Showed up for a single photo and a XC race broke out
Cross purposes - I showed up at Cape Tuesday afternoon to grab a photo of Logan Crotty for Athlete of the Week. We know each other but had never spoken. I noticed Tim Bamforth and the Seashore Striders – a running branch of the Seaside muppets – were setting up for a middle school meet with assistance from Kevin Smith and Mike Connors. I decided to stay like a golden retriever off the leash. Beacon, Fred Thomas and Laurel were the teams. Emily Hilton of Beacon won the girls’ race in 11:59.3. Thomas Bonk of Beacon won the boys’ race in 11:32.5. Beacon won the girls’ meet 19-36 over Fred Thomas. The Fred Thomas boys were victorious over Beacon 24-35. Laurel ran incomplete teams, so no scores posted. The Beacon girls completed the season unbeaten along with winning the DAAD Middle School Invitational with a low score of 88 points. They are coached by Michelle Beyer Gillen and Emily Ritter Lausch. The Fred Thomas boys, coached by James Nelson and Richard Patille, also completed the season undefeated. They placed fourth at the DAAD Invitational with 182 points, just ahead of Mariner with 186. Complete results from most major meets can be found at seashorestriders.com.
Streaks and step offs - Cal Ripken Jr. stepped off the consecutive starts streak Sept. 20, 1998, the last game of the season, ending the streak at 2,632 games over 16 years. I’m a streak-setting-then-step-off personality type from Lewes Polar Bears to emcee of Punkin Chunkin. In recent history, I walked 100 miles a month for five consecutive years before I course corrected to full stop mode. The first time I stopped drinking for eight months, I took a deep breath in the crisp morning air and said to the dog of the day, “You know why God invented alcohol? Because people got tired of feeling so good.” I went into the house and made a bloody mary and sipped it like I was at The Starboard on a Sunday morning. I’m recently on a no drinking streak so long that I don’t even know how long, and a 43-year streak of writing this column. If one streak goes down, the other is going with it. I know you athletic calendar chroniclers are relating to this, especially runners and weight lifters. I’ve concluded that athletes don’t necessarily do what they should do, but rather what they compulsively need to do.
Nacho team coach - A sportswriter from a recognized publication represents the public, while a head coach of a public school team works for and also represents the public of that school district. There are times – not often – when the writer and coach collide like rocks in an asteroid belt. The same conflicts can occur at the NCAA level or even the NFL if a coach refuses to talk to a media person who perhaps skewered him the previous week. The rules of professional behavior were clear-cut, but that is no longer the case. Blurred lines can’t be corrected by reading glasses. In today's parlance, it’s called throwing shade – the coach won’t talk to the writer, and the writer reacts by throwing shade right back.
Official enabler - Tim Bamforth and I were the games committee – the final word – at the Sussex County Cross Country Championships. I told Tim, “Just so you know, I don’t disqualify runners unless the infraction is outrageous, like a golf cart ride through the woods.” But then this happened in the middle of the race: A runner was taunting the runner ahead of him like a haunted house on Halloween. The runner in front turned and executed a head lock, hip roll, five-point wrestling move, sending the seller of wolf tickets to the ground. “Both gone,” Tim and I concurred, but thank god for funny stories to counterbalance all the inspirational ones.
Snippets - Polar jumpers at the Nov. 2 Polar Bear Plunge at Cape Henlopen State Park included Charles Burton, Max Coveleski, Brad Egolf, Logan Egolf, Wendy Gusmer, Tom Gusmer, Greg Mack, Connie Miller and Kevin Rough. There are some serious streak setters in that group, like 40 years serious. Three Henlopen Conference middle school field hockey teams finished the season undefeated. Fred Thomas, coached by Lynn Richardson and Sam Purple, went 12-0 while only allowing one goal on the season. Selbyville, coached by Dawn Brasure and Amanda Riener, went 8-0-1. And Milford Middle, coached by Stacey Seilheimer, completed the season 8-0-1. Obviously the three undefeated teams had no head-to-head competition. Girls’ basketball practice at Cape begins Monday, Nov. 10. Veteran Ron Dukes takes over as head coach from Pat Woods, who is now the head boys’ coach at Delmarva Christian. Dukes will be assisted by Jon Gordon and Sam Purple. Southern chapter field hockey officials Nancy Neeman, Vicki Rhodes and Taryn O’Brien (Nancy’s daughter) composed themselves for the Fredman camera after officiating the semifinal Smyrna-over-Caesar Rodney game when Jon Buzby was on the PA. It's Delaware, where everybody knows everybody. Go on now, git!
