Sports

Understanding the game of poker on a full table can be quite a daunting task – reading your opponents, playing in and out of position, calculating pot odds. But what if you find yourself heads-up, facing only one opponent. Once you’ve made it to heads-up play in a game of poker, be it Texas Hold’em, Stud, Omaha or any other form of the game, playing styles and strategies can change tremendously.

In less than two weeks, the Lady Indians’ soccer team will pick up where they left off last season, with hopes of advancing past the second round of the state championship, where Ursuline awaited in 2009 to vanquish the Indians’ post-season dreams. This year, Indian River is returning plenty of talent, but they’re doing it without some integral athletes from last season’s squad.

Indian River softball coach Chris Megee will have his hands full this season as he looks to fill the cleats left empty last year by the graduation of shortstop Lindsay McCabe. As the season quickly approaches, young talent and new faces are filling out the lineup for the Lady Indians, in hopes of bringing conference and state titles to the program.

Forget those cheap plastic sleds. Throw away those saucers. For the true adrenaline junkie looking to get down a hill in the most exhilarating way possible, there’s no comparison to the U.S. National Toboggan Championships, held each February in Camden, Maine. Just ask Doug Fagley and Andy Rose, two Sussex Countians with a serious appetite for excitement.

The DIAA Girl’s Basketball Tournament hit the hardwood earlier this week, and the Lady Indians were prepared to put on a show. After clinching the Henlopen Southern Division championship last week, Indian River followed up Tuesday night with an exhilarating one-point win over Padua Academy, advancing into the second round of the state tournament, where they faced St. Mark’s, the top-ranked team in Delaware.

Shimmering chrome, bold paint jobs and purring engines... Next weekend, some of the most spectacular hot rods and unique automobiles on the Eastern seaboard will be rolling into Ocean City, Md., for the 30th Annual Hot Rod and Custom Car Show. The Ocean City Convention Center will fill up with more than 160 automobiles on March 13 and 14, and host celebrity appearances, entertainment and more in what promises to be one of the most anticipated automotive events of the year for the area.

Despite wintery temperatures lingering outside, things got heated last Saturday at Indian River High School’s 2nd Annual Chili Cook-off, which garnered more than a dozen entries and helped raise hundreds of dollars for the school’s athletic department.

Two conference powerhouses collided on the hardwood Monday evening as Indian River hosted the Lady Bulldogs of Laurel to settle the score in the Henlopen South. Lady Indians’ Keeonya Shelton turned on a dominant offensive attack, leading the squad with a personal-best, career-high 22 points as the rest of her team supplied a brick-wall defense for a 64-40 victory.

This winter, Indian River fans have had a little more to cheer about, thanks to cheerleading coach Tori Abell, who has stepped in this year as the winter sports’ cheerleading and competitive cheerleading coach.

Indian River’s wrestling team might have come up short against Milford in their last regular season match. They might have erred against their opponents from Caravel this past Tuesday, Feb. 23, at the state duals at Delaware State University. But that hasn’t discouraged head coach Jeff Windish, who has vastly improved on last year’s record and will see eight athletes go to the state individual wrestling tournament this weekend at Sussex Central.

What began as a fun winter alternative has grown into a golden opportunity for five Indian River athletes, who posted qualifying times to the boys’ state preliminary swimming championships this past Wednesday, in the school’s first year offering the sport.

Soccer has been a passion for Indian River High School senior Jake Buchler as long as he can remember. He’s assumed every role on the pitch, and his experience has allowed him to excel with comparative ease. The four-year varsity letterman even showed off his boot on the gridiron as the kicker for the IRHS football team. And, this fall, Buchler will be headed to Lock Haven in Pennsylvania, where he will look to make a significant contribution to the Bald Eagles’ soccer team, which finished this past season 7-10-2.

Winter weather over the last month has undoubtedly caused a number of setbacks, from power outages and road closures to limited business hours throughout the community, but one of the most notable impacts has been at local schools – specifically, in the athletic programs. As the winter sport season draws to a close, teams are finding themselves making up critical games before conference and state tournaments come around, while others have been forced to cut their seasons a little short.

Phil Hellmuth, Scotty Nguyen, Allen Cunningham, Erik Seidel. To most people, these names mean nothing. But to poker players who frequent the felt, these names are synonymous with success. These poker professionals are among the most profitable in the world of live poker. And just weeks ago, arguably the best poker player today – Phil Ivey – surpassed Canadian pro Daniel Negreanu as the all-time live tournament money-winner.

A five-point win over Laurel last week and a 56-43 triumph at Lake Forest this past Tuesday kept the Lady Indians’ basketball team at the top of the conference, after a back-and-forth struggle in non-conference play through January.

A five-point win over Laurel last week and a 56-43 triumph at Lake Forest this past Tuesday kept the Lady Indians’ basketball team at the top of the conference, after a back-and-forth struggle in non-conference play through January.

As the snow begins to melt and the temperatures slowly start to rise, it’s only a matter of time before Lower Sussex Little League (LSLL) springs back to life. In the next few weeks, Lower Sussex Little League will be opening registration availability, which, in recent years, has seen success online, as well.

The Indians have grounded themselves on the wrestling mat this season, and after collecting another conference win against Lake Forest at last Saturday’s quad-meet, on Jan. 30, they’re aiming to control the division. The Indians faced off against the Spartans, as well as Delaware Military Academy (DMA) and hosting Caravel Academy, and with two conference meets left in the season, IR is looking to clean up the Henlopen South.

The volunteer fire companies of Bethany Beach, Selbyville and Roxana are now even better equipped to serve the community, with the addition of two RAD57 Carbon Monoxide Oximeters for each of the three stations. The hand-held meters are among the most aggressive pre-hospital diagnostic tools on the market, allowing fire and EMS response teams to identify carbon-monoxide poisoning in medical patients and firefighters operating on the scenes.

The Lady Indians were defeated by an unrelenting Sussex Central team this past Tuesday, Jan. 26, on the hardwood, their fourth loss in their last five games. An even-keeled matchup remained fairly level through the first half, but the Lady Knights made the necessary adjustments to move them on to their fifth straight win in a row as they finished off Indian River, 56-37.

Indian River’s wrestling season is wrapping up in a matter of weeks, but the team is far from done for the year. Guided by head coach Jeff Windish, the Indians have their eyes on the conference and picked up valuable experience against out-of-state powerhouses in last week’s competition, the Braves Invitational, at Octarara High School in Pennsylvania, finishing sixth as a team, with 81 points.

This school year, it’s been full steam ahead for Indian River High School athletic director Todd Fuhrmann. In the fall season, he welcomed a cross-country team to the list of varsity sports available to students. Then, this winter, Indian River took the plunge with a brand new varsity swimming team. And by spring, the Indians will have another emerging team to boast: track and field.

The Indian River girls’ varsity basketball team will have their work cut out for them as they return to practice this week after dropping two consecutive losses for the first time since February of 2009. The Lady Indians finished off a series of road games with their two lowest-scoring games of the year, slipping in their match against St. Elizabeth’s last Saturday, 39-58, and at Cape Henlopen this past Tuesday, 35-61.

The Indian River swim team’s first meet of the new decade came this past Tuesday, Jan. 19, as they traveled to the Milford Boys and Girls Club. While the Indians were able to seal a resounding number of first-place finishes, despite their small numbers and limited practice time in the pool, it was a second-place finish for freshman Kees Elling that stole the show.

Once again this year, the Freeman Fitness Center will be transformed into an epicenter of fun, energy and hope as teams and individuals spin for a cure. The third annual Le Tour de Cure, on Saturday, Feb. 27, beginning at 8 a.m., uses Sea Colony’s LeMond Revmaster Cycles as vehicles to support the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s goal of finding cures for blood cancers.

Few things can spice up a cold winter afternoon like a good bowl of chili, and members of the Indian River High School athletic department are well aware of that. That’s why, on Saturday, Feb. 20, the Second Annual Indian River Chili Cookoff will be returning to the school, in an effort to raise money for sports programs.

The Indian River High School varsity boys’ basketball team has had a discouraging first half of their season, as players have struggled to find the cooperation and leadership necessary to come out on top. But their seven-point loss to Delmar last week showed a glimmering spark of promise, as the team – although late in the season – may finally be finding its groove.

More often than not, a team’s success can be traced back to the fundamentals of the game. That is exactly what John Frye’s Lady Indians’ basketball team has done, as they picked up their sixth season win and fifth win in the conference with a 45-31 victory win over Polytech last Thursday.

The second go-around proved to be the charm for Indian River High School’s girls’ basketball team this Tuesday, as the Lady Indians exacted their revenge on the Wildcats of Delmar, who, less than a week ago, snuck past them by a handful of points in the championship game of the Pat Borowski Classic, held at Lake Forest.

This season, Sea Colony’s tennis program will pick up where they left off following the departure of tennis director Dave Marshall, who announced last year that he will be pursuing a tennis academy at the Plantation in Lewes. ResortQuest Delaware announced last week that Thomas Johnston will fill the shoes left behind by Marshall as the new Sea Colony tennis director, starting this February.