and Lindsay Kenton (13th, 22:04) ran course-best times to lead the MHS girls. Each team finished fourth out of seven teams. MHS career-bests went to Scott Hall, Chris Demby, Ben Smith, Nick Creasey, Caleb Penney, Brandon Rogers, Amber Zedney, Mallory Littleton, Brigid O'Neill, Rosie Seagraves and Maire O'Neill. Brandon Miller added a season-best time. Click on the above headline for complete results. Also click on the course record links to the left to see the numerous course records broken Tuesday. A few Kent County Championships T-shirts are still available for $12. E-mail if you're interested.

(Sorry for the delay. Just got back from the Halloweenie Parade in Milford) Despite warm weather, the boys and girls cross country teams wrapped up fine regular seasons against Seaford Wednesday. The boys scored a 23-36 win to down the Blue Jays for the first time since the mid-1990s. The boys finished the year 6-3 in the Henlopen Conference and 6-4 overall, while the girls went 4-5, 5-5. Individually, Chad Carpenter won the race with a 17:57 to place 15th on the Seaford course list, while Brandon Miller added a season-best time and Caleb Penney a career-best. For complete results, click on the above headline.

Plenty of news to report from the Killens Pond 5K Saturday. Topping the charts - freshman MHSCCer Lindsay Kenton scored the overall female trophy with a 23:20. Thanks go out to MHSCC No. 2 man Keith Short who cruised along at 20:52 (8th overall) in hopes of carrying Bloomie to a career-best. I didn't quite come through, but made the Top 10 to win my age group at 21:17. Another MHSCCer, David Nixdorf, ran his best on the course to place 13th overall with a 22:05. None of us could keep up with Uncle Vern, who ran a 20:09 to take 6th overall, second in his age group. Special Sauce Insider notes that Lake's soph Addison Lukecart went out hard placing just ahead of Vern with a 20:05. Meanwhile, Bloomie's wife, Shelly, teamed with Kim Short (Keith and Kourtney's mom) to carry each other to great times. Kim won her age group with a 28:37, and Shelly took second in hers with a 28:34. Second in Bloomie's age group went to the hard-charging Jason Bougher (Coach Brandi's hubby) who came up with a career-best 23:15. As for Brandi, she scored a win in her age group with a 25:28.