CR, Cape Henlopen win conference track titles

Caesar Rodney James Handley set a Henlopen Conference pole-vaulting record of 14 feet, 3 inches Sat-urday. Special to the State News photo by Linda Laird

By Sonny Amato, Staff writer

FELTON - Caesar Rodney pole vaulter James Handley doesn't look too far down the road.

In a big meet like Saturday's Henlopen Conference Championships, he just sets an opening height for himself and focuses on clearing it.

Then he thinks about the next vault.

One attempt at a time.

Six inches at a time.

That's exactly how the junior set a conference record of 14 feet, 3 inches at Lake Forest Saturday.

"It felt great to get that height, but I just focus on raising it a half a foot and getting it," said Handley, who's previous best was 14 feet, 1 inch.

His next attempt of 14 feet, 6 inches was a chance to tie the state record.

"I think if I had a little more speed, I might have got it," said Handley, who came closest to clearing it on his third attempt.

Handley's record-breaking performance was just one of the highlights of the second day of competition, in which the Cape Henlopen boys and Caesar Rodney girls both repeated as conference champions.

The Riders won their third straight conference title by burying the rest of the field with their depth and consistency.

With 14 events contested Saturday, CR earned points with 25 top-six finishes.

The Riders had multiple finishers earning points in 10 different events.

"We're a deep team because everybody wants to be a part of it," said junior Jessica Schultz, who placed five times Saturday, including a win in the 400-meter. "Even when we don't get a whole lot of firsts, we still finish strong and earn points."

Jill Hajec also earned two first places in the 1600 meters and 3200 and Rosa White won the 800 meters.

The Riders also won three relay events to score 184 points while Cape Henlopen (107) finished second followed by Polytech (58).

On the boys' side, the Vikings capped an undefeated Henlopen Conference season with their second straight conference title and Coach-of-the-Year honors for Pat Pollock.

"We knew we had a lot of good athletes, but what won it was our depth in the field events," said Pollock. "And, while I'm proud of this award, so much of it is due to this group of outstanding kids that makes me look great."

The Vikings placed in all six of the field events, including Antonio Alford and Rob Dorman finishing first and second in the triple jump Saturday.

Alford also won the long jump and was part of the 400-meter relay team that also included Mike Blank-enship, Larry Miller and Dewayne Holloman.

Nick Adams won the 1600 meters and Matt Jackson, a senior, won the 800.

"For a lot of this, this is our last year," said Jackson of his fellow Cape seniors. "It's great to get a win. It's nice to see that all of that blood, sweat and tears from practice every week doesn't go to waste."

Lilly dominates sprints

Jason Lilly's final Henlopen Conference Championship meet gave Downstate fans yet another thrill.

The Dover senior sprinter not only won the 100-, 200-, and 400-meter dashes and helped the Senators to a win in the 1600-meter relay, but he set another record.

Fittingly, Lilly broke the state mark with a 47.23 in his best event, the 400 meters.

"I felt really good in the 400, but I was pretty exhausted for the 200 because they were so close together," Lilly said, almost apologetically

But, always a team player, Lilly wasn't satisfied because his team fell short in the overall standings - something he hopes changes next week.

"I give Cape all the credit in the world, because they have a very good, balanced team," Lilly said.

But at the state meet, the Vikings and Senators will be separated with Cape in Division II.

"We've been waiting for a shot at states all year," said Lilly, who said the team got a confidence boost with a winter indoor title. "I'm not worried about state records or anything individually.

"We want to get Dover a state title."