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Warming up
Dallas Post/Charlot M. Denmon
By CHARLOT M. DENMON
Staff Correspondent
Thirteen-year-old Rachael Holthaus has practically
lived, eaten and slept gymnastics for the past 18
months. The petite, slender, five foot dark-haired
gymnast first became interested through seeing the
athletes on television.
Rachael decided since she wasn’t big enough to
compete in baseball or basketball, she would try
gymnastics. Her decision proved to be the correct one
for in her first two competitive meets, Rachael has
taken firsts in everything but the floor exercise, Jan.
6, against Honesdale; and first in floor exercise,
second in all-around and beam, third in vault and
bars, Jan. 20, against Pittston, the most accomplished
team in the area. The next meet will be against
Scranton at Scranton.
Rachael is a member of the YWCA team of Wilkes-
Barre, a team of 14 girls, most of them 13 years of age
and younger. The team first organized in September
and the girls first were on a trial team, then tried out
for the regular team. Rachael was one of the girls who
made it.
There are a number of girls from the Back Mountain
area on the team including Tara Williams, good at
tumbling; Kerri Casey, good in nine to 11 years group;
and Ann Repko, also very good in the nine to 11 year
group.
Rachael first became serious about gymnastics
when she was about six years of age. She studied at
the YWCA, then enrolled in the Northeast School,
Wilkes-Barre, but that closed so Rachael went back to
the YWCA.
coaches from the Allentown Parkettes, Lisa Hummel,
Colleen Morda (once on the YWCA team) and
Veronica Repko, a student at Wilkes College. Michele
Jagodinski, now on a college gymnastic team, and
Laurie Dexter, a former Parkette, now at college,
were also coaches.
Rachael attributes much of her success and the
team’s success to the fact that all of the coaches are
or were accomplished gymnasts. Laurie Dexter com-
peted against Mary Lou Retten and also dated one of
the male Olympians.
Rachael has formal practice sessions Monday,
Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday of each week and
works out at her own with the other girls on Thursday
and Friday under a coach’s supervision. She goes to
the YWCA directly from school during the week and
gets home about 8 p.m. On Saturday, she goes in after
lunch and does not get home until about 5:30 or 6 p.m.
This summer, with other members of the team, she
plans to atend a gymnastic camp in the Poconos
where the instructors will be Mitch Gaylord, Bart
Connors and Tracy Tollivara. Eventually she hopes to
take classes with the Parkettes in Allentown.
“Mary Lou Retton was once with the Parkettes
before she went to private lessons,” said Rachael.
“Eventually I hope to take private lessons from the
same coach who taught her and Nadia, or a similar
coach.
“Mary Lou is my favorite gymnast because she is
small and so am I. She is an excellent gymnast and
my ambition is to be like her or better. I want to enter
the Olympics and win a gold medal,” said Rachael.
She said her favorite is the bar and her specialty is
a ‘“‘brouse’’ where she does a cast off the low bar, does
a half flip and catches the high bar with her hands and
legs straddled. In the next meet, Rachael will do back
flips on the beam.
With her positive attitude and dedication, she leaves
little doubt in one’s mind as to her success. In her
light blue and white gymnast uniform, she looks very
much like gold medalist Mary Lou Retton, her ideal,
as she works on the bars.
“Our coaches are interested in us and now they are
getting our parents involved. It won’t be too far in the
future when others find we are a team to be reckoned
with. W2 are now in the Leaders Club, a junior
volunteer group. Quite a few girls from the Back
Mountain arenow in our classes at the YWCA, but we
need more,” said Rachael. “With more girls, espe-
cially older ones, we can give the other teams more
competition. The more competition the better we
perform.”
Girls’ team unbeaten
The Dallas Junior High School
girls’ basketball team remained
undefeated in league competition by
downing Lake-Lehman, 34-26,
recently.
The team, coached by Mary Ann
Mihalick and Debbey Wysocki, is
currently sporting a 9-0 record with
wins over such known powerhouses
as GAR, Northwest, Wilkes-Barre
Township, Crestwood and Hanover.
High scorers for the Dallas girls
are Joyce Tinner and Renee Balber-
chak while Eileen Kalinowski leads
the team in the rebounding depart-
ment. Other team members who
have contributed to the victories
include Sue Starolis, Patti Covert,
Melanie Seibel, Chris Legenz, Shan-
non Cleary, Georgine Saxon, Tracy
Karuza, Laura Poynton, Jennifer
Vloedman, Heather Hoffman, Tracy
King’s
defeats
locals
By JOHN RODGERS
Staff Correspondent
Ride planned :
The Sixth Annual ‘‘Ride to Stop Cancer’’ will be held on May
5, according to Shavertown president lan Richardson, above
- left, chairman of the event. Richardson is seen here with
Mary Boutonas, executive director, Wyoming Valley Unit,
American Cancer Society. The 25-mile Back Mountain ride
is non-competitive and will be open to all ages. Gift
certificates and trophies are awarded in various categories.
Joe Zone, sports director of WNEP-TV 16; is this year's
honorary chairman. Details are available from the Wyoming
In an effort to impress upon local
dog owners the fact that their can-
ines must be licensed each year,
state dog wardens will be checking
various areas of Luzerne County
next week.
According to Gene Dziak, dog law
supervisor from the Bureau of Dog
Law Enforcement in Tunkhannock
his wardens will begin checking for
1985 licenses on Thursday, Feb. 14
and continue throughout various
areas of the county until Feb. 21.
Dziak noted “By now all dog
owners should be fully aware that
they must obtain a current license
for their pets each year. We’ve had
extensive publicityon this subject
for the past several years so nobody
can plead ignorance of the law.”
Licenses can be obtained through
the Luzerne County Treasurer’s
Office for a fee of $5.00 for all
productive dogs or $3.00 if you show
.
proof of spaying or neutering.
Senior citizens over 65 years of age
showing proof of age. Agents charge
25 cents extra.
Dziak concluded by saying
“Throug the efforts of the county
treasurer many municipalities are
now selling dog licenses for the next
month or so. I urge dog owners to
check with their municipal buildings
to see if they have them on sale and
to purchase one right away since we
will be issuing citations against all
violators.”
Fines range up to $300 plus court
costs and Dziak indicated ‘that all
areas not covered in their current
license check will almost certainly
be checked later in the year when
the wardens will make a major
sweep of the county. Owners of free
running dogs will also be cited.
el
Hunter, Lori Cave, Jean Novitsky,
Jennifer Besecker, Cindy Kern, Alli-
son Berlew, Kim Krohn and Erica
Bullock. Balberchak, Kalinowski
and Tinner are tri-captains of this
year’s squad.
Dallas closes out its regular
season of play with an game at
Northwest this week which should
move the team into playoff action
against Plains the following week.
The College Misericordia mens’
basketball team lost to King’s Col-
lege by a score of 79-56.
With upset on their minds the
Blue and Gold played a determined
first half and trailed by 5 points 31-
26 after the first 20 minuSes.
Leading scorers at the half were
Mike Wright of Misericordia with 9
points, Joe Flaherty of King’s had 8
points.
By Moyers 13 second half points
King’s took a 52-39 lead at 13:29 to
play and were never challenged
after.
Greg Kupp of Misericordia led all
scorers with 15 points, Mike Wright
added 13 points and Bross added 12
points.
Joe Flaherty had 17 points for
King’s with Moyer and Southcott
adding 13 and 12 points respectively.
The second half however was all
King’s outscoring Misericordia 44-
16. ;
“We just didn’t have the man-
power again,”’ stated Coach Al
Clocker.
Playing with just eight players
and Dan Smith the team’s top rebo-
unmder in the game going down
with a separated shoulder diving
after a loose ball in the second half,
King’s pulled away.
Misericorida’s men next play
Spring Garden of New York, home,
Thursday, 8 p.m. at Lake-Leman.
Ladies drop
to 7-3 slate
By JOHN RODGERS
Sports Correspondent
College Misericordia women lost
to Marywood by a score of 68-51 to
put their record at 7-3.
Behind the hot hands of Sue
Sharp’s 11 point first half, the High-
landers trailed by 10 at halftime 33-
23.
Starting out with a changing press
defense, and six points from Liz
Eife, they cut the margin to 6 at the
14:39 mark of the second half.
After a time out by Marywood,
the game changed momentum and
Marywood began to pull away.
height took control of the boards
and sank three quick baskets and
three free throws to open up 15 point
bulge, that Miserry couldn’t recover
from ‘‘Once again their size beat us,
player for player we were just as
good, but we couldn’t match up with
their height,” stated Davis.
Maureen Archer of Marywood led
all scorers with 18 points. Kathy
McHale added 15 points and Sue
King 10 points. College Misericordia
was led by Sue Sharp’s 17 and Lixz
Eife and Kim Stetzar added 13
points apiece.
In front of a nice home crowd the
Lady Highlanders got back on the
winning track, defeating Caldwell
College of New Jersey 87-63.
Paced by Sue Sharp’s nine first
half points and Kim Vermullen’s
seven points they jumped out to a
17-8 lead after 10 minutes and 33-29
at halftime.
Playing back and fourth for the
first six minutes of the second half
and in the lead 39-34 time out was
called by Coach Davis and they
switched from a player to player
defense to a 2-3 trap. “We had to
create some turnovers and get
something going’’ stated Davis.
This resulted into a 56-39 lead
holding the Cougars scoreless for
almost six minutes. Liz Eife’s
breakaway basket at 7:42 left in the
game gave the Highlan ders a 56-39
lead and put the game out of reach
of Cauldwell.
THE
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Soccer board
The Back Mountain Youth Soccer Association Board of
Directors met recently, to reorganize and begin planning for
the 1985 season. Due to continued growth, the board has
expanded to include a Commissioner for each age group.
Pictured above are members of the board. From left, first
row, Ron Moran, U-10 Comm.; Herb Wiedlich, U-16 Comm.;
Alan Mellner, Fields. Second row, Paul Saneholtz, treasurer;
Frank Chadwick, president. Third row, John Tomaine, U-8
Comm.; Bob Graver, publicity; Charles Hampel, U-14
Comm. Fourth row, Ted Shown, Chief coach; John Litz,
secretary; Joe Kernag, chief referee; George Schrlau,
equipment; Ed Palka, registrar. Absent, Richard Ursiak U-12
Comm. and Charles Reynolds, advisory. The trophies being
held were won in the 1984 Luzerne County Cup Tournament
last November, when the Back Mt. Association swept three
of the four age divisions. The Under-12 trophy was won by
the Arrows coached by Jan Weaver; Under-14 was won by
the Wings coached by Ron Moran and the Under-16 was
won by the Cosmos coached by Ray Dennis. Last year 850
youths, ages 6-15 participated on 56 teams in five age
divisions, one of which was the U-16 division featuring the
first ever interleague play with teams from Wyoming Valley,
Mountaintop and Abington. Plans this year call for registra-
tion to be held Saturdays April 20 and April 27 from 10 a.m.
to 3 p.m. at College Misericordia. More volunteer help is
needed for refereeing and coaching. No experience is
playing fields is needed, and anyone with land available for
use by the Association is asked to contact any board
member.
Dallas Junior High Wrestling
team upped its record to 10-2 by
posting a 72-24 win over Abington
Heights. Dallas will host Hanover
Wednesday afternoon at 4 p.m. at
Dallas. The team is preparing them-
selves for Junior High Districts
Friday and Saturday, Feb. 22 and 23
at Lake-Lehman, Steve Kaschen-
back is the coach, assisted by Dave
Longmore. Registering pins in the
Abington Heights meet were Jim
0’Donnell, Dave Mayers, Eric
Olsen, Billy Janosky, Mike Rich-
ards, Gene Faulls and Steve Finn.
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