SuburbanOneSports.com recognizes a male and female featured athlete each week. The awards, sponsored by Univest, are given to seniors of good character who are students in good standing that have made significant contributions to their teams. Selections are based on nominations received from coaches, athletic directors and administrators.
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Female Athlete (Week of Feb. 9, 2026)
Live in the moment. For the likes of year-round distance runner Alexis Cawley, a senior at William Tennent, it’s not just advice found inside a fortune cookie or an inspirational greeting card. She lives in a world where not just every minute, but every second, counts. And while distance running is about endurance, the hopeful future marathon runner realizes that her high school career in Warminster is still more like a sprint. “Definitely, a lot,” she said. “I remember last cross country season thinking to myself, ‘Oh, my gosh, I’m a senior. I’m graduating. It’s my last season.’ I was just so upset about it. I had to
remind myself that I had to just go into it and have fun, spend time with my friends and just be grateful for being able to run with my friends one last time, instead of on it being the last time.”
Aside from excelling in her athletic pursuits, Cawley ranks fourth in the senior class for which she also serves as president. A math whiz who plans to study actuarial science, she has made it as far as districts in cross country and the league meet in outdoor track and plans to continue running in college. If Cawley attends Elizabethtown, she will run for the school. If the choice is St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, she will likely go the club route. “I’m kind of in between right now,” she said. “I don’t know how I’m going to feel about it when I get there. I kind of like the team atmosphere that I have (at Tennent). I don’t know if a more relaxed team is going to be better for me or not.”
Running was not an initial pursuit for the 4.05 GPA student, but it became one during her freshman year. “Back in middle school, I did softball and volleyball,” said Cawley. “Freshman year, in the fall season, I did volleyball. I didn’t do cross country, but I was a practice player (in volleyball) and didn’t get any playing time.” She then tried outdoor track that spring, and that was that. “I have been running ever since then,” said Cawley, who then picked up cross country and indoor track the following year. Rich has coached Cawley all four seasons and it has been her pleasure. “She has to be one of the brightest kids, and most motivated and determined kids, that I’ve ever had,” said Rich. “She is a star to me, just because of how much work she puts in. She’s always in the trainer’s room, getting done what she needs to get done. We’ve had conversations about plans with her. She is just so dedicated and so invested, and you don’t always get a lot of that.”
While Cawley has been frustrated with the peaks and valleys of chasing personal bests and not always meeting her own standards, Rich can’t say enough about the incremental improvements she has made. “She was a little upset the last meet,” said Rich. “She was going for something, but that comes from putting that extra little bit of extra pressure on yourself. I was an athlete myself, so I understand. Sometimes, when we think too much, we forget just to race. But, really, she has had one heck of a senior season. She has flourished so much from her previous years, just with her self-esteem, and her confidence has gone through the roof. Her cross country season went very well. She pours out so much confidence anymore, and it’s so good to see. She improved constantly during cross country and even during her indoor season. I cannot wait to see what Alexis does outdoor in the spring.”
Rich added that Cawley’s work habits and study habits set a standard for the rest of the team. “Oh, absolutely – 100 percent,” said Rich. “She has come to me a lot about taking the girls on easy runs and taking girls under her wing.A lot of the girls need to get through some things, and not just in the sports aspect of it. Alexis - she is smart. She is both common sense smart and book smart, which is a rarity. And when she puts in the work, everyone else sees it and says, ‘OK, if she is going to go hard, I’m going to go hard.’ And, it shows. It definitely shows.”
She is also passionate about being a citizen at school. Example: Senior superlatives were recently announced for the Class of 2026, and it was no shock that Cawley was named “Always at Tennent” for, pretty much, being a fixture. “With all my activities, I’m always at school,” she said with a chuckle. In addition to being class president, she is co-president of the National Honor Society and a member of the National Math Honor Society, for which she also tutors other students.
To read Cawley’s complete profile, please click on the following link: https://suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/female/alexis-cawley-00123003
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Male Athlete (Week of Feb. 9, 2026)
Ryan Delp was destined to become a scorer in basketball. At least if early indications are worth anything. In first grade, the now Council Rock South senior scored 30 points in one game. A feat that would be a challenge for most teams at that level, let alone one player. Rock South boys’ basketball coach Jim Cassidy, for one, was not surprised. Turns out the first-year Hawks’ coach had his initial encounter with Delp while coaching his older brother Cole’s CYO team. “We would practice once
or twice a week, and you could count on Ryan being there too, getting shots up,” Cassidy said. “You could tell he had a gift for shooting, and also, he was a gym rat.” That hasn’t changed.
Fast forward to Delp’s final high school season. Delp – now a three-level scorer – is still torching his opponents, and he also can’t get enough gym time. “He’s always bugging the coaching staff about getting into the gym, things like that, which you love to have,” Cassidy said. “He loves basketball, without a doubt.” As for his ability to put points on the board, look no further than his team’s final regular season game at Pennsbury with the SOL Patriot Division title hanging in the balance. Both teams entered the game with identical division records. With the Hawks trailing by two at halftime (26-24), Delp put the team his shoulders, scoring all 17 of the Falcons’ third quarter points and turning a two-point deficit into a 40-33 lead heading into the final quarter.
The Golden Hawks went on to win by that seven-point margin and made history, clinching the program’s first ever division crown. Delp led the Hawks – who opened the season 0-4 - with 29 points. “Going into the game, it was just a lot of built-up motivation and energy, knowing we had a chance to make history after the unfortunate start to the season,” Delp said. “I think that was a big factor coming into the game. We were a little flustered earlier in the game because I think guys weren’t really used to playing in an environment like that for such a big stake to make history. Once we kind of settled down, we started playing for each other, playing to win. I think that’s what really turned the game around.”
Making the title especially sweet is the fact that the senior class played a pivotal role in this year’s success story. The Golden Hawks were coming off a five-win season when the Class of 2026 entered the program as freshmen. That first year, the Hawks were 5-17 overall, 3-11 and in fifth place out of six division teams. This year, the Golden were 14-7 overall heading into districts and 8-2 in division play. “Council Rock wasn’t always the greatest basketball team, but starting my sophomore year, that’s when we started winning,” Delp said. “So, this has been three straight years now where we’ve been in the (district) playoffs and had a winning record, so I think we’re trying to rewrite what type of program we are, and the old stereotypes of us not being good – it’s kind of over with.”
Delp was one of three senior captains of this year’s successful squad, joining Ray Haglund and Spencer Edelman “He’s grown into the leadership piece,” Cassidy said. “I think he’s had to learn to be patient with his teammates because there is an aspect where he is maybe one or two steps ahead as far as just knowledge of the game, certainly a knowledge of our offensive concepts. As a coaching staff, we really worked with him to just be a little patient and to be positive with his teammates, and he’s really taken to that to the point where by the end of the year, he’s been like one of our rah, rah guys, and that certainly wasn’t his personality let’s say a year ago. So, I’m really proud of him as far as that goes as well.”
An excellent student, Delp is a member of the National English Honor Society and is taking two honors and one AP class. He was accepted into Penn State University and does not plan to continue his basketball career. Whether he ever plays basketball again or not, Delp – according to his coach – has a future in the sport. “Ryan loves basketball, without a doubt,” Cassidy said. “He’s a real student of the game, and he’s a future coach if that’s what he wants to do.”
To read Delp’s complete profile, please click on the following link: https://suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/male/ryan-delp-00123004
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