Milford High School Cross Country

Although a tad muggy, the first day of fall started well for Blooms running at the 13th annual Stockley Stride Saturday in Georgetown. Bloomie ran in the top 10 until the final half en route to a 1st place age group win with a 20:57, while wife Shelly pulled home with a 28:57 and a first-place trophy as well. Special Sauce Insider caught up with coaches from Sussex Central and Indian River (hoping to build a team in the near future) helping out at the Stockley Stride. Central seems psyched to match up with S.Tech on Wednesday. Plus, Ashley Johnson (the young harrier who took a crash on Bloom's bike at the summer CC camp) won the women's overall award with a 23:18 - not bad for an eighth-grader. I guess CR will add another talented runner to its pack next season. :) Congrats also go to former Central runner Enos Benbow who finished a few places ahead of Bloom.

Junior Joey Palumbo shattered his career-best time by a minute, running a stunning 18:54, to help the Bucs upset Lake Forest, 26-29, Wednesday at Killens Pond State Park. Chad Carpenter took the win with a 17:39, and then Palumbo, Keith Short and Stuart Barr put away the team victory with a great pack. Jon Wyman finished 10th in the race as the MHS No. 5 man. Season-best times also went to Brandon Miller, Chris Demby, Josh Chilcote, Robbie Rescigno, David Nixdorf, Chris Battaglia, Ben Smith, Matt Oliver and Brandon Rogers. For the girls, Amy Mallamo celebrated her birthday with an individual win, although Lake won, 20-42. Jessica Fitzpatrick, Megan Pastor, Brigid O'Neill and Rosie Seagraves scored season-best times. Click on the above headline for complete results.

Chad Carpenter and Amy Mallamo ran season-best times to earn Top 15 medals and 20 Bucs met their goal times to cap a successful day at the Lake Forest Invitational Saturday at Killens Pond State Park. For the boys, Keith Short became the third Buc to break 19 this season, while Justin Bloom became the seventh to shatter 20. Meanwhile for the girls, Lindsay Kenton continued to drop time to break 25. Congrats go out to Ashley Zimmerman and Maire O'Neill who each dropped their career time by more than two minutes. Saturday's top seven included Carpenter, Short, Scott Hall, Stuart Barr, Jon Wyman, Bloom and Joey Palumbo for the boys, and Mallamo, Kenton, Kourtney Short, Jessica Fitzpatrick, Amanda Meade, Mallory Littleton and Brigid O'Neill for the girls. Career-best times also went to Short, Bloom, Paul Rescigno, David Nixdorf, Matt Oliver, Kenton, Fitzpatrick, Littleton, Rosie Seagraves and Meghan Clendaniel. For complete results, click on the above headline.

The girls shut out Smyrna and Wilmington Christian and the boys scored eight guys under 21 minutes as the Bucs put together a great day at home under the sun in their season opener Wednesday. Overall, the girls defeated Smyrna, 15-48, and W.Christian, 15-50, while the guys toppled Smyrna, 17-42, and challenged three-time defending state runner-up W.Christian in a 22-33 loss. For the girls, Amy Mallamo finished runner-up to W.C.'s Lydia Singer with a 21:57, while Lindsay Kenton, Kourtney Short, Jessica Fitzpatrick, Zerphlee Watson, Mallory Littleton and Megan Pastor rounded out the top 7 in 28:03 or less. Meanwhile, Chad Carpenter made his early-season bid for the DII state championship by knocking off defending champ Chris Lucernoni of WC. Chad ran a stunning 17:39 - 20 seconds ahead of runner-up Lucernoni. Freshman Stuart Barr shocked the team with a stellar 18:56, while Scott Hall, Keith Short, Jon Wyman and Joey Palumbo each reached the 19s. Chris Demby scored a career-best 20:26 to round out the varsity while Justin Bloom ran a 20:47 in his first race. For more pix and entire results, click on the above headline or go to "Meet Wrap & Pix."

Hey guys, check out what Chad found on the web. We're getting some preseason notice already. If you link to Delawaresports.com, check out the Top 10 rankings. We're No. 9 - but we've got to earn it to keep it.