Cape track competes at Henlopen Conference Championships

The Cape track teams competed Feb. 9 at the opening day of the Henlopen Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships at University of Maryland Eastern Shore in Princess Anne, Md. Day one of the championships was the field event day, with finals being held in the long jump, pole vault, shot put and high jump. Thursday (after deadline) will begin with the triple jump final and follow with the track event finals on the 200-meter oval. Finals in the 55 meters, 55-meter hurdles, 200 meters, 400 meters, 800 meters, 1,600 meters, 3,200 meters, 4-by-800 relay, 4-by-200 relay and 4-by-400 relay will be held.

The Cape girls put together 44 points Feb. 9, led by three second-place finishers, as Elizabeth Melson (high jump 4-feet-6), Lainey Shockro (pole vault 9-feet-6) and Haley Archambault (shot put 32-feet-6) all grabbed the silver medal. Ari Dabney was third in the high jump for the bronze at 4-4, while Tia Jarvis finished fourth in the long jump at 15-5. Allison Head was fourth in the high jump at 4-4, while Shockro was seventh in the long jump at 15-1¼. Anna Fantoli was seventh in the shot put with a personal best of 26-4½ , while Melson was eighth in the pole vault at 6-0.

“We wanted to score 40 points on the opening day and we ended up with 44, so the girls had a real nice day,” said coach Gilbert Maull. “Our girls know what needs to be done Thursday to bring a championship back to Cape.”

The Cape boys crowned one champion on opening day, as first-year track athlete Eddie Houck captured the pole vault with a clearance of 11-0 for a new season best. Houck took some good attempts at 11-4, but came up a little short. Bailey Fletcher finished third, clearing 10-0, and Jakob Hayes was fifth with a new personal best of 10-0. There were big points in the vault for the Vikings, as they scored 20. John Small was third in the long jump at 20-11¼ , while Konner Knarr was fifth at 20-5¼. Malaki Lewis was third in the shot put at 42-11½, while Billy Cerf was fifth in the high jump in 5-8. Knarr was also seventh in the high jump at 5-6. The Vikings wrapped up the day with 42 points, and will battle Dover and Smyrna for the title.