Changes and challenges for Cape golf team for 2025

A senior-heavy contingent fills more than half of the Cape golf team’s roster for the 2025 season.

The Vikings finished 11th in last spring’s DIAA state championship with scores contributed by current seniors Tyler Healy, Jacob Gabbard and Eddie Ghabour, along with junior Kingston Davis.

Those four, and the other returning and new players are seeing some changes and challenges for this spring.

For several decades, Cape enjoyed a great supporting relationship with Rehoboth Beach Country Club as the school’s home competition course and primary practice location. The club is continuing that assistance during 2025, its centennial year, while also requiring an eight-player daily access limitation. The school learned of this policy change shortly before practice began in late February.

Thanks to generous additional support from two other Cape Region clubs, Baywood Greens and Midway Par 3, the school was able to select 16 players for the 2025 roster from an initial tryout group of about 30 students.

Golfers played three nine-hole tryout rounds at RBCC, American Classic Golf Club and The Rookery. Two of them also competed in a three-hole playoff for the final spot.

The top eight tryout scorers are currently slotted into the varsity positions and practicing at RBCC. Six of those golfers will compete in the Tuesday, March 25 home match against Smyrna.

The second group of eight are considered the reserve group and not the junior varsity team. Reserve practices are held at Baywood and Midway. They will also practice at RBCC during varsity matches at other courses. The varsity will join them for practices at Midway on Thursdays after April 1.

Depending on match performance and challenges set up during practices, players are expected to shift from reserve to varsity and vice versa over the course of the season.

Several other seniors bring varsity experience to this year’s team, including Dalen Daminger, Logan Gamuciello, Travers Johnson and Brendan Staggs. Other seniors hoping to contribute include Joe Skelly and Giovanni Barney.

Among Cape juniors, Chad Hughey returned to the squad, joined by Cameron Hartstein and Ryan McNett, a transfer student from Illinois.

Two sophomores also made the team. Gabby Hamstead played for Cape last season, while Cooper Forcucci is starting his first season for the Vikings. Ninth-grader Jack Tunnell also successfully completed the tryout process.

The coaching roster also changed. Robert Harrod, the head coach since the 2019 season, informed the district he was not returning for the 2025 season. Bill Geppert, a past assistant for Harrod since 2020 and the longtime successful head coach for Cape’s swim team, stepped up to take on the new role.

Harrod had a successful tenure coaching Cape golf. His teams compiled a 57-20-1 record from 2019 through 2024, with the 2020 season canceled during the pandemic.

In addition to the 2024 state championship results, the Vikings won two ninth-place finishes in the 2019 and 2023 championships. Harrod was also named Henlopen Conference Coach of the Year and DIAA Co-Coach of the Year for 2023. He gracefully declined a request for an interview.

Three assistant golf coaches returned for the new season, including yours truly. 

Lisa Hutchins is a past club champion at The Rookery and Shawnee Country Club, and a past Player of the Year at Wild Quail. This is her third year as an assistant coach for Cape golf.

In addition to her golf and teaching skills, Hutchins knows how to convince young golfers to accept her advice. She recently handed out handmade delicious Irish potato candy to a very appreciative crowd of golfers.

“I’m really excited about the team this year,” Hutchins said. “We have a great mix of veterans and first-time team players.”

Tanya Humes, a language arts teacher at the high school, returns for her second season as an assistant. She helps with administrative tasks as well as handling the new Cape van for the team’s transportation needs.

The first day of match competition for Delaware scholastic golf is Monday, March 24. Cape’s March 25 home date against Smyrna is the first of three matches that week. The team travels south to Bear Trap Dunes Thursday, March 27, to face Indian River, and then north to Magnolia for an away match Friday, March 28, against Lake Forest.

This will be the fifth year for the handicap-based selection process for the state championship, the two-day, 36-hole conclusion to the scholastic golf season. The system uses players’ match scores and a variation on the World Handicap System process to determine the best 96 players among the nearly 400 scholastic golfers competing for more than 45 Delaware high schools. 

The DIAA championships are awarded in three categories: girls, boys and team. For the team category, schools can field a minimum squad of four and a maximum of six golfers.

Prior to the current system, team qualifications for states heavily depended on conference records and conference championship results. The new system emphasizes individual achievement throughout the season for initial qualification, while preserving the team element for scoring in the finals.

Sussex Academy 

The Seahawks of Sussex Academy are busy with preseason preparations for the 2025 golf team.

Although the official DIAA starting date for spring sports is March 24, the team has an extra week of practice before its first match Monday, March 31, against Lake Forest at Kings Creek Country Club, the Georgetown charter school’s home course.

The original schedule pitted Cape Henlopen against the Seahawks March 19, which was too early to be official. This is a favorite match for both teams because the players know each other so well. It is now set for Monday, May 5, at Kings Creek as part of a tri-match with Sussex Central.

The Sussex Academy squad is a nice mix of veterans and newcomers. Returning seniors include Quentin Bowman, Danahy McKenna, Austin Dostal, Norton Carter, Dominic Piperno and Keenan Williams. The junior contingent includes Jack Dale and Sarah Lester-Stranick.

Three sophomores hope to contribute, including Ryan Dostal, Jordan Green and Brody Skinner. The ninth-grade golfers are Nicholas DeEmedio, Lucas Gesuero, Ryan Kline, Gino Magliano, Grace Sweeten and Bodhin Williams.

Sam Metz, an eighth-grader and active golfer on the local junior circuit, also made the team. DIAA rules permit eighth-graders to play high school golf if the school’s administrative unit is combined with the high school and the school completes an approval process. Sawyer Brockstedt, now completing her senior year at Tower Hill, also played golf for Sussex Academy as an eighth-grader. 

Head coach Doug Grove continues to enjoy his work with the squad.

“It’s a really fun group to be around,” he said. “They’ve been getting out on the course a lot, despite the weather. They’ll play all day if you give them a chance. It’ll be cold, and some of them will say, ‘Coach, I can’t feel my hands,’ but they stay out there.”

The Seahawks did not field a team for the 2024 DIAA State Championship. However, Dominic Piperno (T-36) and Austin Dostal (T-41) played well in the boys’ individual category. Grove said he expects these two to be in the mix again for states, along with several other promising candidates. 

Under DIAA rules, schools can have up to 15 match dates. Grove is looking to add a few more matches to fill the calendar, which is currently set at 12.