What do you get when you combine a strong finish to the 2022 portion of your schedule with an equally strong beginning to the 2023 portion...the Elizabethtown swimming season. The Bears on both sides of the pool rock a 5-1 overall mark with wins over Manheim Central, Cocalico and Conestoga Valley all coming in 2023.

"We celebrated senior night against CV, and it was a great night to recognize the seniors on our team and get some quality races in," said head coach Chad Houck of his team's double win, 111-56 for the boys and 130-33 for the girls over Conestoga Valley on the 16th.

The Lady Bears claimed all 11 races with Morgan Conway leading the solo charge with two wins (200-freestyle, 500-freestyle). Julia Garber (200 IM), Rene Oltmans (50-free), Ali Fink (100-fly), Olivia Hirst (100-free), Genna McDonald (100-breaststroke) and Tessa Cronin (100-back) rounded out the solo wins to go along with wins in the 200-medley relay as well as the 200- and 400-freestyle relays.

The boys also claimed all three relays with five wins in individual races. Everett Rachael led that charge with wins in the 200-free and 500-free. Nathan Yohn (50-free), Reid Gilmore (100-fly) and Logan Conway (100-breaststroke) accounted for the three remaining victories.

In Elizabethtown's doubles win over Cocalico on the 12th it was the boy's team winning the solo victory battle thanks to Rachael and Jack Ketchum. Everett claimed the 200- and 500-free while Ketchum took the 100-back and 200 IM. Add in wins by Gilmore (10- fly) and Yohn (50-free) coupled with a relay sweep and you get a 107-61 victory.

For the Lady Bears, Conway was the lone double victor in the 110-60 win, taking both the 100-breaststroke and the 500-free. Another replay sweep coupled with wins by Fink (100-fly), Cronin (100-back) and Stephanie Hall (200-free) rounded out the team win.

The Lady Bears used top three sweeps in six of the eight individual events combined with three relay wins to post a 127-33 victory over Central on the 10th. Garber led the way with wins in the 200 IM and 500-free while Conway (200-free), McDonald (50-free), Annale Nguyen (100-free) and Hirst (100-back) claimed the remaining solo wins.

On the boys' side it was more of the same with Rachael posting two solo wins to lead the Bears to a 107-56 victory over the Barons. The Bears swept the relays and matched the Lady Bears six solo event wins but were unable to match the six top three sweeps. Rachael's two victories came in the 200-free and 500-free while Yohn (50-free), Gilmore (100-fly), Ketchum (100-back) and Trevor Nolen (100-breaststroke) rounded out the wins.

BOWLING

Moving over to the bowling alley, the Bears sit at 60-25 on the year after back-to-back-to-back losses. Two of the losses came to Manheim Township on the 11th and Lampeter-Strasburg on the 16th with Warwick taking a 4-3 win on the 17th.

The quintet of Derek Deardorff, Zach Wentzel, Mason Moore, Ella Eberle and Declan Lentz led E-town to 7-0 wins over Central York on the 5th and Ephrata on the 9th. All five broke the 600-pin plateau against Ephrata while only Deardorff and Wentzel managed the same against Central York.

AIR RIFLE

The air rifle team is stuck in a twisted version of the two-step, having two sets of back-to-back wins and two sets of back-to-back losses, leaving the Bears with a 4-4 mark. Elizabethtown picked up one of each set over their last four matches, topping Wilson 497-483 on the 5th and Conestoga Valley 588-586 on the 10th. The losses were to Manheim Township, 497-492, on the 12th and to Governor Mifflin, 497-493, on the 17th.

BASKETBALL

The new year has not been kind to Elizabethtown basketball. The boy's team has gone 1-4 in 2023 to fall to 5-11 overall while the Lady Bears are 1-5 in the new year with a 3-12 overall record.

The boys' win came on the 6th when E-town topped Solanco 44-39. The Bears started slow and trailed after the opening frame but outscored the Golden Mules 36-28 the rest of the way. Brandon Andrews netted a game high 15 while Caiden Zeager added 12 points.

Elizabethtown was back in action on the 9th, falling to Donegal, 61-56, in double overtime. E-town built a five-point cushion over the first half only to see the Indians erase that lead with an 11-6 fourth quarter. A similar run came in the second OT period for Donegal, securing the win. Zeager topped the Bears scoring with 20 points while Brenden Lehman added 14.

Elizabethtown stepped out of the L-L for their January 11th clash with Red Land that went to the Patriots 53-26. The Bears were outscored in three of the four quarters, including a 43-14 blitz over the second and third quarters. Zeager and Noah Locke both finished with six points.

A return to the L-L on the 13th did not help as Elizabethtown fell to Conestoga Valley 51-40. Andrews topped the Bear scorers with 17 points while Cooper Torborg chipped in with 13 points.

The Bears dropped another OT affair on the 17th, falling to Ephrata by a 67-63 final. The two sides traded blows with the Mountaineers landing the crucial 9-5 blow in the extra session. Zeager led a quartet in double figures with 18 points.

The lone Lady Bear win of 2023 came on the 9th with E-town beating Donegal 27-19 thanks to a 17-9 second half surge. Taryn Hummer led the way with 16 points.

Elizabethtown kicked off the new year on the 6th with Solanco handing out a 32-27 setback. The Golden Mares did the bulk of their damage in the second frame where they posted a 7-3 edge. Hummer finished with eight points in the loss.

The Lady Bears followed their win over Donegal with a 43-31 loss to Cocalico on the 12th. The Lady Eagles built a 31-14 cushion through three quarters, but E-town was able to hold a 17-12 edge in the final frame to shrink the final margin to 12 points. Hummer netted a team high seven for E-town.

One day later the Lady Bears were hosting Conestoga Valley with the Lady Buckskins posting a 39-20 victory before leaving town. In a bit of dejà vu, the Lady Bears were outscored in the first three frames before posting a slim 6-4 fourth quarter edge, leading to the 39-20 final. Jadyn Lloyd and Chloe Wilkinson finished with matching six-point games.

The most recent setback came on the 17th with Ephrata handing out a 56-22 loss. The Lady Mountaineers held the scoring edge in all four quarters with Hummer's 11 points counting as the team high.

WRESTLING

The wrestling team suffered their first league loss on the 11th, falling to Manheim Central 35-28. Bradley Candy (285), Francis Burke (120) and Austin Reitmeyer (126) all enjoyed pinfall wins while Kai Laszakovits (138) and Nathan Thomas (145) posted standard decisions and Aiden Robinson (152) a major decision.