WILMINGTON – Carlita Kaliher, who fell at the finish line last year, gasping into 17th place, overtook the cream of the state’s distance runners in the final mile Friday afternoon to win the Joe O’Neill Invitational girls cross country at Bellevue Park, her 18:16.6 time gapping the field by 100 meters.
A half-hour earlier, Jonathan Drew of Middletown separated from the field using the same blueprint, accelerating past Cape Henlopen’s Ryan Baker and Delaware Military Academy sophomore Ethan Walther in the third mile to win the boys race by nine seconds in 15:43.2.
In a year when downstate schools are showing uncommon distance strength, Salesianum, led by Matt Miller (fifth), won the boys team title. The Sals’ fifth runner, Colin Small, clinched it by running 10 seconds ahead of the fifth men from runner-up Middletown and third-place Cape.
Sophia Holgado, second to Kaliher, led six Padua runners into the top 22 for the Pandas’ seventh straight Bellevue title.
“This course is my course,” Kaliher said. “I’ve played on this course since I was 5 years old. My coach [Patrick Castagno] told me that at the two mile, I had to start kicking because that’s where it’s going to make the difference.
“I was like, ‘I’m not going to go out in the first mile. I know how to control myself,’” said Kaliher, who won her heat of the Manhattan Invitational last week. “I’m just going to stay up with the top people. At the two mile, it’s my turn to go.”
Kaliher, whose other passion is her art portfolio, has become a different runner from the sophomore who finished 30th in last year’s state meet.
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“This year I took it up another level in training,” she said. “I knew if I wanted to be the best I could, I had to push it up in training.”
Defending champion Brynn Crandell of Indian River, the state’s top runner last year as a sophomore, shared the lead with Holgado over the first half of the state’s flattest, fastest course.
“It’s not bad that I lost. All of these girls are amazing,” said Crandall, who finished fourth. “Just to be up at the top, I’m happy to be there.”
Drew showed huge promise last year when he finished third at the New Castle County championships, surmounting on Winterthur’s hills in 16:16.
On Friday, he showed maturity.
After opening too quickly at the Carlisle (Pa.) Invitational three weeks ago and fading to 30th, he reversed tactics at Bellevue.
“My strategy was not to go all out in the first mile,” Drew said. “At Carlisle, I messed up and went out too fast. I wasn’t mentally prepared. Today, I was prepared. I wasn’t going to let that happen again.”
Jonas Rush (fourth), Walter Samuels (eighth) and Eamon Rush (20th) followed Drew as Middletown had its best team performance ever in the race, begun in 1999 and renamed in 2009 for Saint Mark’s 40-year coach.
It is the only meet where all Delaware runners compete in one race, and the course produces personal bests for most of them.
Cape’s Baker took his customary early lead before Drew rocketed past.
“I know I’ll get faster this year. I’ll make sure I win the state meet,” Baker said.
The state’s top underclassman last year, he worked all spring and summer on how to maintain his lead when challenged mid-race.
“During the track season, I worked on sticking with guys after they pulled away from me,” Baker said. “I wasn’t good at that. I’d be leading people, and when they would get ahead of me, I made sure I stuck with them.”
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Baker was backed by Joey DeGregory (12th), Liam O’Donnell (17th) and Max Gillen (18th) as the Vikings seek to regain the state title they won in 2020.
They will chase Salesianum, which got formidable top-line depth from Miller, James Kennedy (seventh), Matthew Bradley (13th), Sam Felice (15th) and Small (26th).
“I wanted to start slow, pick it up and have fun in the end. I did the opposite,” said Miller, after his fast start led to fifth place. “But it was a fun race, good experience. I learned my lesson.”
Walther of DMA, the day’s fastest sophomore, also started faster than usual.
“I was trying to stay with Ryan Baker,” he said. “It ended up going pretty well for me. Jonathan had a little more in him.”
Ian Cain (ninth), Craig Patrick (14th) and Maddox Downs (22nd) led fourth place Caesar Rodney.
Chase Sims of Indian River (sixth) and Lathan Love-Brown, at 11th A.I. du Pont’s top finisher in several years, were also among the 14 boys runners who broke 17 minutes.
Camerin Williams of Hodgson (16th), Archmere’s Julian Facciolo (17th), Newark’s Christian Guckenberger (21st), Peter Bird of St. Andrew’s (23rd), DMA’s Ethan Barnett (24th) and Steven Anderson of Wilmington Christian also made the top 25.
Holgado, second in last year’s DIAA Division I meet and the state’s third-fastest returning runner, raced aside Crandell and Isabelle Walsh of Middletown, each of whom also broke 19 minutes, then closed strongly in the final 800 meters.
Teammates Molly Flanagan (fifth in 19:04), Anna Bockius (12th), Kelsey Wolff (14th), Jane Mazzeo (16th) and Nora Higley (22nd) gave Padua, with 49 points, an 85-point margin over Charter of Wilmington.
“I love my team so much,” said Holgado, whose 15:09.5 over 4,000 meters was 13th among the 983 runners last week at the Manhattan Invitational, where Padua won its 24-team race. “They’re some of the best people I have ever met. They deserve the world.”
Veronica Kamenitzer (19th) and Olivia Needham (21st) led Charter’s young runners-up.
Maddie Priest (13th) and Helen Socorso (17th) led third-place Archmere. Clare Kornacki (10th), AvaMonet Soubise (24th) and Sarah Whalen (25th) lifted Ursuline to fourth.
Lia Miller (eighth), Leah Hogan (ninth) and Claire Hulsey (25th) paced St. Andrew’s to fifth.
Conrad’s Alyssa Napier, in sixth place, was the girls meet’s top sophomore. Natalie Donaldson of Saint Mark’s (seventh) was the top senior.
Angelina Mangan of Brandywine (11th), Cape’s Katie Kuhlman (15th), Faith Mitchell of Milford (18th) and Conrad’s Mallory Holloway (20th) also reached the top 25.
