The Dallas Post Dallas, PA
Thursday, March 14, 2002 11
THE DALLAS POST
Section 2
From the bullpen
Timothy J. Raub
[f1t’s March,
it’s time for
the madness
It's that time of year once
again. g
The time when the madness
surrounding the NCAA collegiate
basketball tournament sweeps
through the United States like a
tornado, and has thousands of
people compiling their selection
pools.
Like many people, I too like to
fill out the tournament bracket;
and after years of trying to pick
the correct winners in each re-
gion, I have put together a list of
guidelines for picking the right
teams. ;
1. Always pick a decent upset in
the first round. It is a given that
every year, some team that you
never heard of, from some con-
ference that you didn’t know
even existed, will knock off one
of the more nationally known
higher seeds. Teams like Gonza-
ga and Valparaiso are just some
of the more easily remembered
examples. But let it be known,
Gonzaga is actually ranked this
‘year, and is the sixth seed in the
West.
2. Never pick a first seed to lose
in the first round. Although some-
times it may be hard to overlook
some of the records of the 16th
seeds in the tournament, they
are only there to provide a
warm-up for the top seeded
teams. Duke, Maryland, Kansas
and Cincinnati will not lose to
the likes of Winthrop, Holy
Cross and Boston University.
3. Never pick your favorite team
to win the whole thing. After see-
ing the Blue Devils fail for so
many years, I decided that it
was not a safe practice to keep
picking my favorite team to win
the entire tournament. So last
year, for the first time in a long
time — I didn’t. I am convinced
that it is a curse to pick your
team to go all the way.
4. Don’t be so quick to toot your
own horn. If for some strange
reason, you are lucky enough to
pick some of the major upsets of
the tournament, and most of
your teams are in the Sweet 16,
don’t get too excited. The worst
always seems to happen at that
time.
5. If all else fails, close your eyes
and just pick. Even with all the
research and editorials written,
it is easy to fall into the media
trap of predicting who will win
even before a single game has
even been played. But when all
is said and done, there is no
sure-fire way to know for sure
who will win the NCAA tourna-
ment. So if all else fails, just
close your eyes, put names in a
hat and pick ‘em.
The chances of picking a per-
fect pool are slim to none, to say
the least, and when all is said
and done, you won't be seen as
an amateur Vegas odds maker,
so just have fun, and remember,
basketball is only a game ... or is
it really madness?
Timothy J. Raub, a Post Staff
Writer, can be reached at
traub@leader.net or 674-4658.
Send your sports
reports by
dallaspost@leader.net
Lehman girls’ return
to state playofts is short
A Tough Shamokin
press ends any
hopes of advancing
BY TIMOTHY J. RAUB
Post Staff
PLYMOUTH — Two losses in
the last two games would not
make most coaches happy.
And although Lake-Lehman
girls basketball head coach Rob
Wilson was not pleased that his
team lost 68-42 to District 4
runner-up Shamokin on March
9 in the first round of the PIAA
Class 3A state playoffs, his team
got some much-needed experi-
ence on the state level.
“I wanted to get the girls to re-
alize that there is more to bas-
ketball than the Wyoming Valley
Conference,” said Wilson.
“That's all they've ever known.”
Unfortunately, for the Black
Knights, though, the Indians
had no intention of making
Rob Wilson
Lehman coac
Lehman's first trip to the state
playoffs since 1984 an enjoyable
one.
Lake-Lehman kept the game
close early, and were down only
18-10 at the end of the first
quarter.
But the Indians doused. the
Black Knight offense in the sec-
ond quarter with a strong press,
leading to a 15-4 run to widen
the gap to 33-14.
Shamokin continued to domi-
nate and opened the second half
with a 10-2 run, highlighted by
six straight points on Black
Knight turnovers from Indian
guard Jen Varano, giving them
a 47-20 lead.
See LEHMAN, pg 12
POST PHOTO/RON BARTIZEK
Lisa Wasser (22) goes strong to the basket against Shamokin in
their state playoff game March 9 at Wyoming Valley West High
School.
Coach: Showing at states bodes well
By JOE PETRUCCI
Special to The Dallas Post
HERSHEY - Without a doubt,
Lake-Lehman wrestling coach
Phil Lipski is thinking the quar-
tet of Black Knight state quali-
fiers will only have a positive ef-
fect on his already battle-tested
program.
Senior heavyweight Matt
Carey advanced to the semifi-
nals before earning a sixth-place
medal at the PIAA Wrestling
Championships at Hersheypark
Arena last weekend, while three
other Lehman grapplers, senior
189-pounder Ed Becker and ju-
niors John Houssock (112) and
Willie Weber (152) lost their first
two matches and were eliminat-
ed.
While several other Lehman
wrestlers were on the cusp of
qualifying for states — freshmen
Matt Dragon and Jeremy
Schutz, sophomore Matt Stuart
and juniors Kelby Morgan and
Bob Morris, to name a few —
Lipski is banking on the big
weekend at Hershey to cash in
on more PIAA qualifiers next
season.
“It's certainly nice to get as
many kids down here as we can”
Lipski said. “The more kids you
get, it's contagious. They say
‘Boy I was close with him in my
district match and he placed at
states. That means I'm close,
too. I can get there.’ (Getting as
See WRESTLING, pg 12
DON CAREY/FOR THE DALLAS POST
Ed Becker of Lake-Lehman controls Bryan Eckhart of Wilson Area during their 1891b. match Thursday
at the Hershey Arena.
Slocum stars as Pirates PeeWee A
finish second at Spring Classic
Drew Slocum had 23 saves, but it was not enough as the Medford
(NJ) Jaguars defeated the Pocono Pirates PeeWee A team 3-0 in the
finals of the Pocono Pirates 2002 Spring Classic.
In the opening games of the tournament Eric Wroblewski had a
goal in the Pirates’ 7-3 victory over the Brewster (NY) Blackhawks.
Slocum made 16 saves in the winning effort.
Alex Slocum leads Pocono Squirt A team
Alex Slocum had two goals and an assist to lead the Pocono Pi-
rates Squirt A team to a 4-2 victory over the New Jersey Lightning
in recent youth hockey action.
Slocum also had a goal and an assist in a 3-3 tie with the Wis-
sahickon Warriors.
Pirates Squirt B team places third at tourney
Graham Speace, of Shavertown, had an assist in the Pocono Pi-
rates Squirt B team’s 3-2 loss to the Kings of Exton in the Pocono
Pirate Spring Hockey Tournament March 3 at the Ice Box.
Dallas Jr. Football registration
If you are a young man or young lady and you will be between the
ages of 6-13 by Aug. 1 and you live in the Dallas, Dallas Twp. or
Franklin Twp. areas, you can be playing football or cheering for the
Dallas Jr. Mounts.
Registrations will be held from 10 a.m-2 p.m. on Saturday March’
23 and from 6-8 p.m. on Friday May 10. You ned to bring copies of
your Birth Certificate, Health Insurance, a recent photo and’ a re-
cent physical. Any questions call 674-5549.
POST PHOTO/TIMOTHY J. RAUB
Lindsay Boris headed to Brown
Lake-Lehman field hockey standout Lindsay Boris made her official
announcement March 12 that she would continue her academic and
athletic careers with Brown University.
“It is a very nice relief (to make the announcement),” said Boris.
“It is the final step in the college choosing procedure.”
Boris was an all-state field hockey player, and member of the 2001
state runner-up Black Knight team.
She ranks second in her class academically.
Pictured in the photo, from left, front row: Susan Boris, Lindsay
‘Boris, Frank Boris. Second Row: Assistant coach Sandy Boyle,
head coach Jean Lipski, Lake-Lehman principal John Oliver and
assistant principal Fred Sponenberg.
Byron leads
Hoban girls
to state 2nd
By STEVE SEMBRAT
Special to the Dallas Post
UNIVERSITY PARK — Happy
endings aren't always storybook
endings.
The Bishop Hoban girls could-
n't agree more after finishing
second in the team standings at
the PIAA Class
2A swimming
championships
on Saturday.
Sure, it
would have
been nice to
win gold in the
final event of
the two-day
meet along
with the team title. That, howev-
er, went to Oakland Catholic,
which won the 400-yard
freestyle relay in record time,
clinching the team crown with
173 points. .
Hoban finished third in that
race, and by doing so finished
with 111 team points, edging out
Gwynedd Mercy with 106 and
Shady Side Academy with 100.
“We knew we had to beat
Gwynedd Mercy in that last re-
lay, or we would have ended up
third” in the team standings,
Hoban senior Liz Byron said.
“We knew what we had to do.”
Byron, who won a silver medal
in the 100 freestyle to start the
evening's finals; nailed down the
relay bronze in 3:35.10.
Gwynedd Mercy was fourth.
Liz Byron
Bishop Hoban senior swirr
“Once I touched the wall and
we saw that we beat them,” By-
ron said, “it was insanity.
“Every single girl has a piece of
that,” Byron added, pointing to
the second-place team trophy
the Argents received. “Every girl
that swam, and every girl who
was in the stands cheering us on
was a part of this.”
Both Byron sisters earned
points for Hoban in the 100
freestyle, with freshman Caroline
Byron placing 10th with a time
of 54.55 seconds, and Liz Byron
taking second in 52.93.
Liz Byron had been seeded
first heading into that event, and
first going into the finals, but
Kristen Brown of Bermudian
Springs was a little better, win-
ning in 52.55. While it was a dis-
appointment, Liz Byron didn’t let
it give her a sinking feeling.
“I didn’t let the mental non-
sense get in my way,” she said.
That was true of all the Ar-
gents.
“I told them to keep plugging
away,” Hoban coach Mara
Pawlenok said. “We were able to
keep on getting points that way.”
Justine Grilz finish meant that
all Hoban had to do was finish
ahead of Gwynedd Mercy in the
final event to grab second. Liz
Byron, Caroline Byron, Katelyn
Ostopick and Grilz accomplished
that.
“This is the perfect ending,” Liz
Byron said. “Actually, it's an
ending that’s kind of happy and
sad. It’s great that we had the
best finish ever for a Hoban girls
team. It’s great that we won the
most medals ever for a Hoban
girls team. But it's sad that it’s
over.”
This article appeared in original
form in the Times Leader.