Sussex Academy wins girls’ track conference title
The Sussex Academy girls’ track & field team won the Henlopen Conference Championship Jan. 22, at the Worcester County Recreation Center in Snow Hill, Md.
Cape and Sussex Academy went back and forth early in the meet, with the Vikings winning the 3,200m relay to kick the meet off. Sussex Academy put three in the finals of the 55-meter hurdles, scoring 12 points to Cape’s six. They were led by Katya Geyer in third with a time of 10.31. Kaylyn Clews led Cape with a time of 10.83 for fifth.
Cape’s Natalie Schneider had a big day, as she ran on the winning 3,200 relay team and then doubled back to finish second in the 1,600m run in a PR 5:45.57 and second in the 3,200 in 12:26.73.
A great competition in the shot put saw Charlie Smith of Lake Forest throw 37-10 to edge Mallory Kauffman of Cape, who tossed the shot 37-6.
Maile Godwin was second in the 800 in 2:31.65, while Sussex Academy grabbed fourth, fifth and sixth to score 12 points with Jaslene Brunskill, Leah Cooper and Garrity Cox.
Geyer scored 22 individual points, while freshman teammate Reagan Klahr picked up eight points down the stretch with a 4-10 clearance in the high jump for second place.
Teagan Forester finished second in the pole vault and fourth in the 400 to pick up some bonus points.
Cape outscored Sussex Academy 25-17 in the relay events, but the Seahawks held the large edge in the field events 52-12 and the distance events 39-30.
Sussex Academy scored in 13 of the 15 events, while Cape scored in 11 of the 15 events.
The Vikings closed the meet with a win in the 1,600-meter relay in a time of 4:33.57, while Sussex Academy was third in 4:36.36. The Seahawks scored 13 points, while Cape did not score in the triple jump to wrap up the meet and the win for Sussex Academy with 127 points. Cape was second with 81, followed by Smyrna in third with 80. Sussex Academy had the numbers and the depth in this meet.
Dover edges Cape boys
Heading into the final event at last week’s Henlopen Conference Indoor Championships in Snow Hill, Md., the triple jump, the Cape Vikings held a six-point lead over Dover. The Senators had some of the top jumpers in the meet, so longtime track & field coach Jim “Bungy” Solomon felt pretty good about his chances of winning the conference title. When the sand had settled, Dover grabbed 15 points to Cape’s five and was able to capture the title by a close four-point margin 142-138.
“Going into the final event, I was impressed with the Cape jumpers who were bringing the smoke, as I did not expect that out of them. That is what made it intense,” said Solomon.
Cape’s Brayden Jones finished sixth in 42-2, while Brayden Uszenski was seventh in 41-10 for the Vikings. Sussex Tech jumper Jordan Welch went totally “Jump Street” on the competition, winning the triple in 48-2, the long jump in 23-4 and the high jump in 6-2 to score 30 of the 45 total team points for the fifth-place Ravens.
Cape crowned two champions in Will DiPaolo in the vault at 14-0 and Trey Johnson in the 55-meter dash in 6.45 seconds. Cape distance runner Riley Stazzone had a great meet with three second-place finishes for 24 points in the 800, 1,600 and 3,200. The Cape distance crew scored 55 of the team’s 138 total points. Another huge event for the Vikings was the pole vault where they picked up 23 points with DiPaolo winning, Douglas Simpson taking second at 12-6 and Nate Licuanan grabbing fourth place in 11-6.
Sussex Academy senior Ryan Moody won both the 1,600 and 3,200-meter races with performances of 4:34.12 and 10:10.80, respectively, while also anchoring the winning 3,2000-meter relay. Moody has an indoor PR set in December of 4:32 and an outdoor PR from last spring of 4:16, while in the 1,600 he ran conservative in third place and took the lead for good with three laps to go. Moody led from the gun in the 3,200 race and ran a negative second mile, splitting 5:15 and coming back in 4:55 for his new PR of 10:10. Stazzone took second to lead three straight Vikings second, third and fourth for 19 big points.
“I was pretty happy with my performance at the conference championships as I won my second and third conference titles,” said Moody. “I know I could have run faster in both races, but in a championship meet sometimes you just run to win. I’m hoping to go faster in the state championship meet coming up, and I’m already looking forward to spring.”
Delaware teams must wait nearly a month, until Saturday, Feb. 21, for the Delaware State Championships at the University of Pennsylvania. Meanwhile, with no indoor facility in the state, the teams will continue to travel and compete in out-of-state meets.
