There are three Vikings; Christiana, Cape Henlopen, and St. Elizabeth. That is the most of any one name but there are a few more duplicates; Brandywine and Laurel Bulldogs; Caravel and Milford Buccaneers; St. Marks and Lake Forest Spartans; New Castle Baptist and Smyrna Eagles (we could toss in Hodgson Silver Eagles); Concord and Ursuline Raiders (special mention to the Woodbridge Blue Raiders); Delmar and Howard Wildcats; Sanford and Wilmington Christian Warriors. There is a special mention for the Mt. Pleasant Green Knights, and the Sussex Central Golden Knights.

Then there are the ones that lack a little originality: Tower Hill Hillers (who nearly changed their nickname to the Tigers which would have created another match with A.I. duPont), Red Lion Lions, Salesianum Sals, St. Andrews Saints (sometimes the Cardinals) and the Indian River Indians. The Dover Senators was too easy also.

That leaves nicknames like Tigers (A.I.), Rams (Dickinson), and Blue Jays (Seaford) looking rather creative.

So what names do stand out amongst the finer ones? We like the Pandas of Padua, the Charter Force, the Highlanders of McKean, the Riders of Caesar Rodney, the Ravens of Sussex Tech, the Panthers of Polytech, the Yellowjackets of Newark, the Hornets of Tatnall (although they did match up with DE State University), the Colonials of William Penn, the Cavaliers of Middletown, the Dragons of Glasgow, and the favorite around here - the Auks of Archmere. Don't know what an Auk is you say? Well, head up to a boy's basketball game before the season is out because I hear that there is a real-life African Prince who is a standout on the team by the name of Friedrich Ebede. All hail the Auks!

I have received a couple of notes questioning my selection of Caravel as the number one girl's team in the state. I'll stick with that selection after watching the Bucs dump A.I. duPont by 24 points the other day. This is a rugged bunch of girls who show no fear whatsoever. This isn't to say that the Raiders, Spartans and the Dragons of Glasgow don't show any either, but the Bucs have a different look in their eyes.

Take freshman Lindsay Niggebrugge for example. The smallest girl on the team takes it to the rack like the largest girl and on one play against A.I. the much larger Monica Peterson landed on top of her. She didn't even brush herself off while getting up immediately heading toward the line for two free throws. This is the same girl who, in a JV game last year, took a charge head on - literally- and had one of the other players teeth stuck in her forehead while she was walking away from the play. It was only after the tooth fell out and blood started pouring out of her head that she seemed to take any notice.

So keep that intangible in mind and don't pay much attention to the won-loss record with Caravel either since they have lost to some powerful out of state teams.

It appears that the best-matched team for Caravel is Glasgow. Both teams rely on speed and the corresponding fast break opportunities speed creates, but the edge goes to Caravel because of the leadership that Tiara Malcom has been providing for head coach Joe Pennell. She has become physically stronger as evidenced by here handling of A.I.'s Monica Peterson in that mentioned game.

Daveniea Payne is a solid candidate for a first-team all-state selection this year and is a heads up favorite for player of the year next year.

Yes, I know that Ursuline has already beaten Glasgow and St. Marks and they are the tallest of the teams mentioned. Frankly, any of the four could win on any given day. I like the play of Raider freshman Kate Mills, cousin to the Bucs Bonnie, Sarah, and Kristin Mills. Her fourth quarter play against St. Marks in their first game was the difference and she has a great career ahead of her. I mean a great career.

Alexis Henderson is the Raiders main scoring threat, but Payne matches up with her well even if she is a bit shorter because she has a great vertical and is faster. Malcom gets the nod over Mills and Eileen Webster on the inside.

I was eager to see the Caesar Rodney girl's team in action to get a fresh look at the Riders Erika Woods, the talk of downstate girl's basketball. There are better players on the team, but she is very tall and can block some shots. The Riders, or any of the other tougher Henlopen Conference teams won't match up well at all with any of the top four and not with Christiana or A.I. duPont either I'm afraid. But again, on any given day anything can happen.

Saturday at 1 head over to William Penn to watch the wrestling rivalry with St. Marks add another chapter. The Spartans should cruise through this match unfortunately for William Penn, but it will still be fun because it's in the Cherry and Black's house with the anticipated return of State Champion Joe Ferrara who now wears the Spartan Gold and Green. Pay no attention to the Spartans four losses either; they lost to nationally ranked teams including the number one team in the country from Blair Academy in New Jersey. Bobby Shaw, Andrew Donofrio, Ferrara, A.J. Cessario, Patrick Atkinson, and Tyler Bastianelli are all in mid-season form for the Spartans. We will be there to tape the action for the television show.

Next Friday, the 26th, we're anticipating the St. Marks-Newark swim meet at Glasgow high. We'll be there to tape that as well. From a Spartan's own mouth came the sentence, "this could be a close meet." So since the Spartans have a million-meet winning streak on the line, we best be there taping it.

Congratulations to the Spartan’s Andrew Donofrio who picked up his 100^th career wrestling victory while at the Virginia Duals recently. Donofrio is still only a junior and could challenge the state career record for victories, as could Hodgson’s Jordan Sianni. Patrick Atkinson, also from St. Marks, has been wrestling varsity matches since he was an 8^th grader at Caravel and could very possibly set a mark unreachable for quite some time provided he remains healthy, motivated and capable.

What would you do if your basketball team was getting pummeled by Camden High by over 50 points at half time and their number one player was in the process of scoring 100 points while Camden was employing a full-court press with that much of a lead? Here are some suggestions, some good, some perhaps not so good.

1. Pull your team off of the court and forfeit the game that you were being embarrassed in anyway.
2. Quintuple team their star and not allow him to even touch the ball.
3. Throw stuff at him from courtside.
4. Beat up the Camden mascot.
5. Just give him the ball on each in bound and let him score 500 points if he want to.
6. Whine like a baby after the game to the reporter who is bound to ask, "What do you think of that?"
7. Pretend he trying to throw a rock at your mom and defend accordingly.
8. Steal his shorts on a dunk and practice your four-corner offense.

Diamond State Games notes….

Our triathlon, officially titled "The Escape from Fort Delaware Triathlon," has been officially sanctioned by USA Triathlon. This will mean that we will now expect 5-800 athletes from around the country. The EFDT begins from Fort Delaware on Pea Patch Island with the swim portion. Competitors will swim the .9 miles in to Delaware City to a transition area.

From the transition area, athletes hop onto their bikes for a 25-mile jaunt around the area and back to the transition area on Clinton St where they will park their bikes and begin a 10K run. The winner should be across the finish line in about 2 hours and 15 minutes or so.

There are five classifications of softball on the schedule right now. The Delaware Men’s Class D tournament will be played as part of the Diamond State Games. Last year there were about 40 teams involved in that class alone.

There are three divisions of girl’s fast-pitch softball. Jerry Grasso is helping state ASA Commissioner Barbara Thornton run those three classes.

So with just those mentioned events we are expecting over 1000 athletes for the first-ever Diamond State Games. To put that in a bit of perspective, when the Empire State Games held their first-ever Games about 20 years ago, they had a total of 2000 athletes.

It looks as if a Beach Volleyball competition may not happen because we are having some trouble finding a large enough area to accommodate 20 volleyball courts laid side to side (or back to back). Cape Henlopen State Park was our first choice, of course, but there are some conflicts with both schedules that block our chances. So if you know anyone who has a lot of sand in his or her backyard, give us a call.

Brandywine’s field hockey coach, Willie Miranda, is heading up our field hockey event for the DSG. He has scheduled the 16^th and 17^th for pool play and the 23^rd and 24^th for the championship rounds. The divisions will be high school with June high school graduates eligible for only the open division and rising freshman eligible for high school play.

The field hockey events will most likely be held at Sanford, Polytech, and Cape Henlopen during pool play and the finals at Polytech.

The track and field competition will be held at Glasgow high and we are checking to see which senior division events to add with the assistance of the Delaware Senior Olympics President, Al Marshall.

In the track and field competition there is already an Ursuline track reunion planned. In our 4 x 400 relay look to see a reunion of sisters Tricia and Colleen Taylor (Tricia is currently running for Villanova) Colgate’s Sarah Parks, and William and Mary’s Kristin McGough. This is something I’m pretty excited about.

Other track pre-registrants include former state shot put champions Chris White from William Penn and Purdue University and Rachel Schultz from Caesar Rodney and the University of Delaware.

Howard’s head wrestling coach Brandt Kennedy is coming out of retirement to compete in the pole vault as is Hodgson’s assistant wrestling coach and Delaware Sports editor, director, and production designer Dee Meyer (The Most Dangerous Man in Delaware). Kennedy will be competing on the same complex as his daughter Breanna who is a national champion in the shot put for her age group.

So put together a team that you won with at some point in time and reunite at the Diamond State Games. Definitely make sure that you are out getting yourself in shape regardless of whether or not you will take part in the Games.

We are hoping to have our Opening Ceremonies at the Big Kahuna in Wilmington. There are also plans to have a radio station there with us along with a band or two and some other cool things to do. More about that as details unfold.