Unlike most sports, high school swimming is not just about winning. It is also about picking up valuable second, third and fourth place finishes and the team points that come with them. "Our depth has taken us really far this season. Being able to score seconds and thirds and fourths in races does wonders for us," said head coach Chad Houck. "We've got a great group of seniors who really set the tone along with an impressive freshman class who is really following their lead."

A perfect example came on January 25th where the girls topped Lampeter-Strasburg 90-80 while the boy's rolled 108-58 with the two sides combing for 11 wins over 24 events. Morgan Conway (100 back, 200 IM) fronted the Lady Bears while picking up a 200-free relay win with help from Genevieve McDonald, Tessa Cronin, and Sierra Kapcsos. Cronin (50-free) and McDonald (100-breastroke) added solos wins while Stephanie Hall earned the final victory in the 200-free.

On the boy's side it was the 'Rachael' Show starring Wyatt and Everett Rachael. The duo accounted for all three solo wins as well as taking part in both relay victories. Riley Runnels and Nathan Yohn were the other half of the winning 200-medlay and 200-freestyle relay teams while Wyatt added a win in the 100-breaststroke. Everett claimed the 100-backstroke and the 500-freestyle where his 5:01.05 set a new school record, breaking his five-day old mark.

Of course, winning makes it all much easier as with E-town's victories over Conestoga Valley on the 20th. Elizabethtown claimed 20 of the 24 events with a total of four top three sweeps to cruise to wins of 123-45 for the boys and 119-46 for the girls.

The Bears swept the relay events on the boy's side thanks to the work of Jacob Rudy, Wyatt Rachael, Mitchell Garber, Runnels, Ethan Hall, Everett Rachael, Niko Houck, Tyler Henry, and Trevor Nolen. For the girl's it was Lilly Rutkowski, Madi Conway, Charlotte Hershey, Kapcsos, Morgan Conway, McDonald, Rene Oltmans, Stephanie Hall, Cronin, and Julia Garber helping in the relay sweep.

The star of the solo wins was Everett Rachael who set a short-lived new school record in the 500-free.

"Everett is a great freshman swimmer on his way to doing great things in this sport," said Houck. "We've used him primarily as a sprinter, but he's capable of winning every race we put him in."

Wyatt Rachael led a sweep in the 50-free while Carter Ketchum did the same in the 200-free. Ethan Hall taking the 100-free while Nevin Rutherford (100-butterfly), Rudy (100-backstroke) and Runnels (100-breaststoke) picked up the final three victories.

The Lady Bears added seven individual event wins to their relay sweep led by Stephanie Hall (200 and 500 free), Kapcsos (50 and 100 free) and Morgan Conway (200 IM and 100 breaststroke) with two wins each. Ali Fink slipped in a 100-butterfly victory to finish the meet.

BOWLING

The bowling team had the rare back-to-back matches against the same opponent, Warwick, on January 19th and 24th with the Bears posting a pair of 5-2 victories. The same five bowlers were live in both matches with Daniel Eberle going 681 and 732 to enjoy the top spot. Zach Wentzel added a 634 to his 708 while Ayden Pope scored a 675 and a 625. Alaina Telenko chipped in with a 662 and a 613 series while Derek Deardorff finished with a 618 and 649.

WRESTLING

The wrestling team is in the middle of a rough patch, following a 31-30 loss to Central on January 13th with another heartbreaker on the 24th. That one was a 34-33 setback to ELCO where five of the Bears six wins were by fall but it was not enough to outlast the Raiders. Hayden Best (106), Ryan Findlay (126), Aiden Robinson (152), Jake Rudy (160) and Hayden Hoover (189) accounted for those five falls while Nathan Thomas (132) managed a 14-8 decision for the final win.

Elizabethtown was able to split the two losses with a 35-27 win over Donegal on the 19th. E-town picked up three wins via fall and three via decision, adding in two major decisions to earn the 12-point win. Findlay (126), Robinson (152) and Best (106) enjoyed the pinfalls with Nick Smith (138), Rudy (160) and Austin Reitmeyer (120) collecting the decisions. Thomas (132) and Haver (189) added the two major decisions.

RIFLE

The rifle team continued their march to perfection with wins over Governor Mifflin and Ephrata, improving to 10-0. Luke Turner, Brandon Rain, Rachel Broomell and Kyle Lloyd were top scorers in both matches. Emily Bonsall rounded out the top five in the 494-491 win over Mifflin on the 20th with Caden Kettering doing the same in the 490-488 win over the Mountaineers on the 25th.

GIRLS' BASKETBALL

The girls' basketball team shook off a six-game slide with a three-game winning streak that started on January 21st with a 54-39 win over McCaskey. E-town controlled three of the four frames with Jade Love-Morris (15-points) and Kallee Locker (11-points) leading the way.

One night later the Lady Bears traveled to Palmyra where they posted a 32-26 victory to give head coach John Myers his 100th career win. E-town used an 11-3 run through the third to turn a one-point halftime margin into a nine-point cushion heading into the final frame. Palmyra posted a 10-7 edge in the fourth to set the final at 32-26. Ainsley Raybold netted a team high nine points.

Elizabethtown made it three in a row with a 36-26 triumph over Warwick on the 25th. This time it was a 13-3 first quarter edge that propelled E-town to the win as the sides played even the rest of the way. Locker finished with 13-points.

BOYS' BASKETBALL

For the boy's, their three-games in five-days started with a win over McCaskey but losses to Palmyra and Warwick took some wind from the Bears sails.

Against McCaskey it was the Gilhool show with Patrick dropping 20 points and Matthew adding 18 to help the Bears post a 49-47 win. E-town used a 19-9 run over the final eight minutes to steal the win.

One night later the Bears were unable to keep pace with Palmyra, leading to a 59-37 setback. The Cougars controlled all four frames leading to the 22-point final margin. Patrick Gilhool netted 16-points and Techeal Gonquoi added 15-points

January 25th sent the Bears to Lititz where Warwick survived E-town's fourth quarter push to collect the 62-58 win. Elizabethtown trailed 49-37 heading into the final frame where they outscored the Warriors 21-13, leaving the Bears four points short of their comeback bid. Patrick Gilhool's 21-points led the way. Matthew Gilhool (16), Gonquoi (12) and Braden Cummings (9) also contributed.