Bits and Pieces 51

 January 14, 2002

There must be a special rivalry between the Caesar Rodney and Sussex Central girl's swim teams. Their recent dual meet inspired new top 5 times for Caesar Rodney's 200-medley and 400-freestyle relay teams. Erin Courtney also recorded the fastest time of the year in the 200 freestyle and the second fastest in the 100 backstroke. Kristina MacLeish swam a top 5 time in the 100-butterfly for the Riders and the Golden Knight's freshman Julie Macklin marked the fifth fastest 50-meter free for good measure. The Riders improved to 4-1 with a 95-75 win.

There are many of our local swim stars from different schools who compete on the same club team during the high school off season and also even during the season. Team Delaware is one of these teams.
Mt. Pleasant's Kaitlyn Brady, St. Marks Katie Kuczmarski, and Caesar Rodney's Kristina MacLeish all broke Team Delaware records during the Star Invitational held in Buffalo in December.
Brady broke her own team record in the 100 fly with a 55.88 and Lisa Morelli's 100 backstroke record with a 56.71.
Kuczmarski set records in the 100 and 200-meter breaststroke besting her own old records with times of 1:05.11 and 2:20.28 respectively. 
MacLeish broke Stacey Delaney's record of 4:57.63 in the 500-meter freestyle with a 4:56.16 and Cassie Connell's record of 1:52.35 in the 200-meter freestyle with a 1:51.30.

Kuczmarski then went on to break her team's 100-meter record again at the Delaware State Meet on the 29th with a 1:03.49.
The Team Delaware team of Brady, MacLeish, Tower Hill's Laura Goeller, and Newark's Amber Walker also set their team record in the 200-yard freestyle relay. Finishing second in that particular race was another all-star combination of Erin Courtney, Newark's Christy Williams, William Penn's Adrienne Williams, and St. Marks' Erica Gentilucci. They swim for Delaware Swim Team, or DST for short.  

Wrestling fans were treated to a nail biter in Smyrna as the Eagles hosted Salesianum. Smyrna remained undefeated at 6-0 with a 32-25 victory that was decided in the heavyweight match between the Eagles Mike Hartnett and Sallies Corey Buterbaugh.
The evening started with an overtime match between Smyrna's Jason Ribolla and Sallies Mark Degliobizzi. The bout was extra physical with some slapping and throwing that resembled a street fight at times. Degliobizzi won with a takedown in the extra period.
Michael Crain scored five team points for Smyrna with a technical fall at 112 pounds and then Sallies had decisions at 119 and 125 to score six more team points. A Brian Fletcher pin gave Smyrna six more at 130 and the see-saw battle continued when Mike Brazill won a decision at 135.
With both teams battling for respect in their divisions, Smyrna in D2 and Sallies in D1, this match was big for both. Smyrna's Russel Revel pinned Chris Lazartic, a state place finisher a year ago in the 140 lb. class, but Sallies won at 145, and 152. 
Salesianum would win eight of the fourteen matches but wouldn't get a pin all night. The eight wins were comprised of seven 3-point decisions and one four-point major decision.
Mike Zulkowski pinned at 160 pounds to give Smyrna their third pin of the night.
With Smyrna leading by four heading into 215, Pat O'Hara faced a must win situation for Sallies. He came through big with a 7-1 decision which set up the finale between the two big guys. Buterbaugh locked Hartnett up right away in the first period, but Hartnett countered with a trip and a headlock to takedown the older Buterbaugh to his back. Hartnett wouldn't let go of his precarious headlock and soon recorded a pin to set off an Eagle celebration at mid-mat. 
Smyrna looks like a lock for a #2 seed at the Dual Meet States which will be held February 13. Hodgson (likely #1 seed), Middletown, Smyrna, and Lake Forest should all reach the D2 championships as they all did last year also. Sallies may have an outside shot at a D1 slot, but will need wins where they haven't received them in a while against William Penn and St. Marks to reach the four-team tournament. St. Marks, Sussex Central, Caesar Rodney, and most likely William Penn will be the four teams in the Division 1 championship yet again. The next few years should be exciting for Sallies wrestling fans as head coach Cameron Davis rebuilds the program. Salesianum fans should hope that the young Davis sticks around a while. 

There is only one thing that is clear in girl's basketball these days- that St. Marks and A.I. duPont are the teams to beat. 
Markeda Hollingsworth has been a gift from the basketball gods for Mark Alley at A.I. Teamed with LaTonya Shazier, this pairing is one of the more formidable ones in the state at this point.  Glasgow has a pair of sparkplugs in Lindsay Dyal and Kristin Hines, but they don't seem to be capable of controlling a game as the Tiger tandem can. 
The Spartans are still undefeated, as are the Tigers, and appear to be fully rounded out on the floor. 
After those two teams, it is all up for grabs. Seaford looked like the team to beat down south but then they were clubbed by Caesar Rodney. Christiana took a nose dive after starting 7-0 as have the Hillers of Tower Hill. Padua can sometimes play with the best of the teams and then sometimes can't play with the worst of them. William Penn is young and aggressive but were no match for A.I. and the Raiders of Ursuline are still struggling although blessed with some young raw talent.

The same thing rings true with the boys except that only Sanford stands above the rest of the state. Sallies and Archmere have been tough, but Sallies lost a game to a weaker St. Marks team but then handed Archmere their only loss in state.
Hodgson seemed to be a favorite pick for everyone picking teams (which appears to be growing all the time) but then they lose two bad games to Delcastle and Concord, both of which have bad losses on their records also. 
What remains to be seen is how Sanford deals with the lack of stiff competition again when it hits the state tournament. While the Blue Hen Conference teams and the non-conference teams are busy knocking each other off from now until then and staying on top of their games, the Warriors bench will see a lot of playing time.

High jumping will not be the same without Ivan Schmidt or Jim Delgrosso this year. Only two athletes, William Penn's Robert Edwards, and Delcastle's Wendall Rauston, cleared six feet at this past weekend's indoor meet at Tower Hill. After that, the next closest competitor only cleared 5'3", which is a height even I could still clear, and a few girls can reach as well.
With Edwards as a capable high jumper, Jonathan Fletcher a competent broad jumper, and Carlton Rose and William Brown 1-2 in the shot put this year, the Colonials are easily the best indoor field team. If Akeem Pierce can get into championship form again in the short sprints, to score points, this team also has a couple relay teams that will score big points as well and give Dover a serious run at a state title. The Dover teams are going to have to win all of their relays and somehow manage to squeeze some points somewhere out of the field to take home the big trophy and I just don't know where they will come from. Of course, it's still too early to predict these things, but right now I have to give William Penn the edge in boy's winter track, and have done just that in the top ten.
Who knows what Salesianum has in store yet. But their "A" 4x800 team only took third place and that was without a Glasgow team present also. It seemed as if all of the names were there for Sallies, but perhaps the final lineup was not set. This 4x800 championship is one that they covet yet it was Cape Henlopen and then Charter finishing second on Saturday.

Not many surprises in the girl's events. Tower Hill freshman Lisa Klein won the metric mile in 5:39 without any challenges. She looked just as strong in that race as she did winning the cross country state championship. Klein doubled on Saturday also taking the 800 meters with a time of 2:36. There were only two seniors in the top 15 in the 800 meter race
Brandywine junior Jen Meier ran a come-from-behind anchor leg to aid the Bulldogs in a 4x800 win. The McKean team is the team to watch here though because they finished fourth without their strongest half-miler, Cetera Bunche, who was present but not competing (and, sorry, I don't know why.)
William Penn's Lateefah Vaughn threw a 40'7" in the shot on her very first throw on Saturday, which was good enough for a win. But Brandywine's Aysha Gregory was only 3 inches shy, so there will be a good battle to watch this year. Both of those 40 foot throws were good enough to break the meet record also. Vaughn recently established a new state record.
When speaking of the William Penn strength teams, never forget that their field coach Brad Lane is the big reason why the Colonials are so successful. Lane is a champion senior weightlifter himself and has guided a growing list of young shot putters and discus throwers, of both genders, to personal records and state championships. 
One minor surprise on Saturday was the second place finish of the Woodbridge 4x400 team, which beat Caesar Rodney, William Penn, Dover, et al. The team of Keyana Hill, Connie Pleasanton, Kaylan Hunsberger, and Dusti Vanderwende finished second only to Glasgow. Vanderwende also throws the shot for the Blue Raiders and Hill took 4th in the open 400. 

Just for the sake of comparison, McKean's Mandy Stille won the triple jump with a 35' 1" jump which would have been good for 11th place in the boy's competition.
Vaughn's toss of 40'7" would have been good for 5th for the boys (although I think they may use a different weight shot.)
Cape's Rebecca Hollingsworth jumped 5'0" in the high jump and that would have been good for 8th in the boy's competition.
Lisa Klein would have only finished 30th in both the 800 and 1600 meter races for the boys, but she would have beaten a quarter of the starters and she is still just a freshman.
Ok, so I admit that was just to squeeze out another paragraph, but it was still fun.

February 8th we will head down to the University of Delaware for a college indoor track meet as the fourth Delaware Invitational is held. Delaware is hosting Catholic, Delaware State, LaSalle, Lincoln, Monmouth, and Villanova. We are looking forward to taping and talking with some athletes we haven't seen for a while and will also take a look at Concord coach Michael Burke, a former national champion, competing as an independent competitor also. After that weekend, the winter championship season begins with the Dual Meet State Wrestling Championship on the 13th.

The first "Delaware Sports On Location" went well despite a lower than expected fan turnout because of the weather.
Four representatives from four St. Mark's athletic teams battled each other in a sports trivia contest held at The Charcoal Pit in Prices Corner.
The Football team was represented by David Troise, Joe McCoy, and Mark Rash. They went against the Soccer team's Greg DiDiego, Matt Delle Cave, Jeff Mangat, and Jared Hughart. After a few blank stares and a few correct answers, the Soccer team advanced to play the winner of the Volleyball-Field Hockey match.
The Volleyball team was represented by Liz Hubbard, Lauren McNulty, Lauren Strong and Katie Buker. The Field Hockey team featured Carly Falgowski, Michelle Huynh-ba, Caitlyn White, and Katherine Bushey. Bushey, the tennis player of the year and Hubbard, the volleyball player of the year, anchored the teams which were tied when they took their seats. Bushey had a solid grasp of the 100 pre-selected questions and answered two of them before they were finished being asked. Her performance helped the Field Hockey team advance to the final against the Soccer team.
It was Bushey again who anchored the team in the final as her team led by two points with six remaining questions. There was no contest. The Air Force bound Bushey blew away her shall-be-nameless competitor to capture victory for the state runner up Field Hockey squad.

On January 21 the second DSOL will feature athletes and, the rumor is, some alumni from Hodgson Vo-Tech. Assistant wrestling coach Dee Meyer is the man behind the scenes at Delaware Sports as well, and he is orchestrating that evening's competition. 

Michelle Huynh-ba will head to Michigan next Fall to play Field Hockey for the Michigan State Spartans. Michelle, who is also a talented soccer player, will join Tower Hill's Maggie Giddens as incoming freshmen.

I'll have to check to see how many more matches St. Mark's Patrick Atkinson may have left this year. He recently returned from an injury to pick up his 108th career win with a pin in the William Penn dual meet. Atkinson, a junior who has been recording wins since the 8th grade at Caravel, seemed to be a virtual lock to break the Delaware record for career wins that Hodgson's Jordan Sianni has not yet finished setting.
Sianni has 152 wins right now and should end up his career near the 170 mark. Should Atkinson pick up 20 wins from now until the end of this year and be able to pick up 40 or so next year as a senior, he could still have a shot. 

Ashlee Burbage, Shirelle Tingle, Kadedra Brittingham, Roniece Williams are pacing the Seaford Blue Jay basketball team this year on their way to a conference championship and a state tournament berth. With just a three-point loss to Padua as a blemish on their record, the Jays are for real and a force to be reckoned with in the next few weeks.

There is a team from that came to play in the Diamond State Classic over the holidays that had a cool nickname- The Bryn Mawr Mawrtians. We need some new cool nicknames here in Delaware. 

Get well soon wishes to Newark's Cassie Connell who is recovering from a concussion suffered in an accident over the holiday break. Connell, a senior and former swimmer of the year, will miss the balance of the season as a result of the time she will miss at school taking care of the after effects of the blow to her head, not due to an inability to swim.
This is a blow for the Yellowjacket swim team also as they figured to give St. Marks a serious run at their major win streak. We'll see how the team pulls itself up without Cassie.

There is a new addition to the staff at Delaware Sports. Wilmington College basketball star and communications major Phil Gephart. Hopefully the former New Castle Baptist Academy star will be able to teach me a few things along the way.
During Phil's career at NCBA he helped lead his team to a 29-2 record in his junior year and averaged over 30 points a game in his senior year. He is currently leading the Wildcats team with a 19.6 points per game average which is also third in the CACC. 
Phil hopes to play some professional ball in Europe next year, perhaps in Ireland. His head coach Bud Livingston has connections out there somehow (Bud is a unique guy) and Phil's chances appear to be good.

Marshal Manlove