Penn Manor's boys' swim team posted its second win of the season with an 83-51 result over visiting McCaskey last Tuesday, January 31. The girls, with an 89-75 result, provided the sweep in the teams' last regular meet of the season.

"We had some great swims with a lot of dropped times," noted head coach Eric Urban. "The boys had some big individual wins and the girls meet came down to relays and individual wins."

Brayden Clow emerged as Manor's leading scorer, winning not only the 100 free and 100 back but contributing to a pair of relay firsts. Clow swam with Noah Reen, Spencer Barry and Pol Linares in the 200 IM and with Reen, Gage Myers and Derek Thomas in the 400 free relay while Reen and Thomas provided a 100 back sweep taking second and third respectively.

The team of Barry, Linares, G. Myers and Thomas also claimed the top time in the 200 free relay.

Barry went on to win the 50 free, Thomas earned the 500 free, Linares was tops in the 100 breaststroke and Reen touched first in the 200 IM.

For the girls, both teams won four individual races but the girls went 1, 2, 3 in the 50 free with Grace Bresch, Emma Landis and Brianna Esh, and won all three relays to pull away.

Bresch added a second win in the 100 fly with Kenzie Wolpert touching first in both the 100 free and 200 IM. The pair teamed with Ellie Baldrige and Kari Anderson for a 200 medley relay win. Bresch anchored the winning 200 free team with Baldrige, Emma Landis and Catherine Rabatin while Wolpert anchored the 400 free with Landis, Esh and Bella Fulmer leading the way.

BOWLING

With playoffs closing in, the Comet bowlers took one more step toward extending their season. Friday, January 27, fighting from behind, Penn Manor nudged Manheim Township 4-3.

The Streaks took the opening game 985-901 but the Comets dismissed Nick Tomlinson's match-high 269 second game and pulled out a 13-pin victory to knot the score at 2-2.

Four of Manor's five bowlers rolled 200 or better with Josh Stock's 228 leading the way. The Streaks rolled three 200+ games but it wasn't enough. The Comets clinched the win with a 1057, winning by 25 pins.

Township earned the final team point with the highest pin total of the match but it didn't change the outcome.

Stock's 635 was the third highest score of the day and Manors' high total. Chris Hull added a 614 and Eva Brubaker, the only Comet to roll three 200+ games, settled for 608. Lacey Slaymaker (540) and Corinne Smith (535) rounded out the scoring.

Last Monday, Jan. 30, the Comets found themselves in another tight one. This time they fell short, 5-2, against Ephrata. The Mounts won the first two games by a combined 56 pins to clinch the victory.

Brubaker's 645 series was a match high. Slaymaker rolled three 200+ games for a 619 and Stock was two pins behind. Smith settled for a 561 and Hull and Kayla Wasche combined for a 519.

"Ephrata has some very good spare shooters and we missed too many spares in this one," said head coach Chris Vital. "But we're still in control of making the league playoffs, as a team, as long as McCaskey doesn't shut us out."

GIRLS' BASKETBALL

Looking to sweep the series and notch their second league win of the season, the lady Comets hosted Hempfield Friday, Jan. 27 but fell short of their goal. The visiting Knights used a 17-5 run through the first quarter to gain momentum and went on to outscore the Comets in each of the next three quarters for a 55-26 road win.

Izzy Kligge's six points were high for the Comets. Sheridan Charles came off the bench with five fourth quarter points, including 3-for-3 from the foul line. Lilly Rineer also finished with five points.

In a non-section matchup against Cocalico last Monday, Jan. 30, the Comets put together a furious fourth quarter rally, pouring in their second highest scoring total of the season, 19, only to fall short by a single point, 40-39. The Comets did not have an answer for Teagan Sahm who racked up 23 points, including 9 of her team's first 11 points.

"We definitely struggled the whole game to stop their post player," said head coach Mike Glackin.

Down 30-20 after three quarters, five different Comets contributed to the rally with Rineer netting six of her eight and Kligge and Smith adding four. Kligge and Carly Groff also drained triples in that run.

"Izzy hit her three right before the buzzer and I was out of time outs so the clock ran off," recalled Glackin. "Our defense forced a lot of turnovers and in the fourth we converted some of those."

Kligge settled for a team-high 13 with Smith adding a season-high 10. "Izzy continues to be our most consistent player and Paityn played her tail off and brought great energy.

"Credit the girls for not giving up. They gave a great effort."

BOYS' BASKETBALL

For the second time this season, the Comets played section-leader Hempfield tough but to no avail. The Knights survived a fourth quarter Penn Manor rally and settled for a 52-45 win on Friday, January 27.

Claiming a 19-14 first half advantage, the Knights gained some distance with a convincing 19-9 third quarter and then held on as the Comets out-pointed the hosts 22-14 down the stretch. Ethan Benne led the charge, pouring in 11 of his team-high 15 points over that run. Wesley Dhamir and Aidan Mattern both settled for nine points.

WRESTLING

The matmen competed in the Lancaster-Lebanon League championships Friday and Saturday, January 27-28 and came home with five medals.

Travis Clawson, wrestling at 121-pounds, was the highest Comet finisher, grabbing silver with Saturday's tight 5-4 loss to Marco Tocci, son of Comet athletic director Pat Tocci. Tied at 4-4 heading into the third period, Tocci escaped to start the action and then denied Clawson the rest of the way.

The Comet junior opened with a bye and then decked Columbia's Drew Paules in 14 seconds. He earned a second fall, this one in 2:48, over Lampeter's Riley Bonholtzer in the quarterfinals and then got to the finals with a forfeit win over Township's Kamdyn Williams.

Riley Evans followed Clawson to the medal stand with a fifth place finish at 107. He went 3-2 on the weekend, earning a fall over E-town's Trenton Smith (1:00) and a tech fall over Annville-Cleona's Oliver Funck along the way.

The Comets also earned three sixth place finishes with Teagan Rogers (189), Josh Zook (152) and Gavin Boland (114) contributing to a 14th place finish.

Zook opened with a 3:16 fall against Donegal's Ruben Mumper but rallied with four wins to face Mumper in the consi semis. This time the Comet freshman went the distance before falling short 9-4. Zook faced Township's Katen Kamp for fifth place but fell short, 12-2.

Rogers, who enlisted in the Armed Forces last year, withdrew from the tournament in order to fulfill a military obligation. He opened with a tech fall and a major decision on Friday but forfeited three bouts on Saturday. The forfeits moved him to sixth place. Boland, on the other hand, withdrew due to a knee injury suffered in the semifinals. He opened with back-to-back falls to get to the semis. He was the No. 2 seed.

"Gavin is having a great season," said head coach Brandon Vernalli. "We hope this isn't a season-ender."

Also contributing to Manor's point total was Evan Buswell (139) and Gabe Midile (127).