Fifth runners will likely decide these tight cross country battles

Maddox Downs' race plan is as simple as his peanut butter and jelly race day lunch: stick with his Caesar Rodney teammates as long as possible.

Sometimes he's the last man standing, crossing the finish line before any other Riders. But most days, he's one in a barrage of blue singlets following the lead pack.

"We've been switching every race," Downs said. "It's always someone new that steps up."

That pack-driven formula has produced a breakout season for Caesar Rodney, one that could end with the first boys cross country state title in school history.

The Riders have yet to lose to a Delaware school this fall. The latest display of their strength was a decisive team win Thursday at the Joe O'Neill Invitational, which draws most of the state runners to Bellevue State Park for a weekday speed test.

Downs that day occupied the fifth spot for Caesar Rodney, a critical role given how teams are scored in cross country. In championship and invitational races, teams line up seven varsity runners. The top five runners are assigned a score based on their place of finish. Those scores are tallied and the team with the lowest score wins.

Although not counted in the team scoring, the sixth and seventh runners can contribute by displacing other squad's fifth runners.

In a small state like Delaware, the scoring system often rewards depth over top-of-the-race finishes.

"It's all about the five," Caesar Rodney senior Caleb Price said.

The school with the best chance of defeating the Caesar Rodney boys in Division I is likely Salesianum. Talk of a championship run is nothing new for the Sals. It's easier to count the titles the school hasn't won since the turn of the century (five) than the ones they have (18).

Salesianum held their top two runners out of Joe O'Neill — junior Ethan Walther, a three-event champion on the outdoor track last spring, and senior James Kennedy, a second-team All-State cross country runner a season ago — to prepare for the upcoming stretch of championship races. The move also provided a test for the team's three through nine runners, coach Scott Davis said.

Without their lead harriers, Salesianum finished second Thursday, 82 points behind Caesar Rodney.

Salesianum and Caesar Rodney raced one other time this season at the Salesianum Invitational at Brandywine Creek State Park on Sept. 30. Caesar Rodney won the meet. Salesianum finished third.

Fresh off a post-race workout Thursday, Sallies senior Chase Coda said with heavy training his team has spent the early portion of the season racing on tired legs and will be ready to peak at the right time. A group of talented freshmen has been pushing the team's pack, helping them all improve.

"I have 100% confidence in our team," said Coda, Salesianum's fourth finisher at Joe O'Neill.

Season turning point

The Joe O'Neill Invitational marks a turning point in the schedule for most schools. Conference championships will be held this week, leading up to the New Castle County Championships and Henlopen Conference Championships on Nov. 4.

The state championship follows on Nov. 11 back at Brandywine where the teams had their only head-to-head matchup at full strength.

History indicates the race could come down to a few points.

Salesianum in 2014 became the third-ever school to win a Delaware state championship on a sixth-runner tiebreak over Charter School of Wilmington. Four of the last 10 Division I titles have been won by fewer than five points, or better put five places. Last year, Salesianum defeated Middletown 37-41.

"It all depends on the day," said Caesar Rodney senior Patrick Craig, who was the first Rider across the line at Joe O'Neill in sixth place.

Here is a look at other storylines across the sport entering championship season.

Crowded heap emerges behind favorite Padua in girls Division I

Padua appears poised to claim its 11th consecutive Division I cross country championship. En route to a Joe O'Neill victory, the Pandas placed five runners in the top 11.

Their five were the first five across the line from Division I schools.

The DIAA Board of Directors approved Padua's reclassification from Division II to Division I on Oct. 12.

Caesar Rodney, Charter School of Wilmington and Milford are among the schools in the mix for podium finishes.

After a summer filled with group runs, Caesar Rodney senior Bree Talley said the Riders have been running extra stadium steps to simulate the challenging hills of the Brandywine course. The Riders finished third at Joe O'Neill, second among Division I teams.

"It's showing right now," Talley said of the team's training plan.

St. Mark's boys will lean on pack approach in Division II

Before the gun at Joe O'Neill, Saint Mark's head coach Mike DiGennaro said his team didn't have "a top one, we have a top eight."

So it shouldn't have been a surprise to the Spartans when freshman Evan Paskevicius, the team's seventh runner two weeks prior, crossed the line third among Spartans, and the team's previous leading man, senior Patrick Hogate, finished sixth on the team.

"We gotta bring that whole pack up to beat them," said junior Brian Yeager, who jumped from the 5-spot two weeks ago to second on the team at Joe O'Neill. "We don't really have that top guy."

The "them" Yeager referred to is Tatnall, the school that has claimed 13 of the last 14 boys Division II titles. The Hornets were noticeably absent from Joe O'Neill (Saint Mark's placed third) and have not raced in Delaware this season.

Tatnall and Saint Mark's raced head to head at the Great American Cross Country Festival held at the WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, North Carolina on Oct. 6. The venue doubles as the site of the Nike Cross Southeast Regionals, which takes place the Saturday after Delaware's state meet.

In Cary, Tatnall won the boys red race with Saint Mark's finishing second. The Hornets placed three runners in the top 10.

To mount a challenge, the Saint Mark's boys know they need to lean on their depth.

"Another guy could take over any race," said sophomore Alec Jurgaitis, who led the Spartans with an eleventh-place finish at Joe O'Neill. "The fifth guy is like the anchor."

Tatnall girls are reentering the national conversation

Tatnall has won every race it's competed in this fall, including the girls eastern states championship division of the Manhattan Invitational at the historic Van Cortlandt Park in Bronx, New York.

The early season success has returned the national spotlight to the Greenville school.

Tatnall competed in seven consecutive national championship meets from 2006 to 2012, finishing as high as third in 2008 and 2011. DyeStat, a site for high school cross country and track and field news, earlier this month ranked Tatnall eleventh in the nation and first in the southeast region.

Last year, Tatnall had the top three runners in New Castle County, but lacked the depth necessary to compete for championships. Those three runners — seniors Carlita Kaliher and Katrina Endres and junior Katie Payne — returned and the team added transfer students Ruby Schwelm from Penncrest High School in Media, Pennsylvania and Abby Downin from Edina High School in Edina, Minnesota to make a formidable five.

At Brandywine next month, the Tatnall five will go against Indian River's Brynn Crandell, who is searching for her third straight individual Division II title. With Tatnall absent, Crandell controlled the Joe O'Neill race from start to finish. Her 17:28.9 finishing time was the fastest time at the meet since Lydia Olivere of Padua ran 17:15.11 in 2017. (The race was contested on a new course at Bellevue this year).

Contact Brandon Holveck at bholveck@delawareonline.com. Follow him on X @holveck_brandon.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Delaware high cross country: Tight packs win entering championships