CR tops Downstate teams at Cross Country Championship

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Sussex Tech’s Roxanne Ramirez accepting her award for her 7th place finish in the girls Division 1 state cross country championship Saturday. (Special to the Delaware State News/Gary Emeigh)

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Ben Campagnone of Sussex Central collapsed from exhaustion after placing 25th in the boys Division 1 state cross country championship at Killens Pond Saturday. (Special to the Delaware State News/Gary Emeigh)

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Nate Twining of Caesar Rodney trying to catch his breath after finishing 6th in the state cross country championship Saturday. (Special to the Delaware State News/Gary Emeigh)

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Sean Saxton of Dover finishing 13th in the Division 1 boys state cross country meet Saturday. (Special to the Delaware State News/Gary Emeigh)

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Smyrna’s Tosin Ibronke (511) trying to overtake John Walker (483) of Salesianum as they close in on the finish line of the boys Division 1 cross country championship Saturday. (Special to the Delaware State News/Gary Emeigh)

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Nate Twining (86) of CR and Smyrna’s Tosin Ibronke (511) trying to overtake John Walker (483) of Salesianum as they close in on the finish line of the boys Division 1 cross country championship Saturday. Ibronke finished 5th less than one second ahead of Twining. (Special to the Delaware State News/Gary Emeigh)

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Kevin Murray of Charter crosses the finish line to win the boys Division 1 State Cross Country championship with a time of 15:20.6. (Special to the Delaware State News/Gary Emeigh)

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Smyrna’s Tosin Ibronke navigates through heavy traffic early in the race enroute to a 5th place finish in the boys Division 1 state cross country championship Saturday. (Special to the Delaware State News/Gary Emeigh)

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Kevin Murray of Charter midway into the Division 1 boys cross country state championship which he won Saturday.. (Special to the Delaware State News/Gary Emeigh)

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Milford’s Ulises Castaneda near the end of the Division 2 varsity boys state cross country championship Saturday. Castaneda finished in 73rd place. (Special to the Delaware State News/Gary Emeigh)

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Milford’s Jansen Paccaro heading to the finish line in 62nd place of the Division 2 state cross country championships Saturday. (Special to the Delaware State News/Gary Emeigh)

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Lake Forest’s Alex Argo (323) trying to catch Alec Barreto of St. Andrews as the close in on the finish line of the Division 2 Boys cross country championships Saturday. Argo finished in 46th place a fraction of a second behind Barreto. (Special to the Delaware State News/Gary Emeigh)

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Drew Harris of Lake forest on the final stretch of the Division 2 boys state cross country championship Saturday. Harris finished in 13th place with a time of 17:05.6. (Special to the Delaware State News/Gary Emeigh)

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Tatnall’s Joey Garrett cruises to the finish line to win the Division 2 varsity boys cross country championship Saturday at Killens Pond State Park. (Special to the Delaware State News/Gary Emeigh)

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Roxanne Ramirez of Sussex Tech after winning the Henlopen Conference varsity girls cross-country Saturday. (Special to the Delaware State News/Gary Emeigh)

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Milford’s Rajene Bowe crossing the finish line in the State Division II cross country championship at Killens Pond Saturday. (Special to the Delaware State News/Gary Emeigh)

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Start of the Division II girls state cross country championship at Killens Pond State Park Saturday. (Special to the Delaware State News/Gary Emeigh)

Caesar Rodney High had the best team finish for downstate teams at the DIAA Cross Country Championship in both the boys’ and girls’ meet Saturday afternoon at Killens Pond State Park.

The Rider boys wound up fifth overall while the girls were fourth in Division I.

Smyrna High’s Tosin Ibronke led downstate runners with a fifth-place finish in the Division I boys’ meet with a time of 16:35.62. He was followed in sixth by CR’s Nate Twining who ran a 16:36.10.

The best downstate girl was Sussex Tech’s Roxanne Rodriguez who was seventh in the Division I girls’ race, finishing in 19:35.66.

Individual winners included Wilmington Charter’s Kevin Murray in Division I boys (15:20.60), Tatnall’s Joey Garrett in Division II boys (16:05.07), Padua’s Lydia Olivere in Division I girls (17:57.66) and Tatnall’s Keelin Hays (17:57.94).

Wilmington Charter won the Division I boys’ championship with five of its runners finishing in the top-11. Salesianum was second, Appoquinimink third, A.I. du Pont fourth, CR fifth and Sussex Tech sixth.

On the Division II boys’ side Tatnall took the crown with the top-three finishers and five of the top-nine. Newark Charter was second and Lake Forest led the downstate teams with an 11th place finish. The Spartans were paced by Drew Harris who came in 13th (17:05.06).

Padua edged Wilmington Charter by 25 points for the girls’ Division I title. Cape Henlopen (sixth) and Sussex Tech (seventh) had top-10 team finishes for downstate.

Tatnall also won the girls’ Division II championship. Milford led the downstate teams with a sixth-place team finish paced by Rajene Bowe who came in 16th (20:32.73).

Other top-15 Henlopen Conference finishers included Dover’s Sean Saxton in the boys’ Division I race (17:04.64) and a pair of Smyrna girls in the Division I girls’ race – Abby Mace (11th, 20:15.95) and Naomi Bowser (20:32.27).