Cape, Beacon track girls shine

The Beacon girls and Cape girls both shined bright on the same night in two different invitationals, as both teams took home team championships. The Cape girls captured the Polytech Challenge Twilight Invitational, while the Beacon girls captured the McKinnon Invite sponsored by Mount Pleasant.  

Seven teams took part in the Polytech Invite, as the Vikings scored 128 points to edge Dover with 123 ½ points. Lake Forest finished third with 111 points, while host Polytech scored 74 ½ for fourth place. Fifth went to Sussex Central with 74 points, while Indian River scored 36 points for sixth place and Milford scored 10 points for seventh.

For the boys, Cape finished fourth overall with 69 ½ points in a meet that was dominated by the Golden Knights of Sussex Central with 197 points. Dover was a distant second with 101 points.

Highlighting the Cape girls was freshman Liz Melson, who won the 800 meters in a season best of 2:35.4. The Vikings picked up a big 18 points in the 1,600 meters with champion Olivia Brozefsky in 5:51 and Hadley Rhue second in 5:53. Freshman Mia Nuebling was second in the 3,200 meters in 12:57, while Taylor Johnson set a season best in the 300 hurdles in 50.03. Cape won the 4-by-100 relay in 52.06 and also won the 4-by-800 relay in 10:46.1. Brozefsky also won the pole vault in 9-feet-even, while Cape grabbed a big 30 points in the throws with the dynamic duo of Ce’yra Middleton and MacKenzie Parker finishing 1-2 in the shot put and 2-3 in the discus. Parker tossed an impressive 95-4 in the discus, while Middleton tossed a 90-1.

Highlighting the Cape boys was Curtis Purnell with a second-place finish in the long jump in 19-10, while sophomore Josiah Miller was second in the shot put in 47-7. Patrick Tkach was third in the discus in 120-0, while Cape finished third in both sprint relays, as they ran 46.0 in the 4-by-100 and 1:33.8 in the 4-by-200.

Beacon girls

The Beacon girls won their fourth McKinnon Invite title, adding to their 2015, 2016, and 2017 titles. The meet was not held in 2018. It’s a week after the meet was held and results are still not available, but Beacon scored nearly 80 points in the meet to top Gauger-Cobbs with 62 points and Springer with 55 points.

“We only won one event in the meet, but in nearly all the events we were finishing second or third, and those points really add up,” said coach Gilbert Maull. “Removing the hurdles from the meet took over 30 points away from us, but rather than being discouraged, our girls got motivated to prove that they could still win the meet even without one of our strongest events included.”

Seventh-grader Maggie Browne led the way with the team’s only first-place finish as the talented gymnast jumped a season best of 4-9 in the high jump, ran a nice third leg on the 4-by-100 relay, long jumped over 14 feet and ran on the second-place 4-by-400 relay.

Seventh-grader Montana Jones anchored three come-from-behind relays and made the final of the 100 meters, running 13.4, while Haley Archambault was second in the shot put.  

Beacon sent two boys to the meet as eighth-grader Liam O’Donnell ran 5:10 in the 1,600 meters for the win and finished second to seventh-grade teammate Justin Friscia, who won the 800 meters in 2:22. Friscia was second in the 1,600 meters to give Beacon the best 1-2 distance duo in the state. The pair scored 36 points in the meet, giving them fourth place overall.

Cape Classic 

Beacon and Mariner will host the 13th running of the Cape Middle Sschool Classic Friday, May 3, with 10 to 12 teams taking part in the championship format meet. The meet will begin at 4 p.m. with field events, and track events to begin at 4:30 p.m. The following 13 events will be held: 55-meter hurdles, 100-meter dash, 1,600-meter run, 4-by-100 relay, 400 meters, 800 meters, 200 meters, 4-by-200 relay, high jump, shot put, long jump, triple jump, discus. The Cape community is encouraged to come out and support the Cape middle schools, and watch some talented future track and field athletes.

Oy Vey 5K

The seventh Oy Vey 5K will be held Saturday, April 27, at the Seaside Jewish Community center on Holland Glade Road in Rehoboth Beach beginning at 9 a.m. Register at seashorestriders.com or on race day from 8 to 8:50 a.m. The race will be an out-and-back course on the Junction & Breakwater Trail. Awards will be given to  the overall and masters winners, and top three finishers in age groups.

Penn Relays

The Cape girls were scheduled to race in the historic Penn Relays April 26 in the trials of the 4-by-100 meters and 4-by-400 meters. The Vikings have won a handful of Penn Relays plaques over the years by winning their section. Don’t be surprised if another comes soon with the talented group of young athletes on the Vikings team.