Great athletes snap wherever they matriculate

The Warrior - A song by American rock band Scandal (1984) reached No. 1 in Canada. The band was fronted by Patty Smyth, who is married to John McEnroe. Rehoboth guitarist Keith Mack played on the album on songs like “Goodbye to You" and "Love's Got a Line on You.” The sideways relevance to this sports column is to highlight basketball star KJ Johnson, a local girl playing basketball for the Sanford School Warriors. Johnson was the top eighth-grader in Delaware last season playing for Fred Thomas. The previous two seasons, KJ played for Beacon. KJ’s record after two years at Beacon and one year at Fred Thomas was 38-1. And then it was, “Goodbye to you, Cape.” She is now the leading scorer after two games at Sanford, scoring 23 at St. Andrew’s and 18 in a 94-20 home win over Tower Hill. Players who leave the mothership of their home boundaries district can transfer back before junior year without penalty. “Shootin ’at the walls of heartache. Bang, bang! I am the Warrior!” 

Senior Shockley - West Chester senior field hockey captain Ella Shockey, a Wildcat out of Delmar, was selected to the National Field Hockey Coaches Association Division II All-American team. Thirty-two Division II student-athletes are selected by member coaches as 2025 NFHCA All-Americans, sponsored by Apex Field Hockey. Ella was a second-team selection. Shockley, a first-team all-region pick and second-team All-PSAC selection, anchored the Golden Rams' back line for the fourth consecutive year. She still managed two goals and two assists. She scored one game-winning goal, that coming in the quarterfinals of the PSAC Tournament against Indiana University of Pennsylvania in double overtime. She also was credited with a defensive save. Ella is the granddaughter of the late Costen Shockley, a left-handed first baseman out of Georgetown who had a brief stint with the Philadelphia Phillies.

Living the dream - I recently caught up with Jimmy Gill for the first time since 2023. He continues to work in athletics administration at Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights are in the Big Ten. Jimmy Gill, the crafty lefty from Cape baseball who was also a basketball guard, is currently an associate athletic director of communications for Rutgers University football. Jimmy had been in the sports information department at Rutgers since 2013. Jimmy graduated from Cape in 2006. He was coached by Ben Evick, then played baseball at Swarthmore. Dwight Tingle was Jimmy’s Cape basketball coach.  

Snippets - Luke Bender, a two-time state champion when wrestling at Cape, has a career record 21-29 at Division I Franklin & Marshall. He’s now in his junior season wrestling at 157 pounds. Bailey Fletcher (Cape) is listed as a sophomore on the Ohio State men’s track and field roster. Bailey is a two-time state champion in the pole vault. Bailey jumped 14-feet-9-inches last indoor season. Deacon Oldenwelder, 10, placed third out of 115 runners at the Redemption City Ugly Sweater 5K. Don Zallenski, 79, walked the course in 41:41. Phil Perry, 80, of Salisbury, Md., was first and only runner in his age group at 35:26, except his age group is 70-plus, so what’s the point of turning 80 if you can’t be rewarded for slowing down? Lina Frederick (Cape) and Emiley Bisaha (Sussex Academy) are freshmen players on the Salisbury University women’s lacrosse team. The Gulls are coming off a 16-5 season, losing in the NCAA regional finals to Tufts 8-7. Tufts lost to Middlebury 10-9 in the NCAA Division III finals. My rule of thumb for high school boys’ basketball: if you expect to beat a good team, you have to score at least 60 points, and you should know where 40 of them are coming from before the game starts. Cape lost a home game to Dover Dec. 16, 65-49. Dover had eight players crack the scoring column, while just five players scored for the Vikings. The Beast of the East wrestling tournament is this weekend at the University of Delaware. The Beast is the best. If a wrestler makes the podium, they are an All-American. There are studs all over the place; it's all about the matchup of styles. The wrestlebacks are crazy competitive. One minute you’re going for it all, the next you are buzzsawed. Catch it all on trackwrestling.com. The office swivel chair is better than being there. Go on now, git!