Manheim Central boys' basketball is clicking on all cylinders and is starting to win the close games, something that eluded the squad last season. The Barons beat Garden Spot 46-43 on Tuesday, Jan. 19, giving the Barons a 3-2 record.

Led by Judd Novak and Cam Eberly each posting 10 points, Central had a great first half and held on for the win. Wyatt Becker and Matt Siegrist each had eight points and Trey Grube netted seven.

MC also beat Penn Manor, 58-47 on Friday, Jan. 15. The Barons led 13-8 after the first quarter, 28-14 at halftime and increased the advantage to 44-24 after three quarters. Grube had a team-high 19 points, including five 3-pointers. Logan Shull netted nine points, including two treys and Novak and Becker each posted eight points.

The Comets led 6-4 when Fisher called a timeout. He told his troops they were a little sluggish and needed to compose themselves. They did. The Barons used defense to create turnovers, Fisher said. Manheim led by as many as 25 in the game.

"Part of it was defense and rebounding and shooting exceptionally well," head coach Charlie Fisher said about the win. "There was no rah-rah speech during that timeout. I just said they should expect more out of themselves. It is about making progress. I said, 'Hey, let's play our game.' Shull's nine points, that's a big game for him."

SWIMMING

The Lady Barons notched their first win of the season, beating Cocalico, 69-56, Saturday, Jan. 16. Manheim swim coach Heather Fittery said it was a team effort. She said Olivia Faulhaber, Makenna Enck and Chole Enck had great swims and noted that the relay team had big wins. Emersen Weaver, Samara Bucher, Alexa Galbreath and Faulhaber won the 400 free relay.

"We scored points in several events where we placed three or four swimmers," Fittery said. "That helped the girls beat Cocalico."

Despite losing 85-53, Fittery said the boys swam well against Cocalico, noting the Bode Sipel, Wyatt Kupres, Paetyn Knepp played a big role, as well as Finn Schmidhuber, Owen Kupres and Joe Giambalvo.

This was a nice bounce back, after starting the season with a 128-30 loss to Ephrata boys and a 121-34 loss to the Lady Mounts. Fittery noted that Faulhaber and Makenna Enck swam well in the 50 freestyle and 100 backstroke for the girls, respectively and Sipel was strong for the boys in the 50 free and 100 backstroke. Mason Weaver posted a good swim in the 100 free and Kupres and Knepp did well in the 100 breaststroke and 500 free, respectively.

"They swam well, considering the few practices we have had," said Fittery who has a small team, nine boys and 11 girls.

RIFLE

The rifle team held on for a 494-493 victory over Manheim Township Thursday, Jan. 14. Anna Haldeman and Kami Groff each posted perfect 100 scores. Ellie McCabe notched a 99, followed by Trevor Gray and Rodney Sauder and 98 and 97, respectively.

"The two 100s by Anna and Kami were definitely a help in this match, followed up by Ellie's 99," head coach Steve Waddington said. "Honestly, it was two evenly matched teams facing off. We were just lucky enough to get some very close shots that plugged in and not out. This match could have easily gone the other way had we lost on a pin or two."

The Barons remained undefeated at 5-0 after beating Ephrata 492-486 Jan. 19. Haldeman registered another 100. Groff, McCabe, Nathan Sauder and Eberly all shot 98.

BOWLING

The bowlers suffered a loss to Cocalico on game scores of 970-699, 869-800 and 817-808. Though not thrilled with the outcome, coach Alan Slides was pleased with the performance overall by his young squad.

"The first game we lost by more than 100, and some were shocked by that score," Slides said. "They may not have gotten strikes, but they got spares and really fought."

Cole Shontz had games of 126, 141, 156 for three-game series of 423. Hailey Kowalski had a 133 then a game-high 190, and 138 for a 461. Holly Hunt had a 149, 172, 182 for a 503. Jesse Hurst had a 175, 174, 183 for a team-high series of 532.

WRESTLING

Head coach Billy Chamberlain said it wasn't pretty, but the Manheim Mat Men started the season 3-0, after a 42-31 triumph over Cedar Crest Saturday, Jan. 16. They gained pins from Gabe Thomas (113), Logan Nelson (126), Brett Barbush (189) and Ryland Fittery (285).

"It was an ugly win," Chamberlain said. "The bright spot was Thomas, who usually wrestles at 105, but bumped up to 113 and got the pin. Fittery got a fall and he wrestled a league place-winner last year."

The Barons lost last Tuesday to Spring Grove, 69-6. Barbush got a pin at 189. Manheim, with back-to-back meets, lost Wednesday to Garden Spot, 40-24. Rocco Daughtery was down 9-2 in the third and got a pin on a headlock. Barbush and Thomas and Ethan Stoltzfus each got falls.

"Uriah Warner battled hard, but lost, 5-2, coming close to turning his opponent in the second and third periods," Chamberlain said. "And Barbush is living up to the high expectations placed on him as someone who finished third in Leagues last year."

GIRLS' BASKETBALL

Paced by Maddie Knier's 30 points, the Lady Barons beat Penn Manor, 58-47, Jan. 15.

"She plays unbelievably hard, as hard as anyone I've seen," head coach Tyson Hayes said about Knier. "Even her misses, she goes after it and puts them in."

Hayes said everyone contributed to the win, including Abbie Reed, who added seven points, as she controlled the pace at point guard. Central led 20-4 after the first quarter and 30-15 at halftime.

MC beat Fleetwood the next night, Jan. 16, in a 37-28 triumph. Hayes called it a good, emotional win, especially with the short turnaround in games. It was a grind, but the Barons got it done, Hayes said. Knier had a team-high 25 points.

Central beat Garden Spot, 57-34, Jan. 19 behind a new season-high of 31 points by Knier.