Choosing a most memorable moment from a sporting event that contains dozens of championship efforts is difficult. Thats exactly why a contest like the State Indoor Track & Field Championships is exciting to attend.

The 34th annual DSSAA Indoor Championships were held at the University of Delaware Field House in Newark. Athletes who competed in sanctioned indoor meets throughout the area this winter and who recorded the top times or distances in their events qualified to attend to win state championships for themselves and for their schools.

The defending state champions for the girls were the Colonials of William Penn who suffered the loss of their two-time coach of the year Rod Lambert to retirement. The defending boys champs were from Salesianum school and they suffered the loss of three of their top distance runners, Eric Eckstrand, Kevin Winchell, and Charlie Diehlman to independent competitions. The Sallies losses cost them a new trophy for their case this winter since they finished fourth a mere eight points behind the eventual winners. Eckstrands presence alone would have been worth 10 points in the mile and 6-8 in the two mile.

Controversy aside, the excitement in the running events began early when Christiana's Danielle Bailey broke her own shared record in the 55 meter dash of 7.15 with a 7.07 run in the finals. She was pressed at the line by Howards April Brown whose second place finish also carried the second best 55 meter time in Delaware history at 7.13. Bailey wasnt done setting records; she also broke the record in the 200 meters recently set by another finalist in Saturdays race, Camethia Baker from Dover. Baileys time of 25.08 was .04 better than the mark Baker set in an out of state meet January 22nd.

The Ursuline Raider 4x800 meter team consisting of Colleen and Tricia Taylor, Katie Dougherty and Katie Drake set a meet record in their event in the first running competition of the day. Their 9.47.91 time was seven and half seconds better than Paduas 1987 mark and those four Raiders were running together in this combination for the first time.

The girls half-mile was decided by a photo finish. Defending champ Jenn Oakes from Padua was awarded the victory over Caesar Rodneys Rachel Schultz after a tape review. Schultz was originally informed that she had won and was crushed by the sudden turn of events. Oakes hadnt run in a week due to a sprained ankle and still finished with a time of 2:25. That was on the heels of her 1600 meter victory that she won by 12 seconds and only 3 seconds off the state record pace. Her Pandas finished fourth overall.

The boys half mile was a crazy mess at the finish line. The defending champion from Salesianum, Rob Lobue, was trailing Caesar Rodney's Jeff Miller and Dickinson's Karl Brown nearly 10 yards with 100 left in the race when he kicked himself into overdrive. With less than 20 yards to go, Brown ran out of gas, stumbled and fell and tapped Miller on the way down. Miller stumbled and fell while Lobue crossed the line with his arms raised triumphantly. Miller and Brown did not register a time but were ok moments later after being attended to on the track. Lobue also captured the 1600 meter run.

One boys record was broken in the meet. Seaford's Nathan Rose broke the oldest standing indoor state record when he pole vaulted 13' 3.75". The previous mark was held by Mt Pleasant's Don Gilbert way back in 1973. Smyrna's Randolph Faulkner vaulted a full foot over his qualifying leap with a 12' vault to take second place for his Eagles who finished sixth overall.

The Glasgow Dragons won the boys overall event with 56 points, 3 more than second place Dover. Individually, the Dragons Julius Milbourne recorded four second place finishes during the day. His performance was overshadowed by Dover's Jason Lilly who was the only four event winner of either gender during the meet. Lilly was part of two Senator winning relays and also won the 200 and 400 meter dashes.

The new girls champions are the Lady Senators who were the second place finishers a year ago. They were buoyed by their sprinters Camethia Baker, Chavonne Collins, Kimkeesha Taylor, Tiffanee Lee and Lashell Green. Baker and Collins were three time winners with Collins a surprise winner in the 55 hurdles, and Baker a winner in the 400 meters. Baker also took a second place in the 200 where Danielle Bailey broke the state record.

One other double winner was Newark's Jason Forbes. Forbes won the long jump and triple jump without any real competition and without much opportunity to jump all winter long. He won the long jump by a foot and a half and the triple by over five feet to help his Yellowjacket team to a third place finish, just one point behind Dover.

Track and Field athletes now prepare for the outdoor season. The first big meet of the year will be the Christiana Relays held March 25th on the new Christiana track.

Girls Results
Boys Results

All pictures from the Delaware Sports Video Files