Hall of Fame induction: 2018

John attended Archmere Academy, where he earned 4 Track & Field letters as a runner and pole vaulter. He established a school record, which still stands, of 4:16.8 in the 1500 M at the 1976 New Castle County T&F Championships. That year he ran anchor on the school’s record-setting team in the Two-Mile Relay. Also, in 1976, John was the State of Delaware Junior Olympic Champion in the Mile run and was named to the Coach & Athlete Prep Track & Field Athlete of the Year team. As a junior, John won 9 of 10 dual meets. He was runner-up in the New Castle County XC Championships in 1975, 1976, and earned the bronze medal at the 1975 State XC Championships. He was named to All Catholic teams in 1975 through 1977. John was inducted into the Archmere Academy Sports Hall of Fame in 2005.

John continued his running career at the University of Delaware, where he earned six varsity letters in track and cross country. He was ranked among the Top 10 UD Cross Country performances at Sunken Meadow (NY) State Park and the Top 20 at Belmont Plateau, Philadelphia. He qualified for the 1980 NCAA Men’s Regional Cross-Country Championships. In 1978, John was the New Castle County Open Cross-Country Champion. In Track & Field, he ran the third fastest freshman 3,000 M Steeplechase ever in UD history, graduating among the Top 10 in university history. He was also a member of the school record-setting 4 x 1500-meter relay team. He was part of three consecutive East Coast Conference T&F Outdoor Championship teams.

After graduating from UD, John won many road races while representing the Pike Creek Valley Running Club. However, his greatest accomplishments include being the top Delaware finisher at the 1981 NYC Marathon and again at the 1983 and 1985 Boston Marathons. He set his PR at the 1984 Philadelphia Marathon with a time of 2:30, still among the Top 10 fastest by a Delawarean, ranking John as the 353rd fastest in the United States- just short of the qualifying standard for invitation to the 1984 Men’s Marathon Olympic Trials. In 1985, John ran one of the top five fastest 10,000 M times ever run by a Delawarean at 31:31.

Hall of Fame induction: 2018

At Delcastle, she set the state indoor record of 56.19 in 1990, a record that still stands. It was the nation’s fastest time to that point that winter. She repeated as indoor 400 champion in 1991, and added another title in 300. Outdoors she was a division 1 champion in the 200 and 400 in 1991, with the state’s best time in each. She finished fourth in the 400 in the New Balance Indoor Nationals in 1990. She was the 1991 State MVP.

At West Virginia University, she was Atlantic 10 indoor champion in the 500 in 1995 (1:14.35), a performance that is still the third fastest time in WVU history; and anchored the Mountaineers’ A-10 indoor championship team in the 4×400 (3:41.74) at the same meet, a performance that is still the second fastest indoor time in West Virginia history. She ran the third leg on 4×200 (1:36.94) that was second-best in school history, still fifth in school annals.

Hall of Fame induction: 2018

A standout sprinter for Christiana High School and key member of the record-breaking relay teams. Lynn started out as a sprinter and took up jumping as a junior and soon became the best in state history. In 1999, as a senior, she jumped 19’5-1/2 at the Penn Relays Championship of America smashing the state record by 10 inches, a record that would stand for 19 years. Her 19-10 ¾ jump during the 1999 indoor season was the 2nd best in the nation, due to being contested outdoors, it is not considered an indoor state record but remains the N5TCA meet record. She was the first and only female long jumper in the state to surpass the 19-foot mark until Kayla Woods in 2018, an athlete whom she coached.

She was named an All-American in the long jump and 4×100 relay, and was the 1999 Delaware Athlete of the Year. She ran leadoff on Christiana’s 4×100 and 4×200 teams that set state records of 48.01 and 1:40.44. She was state champion in the 55, 100, and LJ her senior year.

Lynn continued her career at the University of Maryland where she was named ACC All-Conference, tied the school long jump record and qualified for the NCAA Championships by her sophomore year. In 2004, she broke the school’s long jump record. Lynn became a collegiate Division I All-American in the long jump her senior year and earned All-ACC Academic. Her long jump and 200-meter times remain 2nd on the All-time list in Maryland Track and Field History.

Lynn began volunteering as a sprint & jump coach for a summer track in 2015 and is now the jump coach for Tatnall.

Hall of Fame induction: 2018

In a span of 43 years coaching, officiating, and working to help build running sport programs in four states, Coach Kelly helped develop elite performers at the high school and D1, D2, and D3 college levels.

Upon Graduation from Mount Saint Mary’s College in 1973, he coached at Immaculate Heart of Mary School (1973-74), North East (MD) High School (1974-1979), St Thomas Aquinas High School (FL);(1979-1984) assisted as academic advisor and coach at The University of Kentucky while gaining a Master’s Degree in Sport Psychology (1984-1986); and assisted coaching sprinters and hurdlers at The University of Florida (1986-1988)In the following year, he worked with the Governor’s Council in sports and as a manager for the TAC National Championships of Track & Field in Tampa Florida ( 1988).

He returned to Delaware and coached Cross Country and Track and field at William Penn High School (1989-98), and assisted at the University of Delaware coaching sprinters, hurdlers and pole vaulters for the men’s and women’s teams (1997-1999).and at Wilmington Charter (2001—2009)

Upon retirement, he then took a position at Penn State Brandywine establishing a College Cross Country program for men and women and creating a XC course ON CAMPUS. He continued to voluntarily coach pole vaulters at the Charter School and men and women hurdlers at The University of Delaware (2009-2011).

From June 2006 to June 2016, Kevin Kelly had been the Chair of the DIAA State Track & Field Committee. As an official and student of the Pole Vault event, he has put on clinics for coaches and athletes around the state in conjunction with DIAA and officiated at championship events over the past 12 years to help keep the event alive.

Hall of Fame induction: 2018

Over 30 years as track and cross-country coach at the University of Delaware, he has guided over 100 athletes to individual championships, helped countless others to superior college achievement, and broadened access to the sport throughout Delaware and elsewhere. Becoming the Blue Hens coach in 1982, he was named America East Conference Coach of the Year five times, winning the award for indoor track in 1993 and 1999 and for outdoor track in 1993, 1994, and 2000. His indoor teams went 121-36-1 in dual meets and went undefeated from 1987 to 1991. Five of his teams won conference titles; another 12 finished second. Many of those champions were not high school stars but blossomed under his mentoring. 119 of his athletes won individual conference championships.

He was president of the NCAA Division I Cross Country Coaches Association and coached the East team at the 1991 Olympic Festival. He has been a goodwill ambassador and clinician in Honduras, North Yemen, Egypt and China. In 1988, he delivered a research paper to the Seoul Olympic Scientific Congress prior to the Games. He has been a board member of USA Track & Field’s High-Performance Division and Mid Atlantic Association. As an assistant professor of physical education, he has instructed and coached many of the state’s track coaches and was a USATF national coaching certification instructor.

On his own time, he has trained hundreds of Delaware adults in a Tuesday Night Group that he founded and operated for the community for many years. He was active with the B+ Foundation, has served on the board of directors for Girls on the Run and advised the Leukemia Society and Special Olympics Delaware. Now the coach at Ursuline Academy, he has also coached at Sanford School and Delaware Technical College, where he served as the Athletic Director for a short period. Jim founded the Delaware Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1994 and served as its president until 2015.