The Salesianum cross country team was ranked ninth in the nation at the start of the year, but after a 25^th place showing in a 27-team matchup recently, their stock should drop, so sell now! It won’t matter at states though, because they will still capture another title there. St. Marks and Dover have looked tough enough to think it would be difficult for the Sals to repeat their 1-2-3 finish as they did at last year’s states, but don’t rule that out either.

The Delmar football team is always tough to gauge until they start playing their in-state opponents. Since I don’t get a chance to see the Maryland teams they play I just can’t accurately place them amongst the other Delaware schools. Then they came to play the undefeated Bulldogs of Laurel and stomped them 31-0, or whatever that final was.
And wait a second….the Howard Wildcats are 6-0? If the season were to end today Howard would be in the playoffs for the first time since somewhere in the late sixties. Also, it looks as if the Smyrna Eagles and the Laurel Bulldogs would join both Wildcat teams (Delmar being the other) as the four Division II tournament teams.
Wait, wait, wait….so the Spartans Volleyball team and the Soccer team have lost games but the Football team hasn’t??!! Remind me never to go to sleep again; this is too much to handle.

Tower Hill graduate Noelle Kanaga is currently a freshman at MIT. She has made the varsity field hockey team and will be playing lacrosse in the Spring. She recently competed in USAKF national karate tournament in Akron, Ohio where she won the gold medal in kata in the 16-17 yr-old division. She also won a gold medal in kumite (fighting). This does mean that our feisty little Delawarean is a National Champion and has qualified for the US Karate Team.
Kanaga also won a first place in the US Jiu Jitsu Federation Tournament during the same weekend. She has qualified for the US Jiu Jitsu Team and will represent the US at the Jiu Jitsu International Federation World Championships in November in Uruguay.
Ok, add this to her growing list of accomplishments too....Noelle has been recognized by the Hall of Fame for Karate as the Junior Athlete of the year.

This is an old release by now, but it includes a mention of one of our local graduates....

There are those who know that I have become a big cross country fan over the last few years. So I was excited to get out to my first decent sized meet of the year this past week for the U of DE invitational at White Clay Creek. The Brandywine girls pulled off a bit of an upset defeating Padua by 9 points, but Padua had begun our Top Ten season behind the Dawgs, so maybe it wasn’t such a big upset right now. The biggest surprise came from Tower Hill (3rd overall) as they finished four of their runners, including state champion Lisa Klein (4^th), in the top 15. Their number five runner was 81^st overall, so if she had just come in around 30^th or so, the Hillers would have won that day. Sara Casscells (5^th) Mimi Kelly (7^th) and Anna Pike (15^th) were the low point scorers in the meet for TH.
There is still no real doubt that Salesianum will win another state championship at Killens Pond in a few weeks, but they haven’t seemed as dominant as they originally appeared that they would on paper at the start of the year. But, that being said, they always seem to show up big at the right time, so look for a real low score on 11-9.
Congrats to Jessica Leitsch for the individual win on that evening. The funniest part of the day was watching her nearly completely freeze up when I stuck a microphone in her face at the end of the race. This reaction came from a girl who never really stops talking long enough to breathe while not running a race.
Ditto the congrats to Chad Darlington who recently appeared on our radio show. During that show we remarked how he had the second best times at all five major courses throughout the state. He promptly replied with his personal best by 20 some seconds and the new fastest time of the year at WCC.

Speaking of St. Marks (and sorry about that for those who just can’t stand them for some reason) the resignation of John Fiorelli from the basketball team was a surprise…I guess. I mean, I haven’t been around so maybe I was the last one to find out, but it had to be a surprise at about any time anyone heard it. One thing to say though, is that it is nice to leave while you're on top. Three straight titles and gone? That's a way to go out.
Speaking of resignations, William Penn track coach Brad Lane will not be coaching the throwers on the track teams this year. He has decided to take a year off to see if he misses it or not, and will reevaluate at the end of the year. I ran into him at a sporting event, of course, so I would doubt the sabbatical would last longer than a year. Lane has had remarkable success as a throwing coach having coached a whole slew of state champions in recent years that included Lateefah Vaughn, Will Brown, Chris White, and Carlton Rose. Art Madric from Glasgow and David Jones from Christiana are already trying to lure Lane into coaching at their schools. But so ffar he has held his ground.
Speaking of sabbaticals, Hodgson's Marge Dougherty was spotted at White Clay Creek working with the Silver Eagle x-c team recently. She has taken a year off to do a 30 country tour of the world. She had left on top of her coaching game also having lead both boy's and girl's track teams to outdoor conference championships in 2001.
Look for this year to be the last year as a head football coach for Hodgson’s Larry Cylc also. Now that his youngest son Larry is prepared to graduate, Cylc Sr. will no doubt follow his two son’s college football careers for the next four years. Joe, the oldest, is at the Naval Academy, but is out for the season with a knee injury. But this is just speculation and not based on any fact; rather it is a hunch. I like to deal in rumor and innuendo from time to time.
Oh, I am biting my lip about a couple of impending softball coaching changes also. I have been sworn to secrecy right now, but lets just say that the Blue Hen Conference should be getting two new coaches this year, both of whom have won high school state championships in the past in Delaware.

My condolences go out to Mary Pat Kwoka, the St. Elizabeth head volleyball coach, who lost her mother recently.

Let me apologize for the lack of material in this page of the website recently. There are personal reasons for my lack of attention to article writing these days. I have been trying to balance a social life with a very, very special person as well as trying to pay attention to detail here. Since this page is something I do for fun, it takes second place to the other fun I’ve been having…if you know what I’m saying.
I have been out at a few games despite what it looks like. I managed to attend three consecutive volleyball contests that were either not where they were supposed to be or canceled outright. It is why I beg for schedules and beg harder for schedule updates. There are a few of you out there who know that there is a possibility I will show up to tape an important game, so if there is a change, please please please, let me know.
There are other reasons that I have been behind on the article thing that relate to business. I have been working very hard at trying to secure a particular contract with a particular organization that will help Delaware Sports out greatly and also provide a nice product for the sports fans of our area. I’m not going to jinx the deal by talking about it here any further, but it is taking a lot of my attention.
I am also working diligently to get the Diamond State Games up and running for 2003. This is strictly a matter of finding sponsors. And it has not been easy. One would think that I wouldn’t get turned down by the who’s who of Delaware businesses for an event that looks like it will easily draw over 3000 athletes, but it is indeed the case. Hell, even the University of Delaware turned me down as a host venue for the games. Which reminds me, it does seem like it is about time I stop holding my tongue about what I think about some of the things that happen over there. But, time will tell. I’m not quite as pissed off as I was when they told me that they don’t want my business there because the event would interfere with a couple of camps that a couple coaches run DURING THE WEEK (with our event to be held on the weekend). I was even prepared to pay the $22,000 that they would have required for my 2 ½ day event. But, alas, they don’t want 3000 athletes exposed to their campus that weekend. Oh well. Maybe Delaware State will want our business. If not, then they can get on bad side also…hehe.
So, if you happen to know someone who has some connections or someone who would really be interested in supporting this event, please call me or have them call me so I can make my sales pitch. I really only need about $10,000 more to pull this off. It should be easy, but it’s like pulling teeth. And, by the way, it’s fully tax deductible too, so please someone help me out here. I don’t beg often!

I am also preparing to do more "Delaware Sports On Location" shows sometime in the near future. I have found a place that is very eager to host a few of them so hopefully more details about that will follow soon. Again, I’m not going to jinx it by mentioning much more now.

Ok, so this isn’t a very long piece after so much time away. But, it’s at least something! Give me a bonus point for that at least.
I will, during the next 4-5 days, post the fall tournament information so you can play along at home and try to figure out who will make the tournaments and where they might be seeded.

Thanks for your patience and for your kind words when asking where I have been. They are appreciated and they are also very flattering. It’s nice to be wanted!