Cape girls fifth, boys ninth at Pat Russo Invite

The Cape Vikings traveled to Snow Hill, Md., Dec. 21, for the Pat Russo Invite. When all was said and done, the girls scored 52 points to finish fifth overall among 14 teams while the boys scored 21 points for ninth overall among 15 teams.

Smyrna girls won the meet with 148 points, while Caesar Rodney was third with 56 points. Lake Forest was 10th with 26 points, while Sussex Tech was 11th with 21 points. For the boys, Caesar Rodney won the meet with 99 points, while Smyrna was second with 88 points. Lake Forest was fifth with 59 points, while Sussex Tech was eighth with 30 points.

Leading the way for the Vikings was sophomore thrower C’eyre Middleton with a toss of 34-feet-2.5-inches in the shot to win the event. Freshman middle distance runner Meredith Lockwood scored 7.75 points by finishing fourth in the 800 meters in 2:36.7, leading off the second-place 4-by-800-meter relay team that finished in 2:34.5, and running a leg of the 4-by-400-meter relay with a split of 1:10. Sophomore Marcella Sabbagh jumped 4-feet-10-inches to finish third in the high jump, while sophomore MacKenzie Parker was third in the shot put with a personal-best distance of 31-feet-3-inches.

Sophomore Jackie Cannon scored six points with a fifth-place finish in the 3,200 meters in a personal-best time of 13:00.3. She also was a part of the second-place 4-by-800-meter relay team. Sophomore Darby Klopp ran the third leg of the 4-by-800 relay and brought the Vikings from fourth to second with a personal-best split of 2:31.5, while returning later in the meet to finish seventh in the 500 meters in 1:27.3. Klopp led off the 400 relay team with a split of 1:06.5 to end an impressive day.

Sophomore Olivia Brozefsky ran an indoor personal best of 5:49.1 in the 1,600 meters for sixth, and she also anchored the second-place 800 relay team that ran a season best of 10:30.2. Also scoring for the Vikings were freshman Rose Minni, sophomore Vienna Iacona, freshman Timesha Cannon and senior Chakyriah Wright.  

“This was a good meet for us,” said coach Gilbert Maull. “Our best athlete was not with us and we still finished among the top five teams. We are very young with four freshman, six sophomores and one senior scoring our points today. The future is bright for us.”

The boys were led by Greg Boyce with 11 points on the day. Boyce was fourth in both the 800 meters and 1,600 meters, and eighth in the high jump at 5-feet-4-inches. Boyce ran 2:09.9 in the 800 meters and 4:47.0 in the 1,600 meters. Ryan Head was fourth in the pole vault at 10-feet-6-inches, while the 400 relay team of Kazuki Carroll, Christian Partlow, Head and David Smith II finished fourth in 4:00.9.

The Vikings will break for the holiday and return to action Wednesday, Jan. 4, back at the Snow Hill Indoor Complex.

Running community remembers Doug White

Doug White, a husband, father, runner and friend, hit the finish line last week, a finish line that none of his family and friends expected to come so soon. In running terms, it is like the Buffalo Stampede 10K that one year was mistakenly only 5.9 miles - the finish line just came too soon, and no one was ready for it, and Doug was not ready to cross this one either.

Doug and I go back to 1983 when I was a Cape runner battling the ever-tough son of his, Steven. Steve was at William Penn, and we met several times in meets with my goal to see how long I could stay with him. I knew that if I stayed with him for 2.5 miles I would likely PR. Steve was second in Division I cross country that year and I was third. Following the state meet at Killens Pond my junior year, Doug came over to me and told me he was putting together a Delaware team for the Kinney East Regionals in New York and he wanted me to be on it. I got to know him that day, and he talked a lot about his running at the Boston Marathon - a race so dear to him and the one he loved.

Maybe Doug had an interest in me because I was from Watertown, Mass. Steve sometimes would roll his eyes as dad got going with his Boston stories.

I spent the night at the Whites’ and was lucky to hear more Boston stories, and the next morning we were in Doug's van with the Delaware team heading north on the New Jersey Turnpike, and, guess what, we were listening to more Boston stories. As we warmed up at Van Courtland, Doug was pepping us up and he was telling me how he warmed up at Boston. Following the race, as we warmed down (with Doug), I got to hear more stories from the Boston Marathon. Truth of the matter was that I respected Doug so much, I took each and every story in and loved hearing them!

Doug was a competitor in every sense of the word. When he was racing well back in the day, he was not afraid to tell you what he was going to do, how fast he was going to run or how much he was going to kick your a$$ by. Doug White was not afraid to tell it like it is - you either loved him or hated him. My guess was that those who may have hated him loved him before long. How could you not love Doug White? He was one of those guys who would give you his opinion whether you wanted it or not, but he would do anything for you if you needed it. Those who knew Doug 20 years ago and were close to him today will understand what I am talking about.

Doug retired and moved to the beach - a mecca of road races. Doug was loving the Races2Run and Seashore Striders races, competing in both series year in and year out. I do think that retirement mellowed Doug a bit, and he really enjoyed time with his family and running friends.

I spent a lot of time with Doug over the past five years, as he certified several Seashore Striders courses for me. Most recently, and possibly his last, was the Seashore Marathon. I saw him before the race started Dec. 3, and I wished him good luck. He told me, and I can still hear it, "Hey man, stop and look around at the thousands of people here,” and what I continue to do for running in this state, and he wished me good luck. That made me feel good that morning, and that was the person he was.

As I was heading out to the turnaround with the marathon leaders, I saw Doug coming toward me at 11 miles and I yelled to him, "Legend," and we slapped hands on the way by each other.

Doug will be missed by the running community and missed by the Seashore Striders and by me. It will be hard not to call Doug when I can't find a mark or need a course changed and need some advice on an event. I knew I could always call him, and he would do what he could to help.

I am pretty sure that  April 17, 2017, Doug will be running Boston in heaven, and he will get through it as he has done 43 times in a row.

In talking with friend and runner Peter Tracey, he hit the nail on the head: "Doug White was the face of the sport for the last 40 years in Delaware. He did it all, and he was simply The King.”

Doug and I will meet again someday, and I will be directing Heaven 5K and 10K races, and he will be certifying the courses, and, yup, you guessed it, he will tell me more Boston stories. I will listen and love it.

RIP Doug White. You will be missed!