Athletes of the Week June 26

Nick Cruz

Cruz Control, the 24-year-old former distance star at Stony Brook University who now lives in Milford, ran the fastest time for the virtual 30th Father’s Day 5K June 20-21, clocking a time of 16:33. Nick also won the Masser Virtual 5-Miler in 26:19, averaging 5:16 per mile. Nick was part of a three-person talented team that included Dylan Smiley and Sean Saxton that won the COVID-19 Team Challenge. Nick ran 34:55 for the 10K and 1:10 for the half marathon. That trio beat the Seashore Striders bilingual racing team of Francisco Puac, Martin Rodriquez and Reginaldo Hernandez Gonzalez. Nick was also the overall winner of the Coronavirus 6-Pack Series, which included distances of 1 mile (4:43), 5K (15:40), 5 miles (26:39), 10K (34:55), 10 miles (55:37) and half marathon (1:12:52). Nick has been training for some ultra races, and placed second at an ultramarathon race called Beat The Clock Challenge. It was a last-man-standing-style event that continued for 18 hours. The only runner who beat him was famous professional ultramarathoner Mike Wardian.

Kat Judge

Kat, with a recent master’s degree in social work from the University of Pennsylvania in her back pocket, was recently named to the inaugural Big South Lacrosse All Decade Team. Judge, a two-time Big South champion and four-time all-conference player, appeared in 81 games as a Winthrop Eagle, the most ever. Judge totaled 247 ground balls and 421 draw controls in four seasons, a program and conference best. The Lewes native earned all-tournament team honors in 2017 and 2018 and was named to the North-South All-Star Game roster in 2018. As a senior, Judge recorded 13 draw controls, a Big South championship record, in Winthrop's semifinal win over Liberty. In 2017, Judge was named to the Big South All-Academic team and IWLCA Academic Honor Roll. She earned co-Big South Women of the Year honors for 2017-18. Kat, a 2014 Cape graduate, was on four state championship lacrosse teams and three state title field hockey teams. Her sisters Caroline (Northeastern graduate) and Annie (Temple) are Division I field hockey players who were also all-state Cape lacrosse players. 

Bobby Leggins

Bobby was a starter on the Cape basketball team coached by Jerry Peden that lost to Howard in the 1996 state finals in overtime 67-63. Bobby is a quiet personality by nature but latches onto competition like a wolverine on a leather boot. The rest of the starting five on that team were Darnell Strand, Corey Clauser, Lamont “Poochie” Hazzard and Terry Hazzard. Bobby left that game in the second half when an elbow opened up a gash in his head and no one on the bench had any airplane glue. Dale Dunning came off the bench, then Ronson Burton came in when Terry Hazzard fouled out. Bobby, who averaged 15 points a game, took over at point guard. “Catch and shoot was the best part of my game,” Bobby said. “I could play all positions on court except center. I could go inside and rebound with the bigs.” Bobby has worked as a paraeducator at Cape for the last 18 years. His dad Robert “Pops” Leggins is married to Pam. They have been married 41 years. Pop played for Ralph Baird 1972-73. Bobby Leggins was first-team all-conference and a top 20 player in the state his senior year in 1996.   

Mike Sewell

Mike just turned 51. He is the master blaster of the local road racing culture and community. Mike the runner doesn’t cut corners, but he’s not taking any wide turns either, which comes with wisdom. Mike ran a time of 18:07 to capture the masters title at the recent Father’s Day Virtual 5K. Mike also won the masters title at the Beebe Heroes Virtual 5K in 18:27. Both times are top shelf nationally for the over-50 age group. Mike was masters winner in the Masser 5-Miler in 30:07, averaging 6:01 per mile. Relentless Mike was masters champion of the recent Coronavirus 6-Pack Series, clocking the following times over distances: 1 mile, 6:32; 5K, 19:45; 5-miler, 30:44; 10K, 38:07; 10-miler, 1:03.33; half marathon, 1:24.5. The overall mileage for the six-pack series was 38.4, which Mike ran at a 6:20 pace. Mike runs a landscaping business and logs in his miles.