It was winter 1988 at Delaware State and our Sunday morning 10-miler normally happened at 6 a.m. from the Smyrna McDonald’s to the DSU Student Center straight down the southbound shoulder with coach Joe Burden following in the van with his cigar, coffee and Egg McMuffin.
On this particular morning, we had gotten 8 to 10 inches of snow overnight. It was still coming down as we unenthusiastically loaded into the van for Smyrna. “Come on, baby, you all gotta put the work in,” barked coach Burden. I wondered how we were going to get through the snow on the shoulder, which normally is plowed last in a major storm. When we got out of the van, there was a Dover maintenance truck (a Joe Burden friend) waiting for us with his lights on in the shoulder.
For 10 miles we followed the plow with coach Burden bringing up the rear. I kept telling myself that no one in the country was doing what we were doing. Just over an hour later, we made it back to campus. Most of us couldn’t feel our feet or hands for another hour as we headed to the dining hall. A perfect example of weather being a non-factor in our training regime, whether we liked it or not.
Virginia Showcase
The Virginia Showcase, one of the largest meets of the indoor season, was held this past weekend in Virginia Beach, Va. The showcase lived up to its reputation, as several state records, regional records and a national record fell during the weekend’s elite events.
The Cape Henlopen boys made the trip over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel with its distance crew and a few vaulters.
Senior jumper Will DiPaolo cleared 13-feet-10-inches for fifth overall in the invitational pole vault for some nice exposure in an elite field. Jack Morey of Kent Island won the event in 14-10, while eight jumpers cleared 13-10. Place was then determined by misses. DiPaolo, who now has the highest jump in Delaware, cleared the height on his first attempt. A third-place finish was within reach, but two misses at 13-4 dropped him to fifth.
In the open pole vault, it was Cape junior Douglas Simpson rising to the challenge and jumping 12-6 to win the competition. What an impressive vault performance out of the two Cape jumpers.
Cape entered nine runners in the 1,600-meter event. The Vikings were led by senior Riley Stazzone, who finished 49th in 4:30.03. Stazzone ran in the second heat and finished 10th. Others running included Andrew Radka in 4:37.11, Dylan Harp in 4:45.77, Brayden Redd in 4:50.77, Nick Petito in 4:52.68, Jude Peacock in 4:57.58, Jude Bastian in 5:05:34, Reece Kuklish in 5:07.45 and Owen Barron in 5:10.75. There are not many, if any, teams in the state that can put nine milers under 5:10.
Radka turned in a time of 1:08.99 to finish in the top 50 in the 500-meter dash. In the 3,200 run, Stazzone once again led the Vikings in 9:47.15, while Harp ran 10:14.75, Petito turned in a 10:19.79, Redd ran 10:29.67 and Bastian clocked 10:43.86.
Sussex Academy also made the trip south to the Virginia Showcase, as Katya Geyer finished 14th in the high jump with a clearance of 5-0. She also finished 47th in the triple jump with a distance of 31-2.5.
Spencer Nagy competed in the 55-meter dash (6.96), the 300-meter dash (39.21) and the long jump (16-5). Zander Pine also competed in the pole vault, clearing 8-0.
Big Bear Invite
The Big Bear Invitational was held Jan. 15, as the Cape girls and the Sussex Central boys and girls both competed in the meet at Ursinus College in Collegeville, Pa.
Top 10 performances for the Golden Knights included the 3,200-meter relay team that finished in ninth place in 13:12.1, Zaigeya Sheppard-Tunnell in sixth in the shot put in 28-8.25, McKinley Messick with a seventh-place finish in the shot put in 27-9.25 and Ahnyria Johnson finishing 10th in the shot put in 25-7. Kai Thorton was fourth in the 60-meter hurdles in 8.77, while Jaycen Davis was 10th in the long jump in 18-10.5.
Mallory Kauffman led the Vikings with a second-place finish in the shot put with a toss of 36-9.75 to add another top-five finish to a fine season. Kaylyn Clews also finished second in the high jump in 4-8, while distance runner Natalie Schneider set personal-best performances in the 3,000-meter run with a third in 11:32.9 and also in the 1,600-meter run in 5:46.1 to finish eighth. Maile Godwin finished fifth in the 800 in 2:31.9. She also anchored the 3,200 relay to a fourth-place finish in 11:04.4. The Vikings also finished fourth in the 1,600 relay in 4:31.3, while Kiera Fletcher jumped 7-0 in the pole vault also for fourth place.
Strider Challenge
Thirty runners took part in the 2025 Strider Challenge. They had to complete 100 miles per month for 12 straight months. Activities could include running, walking, biking, swimming and rowing. Participants who did not reach 100 had to make an additional donation to the cause. The beneficiaries were the Cape Henlopen Food Basket, Humane Animal Partners and Beebe Medical Foundation. The other requirement – my favorite – was to do a Strider good deed at least once a month. Some of those were donating blood, volunteering, donating food or clothing, taking a CPR class, helping a friend in need, planting a tree, holding a door, buying Wawa coffee for a stranger.
The top three in total mileage were Tracy Sipprelle of Jackson, Wyo., with 3,256.6 miles, Joe D’Amico of Lewes with 3,074.7 miles and Mary Kessler of Harbeson with 2,670.7 miles. As a group, the total miles tallied was 33,651.2 for an average of 2,804.2 miles per month and 92.1 miles per day. The daily average is more than three marathons as a group.
