Prep notes: Breaking down the DIAA champions

Howard’s Kevin Womack (20), Christian Francis (53) and Hissan Snell (30) celebrate the Wildcats; 28-13 win over St. Georges on Dec. 5 for Howard’s first DIAA Division II football championship.

It’s never easy to win a Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association championship, but more schools are finding a way to do it.

A record 17 schools added to their trophy cases as 31 titles were decided during the 2015-16 school year. There were actually 32 first-place awards, as Tatnall and St. Georges shared the title in Division II boys outdoor track and field.

Private schools won 19 titles (59.4 percent of the total), with public schools taking the remaining 13 championships. Catholic schools led the way with 11 state titles, followed by eight for the Henlopen Conference, six for the Delaware Independent Schools Conference, four for the Blue Hen Conference, two for non-conference schools and one for the Diamond State Conference.

Salesianum, Padua and Tatnall led individual schools with four titles each. Six other schools – Smyrna, Charter of Wilmington, Cape Henlopen, Ursuline, Caravel and Caesar Rodney – each managed two championships.

The fall sports saw four first-time champions among the 10 winners, including both Smyrna (Division I) and Howard (Division II) in football. Charter of Wilmington’s first D-I boys cross country championship broke an eight-year run by Salesianum, and Delaware Military Academy’s volleyball title was the school’s first in any DIAA-sanctioned sport.

Tatnall continued to dominate in Division II cross country, racking up its 12th straight girls title and seventh consecutive boys championship. Padua ruled for the third straight season in Division I girls cross country.

The boys soccer titles went to a couple of familiar programs, as Salesianum won its sixth straight Division I championship (12th in the last 14 years) and Indian River took D-II for the second time in three years. Cape Henlopen rolled to its fifth consecutive field hockey championship.

The only first-time winner during the winter season was Charter, which ended Sallies’ 10-year streak in boys swimming. Ursuline snapped Charter’s eight-year run in girls swimming, as the Raiders won for the first time since taking the first two titles in 1986-87.

Familiar faces cut down the nets in basketball, as Sanford won its ninth overall boys title and Ursuline earned its second straight girls championship (16th overall). Indoor track also didn’t stray out of the ordinary, as Padua earned its fourth title in a row (12th overall) and Salesianum cranked out its ninth championship.

The Henlopen Conference continued to rule in wrestling. Smyrna rolled to its fourth consecutive Division I crown, and ninth overall counting five earlier titles in Division II. Smyrna, Caesar Rodney and Sussex Central have combined to give the Henlopen North 14 of the last 16 D-I dual-meet championships. Henlopen South member Milford won its third straight D-II title (fifth overall).

The spring sports saw two first-time winners. Tower Hill stood atop the podium in golf for the first time, led by eighth-grader Phoebe Brinker, who became the first girl to hoist the individual trophy. St. Georges’ shared title in D-II boys track and field was only the second ever for the school, which also won D-II wrestling in 2013.

Salesianum rolled to its fifth boys lacrosse championship in the last six years, and added its 16th overall title in D-I boys track and field. Tatnall’s shared boys track championship was its third in the last seven years, and the Hornets won D-II girls track and field for the seventh time in 10 years. Padua ran to its fifth straight D-I girls track and field title (17th overall).

Caravel continued an amazing run in softball, winning its 10th state title and appearing in the championship game for the 17th time in 18 years. The Buccaneers also won their third straight Division II girls soccer championship, the only D-II school to win since the field was split three years ago.

Padua romped to its fifth straight D-I girls soccer title, and finished second in the final USA Today/NSCAA spring national rankings. Cape Henlopen racked up its eighth straight championship in girls lacrosse, and ran its winning streak over in-state opponents to 99.

St. Mark’s took the baseball crown for the ninth time in 13 years (14th title overall). And Caesar Rodney swept in boys and girls tennis, earning its fifth boys title in the last six years and its second girls championship.

Football in China

Two Delawareans are among 44 players selected to compete for the United States Under-19 National Team in the International Federation of American Football (IFAF) World Championship, which begins Thursday and runs through July 11 in Harbin, China.

Glasgow wide receiver Ja’Saan Cunningham, who will be a senior this fall, and Delaware Military Academy running back Alphaeus Hanson, who graduated this spring, are among athletes from 20 states who will compete against national teams from Australia, Austria, Canada, China, Japan and Mexico.

The team, coached by Dennis Thomas of Millville (N.J.) High, held a training camp from June 18-24 at Kean University in Union, N.J., and will open play in China on Thursday against Austria. The U.S. team’s other three games will be played July 3, 7 and 10 or 11, with opponents to be determined based on the tournament’s results.

Gatorade winners

Charter of Wilmington’s Kevin Murray has been named Gatorade Delaware boys track and field athlete of the year, and Middletown’s Daija Lampkin has been named Gatorade Delaware girls track and field athlete of the year.

Murray, a senior headed for the Naval Academy, won the 3,200-meter run at the DIAA Meet of Champions in 9:26.19. He also had the state’s fastest times in the 3,200 (9:12.31 at the Arcadia Invitational) and 1,600 (4:14.80 at the New Castle County championships) this spring. Murray also earned a 4.37 grade-point average and was a National Merit Scholarship semifinalist.

Lampkin, a junior, swept Division I titles in the 100- (11.94), 200- (24.38) and 400-meter (55.45) dashes and anchored Middletown’s winning 4×200 relay (1:41.75) at the DIAA Outdoor Track and Field meet. She also set a state record in the 200 (23.80) at the New Castle County championships, has a 4.15 grade-point average and is a member of the National Honor Society.

Track nationals

Lampkin and several of Delaware’s other top track and field athletes wrapped up their seasons at the New Balance Outdoor Nationals, held June 17-19 in Greensboro, N.C.

Lampkin finished sixth in the girls 100 (11.72) and eighth in the 200 (24.15). Padua’s Taliah Cintron took 12th in the girls 400-meter hurdles (1:01.37), and St. Georges’ Micaiah Dendy was ninth in the triple jump (38-4¼).

Mount Pleasant’s Malachi Davis highlighted the Delaware boys finishes with a third in the triple jump (49-3¾). Glasgow’s Tahaire Riley tied for 12th in the boys high jump (6-4¼).

In the Emerging Elite division, William Penn’s Miles Duncan placed fourth in the boys triple jump (45-3). A.I. du Pont’s Noah Agwu earned sixth in the boys discus (155-3) and 20th in shot put (50-6¾). Smyrna’s Zion Cole was 10th in the boys long jump (21-0) and Cape Henlopen’s Isaiah Morris took 11th in high jump (6-2¼).

Padua’s Darby Deutsch tied for 13th in pole vault (11-5), and Smyrna’s Myrissa McFolling-Young finished 17th in girls shot put (39-10¾). The Delaware Military Academy foursome of Xaviann Nobles, Sean Butler, Myles Weston and Brian Poad was 20th in the boys 4×200 relay (1:32.72), and Smyrna’s girls 4×400 relay of Madison Keister, Naomi Bowser, Perriasia Thompson and Shaneese LaMons finished 20th in 3:59.00.

Contact Brad Myers at bmyers@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter: @BradMyersTNJ