Athletes of the Week June 5

Jake Bamforth

Jake, a runner turned competitive triathlete, competed in a challenge called Everesting starting Wednesday night. It is grueling, but simple: ride repeats on only one mountain until the height of Mount Everest is reached, 29,029 feet. Jake completed the cycling challenge Thursday at noon, which took 16 hours.  The "mountain" of choice was Sugarloaf Mountain in Clermont, Fla., which happens to be the largest summit in the Sunshine State. A whopping 215-foot climb resulted in 135 repeats to reach the equivalent height of Everest. “For every one minute we spent descending the hill at 50 mph, we spend four minutes climbing the 8 percent gradient,” said Jake. Currently, 7,000 people around the globe (three in Florida) have completed the Everesting challenge and have been certified into the Everesting Hall of Fame. To read more about the challenge go to https://everesting.cc/.

Dania Cannon

Dania was chosen as a senior Female Athlete of the Year, along with Anna Stancofski, who played field hockey and lacrosse. Dania showed her power and leadership as a baller by being chosen an Athlete of the Year while only playing one sport. She is arguably among the top five ball handlers and floor generals in 50 years of Cape girls’ basketball, and like teammate Abbey Hearn was robbed of the chance to deliver the first state title to Cape in 47 years. Coach Pat Woods reflected back with a smile. “Dania trains all year long, keeping fit. She would even lift and shoot on our off days during the season. She also FaceTimes with my 2-year old son. She is his favorite player.” Dania is on her way to Delaware State. She leaves Cape high school with 1,049 career points and second-team all-state honors.

Andre Currie

Andre, along with Luke Johnson, was honored as Cape’s Male Athlete of the Year. Andre was a 170-pound state champion in wrestling and a returning midfielder on Cape’s defending state championship boys’ lacrosse team. Cape veteran wrestling coach Chris Mattioni said, “Andre had a great wrestling season and I'm sure would have excelled on the lacrosse field this year. He was not only one of our most successful wrestlers this year and one of the best ever, but his leadership is what makes him next level. Andre leads by example, one of the hardest workers on the team and was our team motivator. He brings out the best in others. He has the interpersonal skills that most people do not have.” Andre was ready to snap this spring in lacrosse and plans to play next year at Bethany College in West Virginia. Pat Woods knows Andre the Athlete from The Factory. “I know Andre Currie can box jump 42 inches with ease! More if I would have let him try. Kid is an incredible athlete.”

Abbey Hearn

Abbey, a basketball player with the inside moves, lit it up her first two years at Sussex Academy before beaming back to the mothership her junior season with the hiring of Pat Woods. Abbey on the inside and Dania Cannon on the outside had the chemistry and competitive zest, and together they took Cape to the mountaintop of girls’ basketball. But then in March, with the Vikings in the final four of the state tournament, DIAA hastily pulled the pandemic plug and chasing down a dream became a song that was never sung. Abbey is this year’s winner of Cape’s Kevin Kennedy Award, named in honor of Cape football and track athlete Kevin Kennedy, who died young in a car accident. The Kevin Kennedy Award recipient is chosen by the head coaches, each coach getting a single vote. Abbey is currently looking forward to college ball. Pat Woods said, “Abbey shows up at 7:30 a.m. four days a week in the summer to lift and work out, then works six hours before playing and working at night, too.” 

Lucas Johnson

Luke, along with Andre Currie, was honored as Cape’s Male Athlete of the Year. Luke’s sports are soccer and baseball. Soccer coach Patrick Kilby said, “Luke is a natural-born leader. He is not in your face, but leads by his level of effort. There were games that Luke left the field totally and completely exhausted. There are players that you coach at the high school level and then are players that you coach that are men and carry themselves as such.” Cape baseball coach Ben Evick said of Luke, “It was a huge letdown to miss Luke’s senior year. He put in so much time in the weight room after soccer ended. He won seven games on the mound last year, and we expected that and more. At the plate, he had power to all fields, and in the couple weeks of practice we had, he showed to have more than last year. His ability at the plate, on the mound and in the field would have put him in the mix as state player of the year.” Luke will step right in at UMBC and compete for playing time immediately. 

Josephine Ledford 

Henlopen Conference cross country champion Josephine Ledford, 15, out of Lake Forest High School in Felton, captured the 27th annual Masser 5-Miler title last weekend in a time of 31:32, averaging 6:18 a mile. Ledford has been pretty busy during this shutdown, as she also won the Seashore Striders 6-Pack Challenge back in April, completing six distances of one mile (5:47), 5K (18:58), five miles (31:10), 10K (39:52), 10 miles (1:05:55) and half marathon(1:29:25). Ledford won the female division by a 10-minute margin and had the ninth-best overall performance in the event with 217 finishers. The 10-mile time was faster than the 18-and-under Delaware state record, but it would not be verified due to it not being run on a certified course. "Josephine is a gifted runner with a huge heart and her toughness is second to none," said Derek Shockro, one of her club coaches with Seashore Striders. Josephine took the month of May off and focused on school, where she has a 4.2 GPA and takes two AP classes.

Brady Sherman

Now a third-grader, Brady competed in the Seashore Striders’ May team challenge event raising money for nonprofits battling COVID-19. Brady is a cross country runner in the fall, basketball player in the winter and baseball player in the spring. Brady competed last November in the National Championships in Indiana, finishing 18th and earning him Youth All-American status. Brady teamed with Kai Mundok and Robbie Myers to form the Second-Grade Sprinters, and he completed three distances of one mile (7:02), five miles (40:34) and 10 miles (1:35:30) to help his team finish 14th in the male team challenge division. Brady is a soft-spoken, well-mannered, nice kind of boy, but when he is racing, he turns into an “I’m winning this race” kind of boy.

Anna Stancofski

No one wants to get trucked by the valedictorian, but over the last four years of Cape field hockey and lacrosse, those in opposite-colored jerseys who carried the ball through the midfield had their heads on a swivel. “Anna!” the Cape crowd would chant. She was the Energizer Bunny of momentum with a great post-game smile. Anna, along with Dania Cannon, was chosen as Cape’s Female Athlete of the Year. She was signed, sealed and almost delivered to Johns Hopkins, but then she was awarded the McCabe Scholarship by Swarthmore College – just like older brother Erik-Stephane – and chased that ball, changing course. Anna will play for The Garnet the next four years. Cape lacrosse coach Lindsey Eichner Underwood said, “Anna is the ultimate teammate. There has never been a practice where she hasn’t given 100 percent effort the entire time. She motivates her teammates by example and is always pushing the team to be better.”