Cape golf wins Henlopen North title
May 23, 2025
(L-R): Cape assistant coaches Fritz Schranck and Lisa Hutchins, Kingston Davis, Ryan McNett, Jack Tunnell, Jacob Gabbard, Travers Johnson, Tyler Healy, and head coach Bill Geppert
In an exciting low-scoring playoff against Polytech May 16, the Cape Henlopen High School golf team won its first Henlopen Conference North title since 2004.
Both finished the regular match season tied for most conference wins and with only two defeats. Cape beat Poly April 8 161-170 at Wild Quail but lost to North division rivals Caesar Rodney and Dover. Poly also lost 157-162 to South Division’s Delmar.
With no formal guidance in the HAC Manual for this situation, Conference officials ordered a playoff match for 2025 and for new rulemaking for next season. Cape won a coin flip to host the extra match at Rehoboth Beach Country Club.
Rumbling thunder, spitting rain, and dark clouds threatening something worse caused the club staff to follow storm protocols and hold the teams back.
The playoff began after a nerve-wracking half-hour delay, with several players looking a bit twitchy.
After the first tee shots, however, the two squads settled in and played very good golf, with Cape winning 150-155.
Cape senior Jacob Gabbard won medalist honors with his three-under-par 33, five strokes lower than his previous season best.
Jacob Gabbard
Gabbard’s round included an eagle on the par 5 fourth hole from inside two feet.
Kingston Davis tied Poly’s Kylie Yiengst with a pair of 37s. James Watterton scored next for the Panthers with his 38. Cape’s Ryan McNett and Poly’s Quinn Glass tied each other with 39s. Cape senior Tyler Healy tied Poly’s Joshua Brandt with their 41s.
The Vikings’ 150 was the team’s second lowest score for the season as well as in the last 18 years, ever since an April 2007 match against Polytech. The Panthers’ playoff total tied its second lowest for the season.
The Vikings’ next step toward the Henlopen Conference championship was a re-scheduled May 22 North/South match with South Division winners Sussex Academy.
Henlopen Conference Tournament results
The Caesar Rodney High School Riders won the Henlopen Conference Tournament May 20 at Maple Dale CC.
The full-field 18-hole event formerly played a role in seeding players for the state championship but remains a part of the HAC golf experience.
Sam Metz
Sussex Academy’s Sam Metz won medalist honors and a first-place medal with his fine two-under par 70. The eighth-grader’s reaction will sound familiar to golfers who often can’t stop thinking about how it could have been better: “I was three-under but then I bogeyed the seventeenth.”
Other Cape Region medal winners included Cape’s Tyler Healy (3d at 74), Kingston Davis (5th at 75), and Travers Johnson (14th at 80), Sussex Central’s Jake Hollerbeck (6th at 76), Indian River’s Ellie Walls (10th at 78), and Sussex Academy’s Dominic Piperno (13th at 79).
Led by Reagan Garnsey’s 72, Caesar Rodney’s 309 total for first place was four strokes ahead of Sussex Academy’s 313 and five ahead of third place Cape Henlopen’s 314. The rest of the field finished as follows: Polytech (4th-325), Sussex Central (5th-330), Dover (6th-332), Milford (7th-339), Lake Forest, Smyrna, and Delmar (T-8th-345), Sussex Tech (11th-363), Indian River (12th-381), Woodbridge (13th-455) and Laurel (14th-456).
Cape wins upstate tri-meet
The Vikings finished the regular season with a flourish, sweeping a May 15 tri-meet against Hodgson Vo-Tech and Padua Academy on the front nine of the Links at St. Anne’s in Middletown. The match gave the Vikings’ an early glimpse of the course, site of the DIAA State golf championship set for May 27-28.
Cape’s 157 total against Padua’s 237 and Hodgson’s 258 completed the team’s regular season match record at 16-2.
Ryan McNett and Gabby Hamstead shared co-medalist honors with 38s and was Hamstead’s best score of the season. Travers Johnson posted a 40 for third best, with Jacob Gabbard and Jack Tunnell tied for the team’s fourth spot with their 41s.
Sussex Academy wins final tri-meet
The Sussex Academy golf team played its final match of the season in fine form, sweeping a tri-meet against Indian River and Smyrna May 15 on Senior Day at Kings Creek CC. The Seahawks posted a 157 against Smyrna’s 192 and IR’s 195, bringing its record to 11-4.
McKenna Danahy led an all-senior SAS squad, earning his medalist honors with his 37. Quentin Bowman came second with a 38. Carter Norton’s 40 and Dominic Piperno’s 42 completed the team scoring.
Local club competition results
The Mulligan’s Pointe Ladies group played a Low Gross/Low Net game May 20.
Karen Feuchenberger won first place gross in the first flight, with Teresa Kane taking second. Kathy Marks won first gross in the second flight, followed by Marge Amodei.
M. L. York finished first net in the first flight, with Kathy Hudak in second. Kay Monack won first net in the second flight, followed by Rita McConnell.
The Kings Creek CC Ladies’ 9-Holers played a team net Stableford game May 15.
Christine Emery, Deborah Chase, Margaret Connors, and Christine Coffin won first place. Carolyn Horn, Polly Donaldson, Sara Becker, and Nancy Derrickson took second.
Lora Drewer, Beth Andrews, Carolyn Ortwein, and Tracy Gordon finished third.