Changes and challenges for Cape golf team for 2025
March 21, 2025
A senior-heavy contingent filled over half of the Cape Henlopen High School golf team roster for the 2025 season.
(l-r) Cameron Hartstein and Chad Hughey, two juniors on the 2025 Cape golf team
The Vikings finished 11th in last spring’s DIAA State Championship with scores contributed by current seniors Tyler Healy, Jacob Gabbard, and Eddie Ghabour, along with junior Kingston Davis.
Those four and the other returning and new players are seeing some changes and challenges for this spring.
For several decades, the Cape District enjoyed a great supporting relationship with Rehoboth Beach Country Club as the school’s home competition course and primary practice location. The Club is continuing that assistance during 2025, its centennial year, while also requiring an eight-player daily access limitation. The school learned of this policy change shortly before practice began in late February.
Thanks to generous additional support from two other Cape Region clubs, Baywood Greens and Midway Par 3, the school was able to select sixteen players for the 2025 roster from an initial tryout group of about thirty students.
Golfers played three nine-hole tryout rounds at RBCC, American Classic Golf Club, and The Rookery. Two of them also competed in a three-hole playoff for the final spot.
The top eight tryout scorers are currently slotted into the varsity positions practicing at RBCC. Six of those golfers will compete in the March 25 home match against Smyrna High School.
The second group of eight are considered the reserve group and not the junior varsity. The reserve practices are held at Baywood and Midway. They will also practice at RBCC during varsity matches at other courses. The varsity will join them for practices at Midway on Thursdays after April 1.
Depending on match performance and challenges set up during practices, players are expected to shift from reserve to varsity and vice versa over the course of the season.
Several other seniors bring varsity experience to this year’s team, including Dalen Daminger, Logan Gamuciello, Travers Johnson, and Brendan Staggs. Other seniors hoping to contribute include Joe Skelly and Giovanni Barney.
Among Cape juniors, Chad Hughey returned to the squad, joined by Cameron Hartstein and Ryan McNett, a transfer student from Illinois.
Two sophomores also made the team. Gabby Hamstead played for Cape last season, while Cooper Forcucci is starting his first season for the Vikings. Ninth-grader Jack Tunnell also successfully completed the tryout process.
The coaching roster also changed. Robert Harrod, the Viking golf team head coach since the 2019 season, informed the District he was not returning for the 2025 season. Bill Geppert, a past assistant for Harrod since 2020 and the longtime successful head coach for Cape’s swim team, stepped up to take on the new role.
Harrod had a successful tenure coaching Cape golf. His teams compiled a 57-20-1 record from 2019 through 2024, with the 2020 season cancelled during the Covid pandemic.
In addition to the 2024 State Championship results, the Vikings won two ninth place finishes in the 2019 and 2023 Championships. Harrod was also named Henlopen Conference Coach of the Year and DIAA Co-Coach of the Year for 2023. He gracefully declined a request for an interview.
(l-r) Cape assistant coaches Lisa Hutchins and Dr. Tanya Humes
Three assistant golf coaches returned for the new season, including yours truly.
Lisa Hutchins is a past club champion at The Rookery and Shawnee Country Club and a past Player of the Year at Wild Quail. This is her third year as an assistant coach for Cape golf.
In addition to her golf and teaching skills, Hutchins knows how to convince young golfers to accept her advice. She recently handed out handmade delicious Irish Potato candy to a very appreciative crowd of Viking golfers.
“I’m really excited about the team this year,” Hutchins said. “We have a great mix of veterans and first-time team players.”
Dr. Tanya Humes, a language arts teacher for the high school, returned for her second season as an assistant. She helps with administrative tasks as well as handling the new Cape van for the team’s transportation needs.
The first day of match competition for Delaware scholastic golf is March 24. Cape’s March 25 home date against Smyrna is the first of three matches for the Vikings that week. The team travels south to Bear Trap Dunes March 27 to face Indian River, and then north to Magnolia, DE for an away match March 28 against Lake Forest.
This will be the fifth year for the handicap-based selection process for the DIAA State Championship, the two-day, 36-hole conclusion to the scholastic golf season. The system uses players’ match scores and a variation on the World Handicap System handicap process to determine the best 96 players among the nearly 400 scholastic golfers competing for over 45 Delaware high schools.
The DIAA championships are awarded in three categories: Girls, Boys, and Team. For the Team category, schools can field a minimum squad of four and a maximum of six golfers.
Prior to the current system, team qualifications for the states heavily depended on conference records and conference championship results. The new system emphasizes individual achievement throughout the season for initial qualification, while preserving the team element for scoring in the finals.
Sussex Academy golf team a good mix
The Seahawks of Sussex Academy are busy with pre-season preparations for the 2025 golf team.
Although the official DIAA starting date for spring sports is March 24, the team has an extra week of practice before its first match March 31 against Lake Forest at Kings Creek Country Club, the Georgetown charter school’s home course.
The original schedule pitted Cape Henlopen against SAS on March 19, too early to be official. This is a favorite match for both teams because the players know each other so well. It is now set for May 5 at Kings Creek as part of tri-match with Sussex Central.
The SAS squad is a nice mix of veterans and newcomers. Returning seniors include Quentin Bowman, Danahy McKenna, Austin Dostal, Norton Carter, Dominic Piperno, and Keenan Williams. The junior contingent includes Jack Dale and Sarah Lester-Stranick.
Three sophomores hope to contribute, including Ryan Dostal, Jordan Green, and Brody Skinner. The ninth-grade golfers are Nicholas DeEmedio, Lucas Gesuero, Ryan Kline, Gino Magliano, Grace Sweeten, and Bodhin Williams.
Sam Metz, an eighth grader at SAS and an active golfer on the local junior circuit, also made the team. DIAA rules permit 8th graders to play high school golf if the school’s administrative unit is combined with the high school and the school completes an approval process. Sawyer Brockstedt, now completing her senior year at Tower Hill, also played golf for Sussex Academy as an 8th grader.
Head coach Doug Grove continues to enjoy his work with the squad. “It’s a really fun group to be around. They’ve been getting out on the course a lot, despite the weather. They’ll play all day if you give them a chance. It’ll be cold, and some of will say, ‘Coach, I can’t feel my hands,’ but they stay out there.”
SAS did not field a team for the 2024 DIAA State Championship. However, Dominic Piperno (T-36) and Austin Dostal (T-41) played well in the boys’ individual category. Grove said he expected these two to be in the mix again for the states, along with several other promising candidates.
Under DIAA rules, schools can have up to fifteen match dates. Grove is looking to add a few more matches to fill the Seahawk calendar, which is currently set at twelve.