Indoor track teams get to work

The Cape indoor track & field team traveled south to the Virginia Beach Sports Center for the Virginia Beach High School Opener. More than 300 teams and 2,000 athletes took part in the meet. Sussex Central and Sussex Tech also made the southern trip.

The Vikings were led by Will DiPaolo with a second-place finish in the pole vault, a nice December clearance of 13-feet, while teammate Douglas Simpson was fifth in 12-feet and Nathan Ryu Licuanan was seventh in 11-feet. Trey Johnson ran tough to a fourth-place finish in the 55-meter dash in a time of 6.61. Johnson ran an impressive 6.55 in the prelims to rank second going into the finals.  

Riley Stazzone had two top 10 performances, as the senior was sixth in the 3,200 in 10:08.46 and seventh in the 1,600 in 4:32.96. Elijah Shockley-Taylor was eighth in the finals of the hurdles in 8.15 after racing to an 8.11 in the prelims. Shockley-Taylor also finished ninth in the finals of the 55-meter dash in 6.67. Nick Petito was ninth in the 3,200 in 10:10.79, while Andrew Radka was sixth in the 500 meters in 1:08.80.  

Leading the girls in 34th place in the hurdles was Kaylyn Clews out of the prelims in a time of 10.86.

The Ravens of Sussex Tech were led by “Jumping Jordan” Welch, one of the premier field event athletes in the state. Welsh won the long jump with a leap of 22-feet-3.5-inches, and finished second in the high jump at 6-feet-6-inches and seventh in the triple jump in 40-feet-6-inches. Teammate Jayden Brown was eighth in the triple jump in 40-feet-5.75-inches. Acadia Coughenour led the Ravens girls with a 16th-place finish in the high jump in 4-feet-4-inches.

The Golden Knights of Sussex Central were led by Kai Thorton in the 55-meter hurdles with a 10th-place finish in the finals in 8.30. Thorton had the ninth-best time coming out of the prelims at 8.21. Zaigeya Sheppard-Tunnell led the Golden Knights girls with a 14th-place finish in the shot put in 29-feet-8.75-inches. 

Sussex Academy 

The Sussex Academy indoor team competed Dec. 13 in a quad meet at the Carpenter Field House with a field of 16 teams. The Seahawks had one individual win and one relay win on the girls’ side, as Katya Geyer captured her specialty high jump event with a leap of 5-feet, while the 4-by-800 relay won in 11:06.48. Geyer also finished seventh in the 55-meter hurdles in 10.51.  

The 4-by-400 relay was fourth in 4:47.18, while Eva Piper was fourth in the 3,200 in 13:29.44. Annabelle Hudson was seventh in the shot put with a toss of 24-feet-2.75-inches, while Riley Moriarty was sixth in the 1,600 in 5:56.25 and Fernanda Mejia-Ortiz was also sixth in the 3,200 in 15:14.69.  

Ryan Moody led the way on the boys’ side with a win in the 1,600 in 4:38.87, a time that would have been second on the same oval at the state championship in 1983. Sussex Academy finished second in the 4-by-200 relay in 1:42.85, while the Seahawks got third-place finishes from Austin Taylor in the 55-meter hurdles and the 4-by-800 relay in 10:03.61. Taylor was also fifth in the high jump in 5-feet-8-inches. The team will be back in action Saturday, Dec. 27, at the Dip in the Snow Invitational at Franklin & Marshall.

Finish chute

Mother Nature postponed the 20th Santa Run Dec. 14, and it will now be held at 10 a.m., Saturday, Dec. 20, from the main beach parking lot at Cape Henlopen State Park in Lewes. More than 200 participants are registered, including several teams from the Let Me Run program.

A recent banquet wrapping up the fall cross country season placed Jason Baker as an first-team all-state athlete, while Riley Stazzone, Andrew Radka, and Nick Petito earned third-team honors. Baker has been on the first team for three years, matching his brother Ryan’s three-year selection. That is six straight impressive years for the Bakers.

The Seashore Striders have two events to close out 2025 with the upcoming Santa Run 5K this weekend and the Race Into The New Year 5K set for Wednesday, Dec. 31. The Striders will rest in January, before kicking off 2026 with the fourth annual Lovers Lane Valentine’s Boardwalk 5K Saturday, Feb. 14, in Rehoboth Beach.

My friend Jen Ward will head to New York this weekend for another half-marathon, her 14th of the year. When she is not running and racing, she sleeps a little.

Irish Eyes and Seashore Striders presented a check to Toys For Tots for the amount of $15,365, the proceeds from the annual Thanksgiving Day 5K, now called the Friendsgiving 5K, in memory of late bartender Don Johnson.

Happy Birthday to my late dad John, who I share the day with, this Saturday. Dad would have been 87, as I turn 59, a year away from a new age group.

Over and out!