Vikings win fourth straight
|
| Caesar Rodney's Bonnie Hannah clears a distance of 5 feet to finish fourth in the high jump event. The Riders placed second as a team. Delaware State News/Daniel Korup |
WOODSIDE - It's becoming a tradition.
Success has been the hallmark for the Cape Henlopen girls track and field team
in recent years. When key seniors have graduated, freshmen have come in and
pulled their weight.
And it happened again Saturday.
Despite having just one individual winner, the Vikings got enough point-awarding
finishes to gain their fourth consecutive Division II title at the state track
and field championships at Polytech.
Cape piled up 80 points, which was just enough to beat Tatnall's 78. Howard was
third with 50.
In the Division I meet, Glasgow ran its way to the championship,
accumulating 102 points. Caesar Rodney was second with 79.33 and Padua third
with 75.
For Cape coach George Pepper, the abundant titles is something he is getting
used to.
"It's always a different group of kids," Pepper said. "This group, we didn't
have a big superstar capable that we thought would come in and win three or four
events like we've had the past couple of years."
The Vikings lone individual champ was Elizabeth DeCastro, who took the long jump
with a distance of 16 feet, nine inches. More importantly, Cape was able to
place in the top six in 10 events.
"What we had this year was a well-balanced team," Pepper said. "We only had a
couple of events that we didn't score in. We were able to win as a team with a
win in only one event.
"We knew going in that there were teams with better individuals
than we did. But we thought we had enough balance to score thirds and fourths
and fifths. They all made a difference."
Cape got good performances from freshmen Ciera Seth and Christine MacDonald.
Seth finished third in the 200 (27.06), sixth in the 100 (13.24) and anchored
400 and 800 relays, which both placed third.
"It's a great experience," Seth said of being a freshman on the Vikings. "As
freshman, we do different things in different events...I pushed myself and I
dedicated myself today."
MacDonald also pitched in, taking fifth in both the triple jump (32-1/2) and 200
(27.3), and sixth in the long jump (15-8 1/2).
"We had a lot of expectations because we had won three years in a row,"
MacDonald said. "We have a lot of team unity."
Rebecca Riedel, a senior, has been a part of each of the Vikings title runs. She
felt that this year, they worked hard enough for the championship. She placed
second in the discus (110-2).
"I was so excited this year," said Riedel, who placed second in the discus
(110-2). "I guess we just have good field and track people. Not many teams have
an equal balance."
Glasgow was able to take the Division I meet without gaining points in the field
events. And it seemed as if CR would stay with the Dragons.
After 13 events, Glasgow held just a 68-67.33 advantage over the Riders, whose
Jennifer Johnson broke the state pole vault record, clearing 10-7.
"Speed kills," Riders' coach Brian Berns said. "Their speed hurt
us."