Milford and Cape join to celebrate conference crowns

Cape scored 152 points, far ahead of second-place Caesar Rodney with 79. Sussex Tech and Dover tied for third with 74, followed by Milford (53), Woodbridge (20), Smyrna (17) and Seaford (5).

Rebecca Pepper won the 1600 (5:27) and 3200 (12:15), while the Viking 4 by 800 relay team of Ali Coning, Rachel Sadowski, Shanel Dickens and Rebecca Pepper captured first (10:06).

Hannah Pepper won the triple jump (33-7), Arvantis Smith won first in the high jump (4-10), Shellie Pearsall was first in the 55-meter hurdles (9:17) and Alex Duffy finished first in the shot put (29-8). Shanel Dickens placed second in the 400 meters (1.00.9) and second in the 800 meters (2:36).

The DIAA state championship meet for boys and girls is Wednesday, Feb. 3, at the University of Delaware Field House.

The Cape boys scored 28 points in the meet to finish in sixth place. Milford won the boys competition with 138 points. Eric Brittingham placed second in the shot put (39-4); Anthony Middleton finished fourth in the long jump (19-5); Alex Morris finished fourth in 55 hurdles (8.8); and Chris McLaughlin was third in the pole vault (10-6).

DOUBLE DOWN - There was a rule in place for the Henlopen Conference indoor track championships that stated an athlete had to compete in three meets prior in order to be eligible to compete. All championship track meets have specific entry rule requirements, and in this case the rule was known prior to the season.

Some coaches have jokingly called this the Fredman Rule (I am honored). It goes back to the mid-1980s when I raided the basketball team, walked the dog and went Delmarva “funky chicken” on the best “pure-track athletes” the state had to offer, and won a pair of state titles. This double-down of Cape track athletes goes all the way back to the beginning, when Jerry Maull played baseball and high jumped 6-6, Hertford Gibbs threw a no-hitter and high jumped 6-6 and Brian Mifflin, drafted by the Mets, also won the Division II in the 100 meters in 10.8. Tony Zigman had four RBIs in a baseball game at Lake Forest and left the game by sliding under the fence and going Superman Cape to place fourth in the Henlopen Conference Track Championships.

Lance White, a defensive specialist on the basketball team in 1978, went up to Philadelphia in January and won the high school invitational two-mile with 9:29 (which is still the state indoor record) and came back four days later to win the mile at the Philadelphia Track Classic in 4:27.

Randy Johnson, now the head softball coach at Caravel, won six varsity letters his senior year in 1977, doubling down every sports season.

In February 1977, he won the state indoor pole vault (12-6) on a Thursday night and came back to win the state wrestling championship on Saturday at 138 pounds

Cape has a long history of double-down athletes, and I believe participation rules are designed to slow that down.

SNIPPETS - Milford basketball coach B.J. Joseph has been a New Orleans Saints fan since the beginning, and has all kinds of memorabilia on display in his homeroom. The Colts are 5.5 favorites if you’re betting offshore at home. The Manning brothers did show up at the Superdome during the Katrina aftermath because they are local and cool like that.

Cape fans should come out and support the Cape girls, winners of nine straight, when the Vikings host red-hot and red-uniform-wearing Smyrna Tuesday, Feb. 2. Cape lost to Smyrna, 63-51, before going on a nine-game tear. The Eagles have won eight straight and are 11-2 on the season. Their 39-34 loss to Caesar Rodney in December gets filed in the mysterious category.

Watch out for the Beacon wrestling team, making a run at the Middle School Henlopen Championships this weekend.