Athletes of Week June 12
Karen Eller
Karen lives in Newark, teaches in Wilmington and runs races at the beach. Over the last two years, she has run a lot, mostly finishing near the back of the peloton. Karen always smiles and thanks whomever is at the finish line waiting and cheering her on. Karen ran the virtual Masser 5-Miler in 56:51 and beat 39 people, so look out. The weekend of June 5, Karen did a 5K on Saturday, then a half marathon Sunday as part of the Coastal Delaware Running Festival. “She is a really great person. Lost a ton of weight running. I always enjoy seeing her at our events. Slow, but steady,” said Wayne Kursh of Races2Run. Karen teaches fourth grade at Bancroft Elementary School in Wilmington. Karen recently finished the Seashore Striders’ Virtual Six-Pack Series. Karen goes where the teaching and running are the most tough, where she most needs to be.
Maggie Lingo
“Perhaps” the best pitcher ever for Cape softball, lefty Maggie led the Vikings to an 18-0 regular-season record in 2001. The second-seeded Vikings won two games in the state tournament before being upset by Saint Mark’s in the semifinals. Maggie threw a one-hitter at Archmere, as Cape beat the Auks 10-0 to open the tournament on a Saturday, then shut out a heavy-hitting Milford team 5-0 on Tuesday to reach the semifinals, where Cape lost 5-2 to Saint Mark’s. An interesting sidebar: Maggie’s catcher during the 20-1 season was wrestler Jenna Pavlik, “slide at your own risk.” Pitching coach Chip Davis said of Maggie, “Maggie threw a great curve, drop and change. Her fastball also had great natural movement coming from that left side. Maggie's greatest quality was her demeanor. Competitive, but calm as could be. She would smile all the time.” Maggie graduated as Cape’s all-time winningest pitcher. She pitched in college for East Carolina University.
Dominique Thomas
A quick-twitch hype and hops athlete as a wide receiver, he could beat you deep and catch the ball on the dead run. Dom graduated in 2008 and led the state in receiving yards during fall 2007, catching 12 touchdown passes and amassing 927 yards, all from quarterback Max Coveleski. Dom just turned 30 June 8. Dom was a four-year starter in football, all-state his senior year, and started in basketball for coach Dwight Tingle his junior and senior year. Dom was part of the basketball crazy comeback versus Concord when the Vikings erased a 21-point halftime deficit. Dom is the father of three and has been in the furniture-moving business for 10 years. He has worked as a maintenance mechanic for Mountaire Farms the last three years. He played for basketball coaches Dwight Tingle, Tim Hall and Terrance Davis. His football coaches were Sean Breanna and Dave McDowell.
Bryan Williams
A first-team all-state defender for Cape soccer, he was described by coach John Myers as one of the the best players he ever coached. Bryan also doubled down as a placekicker for the football team under the tutelage of Dan Cook. Bryan kicked several field goals of longer than 35 yards and a record 40-yarder his senior season. Bryan is the lead architect in the current Cape expansion project and is the designer of Cape’s new middle school scheduled to go up when Shields comes down a year from now. Bryan played soccer at Duke University, which he attended on a Navy ROTC scholarship. Bryan then got a master’s from Tulane in architecture on top of his structural engineering degree from Duke. Bryan and wife Laurel Truitt Williams have three sons: Landon, 7, Christian, 11, and Brennan, 15.
