Athletes of the Week Feb. 11
Nick Campbell
Senior Nick Campbell is the throwback Norman Rockwell small-town kid who looks like a baseball card come to life. He didn’t make the Cape team his junior year, but he stayed with the sport. He’s a veteran of the Bagel Bombers, starting as a 10-year-old, then on to Every Swing Counts, playing for Junior Sample and Jeff Howard. Junior Sample passed away at a young age, and Nick said, “That took a lot out of me, but I knew I had to play through it.” Nick went back to the Bagel Bombers and played two years for Eddie Webb and Jeff Howard, then on to Force Elite 17U and 18U under coach Bill Adkins. Nick also played in college showcases – he would just not be denied. And next fall he heads to Penn State Beaver Campus, west of Pittsburgh, to continue to play the sport he loves. Nick said, “We are Penn State!” Jay Buckets is his grandfather, and if you don’t know, then you ain't local. Nick was also a junkyard dog of a football player two years ago for the Cape JV program.
Mason Couchman
Mason was a first-time-in-the-varsity-lineup freshman at 195 pounds Feb. 9. Regular wrestling fans were asking each other, “Who is this guy?” And he was hanging tough in his state tournament match against William Penn, but he got banged for a point for locking hands. And then a minute into period two, Mason sunk the half and turned his man to his back. “No way!” the crowd thought, rising to their feet. The slow-on-the-draw official saw the shoulders touch and slapped the mat for a Couchman pin and a story to tell around the tile shop. “I weighed in at 194, but I had to fight myself to get there,” the affable freshman said. “That sure was fun hearing all those people cheering.”
Amalia Fruchtman
This eighth-grade honors student recently led the Beacon basketball team to a 52-29 win over Mariner, scoring a season-high 24 points. “Amalia has become a great leader," said Beacon head coach Steve Re. "She has spent hours in the gym working on her skill and development, and her improvement from her sixth-grade year has been incredible. She is an excellent student and plays AAU basketball for the Ocean City Fast-breakers." When not on the basketball hardwood, Amalia plays middle hitter in volleyball. In her spare time, she likes to go to the beach with her four sisters and attend 76ers games. "She has a huge personality," Re said. "You always know she is around, both on and off the court."
Eddie Houck
Eddie is that skilled and fast athlete who plays all sports well. He was a top wrestling prospect, but left the sport in November to give winter track a try to enhance his speed and quickness for lacrosse in the spring. The pits are outside for indoor track, and two weeks in, Eddie found himself at the end of the runway with a pole in his hands. His dad, uncle and grandfather were all pole vaulters, so the fear factor was no factor at all. Eddie quickly got to 10 feet, but to go higher requires a serious bend of the fiberglass and the wait while shoulders are perpendicular to the runway. Wednesday at UMES in the Henlopen Conference Championship meet, Eddie cleared a personal-best height of 11 feet to capture the conference championship as a sophomore in his first season of vaulting. The state championship meet is Saturday, Feb. 19, at the Prince George's Sports Complex. Dream big and fly high, Eddie Houck.
