Chicken Chase 5K reveals a free-ranging chicken who ran 23:34

Algebraic equation - I covered the University of Delaware Chicken Chase 5K Saturday morning. It started at The Starboard and ran into Rehoboth Beach across Silver Lake Bridge. Two dudes in front were leaving the peloton behind in a no-wake zone. Joey Cintavey, 23, of Newark (16:20) and Brian Louis, 38, of West Chester, Pa. (16:41), were flying back to Dewey via the same  bridge that half the field had yet to cross. It reminded me of Algebra I problems about the distance required for a fast train to overcome a slower one. I knew the downside of an out-and-back course is seeing the fast people who are beating you by a mile and a half before you reach the mile mark. Landon Putt, 12, of Reading, Pa., ran 23:34 wearing a blue hen chicken head. Free-ranging Landon placed 34th out of 195 runners.  

Portal departures - If I’m a major college athletic director with actual administrative powers, including oversight of all programs, and I notice recruited athletes are leaving specific sports programs in concerning numbers via the portal, I’m going to want to know why. The portal is there to protect the young person from awkward sit-downs with college administrators, but if you invite the kid and parents to a discovery meeting, they can always refuse. I know that on campus, inside people know what they know, and sometimes the coach just needs to go. There is an underbelly to sports – all life lessons aside – and sometimes people don’t play nice. 

Ballyhooed - There are athletes celebrated in high school who sign letters of intent then go on to college and decide, due to injury or disillusionment, they no longer want to play a sport. But their student side is awakened and they focus on getting a degree. I often run into recent athletes now in college, and the first thing I ask them is, “How is school going? Are you knocking down decent grades in your classes?” I never ask them about a sport because if they decided to no longer play, I know that is a healthy adjustment to just getting older and moving on in life.   

Change in leadership - Information from the bluehens.com website: “NEWARK, Del. - University of Delaware head cross country/track & field coach Kenyetta Iyevbele will not return next season, Director of Athletics, Community, and Campus Recreation Chrissi Rawak announced Wednesday.” There are a total of four assistant coaches with the Delaware program, including Ben Bamforth. I read a nationwide search was underway, which requires Google maps and artificial intelligence. I wrote this in August 2023: “Kenyetta Iyevbele is the head coach of women's cross country and track at the University of Delaware, and Ben Bamforth was just hired as a full-time assistant to Kenyetta. When she heard that I was Tim Bamforth's high school coach, she kept calling me Coach. I figured out Coach Kenyetta is an awesome person in the time it takes me to run 100 meters, like 30 seconds.”

Lance Fargo - Team Fargo's latest tour stop was USA Triathlon Multisport Nationals in Omaha, Neb. Lance wrote recently that despite some recent injuries (broken foot, plantar fasciitis, broken rib), he was able to compete in national championships in aquabike (swim, bike), aquathlon (swim, run) and individual medley triathlon (swim, bike, run, bike, run, bike, run, bike, run), scoring gold in all three events and qualifying for Worlds 2025 in the aquabike and aquathlon to be held in Australia and Spain, respectively. “I could not have done it without the unwavering support of the other half of Team Fargo, national champion super sherpa, Paula Fargo!” he said. Team Fargo now has 21 career USAT National Championship wins: four in olympic distance triathlon, two in sprint triathlon, two in standard duathlon, two in standard aquabike, two in mixed relay triathlon, two in aquathlon, plus wins in gravel triathlon, super sprint triathlon, long course aquabike, individual medley triathlon, mixed relay duathlon, sprint duathlon, and draft legal sprint duathlon. Lance competes in the Clydesdale division in the 40-59 age group. He just turned 58. Qualifications for Worlds are in the 55-59 age group. 

Snippets - Eddie Houck and Kennedy Johnson were the 27th winners of the Bill Degnan Faith in Human Spirit Award. The award is given to the Cape track athletes who embody traits that Bill Degnan would have loved. Baseball fans should not be fooled by team records 65 games into a 162-game schedule. The Nationals and Mets are NL East teams that are figuring it out. I’m feeling the Phillies going after Oakland reliever Mason Miller at the trade deadline. A’s are sellers at the deadline and looking for prospects, not veteran underachievers. Cape field hockey, the defending Division I state champion, lost several studs to graduation, but they will reconfigure and contend once again. The Cape bench in field hockey is deep. Go on now, git!