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Cape track a storied program with a rich tradition

December 16, 2016

Two-mile relay - Back when tracks were 440 yards and not 400 meters (438 yards), the race was called the two-mile relay. The first time I saw Cape run indoors was in February 1976 in the  state championships at the University of Delaware Field House. Tom Hickman was the coach I was taking over for in the spring. I remember Wayne Warren, Eddie Parker, Jonathan McNair and Jay Reed - Mike Price may have been in there, I have to Google my own noodle - running and the Vikings winning the two-mile relay. I was amazed, “You guys are state champs!” because in 67-county Pennsylvania you just didn’t win that race. When I saw four girls from Cape step on the track at the Worcester County Rec Center Dec. 14, I saw that history. I also saw the girls’ team of about six years ago with Hannah Pepper, Ali Coning, Rebecca Pepper and Shanel Dickens win the state meet and run 10:01 to win the state title, two days before coach George Pepper was scheduled for open heart surgery. Meredith Lockwood, Jackie Cannon, Darby Klopp and Olivia Brozefsky ran their very first indoor track race Wednesday, the 800-meter relay, and they were pushed on every leg right to the finish line. The top three were Cape 10:41.2, Queen Anne’s 10:42 and North Caroline 10:43.5. “They have an inborn knowledge and sense of pace over distance that you can’t teach,” I told coach Tim Bamforth. And he added, “Yeah, and they’re freaking tough. They don’t like to lose.”  

Rock and wait - “No fear” is what it takes to be a pole vaulter, with a dash of “no sense.” I was pulling for Cape junior Ryan Head, locked in a three-way tie at 10-feet-6-inches with Devin Robinson and Will Samuels of North Caroline at the Worcester County indoor meet. The progression from a 10-6 guy to higher heights - the sky or roof is the limit - is to bend the pole, rock back and wait for it to snap back, propelling you over the bar. I’m seeing it in Ryan. He is “that guy” and could be a Henlopen Conference champion by the end of the indoor season. Remember you read it here first. 

The boys’ basketball crowd - There was a packed gym at Milford Dec. 13. There were more Milford partisans. Let’s call the crowd interactive - they were not sitting on their hands or opinions. Both Milford and Cape were field hockey powers this past fall, but if you asked all the fans who have never seen a hockey game to leave, there would have been about 10 fans left in the gym. The sports have different followings and different rules of decorum; my goodness, scream at a hockey official and the game is stopped. By the way, Cape doesn’t get another shot at Milford, they only play once this season.    

Growing Pains - Sussex Academy is a high school with no seniors out there playing a varsity schedule across an array of sports. The Seahawks are competitive in cross country, soccer and swimming, but boys’ basketball is a steep slope, like skiing uphill on a downhill ice pack. The Henlopen Conference Southern Division is tough up-and-down basketball, there is no throttle back, as most teams play with a 10-second shot clock. Milford beat the Seahawks 92-14, and a 99-17 loss to Woodbridge followed. But at least there’s no box score published for either game. Conference athletic directors need to discuss these issues and how to reconcile them with that elusive concept of sportsmanship.

Sports management - It’s a major in most colleges and yet out in the field, high schools can’t get their coaches to enter data and results, from roster numbers to box scores. Middle school doesn’t get a pass on this either. But there is no shortage of character-building speeches. How about doing the work? 

German Grayhaired Pointer - A young official guy down at the track meet Dec. 14 who looked like president of the gamers club pointed at me and told me to move as I was poised to take photo finishes of races. I attempted to comply and he pointed again, “Not there, over there!” I snapped back like a student on a behavior contract. “Don’t you be pointing at me, boy, I ain’t no damn Golden Retriever!” It would have been great to go from induction into the Delaware Track Hall of Fame to being thrown out of an indoor meet in Snow Hill two weeks later. I know Tim and Gilbert would have loved it. Grand Mom Rose: “None of us is nobody!” Go on now, git!

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