The Cape Henlopen girls’ track & field team won the Cambridge Invitational March 28 in Cambridge, Md., in an exciting final event – the mile relay.
The Vikings were down by just one point to St. Charles of Waldorf, Md., and were racing in the slower section of the event. The Vikings needed a seventh-place finish to win the meet and an eighth-place finish to tie assuming the leader did not also score more points. After the Vikings won the first heat easily, they sat and waited for the fast section to race. Cape’s time of 4:28.68 was good enough to finish third, giving the Vikings the team title.
The interesting fact was that St. Charles did not save a mile relay and gained no points, which left the door wide open for the Vikings. St. Charles, clearly going after the team title, had six top three finishes and won both sprint relays in the meet, but did not save a mile relay with the meet coming down to the wire.
Anejah Grace had a nice meet with a win in the 100-meter hurdles in 17.01 and a second-place showing in the 300-meter hurdles in 49.5. Maile Godwin was second in the 800-meter run in 2:34.02, while Harper Mamele was second in the high jump in 4-feet-8-inches. Addison Bowman won the pole vault in 8-6, while Mallory Kauffman was third in the shot in 34-10. Cape was second in the 3,200-meter relay in 10:30.69.
The Cape boys finished second in the team standings, as two Vikings won individual events. Stephen Hart won the high jump in 6-2, and Riley Stazzone won the 3,200-meter run in 10:11.65. Stazzone, coming out of injured reserve during the winter season, led an impressive threesome of young Nick Petito in second in 10:13.94 and Brayden Redd third in 10:15.73. That sweep earned big team points for the Vikings late in the meet.
Jason Baker ran 4:27.48 for second in the 1,600-meter run, while Will DiPaolo was second in the pole vault in 13-6. Liam Ramsey was second in the discus in 136-10, while throwing buddy Bodie Frederick was third in the shot in 43-6. Jamar Beasley was third at 800 meters in 2:04.62.
Diamond State Invitational
Sussex Central and Sussex Academy both traveled north last weekend to compete in the Diamond State Invitational at A.I. duPont in Greenville. Highlighting the Sussex Academy girls was a third-place finish in the distance medley with a time of 14:40.83. On the boys’ side, Ryan Moody had a nice meet with a second in the 1,600-meter run in 4:28.27 and a seventh in the 800 in 2:03.08. The mile relay ran well at 3:37.11 for fourth place, while the distance medley relay was third in 1:27.06. Jesse Jean Louis finished third in the triple jump.
Highlighting Sussex Central, Kai Thornton won the 110-meter high hurdles in 15.52, while the 400-meter relay captured the gold in 43.47. The 800-meter relay was third in 1:35.95. Peyton Willis finished second in the 100-meter dash in 11.42, while Jajuan Sturgis was third in the 200 in 23.21. Victor Perez was third in the discus.
Middle school
Fred Thomas sprinter Sam Schubert scored 16.25 points to lead his team with a win in the triple jump in 32-10, the 200 meters in 25.8, the high jump in 5-0 and anchored the 800-meter relay to a season-best time of 1:48.0. Jude Peacock scored 11.25 points with a double individual win in the 1,600 meters in 5:05.5 and 800 meters in 2:17.4. Mariner’s Dylan Harp finished second in the 1,600 meters in a new school record of 5:11.9. Fred Thomas won nine of the 13 events, but it was the depth of the Mariner boys that prevailed, as they won the meet 58-51.
On the girls’ side, it was all Mariner by an 88-21 margin. Mariner was led by Natalie Horsey with 14.5 points. Horsey won the 55-meter hurdles in 10.6 and the shot put in 34-6. She finished second in the high jump in 4-8, and led off the winning 400-meter relay team in 56.5. Tytiana Floyd won the 400-meter dash in 1:09.0, while Kha'Nihya Johnson of Fred Thomas won the high jump in a nice middle school leap of 4-10 and the 200 meters in 29.6.
No scores were posted for the Beacon-Selbyville meet.
All three Cape Henlopen middle school teams will travel to take part in the Jim Blades Invitational Friday, April 4, at Lake Forest High School.
