Sunday, March 20, 2005 7 DALLAS YOUTH BASKETBALL Arris Engineering wins league fitle Arris Engineering won the champi- onship, 31-27 over Crystal Vision Center. Arris was led by Melissa Snyder’s 14 “in the DYB paint” points, and 5-6 Girls scoring by Meghan Gallis with 11 points and Demetra Szatkowski with eight. Leading the defense were Victoria Crockett and Christine McCarthy. The Vision Center girls battled to the final buzzer as Sabrina Zurek led the offense with 12 points, followed by Dana Krawetz with eight points, Jennifer Lloyd with five, Briana Zablotney with two and the tough defense of Sarah Zablotney. SEMI FINALS Arris Engineering 27, Philadelphia Hair 18 Arris’ top scorer Meghan Gallis put up 10 points to advance her team to the championship with help from Demetra Szatkowski with seven points and Melissa Snyder with six. A solid defense was led by Tamara Nijmeh and Chelsea English. The Hair Girls top scorer for the year, Sarah Konopki, scored nine points, followed by Samantha Martin with five points and Sara Kohli and Danielle Shaver with two each. See 5-6 GIRLS, Page 8 FOR THE POST/AIMEE DILGER Local swimmers, divers faring well at states Caroline Byron defended her gold medal in the 50-yard freestyle last week at the PIAA Class 2A Swimming Championship. She posted identical times of 23.78 seconds in both her qualifying heat and the race. The competi- tion was held for the first time at Bucknell University. In the diving competition, Dallas senior Whitney Bolton finished 13th, a spot better than last year. Freshman Erica Lisses finished 18th. The meets continued last Thursday, with results unavailable in time for this issue. FOR THE POST/PETE G. WILCOX Hoban falls short Bishop Hoban's Sean Leary blocks the path of Joseph Diminick of Trinity to the basket during the March 12 PIAA Class 2A quarterfi- nal playoff game in Pottsville. Hoban lost in overtime, 73-68. Leary scored six points. bs wa FOR THE POST/DON CAREY Ron Swingle Sr., Matt Dragon's first wrestling coach, waited to snap a photo of the new state champion at 152 Ib. STATE HIGH SCHOOL WRESTLING tate champ credits rst coach and mentor Matt Dragon learned the principles of success long ago, under Ron Swingle. By CHRIS BELL Post Correspondent Lake-Lehman’s recently crowned state wrestling champi- on Matt Dragon is as smart off the mat as he is savvy on it. That’s obvious in the fact that he’ll enroll at the prestigious Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania in the fall. It’s also evident in his choice of Ron Swingle as his friend and mentor. Dragon considers Swingle, the founder of the Noxen Strikers wrestling club and his former coach, as a father or grandfather figure. “Ron and I developed a special bond,” said Dragon, who posted a 166-11 career record at Lehman. “He’s a great man and a special friend. He’s made a huge impact on my Matt Dragon's victory was the most impressive in Class 2A. Page 8. Dragon credits Swingle with instilling in him the work ethic necessary to be successful in the classroom. “When I wrestled for Ron in elementary school, he gave a certificate to kids that car- ried a B average in school,” said Dragon. “It was just a little piece of paper, but I really wanted one and it made me work harder in ‘the classroom. It has carried over into high school.” Swingle believes that Dragon used the same approach to become a state champion. “Matt is special,” said Swingle. “He is a tireless worker and he always had a goal. He'd work to achieve his goal and then would set another goal and work hard to reach that goal. He was never satisfied.” While Dragon recorded several life. See SWINGLE, Page 8 FOR THE POST/CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK Yahan Derby goes up for the Gators. GOH girls edged for championship 4 The Gate of Heaven varsity girls basketball team finished as run- ners-up in the Wyoming Valley Parochial Girls League after losing the overall championship game to St. Jude's on March 16, 33-27. Leading scorers for GOH were Abby Zurad with seven, Francesca Pascucci with six and Erin Crossin with five. The GOH varsity girls won “A Bracket” tournament champi- onship on March 13, defeating St. Jude's 23-20 in a tightly contested defensive battle. Gate of Heaven was led by Caroline Suhocki with five points. Crossin, Serena Roncevich and Zurad added four points each and Pascucci scored three points. Gate of Heaven advanced to the championship game by defeating Holy Rosary 42-29. In that game, Gate of Heaven was led by Crossin with 12 points and Roncevich with 10 points. Serena Fulton, Suhocki, and Zurad each added six points. The Gate of Heaven girls fin- ished the regular season league play with a 16-2 record and claimed the second half league scored five points in the game. Erin Crossin drove around a St. Jude's defender. She championship. Latosek hits 1000th point Nick Latosek, an eighth grader at Gate of Heaven School, recently scored his 1000th point as a Gator. He is the son of Joe and Jackie Latosek, and is coached by Juan DeRojas, Tom Horn and Mike Judge. Trout stocking Saturday The Pa. Fish and Boat Commission will begin stocking local waters Saturday. Stocking will take place in Harveys Creek during the afternoon at these locations: Meeker-Outlet Road to Fedor Road: 180 brookies, 420 rainbow. Jackson Road to Pavlick Road: 210 brown, 490 rainbow. Pavlick Road to mounth: 1,320 brown, 3,080 rainbow. Bishop O'Reilly Sk The Bishop O'Reilly 5k will be held April 9, beginning at 9:30 a.m. The entry fee is $15 or $10 if received by April 1. The race will begin and end at Bishop O'Reilly High School in Kingston. All pro- ceeds will benefit a student-to-stu- dent scholarship fund. For more information, contact Bishop O'Reilly at 288-1404. CLASS A BOYS BASKETBALL PLAYOFFS O'Reilly charges to state final Staff report POTTSVILLE, Mar. 15 — Tim Crossin scored a game-high 27 points, including six three-pointers in the first half, as District 2 champion Bishop O'Reilly over- whelmed District 3 champion Lebanon Catholic, 90-50, at Martz Hall. The defending state champion Queensmen played District 10 champion Kennedy Christian (25-5) Friday at the Giant Center in Hershey for the state champi- onship. That game took place after this issue of The Post was printed. Kennedy Christian defeated D6 cham- pion Blairsville 61-59 in overtime to reach the final game. Against Lebanon, the Queensmen raced to a 22-9 lead after one quarter and a 54-22 halftime advantage. Bishop O'Reilly shot an amazing 67 percent from the floor during the first half, including making 13 of 16 shots from the floor in the 32-point second quarter. Nine Bishop O'Reilly players scored , including a 23- point performance by Josh Aciukewicz. With no Lebanon Catholic player taller than 6 feet, the Queensmen wasted little time going inside to the 6- foot-5 Aciukewicz. He scored eight points in the first quarter and 13 in the first half, missing just one shot. The inside game opened things up for Crossin and the O'Reilly guards. In addition to Crossin’s six three-point- Josh Aciukewicz used his 6-foot-5 frame to advantage against Lebanon Catholic, scoring 23 points. FOR THE POST/AIMEE DILGER ers in the first two quarters, Chris DeRojas came off the bench to hit a pair. See O'REILLY, Page 8
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