Bob Paulen - A great guy, athlete, and 86-year-old Yale Doctor of Divinity, Bob lives in downtown Dewey Beach, which seems a bit incongruous. Bob’s not a street preacher, not the proselytizing padre, as he is too busy training on the Cape track. I recently got this email from Bob: “Just completed participation in the 2024 USATF Indoor Championships held in Chicago this weekend. There were 1,147 athletes representing 123 teams plus unattached individuals. The Potomac Valley Track Club, of which I am a member, won the team title. I contributed gold medals in each of the four individual events I entered – pentathlon, triple jump, hurdles and high jump. The outdoor championships will be held in Sacramento in July.” I recently covered the Shamrock Shuffle 10-Miler and 5K, and what caught my attention was that I was the oldest person at the venue, but at least I didn't have to run to get a bagel and banana nub.

Low country - Many full moons ago, Susan and I stayed at her sister's beachfront condo in the low country of Beaufort, S.C. I am the Prince of High Tides. I thought, “I could live down here,” so I visited the high school, which was so old the bricks needed repointing. Cape was old school in 1975, the year we rolled down Savannah Road for the first time. I thought, “These cats like riding on and looking at water. Most just don’t like getting wet.” I’ve watched three referendums tied to a swimming pool fail with a common theme: “With all this water around here, we don’t need a damn swimming pool.” The democratic process played out. Now we all have more money for pizza three times a year. Votes counted at Mariner (a nautical term) were 1,368 against and 594 in favor. And that was the same as it ever was. 

I’m for real - I believe Cape’s JV girls’ lacrosse team is a top-eight varsity team in the state of Delaware. Put them in a state tournament of 12 where the top four get a bye, and they're going to the final eight. On Tuesday, the JV laxers beat Queen Anne’s 13-4; among the goal scorers were Regan Best with five, Allaire Burton with three, Maya Yngve with two and Cora Conway with one. Emily Wells had six saves. The roster is deep with good players.   

Family vacation - Spring break or Easter vacation for athletes playing a sport often brings up the issue of family vacations and whether a player can be excused from practices or even from a game without penalty to go on vacation with the family. On Wednesday night at the boys’ lacrosse game, every time Tatnall broke a time-out huddle, I heard the words “ground balls” followed by “family.” No one would argue out loud, “You should have thought of vacation before you joined a family or a team.” No one takes vacations during the season. It's as mystifying as Major League Baseball players going on maternity leave. OK, I’m done playing around. I know at Cape the rule has always been that it’s at the discretion of the coach. Many coaches like the rule, “Miss a practice, then miss a game,” but the school administration doesn’t like to interfere.      

Snippets - Mariner girls’ lacrosse heads into spring break 2-0 after a 13-2 win at Smyrna. Goals were scored by Blair Chubb with four,  Linley Draper with three, Ava Wyatt and Meredith Frederick with two each, and Joelle Stephens and Maren Edwards with one apiece. Penelope Bohl had five saves. Beacon girls’ lacrosse beat Sussex Academy 17-0. Beacon goals were Alexis Zolper and Mikaela Gordon each with three; Kelly Neustadter, Mia Pettengell and Hazael Mancari with two each; and single goals from Anna Neustadter, Shiloh O’Grady, MacKenzie Kupa, Eve Redefer and Harper Derrick. Claire Hassell had four saves. It should be noted that Sussex Academy allows eighth-graders to play high school level. There are eight on JV and one on varsity. Middle school and many junior varsity results are not available because they are not posted on websites4sports. Xavier women’s lacrosse lost to Louisville 15-7 in a Big East game Wednesday. Sawyer Walker (Cape) saw a career day with seven draw controls, six of those coming in the first quarter. The redshirt sophomore midfielder now ranks second in the program's single-game records for draw controls. Go on now, git!