Athletes of the Week May 15
Andrew Gaines
Andrew is the son of former Cape athlete John Gaines, a soccer and track star at Cape and member of the class of 1986. Andrew just graduated from Emmaus High School near Allentown, Pa., where he was team MVP for the boys’ soccer team that finished with an impressive 21-4 record last fall, and won East Penn Conference and District 11 championships. A midfielder, he led his team in postseason scoring. Andrew received an academic excellence award at Emmaus for maintaining a 4.0 GPA over all four years of high school. He is heading to Muhlenberg College to play soccer, where he will be an economics major with an analytics minor. John Gaines was state champion in the 300-meter hurdles and scored Cape's first winning goal in a state tournament soccer game. Billy, Debbie and Eddie are John’s siblings.
Brandon Greenlee
This Sussex Central athlete who gave up wrestling to concentrate on pole vaulting will sign at 3 p.m., Saturday, May 16, with the Division III Fighting Scots of Gordon College to pursue his track and field career. The signing will take place outdoors highlighted by a drive-by parade. Those looking for a parade should meet in the Sussex Central parking lot about 2:50 p.m. Brandon was in the Golden Knights’ starting lineup for the 2017 Division I state wrestling champions. He was captain of the track team in 2018 and 2019, and holds the school record in the pole vault. Brandon placed third in the DIAA indoor state meet with a vault of 11-feet-6-inches. He is a member of the National Honor Society, an International Baccalaureate Program graduate and 2020 class officer. Gordon College is a private Christian college in Wenham, Mass., and competes in the Commonwealth Coast Conference.
Ricky Pitts
Ricky Pitts is Cape’s all-time fastest human, an accolade to which the just-turned-50 father of four responded, “Not anymore I’m not; that was a long time ago.” Ricky snapped in the Division I state meet in 1986, running for Cape under the direction of coach Bill Degnan. He won the 100-, 200- and 400-meter events, leading Cape to a state championship. John Gaines also won the 300 hurdles in that meet, and Cape captured the 800-meter title as well, which Otis White won from the slow heat. Looking back 34 years, Ricky still holds school records in the 100 meters at 10.6 seconds, 200 meters at 21.7, and open 400 at 48.0. The 4-by-400 team of Gaines, Bodie Brittingham, White and Pitts set a school record at the Penn Relays, running 3:22 to win their section. Ricky works as a dietary director of a healthcare community in Milford. He has a room at home dedicated to the Eagles, and somewhere hiding in there are medals and clippings from his track career.
Sam Winkler
A senior lacrosse and soccer player and an academic honor student at powerhouse Moorestown High in New Jersey, Sam will attend the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point in the fall, where he will play lacrosse and major in maritime logistics and security. He is the son of Jay Winkler, Cape class of 1989 and member of a Vikings lax team known as The Dirty Dozen. Jay was captain and MVP of Cape lacrosse and an all-conference soccer player. Moorestown won the state championship in lacrosse in 2019 as well as the South Jersey Soccer Coaches Cup. Sam was the Moorestown Offensive Player of the Year in soccer last fall. There is a Reds Spirit plaque inside Legends Stadium on the Cape campus. Jay Winkler is the artist. Sophomore son Danny is a midfielder in lacrosse and a cross country runner. The Winklers are all nice guys, but the boys don’t play around.
