Cape swim teams double down to win boys' and girls' conference crowns
The Cape Henlopen swim teams, both boys and girls, captured Henlopen Conference championships Feb. 13 at Lake Forest High School pool. The girls swam away with the title with 303 points while the boys' team pulled off an upset with a narrow 281-264 victory over second-place Sussex Tech.
The girls started out strong and never looked back, with the medley relay of Sarah Rambo, Sarah Hyde, Amelia Nigh-Johnson and Grace Brokaw winning in a time of 2:09.64, nearly nine seconds ahead of their closest opponent Indian River.
Rambo followed up with a win in the 200-meter freestyle in a time of 2:20.93.
Hyde continued the dominance with a 2:35.50 win in the 200-meter individual medley.
Sussex Tech's Hannah Venables edged out Cape's Molly Weeks in the 50-meter freestyle, 27:49 to 28:15.
Nigh-Johnson got Cape back in the winning lane with a 1:09.41 showing in the 100-meter butterfly.
Tech's Venables then edged out Nigh-Johnson in the 100-meter freestyle 1:01.87 to 1:04.73.
Weeks dominated in the 400-meter freestyle with a 4:47.47 finish, over 14 seconds ahead of second-place Sara Lingo from Milford.
Hyde, Nigh-Johnson, Rambo and Weeks broke the record in the 200-meter freestyle relay with a 1:55.29. The record has stood since 2010.
Rambo took top honors in the 100-meter backstroke with a 1:11.48.
Hyde defeated the field in the 100-meter breaststroke with a 1:17.56.
Sussex Tech's 400-meter freestyle relay team of Megan Purdue, Libby Baird, Venables and Amy Venables won in a time of 4:31.97.
Key points were also made by Madison Buchwald, Lauren Kelley, Ashlyn Warner, Devon Warner, Sarah Smith, Madison Caldwell, Madelyn McGreevey, Lindsey Reynolds and Sarah Spicer.
Cape finished the championship meet with 303 total points with second-place Sussex Tech garnering 228.
The Vikings boys' squad also started strong with the 200-meter medley relay team of Jack Weeks, Mike Schrock, Ricky Brokaw and Cole Conrad taking first place in 2:02.19.
Brokaw kept it going with first place in the 200-meter freestyle in 2:19.10.
Weeks then blew away the field with a record-setting time of 58:26 in the 100-meter butterfly.
The 200-meter freestyle relay team of Weeks, Conrad, Will Geppert and Alec Hochrein took first in a time of 1:45.94.
Weeks defeated the field with a 12-second victory in the 100-meter backstroke in 59:75.
The Vikings took top honors with 281 points in the meet. Sussex Tech followed in second with 264.
"Both teams did great," said Cape coach Bill Geppert. "I'm really proud of them."
Key points were also made by James Heid, Ryan Bixler, Chase Toback, Josh Toback, Erik Stephane-Stancofski, Matt Zehner and Ben Conrad.
Outstanding swim honors went to Mason Sauders of Indian River and Hannah Venables of Sussex Tech.
Caesar Rodney's Maureen VanOrman was voted Coach of the Year for both boys and girls.
The DIAA State Championships begin Wednesday, Feb. 24, at the University of Delaware's Rawstrom Natatorium.
