Henlopen athletes shine at Delaware indoor track championships

The DIAA Indoor Track & Field Championships, with 31 Delaware teams, more than 1,000 athletes and 2,000 spectators, were held Feb. 3, in Landover, Md., to decide who was the state’s best. The meet was held at the 200-meter oval of the Prince George’s Sports & Learning Complex because Delaware does not have an indoor track & field facility. Go to indoortrackde.com to learn more and to have a voice.  

On the girls’ side of the action for the downstate local teams, the Cape girls finished 11th with 13 points, Sussex Academy finished 14th with 6.5 points and Sussex Central finished 21st with 2 points.

Highlighting the individual scoring performances, Cape junior Addison Bowman finished in the runner-up position, earning eight points in the pole vault with a clearance of 10-feet. Bowman had already jumped 10-6 and set a new school record. Sophomore Anejah Grace finished at eighth place in the high jump with a season-best performance of 4-10 and took sixth place in the triple jump with a hop, step and jump of 32-4. The Vikings also finished eighth in the 3,200-meter relay with the team of Lily Noonan, Logan Crotty, Maile Godwin and Hannah Maney in a time of 10:33.11. Other notable Vikings performances were Grace in the hurdles at 9.61, and the 800-meter relay team with a season-best time of 1:53.78. Noonan finished 12th in the 3,200 meters and broke the 12-minute barrier for the first time at 11:57.73, while sophomore Mallory Kauffman tossed the shot 32-6 for ninth place.

Katya Geyer led her Sussex Academy team with a fifth-place finish in the high jump, clearing 4-10, while standout Paige Ballinger, just an eighth-grader, finished sixth in the 3,200 in an excellent time of 11:13.92, a season and personal best. Geyer also ran the 3,200 and finished 15th in 12:11.15 for a season best. The 3,200-meter relay team finished ninth in a time of 10:38.38.

Sussex Central sprinter Destini Harmon led the Golden Knights as she ran 7.51 for the seventh-best time in the 55-meter dash trials to make the final. In the final, she also took seventh with a 7.61 performance. 

On the boys’ side of the action, Cape finished fourth with 49 points, while Sussex Academy was 15th with 11 points, Sussex Central was 17th with 9 points and Sussex Tech was 26th with 3 points.

Individually, the Cape boys took the broom from the closet and highlighted the meet with a 1-2-3 performance to sweep the pole vault, scoring a big 24 points and half of their team total. Bailey Fletcher led the way with a 15-0 clearance to win the state title. It earned him a new school record and an invite to nationals. Teammate Eddie Houck was second in 13-6, while Brady Mauro was third in 12-0.  

The Vikings grabbed three fourth-place finishes, as Stephen Hart cleared 6-0 in the high jump, Ben Clifton set a new school record of 1:57.33 in a hot 800 meters and Robert Redden ran 7.87 in the 55-meter hurdles. Jason Baker finished sixth in the 3,200 in 9:52.80, while the 800-meter relay team was also sixth in 1:34.54. The 1,600-meter relay team finished seventh in 3:35.69, while Isaac Terhune was seventh in the triple jump in 44-10½. Trey Johnson set a season best in the 55-meter dash with a time of 6.74, while Ben Cardin set a season best in the 1,600 in 4:36.19.

Sussex Academy’s Max Rial grabbed the bronze medal in the shot put with a toss of 46-8½, while the 3,200m relay team was fourth in 8:27:42. Jesse Jean Louis was 12th in the high jump at 5-6, while Justin Friscia was 14th in the 800 meters in 2:07.71. 

Victor Perez of Sussex Central finished fourth in the shot put at 46-4, while teammate Kevin Moore-Briddell was eighth at 44-2½. Sprinter Malik Kelsic ran 23.15 for a season best in the 200 meters to place sixth in a hot final.

Jordan Welch led Sussex Tech with a sixth-place finish in the high jump at 6-0.