Cape heads to indoor state championship ... in Maryland
The Cape Vikings, led by Matt Lindell on the boys’ side and Tim Bamforth on the girls’ side, will head west to Landover, Md., for the DIAA Delaware State Championships Saturday, Feb. 6. Yes, you read it right, the Delaware State Championships will be held in Maryland. Delaware is currently without an indoor facility, with the exception of the 160-yard Tower Hill School, which was used in the ’80s before moving to the University of Delaware. Delaware recently removed the 200-meter track to convert to an all-turf indoor facility, so the indoor scene was forced to use the Maryland facility as a first last season.
“It is a shame that the state of Delaware does not have an indoor facility for track and field, but the Prince George’s facility is a fast track that works for our state championships,” said Kai Maull, who recently switched coaching assignments this season from St. Georges to William Penn. “Offering our high school athletes an indoor program without a track is like playing football without a field or basketball without a court.”
The Vikings will send a small group of qualifiers on the boys’ and girls’ side, with a few hopes of an indoor state championship. Conference champion DeAndre Sheppard is one of the top three high jumpers in the state and will need a 6-foot-2 jump to have a shot at the title, while conference champion Wardell Allen also has a shot in the long jump, where he will need to extend his 21-foot-1 season best. Distance runner Sam Nye looks to go under 4:50 in the 1,600 meters, while thrower Raiquan Mosley looks to medal in the shot put.
On the girls’ side, the Vikings advance to the state meet a talented veteran in DeJonte Mackey, who will lead the way in the 55-meter hurdles, long jump and triple jump. The Vikings qualified five freshmen for their first indoor state championship. Ceyra Middleton and MacKenzie Parker will compete in the shot put, Vienna Iacona in the 55-meter dash, Sam Wyatt in the 55-meter hurdles and Zoe Callard in the 3,200-meter relay. The future looks bright.
Senior Grace Brokaw will compete in the pole vault, while Yasinea Rimerez will run the 3,200-meter relay along with Wyatt, Brokaw and Callard.
Good luck to the Vikings in Landover.
RIP TC
This week kicked off with the loss of a man with an unbelievable positive attitude who always made you feel so important every time you spoke to him. My friend Tom “TC” Coveleski passed away Feb. 1, and the amount of young athletes, students, teachers and people he touched in the Cape community was a number that cannot be matched.
I had the pleasure to coach basketball with TC, and he taught me so much about the importance of teamwork, sportsmanship, hard work and dedication and how to instill it in the athletes you coach. I remember a game at Rehoboth Elementary during a season where we won the title. The boys were up by 20 points at 59 and everyone was yelling “60.” TC had our sharpshooter Jack Ashby hold the ball and let the clock run out as we won 59-39. TC looked at me and said, “It’s not about ‘I’ and it’s not about the score, it’s about ‘we’ and ‘we’ as a team won the game.” In another game during another season, we were playing our best game of the year in a close fourth quarter up by one against the best team in the league with under a minute to go. TC called timeout and took the starters out and put in the second string because it was their turn to play. We lost by two, and TC explained to the boys that there is more to a game than winning and teammates need to support each other win or lose. During my eight years coaching with TC, we had more losses than wins, but I know the athletes have taken positive characteristics with them to other sports and I know they are better athletes and better people because of TC. His famous quote to the boys after a win or a loss was, “Boys, we are better than we used to be.”
RIP TC, and thank you for making me a better coach, teacher and person. You will be missed!
