Will DiPaolo
Will is steady in the most unpredictable and high-risk of track events. At the Henlopen Conference Championships Jan. 22, Will earned a gold medal in the pole vault with a jump of 14 feet. Will is the defending indoor state champion. He trains at Philly Jumps with coach Sam Young, former Cape and UVA vaulter. Will joins a collection of Cape pole vaulters going back nearly 50 years when Randy Johnson won the state indoor title in 1977. Will takes all honors, AP and Academic Challenge classes. “Will is No. 1 in the state with his 14-foot jump,” said coach Matt Lindell. “He is always willing to teach and watch his teammates in order to give them feedback that they can use to excel themselves in the vault.”
Katya Geyer
Katya won her signature event – the high jump – at the Henlopen Conference Championships with a jump of 5 feet. Her teammate Reagan Klahr, a freshman, placed second in 4-10. She was Sussex Academy’s only winner, as the team used depth to secure the team championship. Katya also placed third in the triple jump at 31-10.5 and third the 55-meter hurdles in 10.31. Katya is also a distance runner, competing in cross country in the fall. Katya is quite the academic kid too, according to coach Charlie Pollard. “She wants to be a doctor, looking at MIT,” he said. She is currently ranked No. 1 in the state in the high jump. There are several who’ve cleared 5-0, so it most likely will take a 5-4 to secure the state title.
Ryan Moody
Ryan won both the 1,600 meters in 4:34.12 and 3,200 meters in 10:10.80 at the recent Henlopen Conference Championships. He also anchored the 4-by-800-meter relay team that ran 8:43.79 to capture the gold. Ryan owns personal-best times outdoors of 4:16.11 in the 1,600 and 9:39.96 in the 3,200. Ryan's strength is his speed and limberness; he can cruise at high speed, running stellar times, and quickly come back to run another race at a different distance, as he did in the conference championships. Ryan will be attending Salisbury University in the fall, joining a successful cross country team on which his Sussex Academy teammate Justin Friscia will be a junior.
Jordan Welch
Jordan won three jumping events at the Henlopen Conference Indoor Track Championships Jan. 22 at the Worcester County Recreation Center. The Sussex Tech senior won the long jump in 23-4, the triple jump in 48-2 and captured the high jump at 6-2. Jordan is elite in the long and triple jumps; there is no one out there touching him. Jordan’s jumps put him in the top tier of high school jumpers nationally and will qualify him for several elite invitationals. A 48-2 indoor triple jump is also considered top tier and will generate Division I recruiting interest. In early January, Jordan won the Golden Wolves Challenge at Alvernia University’s indoor facility in Reading, Pa., winning the high jump in 6-10, the long jump in 22-11 and triple jump in 44-8.
