Viking wrestlers fall to Poly Tech;
turn focus to conference matches
By Jessica Neal
Wednesday, February 1, proved to be anqther set-
back night in the long season of the Cape wrestlers.
The Vikings fell to the Polytech Panthers 52-21.
Cape came out strong in the first two weight class-
es with two pins. Eric Beaman, i03, pinned his man
in 2:43, and freshman Theron Pavlik, 112, was
thrilled when he scored a pin in 3:25.
"That match was a real confidence booster for
me," said Pavlik. "It came after I've had a few loss-
es, and I just wanted to come out and wrestle aggres-
sive. Coach Gray gave me a big talk and gave me a
lot of confidence."
HOwever Polytech was not going to give up points
so easily. They dominated for the next four weight
classes. At 119, Son Le was pinned in 1:04; 125,
Ray Markle was pinned in 1:15 130, Tommy Engel
was pinned in 5:51; and at 135, Chris Carlton lost a
16-1 technical fall in 2:27.
Cape resurfaced again in the 140 weight class
when freshman Matt Martin wrestled to a 14-11 mi-
nor decision in a real nail-biter of a match.
"It felt really great to win," said Martin. "I was re-
ally nervous because the score was so close the
whole time. In the third period, I just kept him down
and tried to do my best."
At 145, Rob Gingrich lost a 17-1 technical fall in
3:14, and at 152, Joe Deloy was pinned in 1:00.
Doug Parke at 160 earned points for Cape when he
scored a pin in 1:47.
In the 171 weight class, John Thielbahr was pinned
in 3:24; at 189, Nick Imperial was pinned in 1:17;
and Cape forfeited the heavyweight weight class.
Cape Coach Tyrone Gray said he was proud of the
individual performances of the team.
"I'm really proud of the two freshmen, Matt Mar-
tin and Theron Pavlik. Doug Parke also did well, and
Eric Beaman did a great job," said Gray.
"Right now Eric is 21-7 for the season, and if he
keeps it up he has a chance of winning thirty matches
for the season. That is really excellent, and hasn't
been done often at Cape. The last guys I recall win-
ning thirty matches in a season were Jon LoBiondo
in 1990, and Shawneil Williams in 1991."
Gray adds that the team's record is now 1-8, but
that is not where the team's concentration is.
"We understand that we won't be great as a team.
These dual meets are just important now for the up-
coming Conference Championships. It is important
that theseguys understand why they are losing, and
correct it and then come out that much stronger for
the Conferences.
"Right now as a team we still need to work on the
attitude, but that's not something we can practice or
teach. These guys have to find that for themselves.
However, the team unity has really improved. These
guys are sticking together through these tough times,
and they realize that they're all in this together."
Tonight, Feb. 3, the Vikings will host school rival
Sussex Tech for the first time.
Lewes Middle School Coach Conlon enjoying
shift from military to civilian and community life
By Rich Welsh
LMS Boy's Basketball Coach
and JROTC teacher Mike Conlon
can argue with his son, Eric, about
basketball and sports in general
when the two come home after a
long day's practice.
This opportunity is one that ex-
Army NCO relishes to no end.
Mike Conlon grew up in the
Bronx where some of his family
still reside and attended high
school at Talintine High School in
the Bronx. Conlon played high
school basketball and played
some memorable games against
St. Raymonds High School, which
was a contestant in this year's
Slam Dunk to the Beach. Accord-
ing to Conlon, St. Raymond's
was a basketball power back when
he played against them.
Conlon left the Bronx to serve
the next 20 years of his life for one
of our country's biggest employ-
ers, Uncle Sam, more specifically
known as the United States Army.
Conlon was part of a special
forces unit and was in Northern
Iraq during the Gulf War. During
his twenty year tenure with the
Army, Conlon was stationed in
Germany, Massachusetts, and in
Korea (near the DMZ).
When stationed in Germany and
Massachusetts, Conlon coached
basketball for some of the bases'
teams. And after 20 years of ser-
vice Conlon decided to retire from
Army life and become a teacher of
YROTC.
After applying to be certified as
a teacher on the basis of his nu-
of certainty that you will not be
called at 2 a.m. and be told to pack
your bags because you are going
to be stationed at an undisclosed
location for an indeterminable
amount of time," said Conlon.
"But after so many years of that
kind of travel it becomes fun to go
to all those different places, so it is
a little bit of give and take, like al-
ways in life."
Lewes Middle School bas-
ketball coach Mike Conlon
merous years of experience that
he spent instructing in the Army,
Conlon spent time looking for a
high school in which to teach
JROTC in the New Engl.and area
and the rest of the east coast. He
finally settled on Cape Henlopen
because of closeness to Dover Air
Force Base and the local atmos-
phere.
After years of the regiment of
Army life that can be sometimes
comforting after awhile, Conlon is
going through a change that most
of us rarely have to go through.
This change is the change from an
Army to a civilian lifestyle,
How is this new lifestyle differ-
ent from the military one?
"The good thing about this
change is that you have that kind
However, one gets the feeling
that all these changes, difficult as
they may be, don't make too much
of a difference to Coach Conlon,
for one reason only. After seven
years Conlon can now be with his
son on an every day basis. "In the
time that I was away I missed a lot
of the sports that my son, Eric,
was involved in among other ac-
tivities. So to be able to coach my
son is real nice," said Conlon.
"And also after all those years of
being away from any kind of com-
munity, it is nice to be involved in
one and coaching basketball I
think is helping with that."
Conlon takes this stance when it
comes to his basketball team and
media coverage. "I am not the sto-
ry, and I try not to be because I al-
ready received all my medals and
honors when I was in the service."
Milton Little League
sets final sign-ups
The fourth and final sign-ups
for Milton Little League will be
on Saturday, Feb. 4, 1995 from 10
a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Milton Civic
Center in downtown Milton.
CAPE GAZETTE, Friday, February 3 - February 9, 1995 - 45
Taking A Break
Cape Gazette Outdoors
columnist Steve Hoenigmann
is taking a break this week
and will return to these
pages next week. Please
don't anyone tell him about
the giant stripers, the huge
deer, and the exceptional tu-
na that have been breaking
our waters in his absence.
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