Brandywine's Dan Oren wins, leads team to BHC title
By Chuck Durante
Special to the News Journal
Distance runners and their fans have opposite ideas of what constitutes a beautiful day. The warmer and sunnier the race, the less the best runners enjoy it.
Almost alone among 105 runners, Brandywine’s Dan Oren thrived on yesterday's unseasonable warmth, winning the Blue Hen Conference boys championship by nearly 30 seconds.
Oren's teammates, however, had an unusually pedestrian day, barely winning the team title with 60 points over Middletown (67) and Newark (68).
Oren pulled away from Middletown's Alex Birchenall and Jeff Wilber on one of his favorite spots, the plateau just after Maintenance Hill, amid the first mile of the 3.1-mile course.
"I wanted to lead from the very beginning because I want to run in front. I'm a front-runner," said Oren. Cramps hindered Oren last year, when he finished fifth in this race. An abundance of sun was this year's curse.
"I hate running in the sun. I like running in the cold, but I was so happy when I crossed the line today," said Oren, who bettered his personal record on Delaware's toughest course by 21 seconds.m “I felt I had to win today. It’s senior year. I wasn’t going to let anybody by.”
Of Oren's teammates, only Jason Scott had a stellar day, overcoming an injury to finish fifth. With no other runners in the top 15, Brandywine retained its conference title because its talent is still deeper than Flight B champion Middletown.
"We lost five of our top seven runners, yet we're still running extremely well," says Middletown coach Bill Dubois. "If we weren't getting bumped up to Division One for the state meet, we'd be in a strong position for the states."
Dan Bowser (4th) and John DeFranco (7th) led Newark.
McKean, led by Paul Tuoni (5th) and first-year runner Andrew Bennett (8th), was
fourth.
Kutney wins BHC, ex-teammate Noelke 2d, Brandywine sweeps
By Chuck Durante
Special to the News Journal
Rushing to make up for a lost junior year, Christine Noelke chased her former teammate, Jenn Kutney of Brandywine, to a record at the Blue Hen Conference championships yesterday, and carried Charter's first cross country team to third place among 15 schools.
Kutney's 19:58 was the fastest time ever run by a Delaware high school athlete at the course laid out four years ago at Brandywine Creek State Park. Three of her teammates, Alison Taylor, Kimmi Lopata and Leslie Wason, finished in the top eight as Brandywine lapped the field. Brandywine is peaking as it defends its county title next Saturday at Bellevue and state championship in two weeks at Brandywine Creek.
Brandywine's strength was expected, but not Charter School's 9-1 record. After a two-year pilot program under Vic Zwolak, Charter's cross country team has exploded into prominence this year under Kevin Kelly, several times coach of the year in track and cross country at William Penn.
Charter has nearly 40 runners, most in their first year of running. The corps even includes eighth graders who attend Cab Calloway, a middle school that is housed in the same Wilmington High School building, and thus can run with the high school varsity.
Noelke transferred to Charter after a painful year-long recovery from a freak ligament tear in her right foot during a routine conditioning run in the summer of 1998. "I went to seven different doctors to see what could be done," says Noelke.
She tried to run last fall, but was idled for Brandywine's titanic county and state meet victories. "I missed the track season, too," says Noelke. "I had a lot of difficultly dealing with it."
This fall, two doctors suggested that she run with orthodics in her shoe. The non-medicinal remedy has worked. Noelke ran 20:13 last Tuesday at Brandywine Creek, surpassed only but Kutney this year. Yesterday's warmth slowed her by 25 seconds, but slowed everyone else but Kutney.
Freshman Laura Billings (3rd) and senior Lindsay Uffelman (6th) led Middletown to second place. Kim Woods (4th) led fourth place Newark.