BELLEFONTE — The Catholic high schools had a successful afternoon on Oct. 19 at the annual Joe O’Neill Invitational, the cross country meet that brings all of the state’s teams together regardless of division. The race took place at Bellevue State Park.
Padua easily took the girls’ crown, finishing with 29 points, while Archmere’s 92 was good for second place. The Pandas had all five scorers in the top 11 spots, led by Sophia Holgado in second behind overall winner Brynn Crandall of Indian River. The other Pandas to score were Mary Flanagan (fourth), Kelsey Wolff (fifth), Anna Bockius (seventh) and Brianna Heffernan (11th).
The Auks had two girls in the top 10. Maddie Priest crossed the finish line in eighth place, while Helen Socorso was about six seconds behind her teammate. Alaina Thomas had a 15th place finish for Archmere.
The other Catholic school student to place in the top 25 was Sarah Whalen of Ursuline, who came in 22nd. A total of 219 girls competed.
In the boys’ meet, Caesar Rodney had three finishers in the top 10 and all five scorers in the top 15 to take the title in convincing fashion. The Riders finished with 49 points, with Salesianum second with 131, Saint Mark’s third at 159, and Archmere in fifth with 184 points. Camerin Williams of A.I. duPont was the overall winner.
Sam Felice was the top finisher for Salesianum, coming in fifth. Richie Angiullo of Archmere was 10th, and Alec Jurgaitis of Saint Mark’s was right behind him at 11th. The Auks had two more in the top 25: Owen Parsons at 18th and Camilo Alvarez at 25th. Brian Yeager of Saint Mark’s was 20th, and the Sals’ James Dempsey placed 24th. There were 260 competitors.
The New Castle County championships are scheduled for Nov. 4 at Winterthur, and the state championship is on Nov. 11 at Brandywine Creek State Park.
All photos by Mike Lang.
