Autocorrect is the subliminal mind of artificial intelligence

Magic Max - Anyone who has watched Cape senior Max Meadows wrestle in tournaments will understand why auto correct sometimes changes his last name to Meltdown. It’s not Max who is a meltdowner; it’s the rest of us who feel we just had lunch at Three Mile Island. And more people of all ages after a Cape tournament will ask, “How did Max Meadows do?” All the Frederick grandchildren ask about him, all the way to Anna, who is 29. Grandma Susan Fred goes to meets because she wants to see what Max Meadows is going to do. When Max won a quarterfinal match on Friday after trailing 7-3 to Donnie Smith with one second left in the third period, the understated Max came out of his mysterious bag of battles past to acknowledge the crowd. Max lost in the semis to Dylan King of Sussex Tech, but fought back, winning in a sudden victory over Dan McElwee of Milford. He then went on to the third-place match versus Ezekiel O’Hara of Laurel and lost, but clinched fourth overall and a place in the upcoming state tournament. Welcome to the Max grinder! Max will attend SUNY Maritime College in the fall, but the Privateers don’t have a wrestling team, so whatever Max will be doing, he won’t be doing that. 

Cat’s cradle - Not the string game or the novel by Kurt Vonnegut; we are talking about wrestling, and if you are that cat you don’t want to  get caught in no cradle. Ironic, considering the proverb, ”The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world,” because the wrestler who rocks the cradle usually rules the match. And that’s because babies and grapplers rarely kick free from the cradle. Hey, has anyone seen a little baby around here, or even a great big one? Jacob Goodsell of Cape was on cradle lockdown in the final period of the 175-pound third-place match versus Carter Dulin of Polytech on Saturday at Milford. He was on mat three, right in front of the Cape fans, and things were pretty silent. And then the wrestler who jumped nine weight classes in his four-year career kicked free, got off his back and went on to win 11-7. I told him afterward, “Nice job; just count me as one of the people who had you way gone.” Jacob’s response: “Thanks a lot!” 

Jump Street - Katya Geyer of Sussex Academy jumped 5-feet-4-inches to win the indoor state championship, and Stephen Hart of Cape won the boys’ title with a jump of 6-4. Jason Baker placed second in the 2-mile in 9:32.57. Will DiPaolo of Cape won the pole vault at 12-6. Anna Bokius of Padua won the 800 in 2:12.84 and the 1,600 in 4:50.19. Abigail Crowley of Sussex Academy had a good day, running a personal best in the 1,600 meters of 5:21 and 3,200 meters at 11:24. Middletown won the boys’ team title followed by Cape, while Tatnall was crowned the girls’ champion with Padua in second place.  

Perhaps ill-advised - Aaron Mattioni, Holden Kammerer and Hayden Wheeler wrestled in the open division in the Rough Rider tournament. Their coaches in the corner were Max Meadows and Patrick Donahue. Emily Thode and her brother Jack Thode were refs along with Trevor Copes. Aaron won his weight class (unlimited) with a pair of falls, Hayden placed third (open 165) and Holden lost to Gage Copes (open 215), 1-0. The bracket was won by Tyshaun Cole of the Dover Bandits wrestling club. Malec Ksebe took third at 105 (13- and 14-year-olds). Briggs Gannon won the 84-pound title while twin brother Finn Gannon won the 77-pound weight class. 

Tradition yes, ceremony no - Wrestling culture honors traditions and former champs in a very real sense, but wrestlers not slaves to ceremony. I heard an announcement for Coach of the Year and got out to the mat just in time to have plaque presenter Marvin Dooley and coach Zach Toadvine pose for a photo. They looked at me like, “Who’s this guy?” And the podium photos in between championship matches have become a family free-for-all. I have given up fighting for space. It's more a cellphone photo shoot than a capture with a Nikon wide-angle lens. Moms were cleverly composing an arced team photo as I was leaving the gym and pondering a question no one should ever ask themselves, “Am I even needed here?” The change in culture is, “Everybody is everything. We appreciate you and everyone else.”

Snippets - The West Chester University DII women's lacrosse  team opened the season with a 21-4 win over Roberts Wesleyan. Olivia Bukentime (Cape) scored a goal for the Golden Rams, while Hannah Jones played on the defense. Salisbury men’s lacrosse beat Gettysburg 12-11 Feb. 22, and CJ Fritchman (Cape) got some face-off work in. Monday, March 3, is the official start of practice for spring sports. Get fit – it's never too late to start! Actually, if you are really not fit, it probably is too late to start. Go on now, git!