By Paul Jones Sports Editor Overcoming a slow start to the season, the boys basketball team is in prime position to make the district playoffs.”We got off to a little bit of a slow start but we are starting to play a lot better now, so we are trying to make a push here into districts,” Head Coach Steve Schmehl said. Sitting at 10-10, the team has faced some adversity. With the excusal of Jason Rebuck, the Lions lost rebounding and scoring which are key in the type of game they want to play. Guys like senior Kendrick Boyd-Gillespie and junior Ryan Schreckengast had to pick up in those areas. One thing that the average fan might not realize is that the team plays a grueling schedule with many tough opponents. “Basketball in York County has gotten really good in the past six or seven years. I think last three years York County has had the best basketball in district three, so we are competing with the best teams,” Schmehl said. The weather also posed a problem as they lost important practice time. With weather and the challenging schedule combined it makes it even tougher. “The season is so condensed anyway. you get 22 games in really 55 days. With the weather we had more games than practices in the month of January,” Schmehl said. The Lions however do find things to keep their spirits high. “Guys have been doing some dancing after big wins and you have to do that stuff. Obviously everybody wants to win and it’s serious, especially this time of year. There can be a lot of pressure but pressure is only what you put on yourself,” Schmel said. There were also many good things about the season. Junior guard Gary Hunt started the season coming off the bench, but was inserted into the starting lineup in the second game of the season and has played extremely well. “Gary the last six or seven games has been one of our best players, if not our best player. He brings a lot of energy, he can really score the ball, and he is starting to figure out some other things as well,” Schmehl said. While the boys’ season may have been cut short, there is much that the players, coaches, and fans have to look forward to for next year.
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By Shawn Gunarich Features Editor In the beginning of February, the competition cheerleaders traveled to Disney World in Orlando, Florida to compete in their second consecutive appearance on a national level. Ashleigh Reinert physical education teacher and coach expressed her feelings of the experience as, nothing else like it. “The atmosphere, there is nothing else like it”, Reinert said “everyone on the squad put forth the effort and I’m glad we made it as far we did.” Competition cheer placed 12 out of 21 teams in the co-ed division. “We did great, we were a little disappointed with what we got, but you can’t take anything away from the other teams,” Reinert said, “but in the end it’s just a great experience.” Competition cheer had a long year full of late night practices to make sure everyone was on the same level as the others. “It was hard to get everyone to work together and get on the same level as others,” Reinert said, “over half the team had never stepped out onto the mat before,” But when competition time came around the squad was ready, placing fourth in states and pushing on to finals. “It’s like a well oiled machine,” Junior Samantha Sprenkle said as she described what it is like going through a routine during a competition. Red Lions competition cheer is already looking to the future and gearing up for more practice and have talked of recruiting, much like what they did with the football players this year. Red Lions competition cheer is already looking to the future and gearing up for more practice. “I worry sometimes about the longevity of comp cheer, but I’m very positive about next year, and have high hopes,” Reinert said, “if we can do what we did this year I will have no complaints.” “I’m very proud of all of them, for all their hard work,” coach Reinert said. By Shawn Gunarich News and Feature Editor 50 years of wrestling at Red Lion high school, and coach Christopher Schell has high hopes for the future of the wrestling program. “The future is very bright and promising,” Schell said. “It will be hard to replace senior heavyweight Jared Schell, however the junior class is talented and next year is there year to shine.” Red Lion ended the year with a record of 11-4, Seniors Jared Schell and Junior Dylan Gurreri lead the charge. Gurreri ended the season 25-8 and schell 26-2. “Dylan is a high flying takedown technician,” Schell said. “He continues to let his opponent up just to take them down again, unstoppable at times.” Wrestling is not all about winning, and a lot of work is put into molding a wrestler.” It takes commitment, dedication and to have the intensity to push your practice partner and yourself,” Schell said. “It takes a good attitude to take on all competition and being a family.” Wrestling had an overall solid season, placing third at Lebanon High School Berserker duals, and second at Denver duals at Cocalico High School. Coach Schell has high hopes for the underclassman wrestlers as well. “They push the upperclassmen, which shows great heart,” Schell said. “Each one of them has shined in different matches this year to pull of the win.” By Eli Gregory
Marketing and Communications Editor After a 5-1 record, Red Lions swim team prepared to take another win during their meet against South Western at home. “I think it should be an easy win for us,” said senior swim captain Emma Rhinehart. “But we are going into the meet giving it our all.” The results of the meet were as expected; a blowout for Red Lion with the boys 111 to 59 and the girls 125 to 45. Both the girls and the boys teams showed determination to win, and it payed off for them greatly. The meet started off with senior captain Connor Brandt rallying the team with an inspiring chant. Red Lion dominated a majority of events, with some events having all of Red Lion’s swimmers in the top places. The women’s 100 yard breaststroke, the men’s 500 yard free stroke, and the men’s 200 yard IM were some of these events where Red Lion’s swimmers took the top three spots. A few of the top performers included Dylan North and Emma Rhinehart. In the 100 yard fly, Senior Dylan North came 7.15 seconds ahead of second place, and 5.22 seconds ahead of second in the 200 yard IM. Senior Emma Rhinehart was another swimmer who finished long before the competition, almost 17 seconds ahead of second place in the 500 yard free. Her lead was established as soon as the race started and she maintained the gap the entire event. “Watching them do well and have fun makes me really miss the team and family atmosphere,” said senior and former swimmer Garrett Aguilar. He was one of many Red Lion students in the stands to cheer on the Lions. Throughout the meet, Red Lion continued to rally each other on and keep morale boosted. Team members walked alongside swimmers or waited at the edges of the pool, shouting and cheering. “It’s awesome to be on a team like this,” said freshman Olivia Moore. “They are always there for you and make the races so much better.” By Paul Jones Sports Editor After a big win over cross town rival, Central, the Lady Lions prepare to make a run in the State Tournament. On Friday, March 4, they will take Perkiomen Valley at Wissahickon High School. However, rarely in any sport does a team go through a regular season with only four losses. “Overall it’s been a very good season, I’ve been really happy with the overall picture of things,” Head Coach Dom Dimoff said. With 25 wins and four losses, the Lady Lions look like the definition of consistency, but Coach Dimoff still believes there is room for improvement. “We haven’t played a lot of games where we played all four quarters. We’ve had some games where we played two or three solid quarters, but come playoff time for both counties and districts we’re going to have to figure out a way to play four solid quarters,” Coach Dimoff said. The team will be going into States with the number seven seed and a division championship win. “It’s a credit to the girls for how hard they’ve worked all season to get that. In order to get that we had to win the division, which is the first time we’ve won it here in about four years,” Coach Dimoff said. |
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