The Cape Vikings indoor track teams made the trip north to the Delaware State Championships held Saturday, Feb. 12, at the University of Delaware. The Cape girls scored 30 points to finish fifth out of 26 teams represented on the Blue Hens’ 200-meter oval.
Senior Hannah Pepper led the way, scoring nearly half the team points as she was second in the triple jump and third in the long jump. Pepper also anchored the Vikings to a third-place finish in the 800-meter relay in 1:52.7 with teammates Carissa Stevens, Tyra Weatherly and Amanda Hurst.
The top-ranked triple jumper going into the meet, Pepper recorded a best of 34-feet-10.5 inches to finish behind Kehinde Akojie of Christiana, who won the event at 35-feet-5-inches. Pepper also recorded a nice long jump of 15-feet-5 1/2-inches to wrap up her impressive indoor career as a Viking.
First-year track athlete Shelby Thomas finished off a good season as she took the silver medal in the high jump at 4-feet-8 inches; while Hurst, the only freshman in the final, took fifth in the 55-meter hurdles in 9.87 seconds. Ali Coning finished 11th in 5:46 in the 1,600 meters and 11th in the 3,200 meters in 12:38. Shanel Dickens, who has battled injuries all season, finished 14th in the 800 in 2:37, while Alexus Duffy finished ninth in the shot put with a 28-feet-3-inches throw. The 3,200-meter relay of Coning, Lydia Miller, Tricia Colucci and Dickens finished just out of placing in 10:42 for seventh place.
On the boys’ side, the Vikings failed to score in the meet, but the coaches worked hard with the cards they were dealt, and several young runners improved throughout the season.
Distance runners Austin MacElrevey and Sid Miller, as well as sprinter William Macecdan, are young athletes who will continue to improve in years to come. The boys’ 3,200-meter relay of Alec Faust, Miller, MacElrevey and Ramsel Osorio was disqualified in the race for a minor out-of-zone infraction at the beginning of the meet, while Dom Brisco was eighth in the shot put with a throw of 37-feet-7-inches. The 800-meter relay team placed 20th in 1:42.2 and the 1,600-meter relay was 19th in 4:02.3.
State meet bits and pieces
Senior Emily Ritter finished seventh in 11:55 for Sussex Tech as she ran her final indoor 2-mile in Delaware high school competition. Ritter will co-direct the New Balance Seashore Half-Marathon for the Marine Education, Research and Rehabilitation Institute that will be held May 1 in Lewes.
The indoor 2-mile also had two of the top-ranked distance runners in the United States on the same track as Haley Pierce of Tatnall burned up the track in the final three laps to record a 10:30, while Lindsey Olivere from Archmere ran 10:35. Tatnall racked up 68 of its 88 points in the three distance races and the other 20 points came by winning the two longer relays for a total of only five scoring events. The Cape Henlopen boys were down 20 points going into the triple jump to Sallies in 1993 and scored 23 points with Willie Savage, Art Hugger, Bruce Pitts and Nashon Selby stealing the trophy and the state team title in the final event.
The Vikings scored in just one event on the track that day. The 3,200 meters was one of the hottest events on the boys’ side that day as five guys broke the 10-minute barrier and the last-place time was 10:39, a performance still faster than last spring’s Henlopen Conference champion at 10:41.
Cape graduate Kai Maull coached in his first state championship meet as head coach of St. George’s Tech and scored a few points on the boys’ side. Maull also watched his triple jump record fall after more than 13 years at the top.
Downstate Delaware Mud Run
The word is out, the applications are circulating, and the online hits are picking up daily as locals are checking out the information for the first Downstate Delaware Dirty Dozen Mud Run scheduled for Saturday, April 16, in Milton.
Applications can be picked up at Quest Fitness or you can download an application on the Seashore Striders website.
Participants can also register online from the Striders website through active.com.
For the past few years I have searched for a location with trails to direct an event of this kind; this fall, I teamed up with Matt Carter of Quest, who had a client who offered his farm for the event.
We are going to limit the field to 100 three-person teams made up of male, female and coed and keep the race very manageable while putting on a first-class affair for the participants.
The event will feature at least 12 challenges and the total distance will cover 4-5 miles. Tech T-shirts will be presented, as well as finisher medals and lunch for the participants.
Teams are registering now, so get your spring going with a fun and challenging event - the Downstate Mud Run…don’t miss it!
