By DOMENICO MONTANARO
Special to The News Journal
04/01/2001

CHRISTIANA -- It's no surprise that the state's top-ranked boys and girls high school track teams -- Salesianum and Brandywine High, respectively -- cleaned up Saturday at the Christiana Relays.

That the Cape Henlopen boys finished third, however, is a surprise.

"We're thrilled to death," said Cape coach Pat Pollack, whose team is in its first season in Division I. "[Our team] ran great. I'm very pleased with the overall turnout.

"We had a great day today."

Sallies finished with 72 points and dominated the field. Calvert Hall of Baltimore was second (58 1/2 points) and Cape was close behind (52).

In girls action, Brandywine (71 points) overcame William Penn (52) and Christiana (51).

Brandywine's 4 x 1600 relay team of Alison Sanchez, Jenn Kutney, Leslie Wason and Abby Nerlinger gave the Bulldogs their only track victory on the cold and muddy afternoon in a time of 25 minutes, one second.

Brandywine also had two first-place finishes in field events -- Aysha Gregory in the shot put (39 feet. 8 inches) and Susan Kerns in the long jump (15-4).

The highlight of the day for the Cape boys was in the triple jump. They took the top two spots as Antonio Alford jumped a personal best 42-11 1/2 to win and teammate Dewayne Holloman finished second (42-2).

Sallies was impressive as it scored points in every track event but the 4 x 400. The Sals' 800 relay (8:10.8) and distance medley relay (11:26.3) stood out. Coach Ralph Heiss said the 800 relay team is nearing its goal of qualifying for the Penn Relays.

Sallies also fared well in the field as Jim Delgrosso won the high jump (6-4) and David Robinson took the long jump (20-1 1/2).

Delgrosso also anchored the second-place shuttle hurdles team (1:08.9). Robinson was the third leg in the shuttle hurdles, the second leg of the 100 relay and took fifth in the triple jump.

Other top performances on the afternoon included a blitzing victory by the Ursuline 800 relay team (10:05). The team of Colleen and sister Julie Taylor, Stephanie Griffith and Jenna Whalen blew away the field with a 22-second victory. When the Raiders crossed the line, second-place Brandywine was nearly half a lap back.

The Delcastle boys sprint teams also stood out as they took first in the boys shuttle hurdles (1:07.7) -- 1.2 seconds ahead of Sallies -- and the 200 relay (1:32.6), edging Calvert Hall (1:32.6).

The 400 relay was one of the better races, as Calvert Hall (3:27.9) came from behind to beat Christiana (3:28.5). William Penn led after the first and second laps, but in the third leg Christiana's Joe Dury closed the gap and took a five-meter lead.

Glasgow was in third and Calvert Hall was next. Calvert's anchor and Glasgow's Dante Washington made a move on Christiana's Quinn Martin. Calvert won the race in the final 10 meters and Martin fended off Washington by .3 seconds.

In other events, Newark's Isaac Wolkowicz took first in the shot put (53-1) and second in discus (137-6). William Penn's Carlton Rose won the discus (148-0) and was third in shot put (49). Rose qualified during the indoor season for the Penn Relays in shot put with a throw of 55-2 1/4.