Category: Sports

By Jenna Reel –

Dual meets, leagues, districts. All meets that swimmer, Cooper Lindsley, has become familiar with. Nationals, though? That would be a first.

This Penn Manor student and swimmer works hard in and out of his swim season. This year, his hard work and dedication has truly paid off.

“I think that its wonderful that he’s going to Y Nationals. It will be a great experience for him,” said head Penn Manor swimming coach, Cece O’Day, who coaches Lindsley during the winter season, “I’m happy for all of my swimmers whenever they go and get new PR’s (personal records). Jess Burkhart went the last two years, and I actually went to Y Nationals when I swam. They still swim in the same arena I swam in,” said O’Day.

“He swam so well at districts and had such a great season at Penn Manor this year. It makes me so excited for next swim season to see what he can do. It’s just awesome for him,” said Julie Bibiloni, another one of Lindsley’s coaches  at Penn Manor.

Lindsley, one of four boys going to Y Nationals together from Lancaster County, is the only Penn Manor swimmer. The other three, freshman, Dan Ross, junior, Mark Harris, and senior, Sean Herr, are all members of the Manheim Township Streaks, as well as the Lancaster Y.

“For nationals, the practices are long and hard. We’re up to about three miles per day in two hour practices, five days a week,” said Lindsley.

As much as he swims, Lindsley still maintains his grades and his friends. Most people would ask, how can such a young boy manage all of his time and stay on top of everything? Where does all of his motivation come from?

“I honestly don’t know how I do it, but I feel that it has to do with the fact that swimming teaches multi-tasking and I guess that I have found a way to transfer it over into real life,” said Lindsley, “But I try to motivate myself with the thought that hopefully succeeding in swimming will make it a more watched sport.”

“Most of my motivation comes from, I guess myself. But it’s for the same reason because I always hear about places like Australia where swimming is almost like football here in America. Families sit together in their living rooms, watching in excitement, a good swim meet,” said Lindsley.

“Definitely my biggest supporters are my parents, siblings and family friends. It always means a lot to me for their constant support,” said Lindsley.

With all of the support of the family, friends and even coaches, Lindsley and his team have good expectations for nationals.

“I think we’ll do pretty good. And even if not, I’m going to make the best of it,” said Lindsley.

For a video on Lindsley, click on this link: http://www.schooltube.com/video/ed56d9c65a4e09ad96e3/Lindsley-Goes-to-Nationals

By Marc Summy –

Penn Manor vs Hempfield Lacrosse 3/25/11 Final score 14-5.

Refs penalized a player for improper equipment.   Hempfield’s offense was dynamic and overpowered the Comet defense.

By Joey Jackson –

The Penn Manor boys suffered a defeat late last night in a sloppy five-game set.

Dylan Weber, 2010 2nd-team all-star, led Penn Manor with 33 kills.

“On fire,” is how assistant coach Tim Joyce described Weber’s performance, “There was a challenge in front of him and he rose to meet it.”

Penn Manor also had a strong performance from Cheyenne Weber who put up a stat-line of 60-plus kill assists. Joey Jackson had a strong blocking outing with five solo blocks, and senior Pat Navin used his experience to finish the match with a crafty 11 kills.

The Penn Manor boys looked to be a more well-rounded team with a stronger offense in the two games that they won, but Warwick was able to take advantage of the unforced errors and poor decisions committed by the young Penn Manor squad.

The crack of the bats in March has been going the Comets way this spring with two victories in two games.

Penn Manor baseball continued their winning ways with a 6-4 win vs. Wilson  Tuesday afternoon at Comet Field. The win moves the Comets to 2-0 this season with a game today at Lampeter- Strasburg.

The Comets were led on the mound by Zac Burke who went six strong innings vs Wilson. Their offense was provided by junior Will Welsh who went 2 for 2 with 3 RBI’s. The Comet’s offense struggled throughout the game with only 5 hits on 6 runs.

Wilson made a late surge with a double off of reliever Joe Witmer but Witmer threw strikes and was able to end the game with a weak ground ball to second basemen Zach Rayha.

In a non-league game with Central York Saturday Penn Manor flexed some defensive muscle in a 4-0 rout. The Comets have two non-league games left with L-S Wednesday  and Dallastown on Friday. Next Monday the Comets will start LL League play against Warwick in hopes to make their way to the league playoffs.

By Spencer Barnett –

Online streaming, ESPN text updates and school television sets- all easy sources to the 67 NCAA basketball tournament games being played during the month of March.

With the March Madness tournament well underway, some students are beginning to find it hard to stay focused in the class rooms while afternoon games are being played.

Tanner Kennedy, a senior at Penn Manor High School, is one of the many students who has had trouble staying on task.

“I can’t even focus,” said Kennedy. “I’m constantly checking my smart-phone and watching the games streaming live when I can get on a computer in school.”

Michael Andrusisin is another student who keeps an eye on the scores.

“During the first week, I was constantly checking for updates,” Andrusisin said. “I kept asking my teacher to put the games on.”

While most of the students in the school could relate to those stories, some kids like Paul Slaugh and Shane Burkhardt have it easy.

“I come to school late and leave early because of my internship and service learning,” said Slaugh. “I don’t have to worry about missing the 1:30 games because I get to watch them in the comfort of my own house. Shane also has service learning fourth block so we can get together and watch the games together.”

Now with the final four quickly approaching and the fourth marking period beginning, it may seem difficult for these basketball fanatics to keep their attention span on the class.

“I’m doing my best to manage my time on school, lacrosse and the tournament,” said Andrusisin. “but I guess we will find out soon enough.”

“This is the best part of college basketball,” Kennedy said “How am I supposed to keep focused when it’s time for the final four?”

By Jay Jackson & Joey Jackson –

Eleven teams from one conference is the most in the history of the NCAA tournament, but the showing of these teams has been in vain.

The Big East had high expectations going into this year’s tournament, but this anticipated success may have been over-hyped.

By the Sweet Sixteen round, only two schools from the Big East, UConn and Marquette, are left in the field.

However, two teams were eliminated and St. John’s lost an vital piece of their team when D.J. Kennedy tore his ACL.

But other teams from the Big East have no excuse, such as Pittsburgh, a number 1 seed, who lost to a less-than-stellar Butler Bulldogs team after a heart-breaking foul by Nasir Robinson sent Matt Howard to the line with 0.8 seconds on the clock, Howard hit his free throws to oust the Panthers 71-70.

Peter Ashworth, a Pitt and Big East fan, commented on Robinson’s foul, “He has no intelligence…like at all.”

Ashworth later went on to say , “…some you could kind of see coming, like Villanova and Georgetown, I didn’t expect to go anywhere,” when describing his reaction to amount of Big East teams packing up early.

Other teams from the Big East to go home early were West Virginia, Syracuse, Cincinnati, Notre Dame, Georgetown, Louisville and Villanova.  The only teams to lose to a team of higher seeding were West Virginia and Cincinnati.

Although the Big East was the strongest conference from November to February, they have tendencies to not show up when it counts. With only two championships since the turn of the millennium the last of which coming in 2004, one of which is UConn, who advanced to the Elite 8 yesterday with a 74-67 win over San Diego St.

Dan Elliot believes that the reason for this is an inner problem, saying, “They beat up on each other all year, then in March they have nothing left.”

Senior Mark Curtin stays by his conference’s side adding, “The Big East is the best conference top to bottom, but they didn’t show it.”

Other conferences have been labeled as “weak,” and have had better showings.

The ACC conference, which some considered the weakest power conference, has had one of the best showings with 3 out of the 4 teams reaching sweet 16, one of these teams being 10 seeded Florida St, who dismantled Notre Dame in the third round.

Even with UConn advancing and Duke losing to Arizona, they have still had a better tournament showing than the Big East.

“ACC baby,” senior Spencer Barnett said.

The ACC has proven to be a dangerous conference when it comes to early April, with 5 of the last 10 NCAA championships going to an ACC team.

By Matt Ulmer and Marc Summy –

Recap:

Arizona vs Duke- Duke started out strong as one of their top players shot himself out of a longtime slump. Kyle Singler hit back to back threes to give the Blue Devils a good start. Although, things looked promising at halftime with the score Duke-44, Arizona-38 the Devils were in for a rude awakening. Duke’s Nolan Smith’s NBA stock level dropped when he failed to take control of the game, like he usually does, when he scored 8 points for the whole game.The Blue Devils were then introduced abruptly to Derrick Williams. Williams, of Arizona, scored a game high 32 points and 13 rebounds. The game was in his hands after draining threes, doing jaw-dropping dunks and Duke’s players practically inviting him past them to the bucket. Final score Arizona 93, Duke 77.

Brigham Young vs Florida- Jimmer Fredette got “his” by posting 32 points. This was not enough for the Cougars to make it past the Gators as they fell 83-74 in overtime. The game just proves that an all-around solid team is better than having the nation’s best player. Fredette has had the team on his back since the beginning of the season;  one can only go so far.

Butler vs Wisconsin- Butler almost dropped the game after a 20-point lead was dissolved by the dangerous shooting of Wisconsin. There was no passionate court rush by the Butler players after their 61-54 victory as they believed in themselves, each other and expected to win. The Bulldogs who are on a 12-game win streak, possess a multi-headed offense, and have a coach who always stays connected to his players, are a tough team to stop.

UConn vs SDSU – San Diego State is the team everybody was anxious to pick last night, seeing that it was their first time in over 90 years they were in the Sweet 16. Another factor that had a lot of brackets favoring UConn was none other than Kemba Walker. The guy has been amazing in post-season play and played a stellar game in last night’s 74-67 victory. D.J. Gay had the tough assignment of guarding Walker and couldn’t hold him to less than 36 points, not to mention 12 straight points in the final minutes of play. San Diego State shot an unusual 27 of 64 from the floor and 7 of 22 from downtown. They couldn’t get any rhythm or even momentum. Freshman Jeremy Lamb added 24 points to complete a 60-point combination of the teams 72 between him and partner Kemba Walker.

Preview:

Last night’s games are going to be pretty hard to exceed in excitement, but there are four more match-ups tonight that will be highly anticipated battles.
There is already a #5 and a #8 seed in the Elite 8, with the potential of even more seeds 10 or above.

The first match-up tips off at 7:15 p.m. with #11 Marquette facing #2 UNC. Marquette has shocked many with their run and 1 of 2 remaining Big East teams left. If Darius-Johnson Odom plays well, look for a close game. Regular season ACC champs, UNC has a strong, quick team that’s playing better together each game. Look for North Carolina’s fast-paced offense to move on to the Elite 8.

The #12 Richmond spiders are the Cinderella team of this year’s tournament. They battle powerhouse Kansas tonight at 7:27 p.m. They have a solid group of players who work well together, but The Morris brothers of Kansas are going to pounce on them tonight.

The third game features the #4 Wildcats of Kentucky vs. the overall #1 seed Ohio State Buckeyes. Kentucky is the team that’s scaring their opponents the most with their star freshman Brandon Knight and Terrence Jones. However, the Ohio State Buckeyes have Player of the Year nominee Jared Sullinger and lights-out shooters Jon Diebler and David Lighty (shot 7-7 three pointers last week). No doubt about it, close or a blowout, the Buckeyes are moving on.

The final game includes a #11 seed Virginia Commonwealth University, better known as VCU, and #10 Florida State who defeated #2 Notre Dame last week. VCU has rapidly become the team who shoots, and shoots and shoots…and makes, and makes and makes. Respect wasn’t aplenty for the Seminoles until they stopped Big East Player of the Year Ben Hansborough and the Fighting Irish. I’m sure you all remember five years ago when VCU upset Duke, look for them to keep their “Giant Killers” mentality and advance past FSU.

By Connor Hughes, Connor Rowe and Jay Jackson

The Penn Manor lacrosse team opens its season against arch rival Hempfield, Friday, March 25 at 4:15.

The boys from Penn Manor are hyped about the game and aren’t afraid to share.

“Hempfield’s game plan is to cruise through and get the win, but everyone has a game plan until you get [hit] in the face,” one player exclaimed.

Hempfield is a lacrosse powerhouse with five district championships since 2000.

Not only does Hempfield hold all of these championships, they’ve never lost to Penn Manor, a team that battles every year.

“This is the year to beat them,” one player insisted.

The win would mean a lot to all the guys, according to senior Peter Horning, “It’d be culmination of all the work that went into this team ever since fifth grade.”

Sophmore Brady Charles has been waiting for this game for a long time.

“We’ve been hyping it since the summer,” said Charles.  “It’s all about revenge.  Penn Manor has never won against Hempfield.”

Charles is very confident.

“One-hundred and ten percent chance we win.  No doubt.  We expect to win,” he said.

Charles also mentioned the demeanor that the Hempfield players have.

“They’re over-confident, cocky,” insisted Charles.

This rivalry has been growing for years, and now it’s getting heated.

“[You] think [you] can beat us?” Hempfield defender Nick Best, allegedly asked on a Facebook post.

“Why wouldn’t I?  That’s not the right attitude,” responded defensive midfielder Jaq Presbery.

This match-up could go either way, but it seems like the Comets have the ability and confidence to take the victory.

“Gentlemen this is our time, our year, our game,” said Mark Curtain.  “I don’t care what they’ve done or who they are, I know we are prepared to take care of business.  I wouldn’t want to go into battle with anyone else.  If we play as a family, work as a family and pick each other up, we will win as a family.”

By Bryan Buckius –

Balls, bats, and gloves. Penn Manor girls softball isn’t afraid to get down and dirty.

With the start of a new season finally here, the Penn Manor girls softball team is looking to write a new chapter in their book of success.

Kierstin Bechtold was the only starter to graduate last year and the lady comets are looking to improve on their 8 wins and 11 loses from a year ago.

“This season we want to have a winning record and make districts,” said junior Jenny Hanner.

Penn Manor’s junior varsity coach Aron Basile is anticipating a successful year as well.

“We have the potential to be successful. It’s just a matter of time,” said Basile.

With eight of nine starters returning, Basile said some of the key players for the Comets success are going to be Jenny Hanner, Jenna Santaniello ( 2nd team all star), and Ashley Witmer( honorable mention). Senior pitcher Kendra Keuper will also have a pivotal role in the Comets lineup

The Comets have drastically improved over the last few seasons. Over the last three years the softball team went from only winning four games to having a record of 8-11 last year.

Although having talent is important for a team to be successful, that’s not the only key to winning.

“If we want to be successful this year we need to be more than a team. We need to be a family,” said Hanner.

The softball team officially kicks of their season and a quest for the postseason Friday at May at 4:15 at Manheim Central.