Athletes of the Week Oct. 9

Ariana Adili-Khams

"It's so nice to be out here every day doing sports with people that you love.” Ariana is a Cape cross country runner, just a sophomore, who cracked the top five as a freshman on last year’s talented team. She lost her indoor season to a medical issue that’s since resolved, then spring track was canceled. She is not the default winner of the Run Happy Award because coach Matt Lindell’s team runs happy up and down the lineup. “We get to remove the mask once the the race starts,” Ariana said. “Sports is just a nice distraction from what’s going on in the world.” Ariana excels in the classroom too, taking AP and honors classes. She will be solidly in the middle of Cape’s top five this fall when the racing gets real. 

Forest Dotterer

Forest, a senior at Cape, has looked like a soccer goalie ever since his playing days at Mariner. He is an affable, accomplished and confident young man who will play whatever card is thrown down on the table. He was injured in preseason, but still came to workouts until a definitive diagnosis was declared. His dad Matt and Uncle Bryan played soccer for Cape. Forest played 13 years for the Henlopen Soccer Club, where his mother Stephanie is club president. He takes honors, AP and Academic Challenge classes, and is a member of the National Honor Society. Younger brother Sawyer is a sophomore on the Cape varsity. “He’s looking at colleges in the Carolinas or Florida,” said his father Matt. “He wants to study marine science and continue to play soccer.” Forest said: ”It was definitely really rough at the beginning knowing that I would not be able to play with my teammates for my final season, along with knowing that it would be a lot harder to get the opportunity to play in college now, especially with COVID-19 causing many of the college showcases I was planning to attend to be canceled. But my family, coaches and teammates have been and are all extremely supportive, which has helped push me to still want to play in college and to really begin working on my recovery so that I can come back even better than before.” 

Megan Smith

Megan is a Cape sophomore who plays lacrosse and volleyball. She was thrilled to have made the varsity volleyball team; her forte is setting the ball, although she looks more like a kill shot finisher. “I’m tall for a setter, which helps my game,” Megan said, adding, “I just want to play real games in a Cape uniform. Last spring, I was thrilled to make the varsity lacrosse team as a freshman and then the season got canceled.” Megan plays lacrosse Sunday nights at DE Turf with the Vikings Gold squad. She is a defender. “Megan’s adjusting to a new speed of the game at varsity and has demonstrated poise and an eagerness to improve. She’s got a lot still to go, and we’re excited to watch help and watch her grow,” said volleyball coach Tyler Coupe. Lacrosse coach Lindsey Underwood said: “Megan works hard for us on the field, has good defensive body position and quick slides. She is able to cover a lot of ground quickly. I can’t wait to watch her play this spring.” Megan has a 4.1 GPA and is ranked in the top 8 of her class. 

Blayze Traumbauer

The Cape senior fullback and linebacker looks and acts the part, which includes JROTC leadership and plans to join the Army after high school, and he has two years working out at CrossFit. Blayze went to Milford Academy, then Mariner, played football as a freshman at Cape, then concentrated on JROTC leadership, but now he is back. “I’m a very adaptable person,” said the 5-foot-10,185-pound senior. “On the football field I can hit it up inside and I have decent speed. I play linebacker on defense. I feel a lot stronger since the last time I played the sport.” Coach J.D. Maull said, “Blayze was a kid that I happened to see in the weight room the first week of school. I went up to his teacher Mrs. Candy Brown and asked for info about him. She told me he was a great kid and has not played football since middle school. So I just introduced myself and told him that we needed good-character kids like him. Also, he is a kid that most high schools don’t have. I call them tweeners, 185- to 210-pound kids who can run. He will play fullback and some linebacker and special teams. His main job will be a blocking fullback for Jaden Davis and Jordan Baines.”