Athletes of the Week Feb. 23

February 23, 2018

Sh’Kai Chandler

This sophomore is the King of Wingmen for the 18-2 Cape basketball team. He is money when your wallet is empty. At CR Feb. 19, with the clock winding down to zero, he saw it from the wing. What he saw was Ian Robertson popping loose under the basket. A brilliant pass under pressure resulted in a game-winning layup. Sh’kai had 10 points in the game, coming off a 15-point effort against St. Georges where he was clutch in the fourth quarter, hitting four consecutive free throws along with face guarding Nah’Shon “Bones” Hyland, the state’s leading scorer, and holding him to 15 points – half his average. Before that, he banked home 23 in a win over Sussex Tech. In those three games, he was 19-for-22 from the free-throw line (86 percent). That is rising to the moment and answering the call.

Sean MacLeish

A 6-foot-4 Caesar Rodney attackman who graduated in 2015, Sean scored hat tricks in three consecutive state tournament games, including one in a semifinal 9-8 loss to Cape Henlopen. Sean then traveled to Bridgewater College and joined a front line of attack that included Blake Mann of Cape, the all-time leading scorer for the Eagles. In an 11-10 overtime win at Ferrum Feb. 21, Sean scored three goals and two assists. Bridgewater will host Marymount Saturday, Feb. 24. Sean has been a starter since he hit campus. He goes into his junior season with 34 total goals, but he’s just starting to find his groove. Sean is the son of retired State Police Superintendent Col. Tom MacLeish. Tom is a high school football official.

Blake Mann

”Little Big Man” was playing attack for Cape lacrosse May 31, 2014, when he ripped home five goals in Cape’s 9-7 upset of Salesianum in the state championship game. But was Blake a next-level player? Yes. Blake is now a senior attacker at Bridgewater College in Virginia. The Eagles are a Division III program that plays in the tough Old Dominion Athletic Conference. Blake recently set the school career scoring record – with a full season still to play – and is expected to hold that record for a long time. He has 131 career points, and he currently holds the record for goals with 114. In 2015, he set an NCAA record by scoring two goals just four seconds apart. The big question is “Who keeps those stats?” Courtney and Kelly Gregerson are his siblings along with Bryan and Brynn Mann, if you’re keeping score at home.

Ian Robertson

This 6-foot-6 senior lefty looks taller and thicker since the start of the season. His game has become more diversified, from shot blocking to rebounding on the defensive end to three-point shooting and driving to occasionally dunking on offense. Ian wants the ball late in the game in Captain Crunch time. Ian scored 24 in Cape’s low-scoring 50-48 win at Caesar Rodney Feb. 19, including the game-winning basket. That comes on the heels of a 25-point effort in a win over St. Georges and 24 points in a win over Sussex Tech. The Robertson/Randy Rickards combination on the inside – both recent 1,000-point scorers – and the emergence of wingman Chandler give the Vikings a formidable lineup and likely the No. 1 seed in the state tournament.