Cape boys, Smyrna girls win Henlopen track titles
The Cape Henlopen boys’ track team banked points in the distance events and pole vault, then complemented that scoring by receiving a personal-best 50-foot throw from Nate Horn in the shot put. Cape also set a meet record in the 3,200 meter relay of 8:08 and ran a school record of 43.0 in the 4-by-100 relay to place third.
Senior Trey Leggins broke 50 seconds in the open 400 meters, Bailey Fletcher jumped 14-feet-6-inches in the pole vault and Ryan Baker won the 1,600 and 3,200 meters, placed third in the 800 and ran on the winning 4-by-800 team to score 28 points.
Cape completed the two-day track carnival with 129.50 points, followed by Caesar Rodney with 101, Smyrna with 76, Sussex Central with 74 and Polytech with 56.
The weather for the two days was over 80 degrees with no wind or flying pests. The scene surrounding the Lake Forest track looked like a canopy convention. But the action on the track and runways was hot with top-to-bottom quality performances and many personal bests established.
The long jump set the tone May 11, as the top eight jumpers cleared 21 feet, with seven establishing personal bests. Timothy Wright of Sussex Central jumped 24-4, followed by Yougendy Mauricette of Sussex Tech at 23-7 and Jaheim Cole of Dover at 23-0.
The sprinters came out to play May 12, as Seaford junior Jazonte Levan won the 100 meters in 10.63 and 200 meters in 21.57.
Emeel James-Ragland of Polytech won the 400 meters in 48.98, as the top four runners broke 50 seconds. William Harrison of Sussex Central clocked 49.61, while Trey Leggins of Cape ran 49.91 and Brayden Elliot of Sussex Central finished in 49.96.
Ian Cain of Caesar Rodney won the the 800 meters in 1:57.57, followed by Cape’s Ben Clifton in 1:59:07 and Ryan Baker in 1:59.71.
Ryan Baker won the 3,200 in 9:40.85, then came back the next day to win the 1,600 in 4:20.23. The top nine runners broke 4:40.
Mauricette won the 110-meter hurdles in 14.1 and 300-meter hurdles in 37.6.
Smyrna won the girls’ meet with 170 points, followed by Caesar Rodney with 105, Sussex Central with 75, Cape Henlopen with 49 and Sussex Academy with 47.
Brynn Crandell of Indian River won the 3,200 in 10:52.12 and 1,600 in 5:09.14.
Senior Alexa Dougherty of Cape set a personal best in the triple jump with a distance of 32-1 to place third; she also ran the 300-meter hurdles in 48.71 to place second.
Abby Cholewa of Caesar Rodney won the pole vault in 10-0, followed by Cape’s Addison Bowman at 9-6 and Milford’s Kayla Ashton at 9-0.
The DIAA Track & Field State Championship meet is set for Friday and Saturday, May 19 and 20, at Dover High School. The season-ending Meet of Champions will be held Wednesday, May 24, at Abessinio Stadium.
