Josiah Miller: A true student-athlete pleasantly rumbling off road

Four sports an hour - Josiah Miller is a 6-foot-3, 275-pound Cape senior with brains and brawn. At Cape’s track meet versus Dover and Smyrna Feb. 24, Josiah won the shot put with a throw of 47 feet. He is top-ranked in the state. He then sat down on the grass for a coed game of UNO. I asked three athletes, “Doesn’t anyone play Tonk anymore?” and they all looked back like “What?” so I let go of it. Josiah then led off Cape’s 4-by-200 relay, and he was a sight to behold, rumbling to a 27 flat on the leadoff leg. Adding a fourth event for the track meet, he picked up a rake and joined coach Ellis Gaulden (a 7-foot high jumper) in raking the sand after triple jumps. Josiah is heading to Delaware Tech, where he will major in architectural engineering, and then he’ll springboard from there. I know four colleges that would offer Josiah a football scholarship on the spot just based on his grades and track numbers. But not all athletes find it enjoyable to put on a helmet then go beat on other athletes. 

Maybe I’m crazy ... probably - I pushed back my Moderna booster shot reckoning a week because my soon-to-be-75-year-old self will be in the soap bubble of the high school wrestling championships at Cape for 16 hours over a two-day weekend with eight survivors advancing to next Wednesday’s state finals. The state swimming finals are at Sussex Academy because the University of Delaware dove for deep water, not wanting “slippery when wet'' teenagers from around the state splashing about on the Blue Hens’ pool deck. The Henlopen Conference girls’ and boys’ basketball championship games are Saturday, Feb. 27, at Dover High. On Wednesday, March 3, the boys’ and girls’ open tournaments begin, and the state championship indoor/outdoor winter track meet for girls and boys will be contested outside at Dover High. There are masks and social distancing protocols and safeguards in place for all these events, which are sure to be annoying. But the upside is it’s happening, which is a miracle in its own self, and thanks to everyone who has made that possible and thanks in advance for telling me where me and my blue chair can’t be.   

Boys’ basketball - The outdoor courts have turned to tennis and volleyball, and half-court games are all but gone. Basketball has become a supervised AAU travel ball model, which involves leaving the state in search of elevated games. Blue-chip prospects are identified then recruited in middle school. I saw some great eighth-graders in downstate Delaware last season who don’t appear on their school roster for 2020-21. Stick a pin on the map starting with Cape like a “Law and Order” episode and strap string lines to include Sussex Academy, Sussex Central, Sussex Tech, Milford and Delmarva Christian. That is six high school boys’ basketball teams with a combined record of 15-55. One school can’t accuse another of recruiting the best players. Not to downtown stellar athletes who are good kids and know how to compete, but basketball is a game that requires year-round attention if an athlete is going to be any good at it.  

Harmful or helpful - I often hear the term “toxic parent” on my sports beat. It’s sometimes used by college coaches who won't recruit a kid who is managed by an over-the-top intrusive parent. No college coach is going to listen to “playing time” concerns or a suggestion on how to improve their lineup. I’d say don’t go through any door that isn’t already open. I have a professional and personal relationship with Temple lacrosse coach Bonnie Rosen that was developed over the years my granddaughters Anna and Lizzie played there. Bonnie coached the team and I took photos. And I was experienced and astute enough to realize there is a line you don’t step across, because if you do, you can never get back. Are we cool? It’s a rhetorical question the moment it is asked. Coolness just went out the open window opposite the closed door. 

Two for one - I like two-sport athletes in the same season, but most coaches don’t play that, taking the position that a high school athlete has enough trouble concentrating on one sport without folding in another. As a track coach, I negotiated with other coaches, saying, “I’m in second place. You always get the kid first and I never get him unless you say it’s OK.” The athlete was never put in the middle, and I can tell you Cape stories all day long where it has worked like a charm. I’d pitch the coach, then abide by their immediate decision on the request, which was usually “No, sorry, Fredman, I don’t like that arrangement,” but when it worked, it was the stuff of storybooks. There are at least 10 state championship banners hanging in the Cape gym that have two-sports-in-the-same-season stories behind them.      

Snippets - Zack Gelof cracked a home run for his 100th career college hit as the University of Virginia defeated VMI 14-5. Delaware high school spring sports practices begin Monday, March 1. Let's hope all goes according to plan and there are more fans in the stands. Go on now, git!