Athletes of the Week Nov. 18

Grayson Davis

Grayson is a seventh-grade grappler at Beacon Middle School. He competed in the Super 32 wrestling tournament in Greensboro, N.C., Oct. 15-16. Grayson competed in the middle school division at 95 pounds. His bracket contained 45 competitors from all over the country. He went 5-2 and finished seventh, which earned him All-American honors. In the second round, he pinned the No. 3-ranked wrestler in the country from Nebraska. He was also the youngest in his bracket to place. A week after the tournament, Rokfin, a national wrestling publication, came out with the national middle school rankings and had Grayson ranked eighth in the country at 95 pounds. Last year, Grayson was Henlopen Conference champion. He’s coached by Chip Wilt.

Max Gillen

Last year, this Cape junior was a solid JV cross country runner for the Vikings with a 19:33 5K best. Fast forward a year and Max is a first-team all-Henlopen Conference athlete and a consistent No. 3 or No. 4 scorer for one of Delaware’s top teams. Gillen slashed his 5K time to 17:07 at the conference meet Nov. 5, finishing fifth overall. A week later, he clocked 17:32 at the DIAA championships to grab 16th. “Max has come a long way in a couple of seasons,” said Cape coach Matt Lindell. “He broke five minutes in the mile last spring. This summer, he put in the mileage, and it has made a huge difference. A lot of coaches were asking me, ‘Where did this kid come from?’” Gillen himself summed up his meteoric rise succinctly: “It was mainly about just giving 100% all the time and having high pain tolerance.” Max is a star in the classroom too, earning As in AP, dual-enrollment and honors courses.

Randy Rickards

Now a 6-foot-7 senior basketball player for the Wilmington University basketball team, Randy was part of a 2017-18 Cape team that also featured Ian Robertson and Skylar Johnson. It was ranked No. 1 heading into postseason tournament until the wheels came off the wagon in a Northern Division game at Milford versus Smyrna – everybody was kung fu fighting – and Randy was suspended. Four years later, he is still ballin’ and on the verge of a college degree in elementary education. In his junior season, Randy led the team in rebounds and averaged 14 points per game. Randy played his sophomore season at Miami Dade College and was FCSAA All-Southern Conference second team. In a 78-54 loss at Delaware Nov. 7, Randy grabbed 10 rebounds. In a 73-71 win over Staten Island, Randy scored 10 points. On Nov. 12, Randy led the team with 15 points in a 95-82 loss to No. 10 Bentley. Wilmington is an NCAA Division II institution that competes in the Central Collegiate Atlantic Conference. 

Lulu Rishko

Lulu is a blue-collar midfielder doing the dirty work for the Cape field hockey team. There are no 50/50 balls in Lulu’s neighborhood. She is quick and fluid and hard-nosed and 100% unselfish. If she played forward, she’d be racking up goals; back on defense, she would be relentlessly pesky and annoying, but it’s in the middle as an up-and-down player where Lulu is the most effective. She is also up on corners for offense and in the cage for corner defense. All the same things can be said for this junior in the sport of lacrosse. She is a Forgotten Mile cousin from Anna B Street. Anna, Lizzie, Katie, Davey and Mikey Frederick are her first cousins. Teammate Lina Frederick is a Sussex County cousin. Finbar, Ella and Mairead are siblings.  Lulu has verbally committed to Virginia Tech for lacrosse where she will join older sister Ella. This Saturday, she is verbally committed to join her hockey teammates as they play Smyrna in a quest to win another state championship.