Bits and Pieces 21 

    The Dual Meet State Wrestling Championship seedings have been announced. In Division I Caesar Rodney is number one, William Penn is number two, St. Marks is number three and Sussex Central is number four. That, of course, means two rematches of bouts held earlier this year and marks the third straight year all of those teams comprise the four finalists.
  In Division II, it will be Hodgson at number one, Lake Forest number two, Smyrna number three, and Middletown number four. Wilmington Friends thought they might have a shot after Howard was left out of the mix, but a Middletown trouncing of Brandywine ended up securing the Cavaliers the fourth seed.
  Don't ask me how Middletown is still a D2 school while Milford is now a D1 school. (I didn't bother to find out, I just roll with it sometimes.)
  The Dual Meet Championship semifinals will begin at 5 p.m. on Wednesday at Delaware State University. The finals will begin shortly thereafter. Hodgson is looking to win its fifth consecutive D2 state championship. St. Marks and William Penn have been the only two teams in eight years to win a dual meet state title, but the Riders of Caesar Rodney or the Golden Knights of Sussex Central might have something to say about that before the night is over.
  Wilmington Friends were looking forward to participating in the championships this year. They have won the DISC championship for the past four years and would have liked to have taken their program up to the next step. Now, they would have taken some serious lumps against Hodgson in the first round, but there is no way to gauge how good ones program is unless it is competing against the best teams that it can.

   The Genereaux Aquatic Center at St. Andrews school needs to have their water tested or something. Prior to the DISC championships yesterday there had been eight pool records broken in 2001 already. Those new records are in the girls 200 freestyle by Erin Courtney of Caesar Rodney with a 1:55.64; the 200 yard boys freestyle by Rory Connell of Salesianum with a 1:43.36; the girls 200 IM by Caesar Rodney's Kristina MacLeish in 2:09.61; the boys 50 yard freestyle by Dan Klee of Salesianum in 21.99; the boys 100 freestyle also by Klee in 48.34; the girls 500 freestyle by MacLeish in 4:58.54; the 200 yard freestyle relay by Salesianum in 1:28.99; and the 200 yard Medley Relay also by Salesianum in 1:41.70. 
  At the DISC championships Tatnall freshman Scott Champagne set a DISC record in the 200 IM of 2:00.71; Jennings Snider of St. Andrews set a DISC championship diving record of 162.22; Tatnall freshman Chris Sparks set a DISC record in the 500 free of 5:00.27; and Nick Kenney of St. Andrews set the DISC record in the 100 breaststroke in a time of 1:02.71.
  For the girls, Tower Hill's Laura Goeller set a new DISC mark in the 200 IM of 2:13.28; St. Andrews Melissa Calder set a new diving mark of 171.30; St. Andrews set a 200 freestyle relay mark of 1:46.98; and Lindsay Payne of St. Andrews set a new DISC record in the 100 breaststroke of 1:08.73.

  When the swimming state championships are contested, we may see a couple of very old records broken. It will probably depend on who will swim where and what, but there could be three to five girls records cracked. 
  Newark freshman Christy Williams has already swam a 100 butterfly that would be a new record at states. But then this past week, Mt. Pleasant sophomore Kaitlyn Brady swam a faster 100 by 3/4 of a second. The old state record (which can only be broken at the state meet) was by  Alicia Allen of Mt. Pleasant in 57.03 in 1982. That record is older than everyone who will swim in this meet on the 24th.
  Brady set the 50 and 100 meter free state records last year as a freshman, and this year has the fifth fastest 200 meter free mark and the second fastest 100 backstroke. Williams has the 4th best 200 free, the 2nd best 200 IM, the 5th best 50 free, the 2nd best 100 free, the 3rd best 500 free, and is on the 200 Medley Relay for Newark with Sarah Zomchick, Cassie Connell, and Amber Walker which has swam what would be a new state record of 1:48.36 slightly better than the state record set last year by St. Marks in 1:48.58.
  Kristina MacLeish's 4:58.54 in the 500 free is just less than a second behind Brandywine's Linda Leith's 4:57.66 state record set in 1984. If she is fresh for the race, this is easily in reach.
  For the boys, only the 200 freestyle relay is particularly in jeopardy. Salesianum set the record last year and swam one race this year that was .01 slower. Rory Connell, Cassies younger brother, has been the clear swimmer of the year (unless the formula that is used seems to prove otherwise) but he is still perhaps a year or two away from breaking some records of his own based on performances this year. 
  The Sals as a team have broken the team point records in each of the last two years, and it does look like they could do it again this year. They have more depth than they did the past couple years, or maybe some of the other teams just aren't as tough, but either way look for that record to fall.
  Speaking of the Connells, there are seven of them in all. The oldest of the group is Bridget who held records when she was swimming with St. Marks a few years ago. There there is Martin who swam graduated from Christiana with a couple of school records. Three more youngsters are coming up behind Cassie and Rory; Phoebe is eight and already breaking records at Team Delaware, Olivia is 10, and Cecily is 13. It's a good thing that schools aren't allowed to recruit, because the Connell's phone would be ringing constantly.

  Christiana's Danielle Bailey broke her own 55 meter dash record with a time of 7.02 at Tower Hill. She came into this season a motivated athlete, which is refreshing. She had her game face on during cross country preparing for this season and it has paid off. She is a threat to triple at states this coming Saturday at the U of D. Glasgow's Kamilah Salaam was the only person to beat her in any races at all this year, but expect to see the triple from the senior Viking.
  Brandywine's Ivan Schmidt recorded a 6'10" high jump at Tower Hill Saturday. He missed on all three attempts to clear seven feet. Unless he gets some time to practice at school this week, I would be surprised to see this mark passed this weekend.
  Another transfer to Newark high has appeared to secure some team points in the shot put on Saturday. Glen Mills, PA was the old school of Omar Rogers who came into Tower Hill's track and threw a 59'6" toss to win the 4th Tower Hill meet by almost ten feet. That gives Newark a formidable field team with reigning state outdoor champion Isaac Wolkiewicz now just second best on his own team.
  Newark's best distance runner Austin Knight recently quit his team allegedly having some quarrel  about how the new distance coach is running things on the team. This is a sad thing for Knight reminiscent of what happened at Salesianum last year when three key runners left the team allegedly for the same type of reason. There is speculation that the Knight issue could be resolved by the time the state meet is run, but if I were the coach we would be running with one less person and getting along just fine.

Marshal Manlove