Hundreds of athletes show up for first week of spring sports practices

We talkin’ practice - More than 100 boys and girls showed up on the first day of spring track practice and immediately went through some tough workouts. I concluded these kids could go home or to the beach – no one is getting a track scholarship – but it's a different motivation. They just want to be on a school team and be a part of something. Drew Messick, assistant girls’ lacrosse coach, asked, “Did you have that many athletes when you coached track [1975-85]?” I told Drew, “First of all, I only coached boys. I wasn't geared to coach girls. And secondly, if I had 17 boys who could score in multiple events, we could win a state title.” There is a depth of track talent still at Cape that goes back to 1970 when coach Tom Hickman started the program. 

Doink-doink - Cape girls’ lacrosse coach Lindsey Underwood gives me permission to walk around practice and grab photos you can't get from the sidelines on game day. On Monday, I almost got boinked in the bonnet during a drill, but someone snatched the ball out of midair that was ticketed for my gray hair. Slaying the silverback on the first day would have been a harbinger of toughness for the 2024 team.  

$225,000 Pyramid - Cape used to announce senior financial awards in ascending order. It was a game show without the spinning wheel, and I didn't like it. The military academies were always last. I just Googled West Point and the value of the education is listed as $225,000, but you have to give five years back to the military, which is part of the deal. The average pay for a captain in the U.S. Army can range from $96,000 to $189,000 per year. Grandson Mikey, playing lacrosse for Mercer in Macon, Ga., was at West Point last weekend. The Black Knights are ranked No. 5 in the country. All of Army’s teams, men’s and women's, are tough. It’s an odd system; not all cadets play a varsity sport, but the place is no joke. The total undergraduate enrollment at West Point is 4,391, comprising 77% male and 23% female.      

I’m only streaming - There are almost no athletic events you can’t find streamed or on some offbeat cable channel. On Wednesday, I was on home confinement – sick as a dog I used to have – so I watched Temple women's lacrosse host Penn and later watched the Army men play at Syracuse. The only reason to saddle and buckle up for me is that I like to roam the sidelines taking photos. If I’m just going to sit and watch, I'm staying on the couch. Most games livestreamed have between 100 and 500 fans in attendance. Army beat Syracuse 14-13 in a regional matchup between top 10 teams in front of a crowd of 3,668.   

Snippets - Tanya Kaminski is coaching track and field at Georgetown Middle School. Georgetown has well over 100 athletes out for track. Their first two tri-meets are at Legends Stadium. Abbey Hearn (Sussex Academy-Cape) is a senior on the Kutztown University basketball team. As a starter for the Golden Bears, she averages 12 points and six rebounds per game. Morgan Mahoney (Cape) plays for the Marauders of Millersville University. Morgan is listed as a sophomore who averages seven points per game. Mehkia Applewhite (Cape) is a sophomore guard at Menlo College of California, which is 18-7 on the season. Menlo is an NAIA school; teams are called the Oaks. Menlo’s women’s wrestling team was the WCWA women’s national champion. Sarah Naar (Cape) scored five goals as Massachusetts Maritime beat Regis College 16-6 in women’s lacrosse. After the first year of the new Cape high school in 1976-77, there was a meeting between coaches and the school board’s athletic committee. Board President Jim Reed asked me, “Dave, how do you like the new track? I think we have the first metric track in Delaware.” I said, “It's great, but it would have been nicer if it had been eight lanes so we could host major invitationals and maybe even a state championship.” Reed looked at Superintendent Frank Mercer and asked, “What happened to the other two lanes, Frank?” Cape boys won a state championship on that same six-lane track in spring 1978. Runners, take your mark. Set. Go on now, git!