Salesianum wins boys winter state track meet moved outdoors

DOVER – Salesianum School junior Ryan Banko summarized the winter track and field season succinctly during a mild afternoon at Dover High Wednesday.

The unique season had just concluded in very typical fashion with Salesianum winning its 12th team title in the DIAA Winter Track and Field Championships. The Sals’ 117½ points were the most since Delcastle’s 144 won the 1990 meet.

Banko contributed with wins in the 1,600- and 3,200-meter runs.

He did that while wearing a mask and after a winter schedule that, for Sallies, had consisted only of a couple outdoor dual meets. Normally the Sals travel to several indoor meets throughout the Northeast, but that wasn’t permitted because of COVID-19.

“It’s really just making the best of a tough situation,” Banko said.

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The state indoor meet was held annually at the Prince Georges Sports & Learning Center in Landover, Maryland, since 2014. Before that it was contested at the University of Delaware Field House, which became unavailable after its indoor track was covered by artificial turf so the building could be a practice facility for more UD teams.

COVID-19 made an indoor meet this year unsuitable. So outdoors they went, another sign of these out-of-the-ordinary times. But many took advantage of the opportunity at Dover Stadium.

Dover junior Mishandray Etienne, for instance, soared seven inches above his previous best height this winter, going a victorious 5-11 in the high jump.

“Last time I jumped it was a little bit colder weather and I didn’t have my steps,” said Etienne, who also outleaped his outdoor best by three inches. “This time I tried something different and I was more comfortable with it.

“It’s honestly a great feeling. This is my first time ever winning states. I had so much adrenaline.”

Smyrna finished second in the team standings, with 86 points, for the second year in a row, sparked by Demitri Carter. The junior won the 55-meter dash (6.66) and the 200 (22.48) and also anchored the Eagles’ 4 x 400 victory.

The difficulty in preparation this year made that success more satisfying.

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“It was just the cold weather,” Carter said. “We practice outside and last year the weather was better. We also started practice a lot later so I feel like I’m just starting to get back in shape.”

That does come with the benefit, Carter said, of outdoor track practice starting this week. Normally, the winter track state meet is held in early February.

Other individual state champs were Smyrna’s Liam Meginniss (800, 2:00.76) and Lawrence Tyrell (triple jump, 43-1¼); Middletown’s Ryan Wallace (55 hurdles, 8.37) and Tysean Baronette (400, 49.79); Cape Henlopen’s Josiah Miller (shot put, 46-10); Milford’s Emanuelle Carranza (long jump, 21-1¾); and Sussex Central’s Asher Timmons (pole vault, 11-3).

Salesianum demonstrated its championship potential early by winning the 4 x 200 for the first time since 2005. Sallies scored in every event except the triple jump.

“It was a lot harder this year than any other year,” Sals 200-meter runner Michael Portale said. “But I think it speaks a lot about how, especially the four of us [on the relay team], were able to come together and it makes us really excited for the spring season.”

In the 4 x 800, Polytech won its first-ever state winter relay title.

“We just kept grinding, we just kept talking about it and we wanted to come and make it happen,” said anchorman Matt Gatune of the Panthers practicing through cold and snow for Wednesday’s opportunity.

“I didn’t even think we were going to have an indoor season,” said teammate Ty Sabanayagam.

DIAA Winter Track and Field Championships

At Dover High

BOYS RESULTS

Team scoring

1-Salesianum School, 117.5; 2-Smyrna, 86; 3-Cape Henlopen, 72.5; 4-Middletown, 64.5; 5-Sussex Central, 58; 6-Polytech, 49; 7-Dover, 36; 8-Tatnall, 30; 9-Milford, 21.5; 10-St. Mark's, 13; 11-Caesar Rodney, 13; 12-Wilmington Friends, 9; 13-St. Andrew’s, 6; 14-Tower Hill School, 4; 15-Caravel Academy, 2; 16-Charter School of Wilmington, 1.

55-meter dash

1-Demitri Carter (Smyrna), 6.66; 2-Baronette (Mid), 6.69; 3-Green (Mid), 6.79); 4-Portale (Sal), 6.80); 5-(tie) Carranza (Milf); Joyner (Dov), 6.85; 7-Truitt (Sal), 6.94.

55 hurdles

1-Ryan Wallace (Middletown), 8.37; 2-Tyrell (Smy), 8.71; 3-Small (SH), 8.72; 4-(tie) Donovan (Sal); Harris (Mid), 9:12; 6-McVicker (SC), 9.26; 7-Gumus (CR), 9.67; 8-M.Wallace (Mid), 9.81.

200

1-Demitri Carter (Smyrna), 22.48: 2-Portale (Sal), 22.69; 3-Joyner (Dov), 23.28; 4-Baronette (Mid), 23.29); 5-Harris (CH), 23.68; 6-Mathis (Sal), 23.71; 7-Knarr (CH), 23.78; 8-Wallace (Mid), 23.82.

400

1-Tysean Baronette (Middletown), 49.79; 2-Green (Mid), 50.28; 3-Mickle (Smy), 4-Stratton (SC), 51.72; 5-Wolak (CH), 53.12; 6-Korb (Sal), 53.87; 7-Harrison (SC), 53.90; 8-Mancini (Sal), 54.74.

800

1-Liam Meginniss (Smyrna), 2:00.76; 2-Gatune (Pt), 2:00.79; 3-Riley (Sal), 2:01.45; 4-Filliben (Sal), 2:04.04; 5-Wooten (SC), 2:05.45; 6-Fisher (PPt), 2:05.61; 7-Pizarro (Tat), 2:05.67; 8-Mathis (Smy), 2:05.88.

1,600

1-Ryan Banko (Salesianum), 4:30.09; 2-Leffler (WF), 4:31.29; 3-PPizarro (Tat), 4:34.94; 4-Vito (StM), 4:35.98; 5-Latina (Tat), 4:38.40; 6-Guy (Pt), 4:41.99; 7-Anderson (Car), 4:42.85; 8-Munch (WF), 4:43.73.

3,200

1-Ryan Banko (Salesianum, 9:51.91; 2-Baker (CH), 10:02.96; 3-Latina (Tat), 10:10.46; 4-Winnington (StM), 10:16.16; 5-Miller (Sal), 10:16.20; 6-Guy (Pt), 10:21.59; 7-Balthis (Tat), 10:23.02; 8-Mancuso (CSW), 10:31.92.

4x 200 relay

1-Salesianum (Amari Mathis, Michael Portale, Jasyn Truitt, Bishop Lane), 1:32.07; 2-Dover, 1:35.20; 3-Cape Henlopen, 1:35.80; 4-Sussex Central, 1:36.59; 5-Tower Hill, 1:37.73; 6-Middletown, 1:38.78; 7-Tatnall, 1:38.79; 8-Polytech, 1:44.12.

4 x 400 relay

1-Smyrna (Daymien Mickle, Liam Meginniss, Brett Mathis, Demitri Carter), 3:31.51; 2-Salesianum, 3:35.45; 3-Middletown, 3:36.25; 4-Polytech, 3:39.65; 5-Tatnall, 3:40.19; 6-Sussex Central, 3:46.21; 7-Dover, 3:46.89; 8-Cape Henlopen, 3:47.04.

4 x 800 relay

1-Polytech (Ty Sabanayagam, Tyler Blandin, Jack Fisher, Matt Gatune), 8:20.31; 2-Salesianum, 8:29.18; 3-Sussex Central, 8:32.63; 4-Smyrna, 8:34.67; 5-Tatnall, 9:03.48; 6-Cape Henlopen, 9:03.88; 7-Middletown, 9:09.73; 8-Caesar Rodney, 9:21.82.

Shot put

1-Josiah Miller (Cape Henlopen), 46-10; 2-Dyer (CR), 43-4 ½; 3-Hunt (StA), 43-1; 4-Thornton (Sal), 42-7; 5-Olive (Sal)m 41-0; 6-Diossi (StM), 40-7 ¾; 7-Archer (Smy), 39-4; 8-Kilby (Dov), 37-6

High jump

1-Mishandray Etienne (Dover), 5-11; 2-Stratton (SC), 5-8; 3-Williams (SC), 5-8; 4-Ross (CH), 5-8); 5-Donovan (Sal), 5-4; 6-Saez (CH), 5-2; 7-(tie) Julius Bumbrey (Dov); Small (CH), 5-0;

Long jump

1-Emanuelle Carranza (Milford), 21-1 ¾; 2-Small (CH), 21-0 ½; 3-Portale (Sal), 19-10; 4-Clippinger (Pt), 19-5; 5-Kilby (Dov), 19-5); 6-Stokes (Sal), 19-1; 7-Childs (CR), 19-0 ¾; 8-Williams (SC), 18-7 1/2.

Triple jump

1-Lawrence Tyrell (Smyrna), 43-1 ¼; 2-Carranza (Milf), 42-5 ¼; 3-Clippinger (Pt), 39-10; 4-Small (CH), 39-0; 5-Sosnoski (SC), 38-10; 6-Hicks (Smy), 37-3 ½; 7-Loucks (CH), 36-8 ¾; 8-Williams (SC), 36-6 1/2.                                                                     

Pole vault

1-Asher Timons (Sussex Central), 11-3; 2-Klous (Sal), 11-3; 3-Cooper (Smy), 9-0; 4-Kaminski (Smy), 9-0; 5-Hayes (CH), 8-6; 6-Napolitano (PPt), 8-6; 7-Salter (Pt), 8-0.

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