THE GREAT RENDINI - Matt Rendini of Salesianum wins the Division I 100-meter finals last Saturday then “blows the doors off” the field on the anchor leg of the 4 by 100 and there are two questions you want to ask him: The first is “What is up with those arms” and the second is “Why don’t you play football?” “I played my freshman and sophomore years and then this happened,” Rendini said, pointing to a scar on his elbow. “So I decided to concentrate on track. As for the arms I just lift a lot of weights.” Rednini will attend Seton Hall in the fall where he will run the 60 and 200 indoors and the 100 and 200 outdoors.
NIKKO BRADY - This sophomore from Wilmington who runs for the Charter School set the fastest time of the day last Saturday in winning the 100-meter Division I hurdles. “I started running in the summer before eighth grade for Coach Art Madric of the Wilmington Track Club,” Brady said. Nikko also won the 300 hurdles and will face Savonne Seth of Cape - the Division II winner - in the Meet of Champions on May 23 at Caravel.
FUNKE FAGBAMI – Funke, also running for the Charter School of Wilmington, won both the 100- and 200- meter open sprints at last Saturday’s Delaware state championships. She will continue her track career next fall at William and Mary.
TATNALL TWINS - Joanie and Annie Castagno run for the Tatnall Hornets’ talent-laden track team that specializes in distance runners. The Hornet cross country team was nationally ranked last fall and voted Delaware Team of the Year by the Delaware Broadcasters and Sportswriters Association. Joanie, No. 2, and Annie, No. 5, placed second and third in the 800 meters last Saturday as Tatnall won the Division II state track and field championships, giving the Hornets a sweep of cross Country, indoor and outdoor championships.
JUST PLAIN FLAT-OUT NASTY - The same port-a-pottys for two straight days at the Delaware state track and field championships and all I’m saying is “Why does it have to be like that?” And the end of day one ya’ll come and get those funky ones and leave clean ones for the next day. You may even want to switch a few of them out at midday and none of them should be anywhere near a concession stand selling hotdogs because that is nasty as well. Humans don’t need to be reminded that we are beasts!
BLAST MASTER BRYCEN - Brycen Davis destroyed a good field and ran under 50 seconds in the 400 meters to win the Division II race which prompted Delaware State track coach Dewayne Henry to hand Brycen an information sheet. Brycen has already been accepted at Delaware State and Delaware. I watched Brycen filling out the sheet and saw him write down 5’6”, 122 pounds and I thought if I were that small I’d be fast too –well, faster than the abdominal slow man I represent at the moment. The Hornets ran 3:10 last spring in the 4 by 400 which is under 48 a man. Now, Delaware accepted Brycen to the Georgetown campus which they sometimes feel is an easier adjustment than coming right up to main campus but it’s also the reason the Delaware men’s mile relay couldn’t medal in the Delaware high school championships.
THE RUNNING SEASON- The popular Dewey Beach Seven Sisters and four brothers and 13 cousins and six step grandparents racing series will begin this Monday, May 28 (Memorial Day) with the inaugural running of the Dewey Beach Liquors 5K. That will be followed by the June 3 Rusty Rudder 5K. If you go to www.races2run.com you can register online for a race or all eleven races at the same time which is what I would do if I were fit and focused instead of simply autofocused on shutter priority. The Fourteenth annual Masser Five Miler will begin on May 27 at 8 a.m. at Cape Henlopen High School and is part of the Seashore Striders Summer racing series. A series of kids’ races on the track will begin at 9 a.m.
SNIPPETS - There is a “glow ball” fundraising golf tournament scheduled for Saturday, June 2 at the Shamrock Par 3 in Milton perpetrated by the Cape Henlopen Football Boosters. The cost is $30 per golfer. Call 302-381-1722 for the complete skinny. . . . Last week when mentioning Coach John Keevan and all the pole vaulters he had coached I forgot Special K Katharine DeVilbiss who was Division II state champion from 2002 through 2004 with a personal best of 10 feet. Special K was also a multiple year champion in both the 100m and 300m hurdles. . . . And staying ‘Old School,’ let’s give a shout out to the 1983 4 by 100 state champion team of Carolyn Glover, Troy Metz, Kia Evans and Bernice Sturgis who ran 49.6, still the fastest final time by a Cape 4 by 100 team in a championship race. Go on now, git!
