Laci Dixon, Cape lacrosse goalie, will graduate early

Meeting the moment - Laci Dixon is a Cape junior and wrestling manager who just told coach Chris Mattioni to include her in Senior Night ceremonies because she is graduating early. The sports moments are fleeting by choice for Laci, who guarded the lax cage two seasons for the Mariner boys’ team before starting her freshman season for the Cape girls, leading them to a perfect 18-0 season and their 11th straight state championship. “It’s time for me to move on to college,” Laci said behind her trademark smile. “I’ll be going to Del Tech, and I’m going to be a dental hygienist.” And that is the great thing about covering high school kids – they stick and jab while circling the ring and sometimes before the round is over, they ring their own bell, climb through the ropes and chase a dream that is their own.   

Wrestling cheerleaders - Cape’s athletic troupe of tumblers and high flyers, under the direction of Courtney Hennessey, will wow the crowd ... once the crowd is allowed back in the gym. But until then, the athletes inside the rectangles and circles appreciate them like Marshawn Lynch going beast mode at Subway.  

Boys’ lacrosse - Cape left a state title run in the bus barn last March when the entire wide world of sports shut down, including surfing and skimming. Spring sports 2021 are scheduled to begin practice Monday, March 1. Cape boys’ lacrosse shows a 15-game schedule, including out-of-state games at Gilman School (Md.), Episcopal Academy (Pa.) and Worcester Prep (Md.). Cape will play Henlopen Conference schools Polytech, Sussex Central, Milford, Dover, Smyrna, Caesar Rodney and Sussex Tech. Nonconference games versus Delaware schools include Appoquinimink, Tatnall School, Salesianum, Tower Hill and Sanford School. Evidently teams are permitted to play out-of-state games without quarantining as long as they don’t stay overnight.  

Girls’ lacrosse - Cape girls’ lacrosse was interrupted last spring in their quest for 12 state titles in a row. A full 15-game schedule is on the agenda for 2021, including three away games versus Maryland teams – Parkside, St. Mary’s and Worcester Prep. Cape will play nine Henlopen Conference games, including Lake Forest and Milford in their first year of a full varsity schedule.

Baller and bailer - I have laid down some amazing and astonishing streaks in athletics and journalism. I can be the unrelenting steady stockpiler of longevity records, but a perplexing part of my personality is I may stop without warning, not ask for a continuance, and have no need for closure. The blacksmith and I started the Lewes Polar Bears in 1982. I plunged five times a year for more than 30 years; then I abruptly stopped. I just wasn't feeling it anymore. Recently, I walked 100 miles a month for five straight years, then just stopped because there were too many power walkers doing 15 minutes a mile on canes who were passing me. I haven’t had a drink in 15 years, but if I reach 80 years old, I’m starting again as a celebration for all the dumb luck and stupid stuff my life’s journey represents. But can I shut down and quit taking photos and sharing stories? Being quiet looms as a late-life challenge for me. “Please tell us the dump truck story, Fredman. What about the time you and your track team robbed the Sussex Trust on Second Street?” If Cape’s cozy little theater was still there, I’d do a One Fredman Show called ”Grandpa Stories: A Thanksgiving to Remember, So You Can Forget About It.” 

DIAA kicking it real - I give thanks and appreciation for all the work DIAA members have done to give Delaware athletes a chance to compete this fall and winter. I have no suggestions or criticisms. Everyone on my beat, including host schools, has been very accommodating to my credentialed self, and as I often brag, I am responsible for no one but myself. I just show up and take photos. 

Snippets - Delaware runner Steve Sinko has run more than 60,000 documented miles, so he is going around the world for the third time. Reminds me of when local runner Pete Rowe, a College of Marine Studies student, stopped by my house in Lewes so I could run the last two miles with him as he hit the 10K milestone. We shared a jar of champagne. I appear on many running logs of real runners under the category Trash Miles. Found out my boyhood friend Richie Conwall passed away from pancreatic cancer at the age of 74. Richie and I played basketball together in grade school for the Our Lady of Grace Bruins in Penndel, Pa. We were 55-4 over two years for coach Dick Dougherty, my mentor in sports writing. Richie played for the Syracuse Orange in the backcourt with Dave Bing and Jim Boeheim. His daughter married John Mullen, the brother of NBA great Chris Mullen. Retired Delaware State Police Superintendent Tom MacLeish is Richie’s first cousin. My small world of sports just got smaller. Go on now, git!