If my athletes have heard it once, they’ve heard it 100 times: I am always preaching to them that they cannot wait until the season starts to get ready for the indoor season. There has to be summer conditioning with a focus on strength, along with speed dynamic drills, which I feel are good for all track & field events. Not only do they improve sprinting events, but also improve form and technique. Many Beacon athletes are getting a jump this summer, and they should see an improvement in their performances once they get into the high school routine.
Ariyanna Dabney, a long sprinter who specialized in the 400 meters, is working on speed and agility with coach Ellis Gaulden, and she hopes to make the mile relay team as a freshman. Sixth-grader Lainey Shockro is at the VaultWorX Pole Vault Camp outside Philadelphia with individual coaching from Katie Jones of South Williamsport, Pa., the 13-10 High School National Champion who jumped 13-9 indoors and 13-7 outdoors and is now jumping at Penn State. Jones also has a 2:32 800-meter personal record if she gets bored with the vault. Shockro, who ran 2:41 in the 800 meters in just her first year of track, also completed the local GoFast Camps in early June and will head to the Green Mountain Running Camp in July at Kimball Union Academy in Meridian, N.H.
Beacon distance runner Liz Melson competed last week in the Fathers Day 5K, running 26:20, while 12-year-old Ella Walker ran the Bill Degnan 5K last weekend in 28:40. Hurdler Noelle Sabbagh is working out three days a week to get ready for hockey and will transition to the 55-meter hurdles in November. Chase Norton, a rising freshman with a gymnastics background, competed in the jumps, sprints and hurdles for me this past season and will attend a track camp in Ohio in early July. “We have some talent on our indoor program, and these young kids want to be a part of it,” said assistant coach Gilbert Maull. “Many of the kids coming up to the high school are already working hard and trying to get ready for November. It will be here soon.”
Seashore Striders Summer Series
The Summer Series is halfway through with the Masser 5 Miler and five races already complete. The Beach Paper Firecracker 5K is next on the list this Saturday, June 30, at Grove Park in Rehoboth Beach. There are five 5K races still left in the series as well as a five-miler in July, so one can still qualify for the series.
There is no extra entry fee for the series, just the regular per-race entry that is standard. Challenge yourself and give the series a try. It’s a fun way to get in shape, meet cool people and have some fun on a weekend morning.
The Beach Paper Firecracker 5K kicks off a weekend full of activities at 7:30 a.m. Race-day registration will begin at 6:15 a.m. for $25, with custom hand towels taking the place of the traditional T-shirt this week, going to the first 400 to register for the event.
The 3.1-mile course begins at Grove Park, travels down Henlopen Avenue to Surf Avenue before connecting back to Columbia Avenue and then making its way back to Grove by way of Henlopen Avenue.
Proceeds of the event will go to a local charity. For more information on the event, go to www.seashorestriders.com.
28th Dave Reynolds Biathlon
This Sunday morning, July 1, will be the annual Dave Reynolds Biathlon, beginning at 8 a.m. from the Rehoboth Beach Patrol headquarters on Baltimore Avenue and the Boardwalk. This annual event brings out some of the best athletes in the area, with guards from Rehoboth Beach Patrol and Dewey Beach Patrol taking part in the event. The event will kick off with a half-mile open-water swim broken up into two waves. The individual male racers will enter the water first, while the female racers and teams will enter the water in the second wave, normally a few minutes behind. Registration for the event is closed; however, volunteers can still help out at the event start/finish location or on the course as Boardwalk monitors or water stop helpers. For more information, go to www.seashorestriders.com.
