Cape track teams win Henlopen Conference Championships
The Cape Henlopen girls’ and boys’ indoor track teams each won a Henlopen Conference team championship Jan. 18 at the Worcester County Recreation Center in Snow Hill, Md.
The girls were in a back-and-forth fight with Polytech all afternoon, finally winning 120-119.5 by finishing a place ahead of the Panthers in the final event, the 4-by-400 relay. Smyrna, always in the mix, placed third with 96 points. A total of nine teams competed.
In the boys’ meet, Cape claimed the top score with 169 points, followed by Caesar Rodney with 149 and Dover with 115.
Points are awarded to the top eight in each event, going 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1. Athletes who tie for a place split the points, enabling the half-point scenario, which was the Cape margin of victory in the girls’ competition.
Fast forward to the final events in the girls’ meet. Lily Noonan, a sophomore, ran a personal best of 12:15.5 in the 3,200 to place second, with Zoe Miller placing seventh in 13:18, as Cape got back 10 points on Poly and put the Vikings in winning position.
Noonan, running 5:41, also placed third in the 1,600, with Allaire Burton (6:05) grabbing seventh for eight team points. Elyse Fuller of Polytech was second in the 1,600, running 5:36.
Paige Ballinger, a Sussex Academy eighth-grader, was a triple conference champion, winning the 1,600 in 5:22:04, the 800 in 2:24.82, and the 3,200 in 11:32.77.
The Caesar Rodney girls won the final event on the track, the 4-by-400 relay, with a 4:21 clocking, but the Cape team of Hannah Maney, Mia Bender, Maikle Godwin and Kennedy Johnson placed second in 4:26, just ahead of Polytech in 4:29.
Individual champions for the Cape girls were Johnson in the long jump with a distance of 17-feet-0-inches and Addison Bowman in the pole vault with a height of 10-feet-4-inches.
Cape boys’ track, aka “jump street,” garnered 43 total points in the jumps, including 24 in the pole vault, eight in the high jump, seven in long jump and four in triple jump.
The pole vault top-three sweep included winner Bailey Fletcher, whose 14-feet-6-inch vault was a personal best, runner-up Eddie Houck at 13-0 and third-place finisher Brady Mauro at 12-0.
Cape’s stable of distance runners totaled 44 points, including 14 points in the 1,600, 17 in the 800, and 13 in the 3,200.
Fletcher’s win in the pole vault was the only first place for the Cape boys over 14 events. Addison Bowman, who cleared 10-4 to win the girls’ pole vault, is Bailey's sister.
A complete listing of results can be found at de.milesplit.com.
The DIAA state championship meet is Saturday, Feb. 3, at the Prince George's Sports Complex in Landover, Md.
