Cape girls’ track team improves to 4-0

The Cape girls’ track team is sitting at 4-0 and the boys’ team is 1-3 with three meets to go before the Henlopen Conference and Delaware State Championships.

The Lady Vikings are coming off a big win at Smyrna April 16, when Cape topped the Eagles 82-64. Both teams won two relays and traded points on the track and in the field. Going into the meet’s final event, the mile relay, the Vikings were up 72-69. The winner of the race would be the meet winner. The team of Hannah Maney, Aya Daisey, Regan Ciabattoni and Tia Jarvis easily won in 4:17, and the team celebrated the victory. A later disqualification and a mistake in the scoring put the Vikings at 82 points on the day. Smyrna has one loss on the season and will be a much tougher big-meet team in May. The Vikings are expecting it and looking forward to the challenge.

On April 20, Cape traveled to Polytech to take on the Panthers. The boys’ meet went back and forth before coming down to the final event – the mile relay. The race was tight all the way to the end and the Poly sprinter pulled away in the final 100 meters to edge out Cape anchor Julian Callaway as the Panthers won the meet 76-69. Cape took the two sprint relays, while Poly won the two longer relays to split the four. The Vikings did not win an individual event on the track, but Josiah Miller was a double winner in the field, capturing the shot put in 49-feet-2.5-inches and the discus in 128-feet-7-inches – both season-best performances. Michael Cerf jumped 5-feet-6-inches to win the high jump for Cape.

On the girls’ side of the action, the Vikings won all four relays on the day, including season-best performances in the 4-by-200 relay with the team of Maney, Ciabattoni, Daisey and Jarvis in 1:51.0 and in the 4-by-100 relay with the team of Mehkia Applewhite, Noelle Sabbagh, Amaya Daisey and Aya Daisey in 53.2. Senior Taylor Johnson won both hurdles races, winning the 100-meter hurdles in 18.1 and the 300-meter hurdles in 49.1. She also took a surprising second in the triple jump in 29-feet-9-inches. Emma Duffield won the 1,600 meters, while Maney won the 400 meters in 1:06.0. Jarvis shattered her personal best with a blazing 800-meter race time of 2:26.3, while senior Aya Daisey won the high jump with a season-best leap of 5-feet. Applewhite won the shot put in 32-feet-10-inches.

“The girls competed well, and the fact that the state rankings had Polytech in front of the Vikings lit some fire under them. We had 16 season-best performances in the meet,” said assistant coach Gilbert Maull. “The big meets are coming and we are excited with how our team is responding.”

DQ Dash set for April 25

Live racing will get started again this weekend, as the third annual DQ Dash 5K & 1-Mile Fun Walk will be held Sunday, April 25, in the City of Lewes beginning and ending at Dairy Queen at Lewes Beach. This event will benefit the Go Fourth Lewes! fireworks fundraiser. The race will begin at 9 a.m. in waves of 30 based on runners’ pace per mile. To register for the event, go to seashorestriders.com. A pre-race packet pickup will be held from 3 to 5 p.m., Saturday, April 24.

Masks are to be worn as you leave the starting line and when you return to the finish line, but during the race you will be allowed, per DPH guidelines, to lower your mask. During the pre-race and post-race festivities, masks and social distancing will be in effect. Parking for the event will be at the Lewes Beach public parking lot. Custom awards will be presented to the overall, masters and top three finishers in 10 age groups.

Track & field clinics

The Cape Henlopen girls’ track & field team will host the second session of Clinic II Sunday, May 2, as 80 elementary, middle and high school athletes took part in last week’s opening session. All athletes will receive a custom-printed string backpack bag for participating in the camp. Registration information is located at seashorestriders.com or by emailing timothy.bamforth@cape.k12.de.us. The third and final clinic will be May 16 and 23 at Legends Stadium.