By Matt Ulmer –

Oh no, they’re back.

Penn Manor can’t seem to get rid of their arch rivals who had their number all year. Main reason being the popularity of the field they play on.

The District III boys lacrosse championship kicked off in Hershey, Pa. last night featuring the Manheim Township Blue Streaks and the Hempfield Black Knights. Thunderstorms and a tornado watch prevented this game from actually happening. The championship was rescheduled for tonight at 7 p.m. on Comet Field.

Comet Field held the league playoffs, and now is holding the District Championship after hosting the semi’s on Tuesday.

Fans and players voice appreciation for the seating space, concession stands, and its exquisite turf.

“We got a great facility that’s one of the best in the league,” said trainer Steve Kramer about why Comet Field was chose for the battle.

“There are enough seats for everyone,” he added.

This game has the hype to be one of the best lacrosse games all year in Pennsylvania. Township is known for their offense and if they weren’t the favorite already, they are now, seeing as Hempfield’s number one defender Josh Beals is suspended for misconduct in the semi-finals.

The Blue Streaks offense is headlined by dual All-Americans Quint Miller and Mark Stratton. Rob Wertz is also known to drop a few goals each game.

As for the Black Knights, their offense is run by All-American Michael Ondrusek and his cherished sophomore duo of Nick Valentino and Matt Senft.

PM lax player David Mohimani admits Township’s dominance is based off their 19-3 loss last Saturday.

“Townships transition game is too dominant,” explained Mohimani.

He also predicted an outcome of…Township: 18 Hempfield: 11

Simon Zimmerman, a junior at Penn Manor and loyal fan, said the game would be Township: 12 Hempfield: 6

Athletic Director Jeff Roth went the same route choosing a Township: 14 Hempfield: 7

Well the picks obviously lean towards one side, but who knows what will happen, Comet Field has had a few big upsets before.

By Zach Campbell –

Is the theory true? Can genetic sports testing actually effect your son or daughter and their sports in the future?

According to an article in the NY Times, “The test’s goal is to determine whether a person would be best at speed and power sports like sprinting or football, or endurance sports like distance running, or a combination of the two.

A 2003 study discovered the link between ACTN3 and those athletic abilities.”

Willie Chalfant a local soccer star stated, “Heck no I wouldn’t get my mouth swabbed for $149. I know what sport I’m good at and I’ll just work hard to do it.”

The New York Times also stated, “In this era of genetic testing, DNA is being analyzed to determine predispositions to disease, but experts raise serious questions about marketing it as a first step in finding a child’s sports niche, which some parents consider the road to a college scholarship or a career as a professional athlete.”

Atlas Sports Genetics in Boulder, Colo., provides genetic testing to identify sports strengths.  For $1,000 parents can test their children for genetic traits, along with testing for vertical and broad jump skills and a timer for speed and agility. The website offers testimonials from those who have used their services.

But what about political and ethical issues related to this testing? Athletes must consider both along with their own set of values. What if a child tests strongly in a certain sport but doesn’t enjoy it? Do parents continue to push their children into a sport that they didn’t have a passion for or maybe that they don’t even like sports.

Technology sometimes outpaces moral values. Just because you can do something doesn’t make it right.

By Simon Zimmerman-

It’s now or never.

The Penn Manor girls lacrosse team will take on Cumberland Valley at Lower Dauphin High School tonight at 5 p.m.

Under the leadership of Coach Jim Miller and team captains Maddy Hess, Caroline Lovett and Alicia Burns, the Comet girl laxer’s have performed their way to a 17-4 record. All four losses have come from the Comet’s arch rival, Manheim Township, who have been the team’s poison this season.

“I have been very proud of my players this season, they have worked very hard and have the record to prove it,” said Miller.

The girls need this win to move onto states or they will face elimination and the end of their season.

For some Penn Manor seniors, this could be their last game under the bright lights of a lacrosse field ripping twine for the pride of the Comet’s girls lacrosse organization.

Although this could be their last game, the seniors and captains are very confident.

“I am very excited because I know we will win, the possibility of losing hasn’t even crossed mine or my team’s minds,” said senior co-captain Caroline Lovett.

In the result of a win, the girls would travel across the state to Pittsburgh for their first round of states where they would play High School teams out of the Pittsburgh region of the state.

The thought of the long distance burden of traveling to Pittsburgh might defuse some players ambitions to take the title of state champions, for others, it will only add to the flame.

“The teams that will be playing in the Pittsburgh region will be lower ranked, so we will have a greater opportunity to win at least the first two games of states,” Said Junior Defensive player Megan Schlegemilch.

The thought of making it to states may excite the team, but all of their focus is on tonight and getting the W.

By Cassey Graeff –

Rah Rah!

Pompoms, pleated skirts and stuck up girls kicking their legs and yelling for the home team.  It’s not like that anymore.

In a new development over the debate whether or not cheerleading is a real sport, two groups are asking the National Collegiate Athletic Association to recognize cheerleading as an “emerging sport” for ladies, a precursor to full status as a championship sport.

Penn Manor senior Jessen Smith has a different opinion, “Personally I don’t think cheerleading is a sport, but I recognize what the ladies are doing out there and I think it’s important.”

USA Cheer and National Collegiate Athletics and Tumbling Association are the two groups working toward making cheerleading a championship sport.

If this is a success, cheerleading would begin to be fully financed, could recruit scholarship athletes and send them to a national championship. The request is for the athletic form of cheerleading, which is also known as competitive cheerleading. Competitive cheerleading has rigorous competitions and high standards.

The two associations are not trying to make sideline cheerleading a sport.

“Cheerleading should be a sport, but at the same time different safety rules may be applied. Who knows, you may see cheerleaders wearing pads. These safety rules could take away from different techniques and cheerleading would not be as interesting,” said senior Eric Bear.

According to the New York Times, “Historically, cheerleading has been about supporting athletes, not about being an athlete,” said Barbra Osborne, a scholarship basketball player who graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Parkside in 1982 and who now advises universities on gender-equality issues.

Penn Manor’s cheerleading coach Cindy Bachman said, ” I feel that competitive cheerleading should definitely be a sport, because to be a competitive cheerleader you have to be very athletic.”

A rule for Penn Manor cheerleading is that you must cheer for a school sport in order to be a member of the competitive team.

“If competitive cheerleading became its own sport you possibly could not have to cheer any school sport, which would then affect the school cheerleading team,” said Coach Bachman.

Many women sport supporters agree with the idea. According to the New York Times, “As long as it’s actually operating as a sport, we welcome it into the women’s sport tent,” said Nancy Hogshead-Makar, the senior director of advocacy at the Women’s Sports Foundation.

Senior cheerleader Sam Eshleman said, “Cheerleaders get hurt more than other teams, so it should be classified as a sport. It’s extremely aggressive.”

Jill Zimmerman agrees with the idea of cheerleading becoming a sport.

“I think cheerleading has changed so much overtime and the girls that spent their whole life cheering deserve it,” she said.

One group that supports cheerleading becoming a sport is USA Cheer. They are backed by Varsity Brands, a for-profit company that sells pompoms and uniforms and has been running cheerleading competitions at high schools and colleges for decades. The second group is the National Collegiate Athletics and Tumbling Association. This group “comprises six universities that have been competing against one another for the last couple years and have the support of USA Gymnastics.”

“Cheerleading should never be considered a sport in any way. It’s kind of like Nascar, something fun you want to do,” said Casey Wells.

“In 1898 a medical student at the University of Minnesota picked up a megaphone and led his football team to victory in a chant widely credited with giving birth to modern-day cheerleading: Rah, rah, rah! Ski-U-Mah! Hoo-Rah! Varsity! Varsity! Minn-e-so-tah!” according to the New York Times article.

“I think cheerleading becoming a sport would be cool, it creates more opportunities for women,” said senior Brian Ramsey.

By Connor Rowe –

Two NBA players, one incident and two different consequences.

Recently, NBA star, Kobe Bryant called referee, Bennie Adams a f—ing fag-t. Bryant was fined $100,000 for the anti-Gay slur.

Two months later, Joakim Noah called a fan a f—ing fag-t after he was being harassed all game from the bench. The only difference in the case is the fact that this certain incident happened about a month later. However something else was different when the case concluded.

Noah was charged $50,000 for the repeated quote of Bryant.

The league is trying to crack down on anti-gay actions according to the Desert Sun.

If the league was really trying to crack down on anti-gay actions why wouldn’t the fine double every time someone took place in the action.

However the fine was split into half.

Does the NBA actually care about this topic or are they just issuing random fines?

“By the time it’s up to $500,000, the players will clean up their act,”said Desert Sun sports writer Shad Powers.

One difference between the two actions was that Bryant said it to a referee and Noah said it to a fan.

“We know now that a ref is twice as important as a fan because Kobe was fined $100,000 and Noah $50,000,” said Powers.

The debate on if the NBA really does in fact care continues.

To cover up the recent issues of the anti-gay slurs, the NBA has been broadcasting commercials encouraging trash talkers to not use the word “gay.” The twist to this is that they had two role player NBA players speak out on the commercials. The NBA has never put on role players in featured commercials.

Jared Dudley was one of the players aired in the commercial discouraging anti-gay trash talking.

Even though Dudley has played Divsion 1 basketball at Boston College, if you’re a young kid passionate of the NBA which player are you going to live by more? Kobe Bryant or Jared Dudley? Why wouldn’t the NBA find a player who has played in the all-star game in at least the past decade to promote this issue?

One NBA player is making the change.

According to Steve Nash’s Twitter account, he just finished taping a commercial for gay marriage. A Suns’ follower on Twitter said: Very disappointing Nash would do a commercial supporting gay marriage. Steve, something we should know? Nash’s response: Yes, tolerance.

By Marc Summy –

Penn Manor boy’s volleyball beat Wilson Monday day night 3-1.  They will now move into pool play which will begin at 4:30, Wednesday night at Central York High School. This was the teams first district win since 2005. Leading the comets was outside hitter, Dylan Weber, with 23 kills and middle, Dayonte Dixon, with four aces and one block.

By Jen Felegi –

The Penn Manor Girls soccer dominated their opposition, Carlisle High School, in the Lancaster Lebanon League quarterfinal playoffs.  The final score was 2-0.

By Brandon Bowers –

The three home town baseball teams (Phillies, Pirates, and Orioles) have some new players and some returning players to help their team get to the playoffs and seal a spot in this year’s World Series.

Every loss will be big. Every win will be big. A playoff appearance would be even bigger.

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The Philadelphia Phillies have a lot of their starting players back but they are still without their star second baseman, Chase Utley. Although with the All Star out, they are still ranked first in the national league east with 18 wins and 9 loses.

Placido Polanco has the highest batting average on the team of .385 and the highest on base percentage of .433, totaling 42 hits out of 109 at bats. Also their home run champion, Ryan Howard, is leading the team with 6 home runs and 28 RBI’s (runs batted in).

A .286 batting average with 30 hits out of 105 at bats is having a good solid star to this year’s baseball season and plenty more games to play and chances to chase to dream of the home run leader.

The Phillies came off of back to back Worlds Series visits last year, winning the first one in 2008 and losing the second one to the New York Yankees in 2009. The Phils have 132 games left to play and are placed in the top 2 in their division to make it to the playoffs. It will be tough but they have the hitters and the pitching to keep them in any game.

The Phillies dominating pitcher Roy Holladay has four wins out of five and a ERA (earned run average) of 2.14 and 47 strike outs.

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The Pittsburgh Pirates plan to make it to the playoffs this year with Neil Walker, their second baseman, leading the team in batting average:  .283, RBI’s:  14 and on base percentage:  .353.

Andrew McCutchen, the center fielder, is leading the team with five home runs.

The Pirates are a team that will shock people. They may not be the most well around team that will overpower anyone, but they come ready to play.

The Pirates are fourth overall in the national league central division with a record of 13 wins and 15 losses. They will have to win some big games if they want to extend their season to get to the playoffs.

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The Baltimore Orioles are a team that has not been too good over the past couple of years now, but with a new coach and some new players they plan to turn this year around.

The star player is veteran Vladimir Guerrero. Their DH (designated hitter) has the highest batting average on the team with .269 and 29 hits out of 108 at bats.

Their center fielder, Adam Jones, is leading the team with five home runs, second baseman Brian Roberts is leading with 19 RBI’s, and catcher Matt Wieters is leading the team with an on base percentage of .318.

The Orioles have a tough season ahead and being in a division with World Series contenders and former winners, it sure won’t be easy. They have to play a lot of hard teams and fight through to keep a lead or come back and win a close one in order to make it to the big show that is the playoffs.

By Brandon Bowers –

Rain, rain, go away, come again on a non-game day.

With the seasons of many outdoor spring sports winding down, all the rain we have been having this spring has been postponing sports and moving their games to a later date and extending the season by weeks for some.

Baseball and softball are the ones mostly getting canceled because they don’t want to mess up the fields. With the postponing of the games, the seasons are getting pushed passed the ending date of May sixth.

“It really angers me because I’m always ready for a game and it’s just a downer when it rains and I get a text or hear from a teacher (saying) our game is canceled and moved to a later date,” said junior first baseman Willie Welsh.

“I’m not happy. I get so pumped for game day, and then the rain ruins it,” said Penn Manor senior center fielder Morgan Ream.

“It’s a bummer. It’s tough to be both mentally and physically ready on game day, and then the rain just makes it harder the next day,” said junior second baseman Jenn Hanner, who plays Penn Manor softball.

When games or practices are canceled because of rain, the team often practices inside in a gym – just not the same for many players.

“Inside practices are nothing like outside practice,” said Welsh.  “The ball comes at you twice as hard when we do infield. We have to hit in a cage witch I don’t like because I like to see where the ball goes.”

“Inside practice is terrible,” said Ream. ” It’s JV and varsity in one gym. It’s hard to hit and field with so many people in a small place.”

“Inside practice is really slow and counterproductive. There’s less effort given when we’re indoors and compared to being outdoors it’s definitely not as fun,” Hanner said.

The inside practice may benefit the teams and may but the they give their best effort inside or out.

“We get the same practice as outs

ide but it’s just not the same experience,” Welsh said. “We put everything we have in inside practice because we want to make it to districts show teams we are better then everyone thought we were.”

“We do benefit and we don’t from indoor practice. At indoor practice we work mainly on bunting and soft hand (for fielding). We can’t do base running and situations inside,” said Ream.

“When we’re focused and give our all, we definitely benefit from indoors practice,” said Hanner.