RLCA vs. Howard vs. Delaware Design-Lab

Not all those who wander are lost. . . or maybe they are. More on that later.

Our October 2nd tri-meet against Howard High School and Design-Lab High School was held at Bellevue State Park, on the same course where many of us ran the Joe O'Neill Invitational last year. After starting on the gravel track that circles the main park area, the course winds through the grassy areas of the grounds, includes some sections of trail in the woods, sunny open spaces in the meadow, and paved roads, and finishes back in the field in the middle of the park.

Josh Deitrich ('19) again placed first among the Red Lion boys, this time finishing first overall as well with a time of 19:12. Weston Marshall ('20) placed second in 19:53. Spencer Armstrong ('19), Dennis Nicholson ('19), and Nick Yu ('18) rounded out the top five for the Red Lion boys, followed by Richard Turley ('22) and Captain Brandan Leauby ('18). The "Ryans," Ryan Silver ('20) and Ryan Cooper ('21), both ran times of 24:57, with Silver finishing just ahead.

The girls team swept the top five places for a perfect 15, led by Hannah Ye ('21) with a time of 23:26 and a new PR. Fiona Fawcett ('22) finished in 24:16 with Faith Hollister ('22) four seconds behind, followed by Katie Rippon ('20), Cathy Nicholson ('21), and Captain Anna Teather ('18). Coincidentally, Katie finished in 25:08, the exact same time as her finish last year on this course at the Joe O'Neill Invitational.

Hannah Ye, pictured earlier in 2017, won the girls race and set a new PR (Photo: Mr. Aaron Hamrick)

Katelyn Walker ('19) is still recovering from shin splints, and Micah Pope ('19) started the race but was unable to finish due to injury. Abby Phillips ('21) is battling sickness and did not start.

Here are the full results for RLCA (the home team did not use a board or similarly accessible system to track places/points, so I don't have full results to post).

GIRLS RESULTS (RLCA)
1. Hannah Ye - 23:26
2. Fiona Fawcett - 24:16
3. Faith Hollister - 24:20
4. Katie Rippon - 25:08
5. Cathy Nicholson - 25:47
6. Anna Teather - 30:28
*DNF-Naomi Mengel
*DNF-Sophia Spotts
DNS-Abby Phillips
DNS-Katelyn Walker

BOYS RESULTS (RLCA)
1. Josh Deitrich - 19:12
2. Weston Marshall - 19:53
3. Spencer Armstrong - 22:00
4. Dennis Nicholson - 22:34
5. Nick Yu - 23:16
6. Richard Turley - 24:22
7. Brandan Leauby - 24:34
8. Ryan Silver - 24:57
9. Ryan Cooper - 24:57
*DNF-Matteo D'Andrea
*DNF-Adam Rao
*DNF-Jesse Ma
DNF-Micah Pope
DNF-Seyram Gafrey

*Back to the whole wandering vs. lost thing, several runners (including myself) made a wrong turn about a quarter mile before the finish line that resulted in our running about an extra half mile before we arrived back at the finish line. We ended up on the gravel track again and so weren't really lost per se, but because we did not finish on the correct course, our times could not be counted.

We'll be back at Bellevue for the Diamond State Athletic Conference Championship race later this season. This course is generally known as a fast one, and hopefully we'll set some new PRs with the heightened competition at that meet.

And of course, hopefully none of us will get lost.

Naomi