Beacon girls move to 6-0 and extend winning streak to 59
The Mariner Middle School boys won a quad meet April 6, scoring 75 points to top Milford with 74, Seaford with 32 and Beacon with 19. With a balance of sprinters, jumpers and tough distance runners, the Mariner team is able to spread out nicely over 13 events in the meet.
Cory Barnes was the high scorer with 13.5 points, winning the shot put in 34-feet-9-inches, and the high jump in 5-feet even, and he ran on the winning 800-meter relay, which crossed the line in 1:44.7. Jordan Jefferson won the 400-meter dash in 59.0 and was second in the 200-meter dash in 26.3. Joe Kirby won the long jump in 17-feet-3-inches, while Jordan McNair won the triple in 31-feet-7-inches.
Fallon Moore finished second in the 1,600 meters in 6:25.0 and fourth in the 800 meters in 3:00.0 for Mariner, while Nataleigh Hunter finished second in the 200 meters in 30.3.
The Beacon girls raised their record to 6-0 on the season and extended their win streak to 59 straight with wins over Milford, Mariner and Seaford. Eighth-grade distance runner Olivia Brozefsky was the meet's high scorer with 18 points. Olivia won the 1,600 in 6:02.0, the 800 in 2:49.0, and the triple jump in 30-feet-11. Double winners for Beacon included Malaya Applewhite, winning the headwind 100 meters in 14.0 and 200 meters in 29.5; and Alana Powell, who won the shot in 26-feet-5 and the discus in 63-feet-5. Single-event winners were Sydney Hollinger in the hurdles in 9.4, Amaya Daisey in the 400 meters in 1:12.0, Rose Minni in the long jump in 14-feet-6 and Aya Daisey in the high jump in 4-feet-4. Tamesha Cannon anchored both winning relays to victory in 54.1 and 2:00.0. Beacon won every event in the meet and will take on Selbyville and Milford Monday, April 11.
The Beacon boys finished fourth with 19 points in the meet. On the boys' side, finishing in the top three was Geovanni Bendefelt, who was third in the hurdles in 9.3 and third in the long jump with a leap of 15-feet-5. Other scorers for Beacon were Thomas Weeks with a second in the discus in 71-feet-4, David Smith with a fourth in the 400 meters in 1:05.2 and fifth in the 55-meter hurdles in 9.9 seconds, Will Kelleher with a fifth in the triple in 25-feet-1, Josiah Miller with a fifth in the shot in 27-feet-3 and Griffin Joseph with a fourth in the long jump in 14-feet-5.
High school track
In action on the high school level, the Cape Vikings were set to host Sussex Tech and Milford April 7 in Lewes. An interesting fact in this meet is George Pepper and Rob Perciful each having in the area of 38 years coaching background, while Lou Nicoletti and Marty Cross have over 50 years combined. That adds up to over 125 years of coaching among these four men who are still working hard each and every day. Good luck to all teams.
Fear of the unknown
One of the oldest races in the area is the 22nd April Fools' Day Run, held every year on the Sunday closest to April Fools' Day. The event is held at Cape Henlopen State Park in Lewes, which is just about as beautiful as nature can get. It is advertised with a distance of three to six miles on plenty of different surfaces. I always start the field a unique way, with this year being a pack of field day activities before going over the start mats. We have started in the restrooms, in the back seat of cars, in birthday order, in last name order and many other creative starts. Out on the course, participants have tackled the woods, the trails, the dunes, the playground, shot some basketball, jumped some ditches, guessed the number of jelly beans and handled some mud.
A very small number of runners turn out for this event, but a very high percentage of them really enjoy this unique event. I think the reason the turnout is not higher is due to runners having the fear of the unknown. You see, our society has made us fitness robots who when we exercise know our heart rate on our monitor, our mileage on our Garmin, how many steps we have taken on our FitBit, what our mile split is and what our predicted time will be at the finish. Oh, I almost forgot about your calories burned and your body fat analysis.
“I run most every Seashore Striders event, and over the years the April Fools' Day Run is by far the best of them all,” commented longtime runner Breck Vanderwende.
What happened to the days of just taking off your watch and going out and enjoying a run?
Upcoming races
• Saturday, April 9 - 3rd Kim Miller 5K Run & 1-mile Walk, 9 a.m., 16 Mile Brewery, Georgetown, seashorestriders.com
• Saturday, April 9 - 2nd Georgetown Middle School Run for Color 5K Fun Run/Walk, 1 p.m., Georgetown Middle School, Georgetown, seashorestriders.com
• Sunday, April 10 - 4th Oy Vey 5K Run & Walk, 9 a.m., Seaside Jewish Community Center, Rehoboth Beach, seashorestriders.com
• Sunday, April 17 - 7th Seashore Classic Half-Marathon & 5K, 8 a.m., Irish Eyes, Lewes, seashorestriders.com.
