Cape track splits with Polytech
Veteran track coach Czar Bloom and his Polytech team rolled into Lewes on a cold, rainy March 5 to take on Cape and Sussex Tech. The Ravens are coached by former UD athlete Kani Kane. More than 300 high school athletes competed in the meet – the one sport where everyone on the team takes part in the competition.
The Cape boys topped Sussex Tech 100-46 and lost to Polytech by one point, 73.5-72.5, while the Cape girls topped Polytech 84-62 and Sussex Tech 102-42 to get away with a 2-0 afternoon. Polytech also topped Sussex Tech 90-56 on the boys’ side and 94-40 on the girls’ side. At the end of the boys’ meet, it looked to be a 73-73 tie, but coach Bloom called me late that night with a 400-meter third-place time of 53.85 that should have rounded up to 53.9, giving the next heat winner a share of third place and a half-point for each team. So, Poly gets the win in a close battle with some great individual performances.
Highlighting the girls’ meet were three double winners. Cape’s Katie Kuhlman won the 1,600 in 5:41.2 and the 3,200 in 12:02.7. Cape’s Haley Archambault won the shot put in 29-feet-8.5-inches and the discus in 91-9. Polytech’s Lizzie Talamini-Kelemen won the long jump in 16-3.25 and the triple jump in 33-8.5. The Vikings won three of the four relays. Their 1,600-meter relay team won with a sub-4:20 time, which is impressive in a dual meet, as anchor Hannah Maney stopped the clock at 4:18.
Highlighting the boys’ meet was a 20-point performance by Sussex Tech’s Mauricette Yougendy, as the talented Raven won four events – 110-meter hurdles in 15.1, 200 in 22.4, long jump in 21-2 and high jump in 6-0. Polytech won three of the four relays, taking the 3,200 in a good time of 8:22.0, with Cape close behind in 8:25.2. Emeel James-Ragland of Polytech won the 100 in 11.0 and the 400 in 52.3. Polytech’s Matt Gatune won the 1,600 in 4:31.1 and the 800 in 2:00.8, and ran a great second leg on the 1,600 relay. Cape’s Ryan Baker doubled up with 4:35 in the 1,600 and 9:41 in the 3,200, and ran a good leg of the 8:25 second-place Cape relay.
The Cape boys will travel this weekend to two different meets at two different locations, as half of the boys will compete at Caravel and half will compete at the Keith Burgess Invitational at Lake Forest. The Cape girls will compete at the Keith Burgess Invitational with a scaled-down team due to vacations, early proms and trips to Paris.
The next outing will be a trip to Caesar Rodney Tuesday, April 12, for a tri-meet with the Riders and Sussex Central.
Seashore Half Marathon
The 13th annual Seashore Half Marathon will take off in Lewes Saturday, May 7, from Anglers Road and Market Street at Hotel Blue. The runners will head to Cape Henlopen State Park and make their way to Gordons Pond before turning around and retracing their steps. There will also be a 5K that will head to Children’s Beach House and back, and a half-marathon relay in which runners will transfer a timing chip at the 6.55-mile mark near Gordons Pond. Registration is open at seashorestriders.com.
College Triathlon Nationals
Jake Bamforth and his Colorado State University triathlon team took fifth overall at the College Triathlon Nationals in Georgia. Jake was fourth overall in the “draft legal” sprint race Friday, while finishing 19th in the Olympic Distance Championships Saturday. Jake averaged 24 mph on the bike on a hilly technical course, then ran the 5K in 16:40. On Friday, each team was able to enter two competitors, making it a small field of 60 high-level athletes. All athletes (more than 700) raced Saturday in the Olympic Championship.
Middle school track & field
Beacon traveled to Selbyville April 6, with Selbyville taking the girls’ meet 72-39 and Beacon winning the boys’ meet 57.5-51.5.
For the Beacon girls, it is only their second loss since 2009. They ran a 10-year streak of 96-1, losing a dual to Mariner by a single point in a 2018 battle on the Cape blue oval.
Event winners from the Selbyville meet included seventh-grader Seth Benjamin winning the 1,600 in 5:27 and 800 in 2:24, while eighth-grader Carter Gibbons won the 400 in 1:02.3.
Seventh-grader Ozmeer Daisey won the long jump in 15-2 and high jump in 4-8, while eighth-grader Tremaine Batson won the shot put in 32-2.5. Eighth-grader Lily Noonan won the 1,600 in 6:10 and the triple jump in 26-10, while sixth-grader Shiloh O’Grady won the 800 in 2:54.1. Seventh-grader Isabel Mastrangelo won the high jump in 4-0.
Mariner was open this week, but both Mariner and Beacon will compete in the popular Jim Blades Invitational Friday at Lake Forest. The event is named after longtime Lake Forest coach Jim Blades.
