Cape swim teams win Henlopen Conference championships
Cape Henlopen swim teams made quite a splash Feb. 8, as they garnered the Henlopen Conference titles at the Sussex Academy Aquatic Center.
The boys scored 466 points, 172 points ahead of second-place Caesar Rodney with 294. Third place went to Indain River with 276.50, while fourth was Sussex Academy with 235 and fifth was Lake Forest with 189.
The Cape girls took the top spot on the podium with 397 points, just two points ahead of Sussex Academy with 395. Caesar Rodney was third with 307, while Indian River took fourth with 234 and Sussex Tech garnered fifth with 162.
The Cape girls’ team went into the final event, the 400 free relay, down four points to Sussex Academy. The Vikings took first place to score 40 points, while the Seahawks were awarded 34 for second place. The win took the Cape girls to the top of the podium.
“We constantly stress to our team that every point matters, so every swim matters, even if you are only in one event,” said Cape coach Bill Geppert. “They were very excited for this meet, and almost all of them swam personal bests. Hats off to my coaching staff for their hard work and preparation too, it was a total team effort. I’m so proud of them.”
Cape swimmers broke seven conference records.
The boys’ medley relay team of Shane Toback, Holden Tighe, Brady Schell and Jaxen Edwards broke the conference record with a time of 1:40.10. The 400 free relay of Schell, Toback, Tighe and Edwards broke their own relay conference record from last year with a time of 3:15.87.
Edwards broke the 200 individual medley conference record with a time of 1:56.97 and crushed the 500 freestyle conference record with a time of 4:43.84.
Cape sophomore Mia Jaoude broke the 50 free conference record with a time of 24.33 and dropped the 100 butterfly conference record with a time of 57.02. Jenna Reinhold, Zoey Neufeld, Isla Touw and Jaoude broke the 200 freestyle relay conference record with a time of 1:42.73.
Edwards was selected as the boys’ Vince Morris Outstanding Performer.
Sussex Academy swimmer Anna Mumford celebrated her 16th birthday by breaking the 200 freestyle conference record with a time of 1:52.61. She also broke the 500 freestyle conference record with a time of 4:54.22. She was awarded the girls’ Vince Morris Outstanding Performer.
Lake Forest’s Kyle Parkham broke the 100-yard breaststroke conference record with a time of 58.75.
The Henlopen Conference Boys’ Coach of the Year was awarded to Colin Crandel of Indian River, while the Henlopen Conference Girls’ Coach of the Year was awarded to Sussex Academy’s Tom Martiner.
Trophies were also presented to the Sussex Academy girls for winning the Henlopen Conference regular season title. The Sussex Academy boys won the Southern Division title.
Besides the Henlopen Conference meet trophy, the Cape girls were presented the Henlopen Conference Northern Division title trophy and the boys’ squad was presented the hardware for winning the Henlopen Conference regular-season title.
Full results can be found at www.sussexacademy.org/aquatics-center/aquatics-special-events.
