Naiya and Aniyah run middle distance at Sussex Central nine years apart 

Miss Teen Delmarva - Aniyah Daisey, 15, ran the Run for the Buds 5K March 22, passing me on Fredman Bend with a smile on her face. She ran 30:57. Next I saw she had a crown on her head and a banner reading Miss Teen Delmarva 2026. She runs track at Sussex Central, specializing in the 400 and 800. I asked her if she even heard of Naiya Smith (2017) who ran the 400 and 800 before going to Penn State. I’m imagining two cute girls, both long sprinters at Sussex Central, named Naiya and Aniyah would know each other. It gets better. Naiya played Aaliyah in the school musical “True Life,” directed by David Warwick. I once told a person my name was Dave Frederick and then was asked if I was related to Fred Hertrich. Somewhere was a homonym joke. 

Bracing for the future - Hadley Rhue won the Shamrock Shuffle 5K March 14 in 21:27, as a 24 year old. Also pictured is Hadley on the Cape track team of 2019. Different yet the same, and still running happily.

Rolling in the Deep - Cape’s Adele – multi-sport athlete Adele Mears from the late ’70s – will be inducted into the Delaware Sports Hall of Fame in May. Adele was on Cape’s 1979 state championship team as a dominant defender at center halfback. She led Old Dominion’s triple-overtime victory over the University of Connecticut at Franklin Field in Philadelphia for the 1983 national title to cap Monarchs’ two-year dominance. During that period, the Monarchs posted a record of 67-1. In 1982, the Monarchs upended defending champion Connecticut for the national title. Adele also played basketball at Cape, where she was a point guard for the Vikings’ 21-1 Henlopen Conference basketball champions of 1979-80 and earned second-team all-state honors. Adele also played softball and ran track. She and Randy Johnson were in the forefront of multi-sport athletes at Cape. Adele is not simply the best, but better than most of the rest that have come though Cape over the last 56 years.  

Steely Deb - “I’m a fool to do your dirty work, oh yeah.” – Steely Dan, 1972. Debbie Windett is not a life coach, but a lifetime coach having mentored athletes at Sussex Central, Caesar Rodney, St. Thomas More, Wesley College and Cape Henlopen. She is the coach young women come back to visit. “I don’t cook,” Debbie joked. “Every time I turn on the stove, which is not often, the smoke alarm comes on.”  After graduating from Bridgewater College, Debbie returned to her alma mater Sussex Central and began coaching field hockey, a post she held for 21 years. She also led Central’s girls’ basketball program for nine years, tennis for a year and the school’s inaugural soccer team. In 1998, she moved to Caesar Rodney, taking the field hockey team to the 2004 state championship. She also coached lacrosse and chaired the physical education department for a decade. She also coached field hockey at St. Thomas More for five years and Wesley College for four seasons. Debbie has been an assistant field hockey coach for her daughter, Kate Austin, at Cape since 2012, during which time the Vikings have won 11 state championships. She also has led Cape’s junior varsity field hockey team, and has volunteered for Caesar Rodney’s lacrosse team since 2023. She has served on the Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association Sportsmanship Committee for six years, the girls’ lacrosse committee for 28 years – the last 25 as chair – and the field hockey committee for 46 years. At Bridgewater College in Virginia, Debbie earned 11 varsity letters in field hockey, basketball and lacrosse. She captained Bridgewater’s 1976 small-college championship team and the first undefeated lacrosse team. 

The 10 standouts – Debbie and Adele are part of the 2025 class being inducted into the Delaware Sports Hall of Fame. They’ll be joined by Patrick Castagno (cross country, band, track), Jamie Duncan (football), Andrew Gemmell (swimming), Bruce Gemmell (swimming), Bryheem Hancock (soccer), Harold Hoch (baseball), Laura Taylor (softball) and Seth van Neerden (swimming). The banquet is Thursday, May 28, at the Chase Center on the Riverfront in Wilmington. Tickets to the 50th annual banquet are $75 each, with tables of eight available for $550. Social hour, silent auction and memorabilia display will begin at 5:30 p.m. followed by the dinner and ceremony at 7 p.m.

Snippets - The Air Force Academy men’s lacrosse team beat Providence March 21 18-17. Caelan Driggs (Salesianum) scored eight goals for the Falcons. Driggs has 16 goals and seven assists on the season. Air Force plays in the Atlantic Sun Conference, the same as the Mercer Bears where Mikey Frederick (Cape) leads his team with 17 goals and seven assists. Cape lost to Sallies 13-11 in the 2022 state championship game. Driggs had six goals, while Frederick had four. Noah Driggs, Caelan’s younger brother, plays for the University of Tampa. There are currently seven Salesianum players on the Tampa roster. The Spartans, a Division II team, are 10-1. Superia Clark (Dover), who started three years for Syracuse University lacrosse, is playing her senior season at Florida State. It’s opening week for Major League Baseball. Use your internet sleuth skills to determine where our local guys are starting the season. Go on no, git!