Congratulations to the Seashore Striders challengers who participated in the 2025 100-mile-per-month challenge. Participants could run, walk, bike, swim or row, and they donated $10 per month to three local charities. If they did not reach 100 miles, they had to make an additional donation.
The three charities we donated to at $1,000 each were Humane Animal Partners, Beebe Medical Foundation and Cape Henlopen Food Basket.
The top participants by 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, we completed 33,651.2 miles for the year, averaging 2,804.2 miles per month and 92.1 miles per day. That is more than three marathons per day!
Marathon fun facts
The Rehoboth Seashore Marathon invades the Cape Region every December. As a Boston Marathon qualifier, the event draws 3,400 registered participants to the Nation’s Summer Capital.
Overall, the race has a 13.3% Boston qualifier rate, with 129 qualifiers this past December. The highest age-group percentage was the male 65-69 age group with 30.8%, while the same age group on the female side came in at 40.0%.
When checking in with my race partner Marybeth Hutton this week, she informed me that 870 participants are already registered for the 2026 event. The breakdown includes 672 in the half and 198 in the full. That is about 25% of the field already registered in only the first month of registration. If registration continues at this rate, the race may be sold out by the fall, so if you’re planning on racing, you better register sooner than later.
Harp is Cape’s fastest freshman
Cape Henlopen freshman Dylan Harp traveled with his indoor track team to Ocean Breeze on Staten Island, N.Y., Jan. 31, and shattered his personal best in the 1,600 meters.
Dylan ran the mile in 4:33.50, which converts to 4:31.48 in the metric 1,600 meters. Harp ran conservative through the opening 800 meters with a 2:17 split in the middle of the pack. He showed his toughness and went to work in the third 400 meters to move into second place. With a lap to go, Harp was down six seconds and closed in a tough 30.4 seconds to just miss getting the win. With a final 400 meters of 1:03 and a final 800 meters of 2:11, he was the only runner in the field to run negative splits coming home. Harp lowered his previous personal best from 4:45.5 to 4:31.48, which as a former Cape distance four-time state champion, I can honestly say is an incredible improvement. Harp also ran 2:08 in the 800 meters and 10:14 in the 3,200 meters for what may be the best two-week performance ever for a Cape freshman.
Senior Trey Johnson finished second among 68 athletes in the 55-meter dash finals, running 6.43 seconds, while also finishing 28th in the 200-meter dash in a good time of 22.68.
Senior Riley Stazzone finished 47th in the 800 in 2:04.19, while finishing 45th in the mile in 4:38.39.
Senior Andrew Radka was 51st in the 800 meters in 2:04.77, while senior Brayden Redd finished 59th in the mile in 4:43.25.
Senior Will DiPaolo finish third in the pole vault at 14 feet, while junior Doug Simpson finished 11th in the long jump at 12 feet and sophomore Nathan Licuanan finished 19th at 11 feet. Bernard Jones finish 12th in the triple jump in 42-11.
Freshman Samuel Schubert made the finals in the 55-meter dash, finishing seventh overall in 7.01, while sophomore Chris Reed tossed the shot 39-6.5 to finish fifth.
Sophomore Brayden Uszenski finished seventh in the finals of the 55-meter hurdles in 8.89. Sophomore Nick Petito finished eighth in the 1-mile in 4:40.18, while also finishing eighth in the 800 in 2:07.66.
Kihara Ngido jumped 5-6 in the high jump for eighth place.
