When describing the 2022-2023 boys' basketball season the phrase 'too little, too late' appears to fit. The Bears sit at 8-12 on the year after splitting games against Warwick and Solanco with the most likely outcome for the season being a near miss when it comes to the postseason. E-town sits just four spots outside the District 3-5A postseason, but a sluggish 5-10 start most likely made the climb a little too steep.

Elizabethtown's 57-37 win over Solanco came on the 31st with Caiden Zeager drilling six from long range on his way to 24 points. The Bears posted a scoring edge in three of the four frames while holding the Golden Mules to single digit point totals in those three quarters. Braden Cummings chipped in with 10 points.

Elizabethtown found themselves on the opposite end of the final in their January 26th clash with Warwick that went to the Warriors by a 61-48 final. E-town started slow and trailed 17-5 after the opening quarter. From there the game played out even with E-town keeping pace with Warwick, 44-43. Unfortunately, the damage had already been done. Cummings led a trio of double-digit scorers with 16. Zeager (11 points) and Branden Lehman (10 points) followed.

WRESTLING

The wrestling team took a break from the tail end of their regular season to get started on the postseason with a trip to Manheim Township for the L-L Championships on January 27th and 28th. The result was a seventh-place team finish.

"Generally speaking, we wrestled well. Of course, we would always want to do better but we had good effort in a tough tournament," said head coach Mike Sernoffsky.

The Bears closed strong with five of the seven medalists winning their final match. Aiden Robinson highlighted that bunch with his bronze medal run at 152. E-town enjoyed a trio of fifth place finishers with Francis Burke (121), Austin Reitmeyer (127) and Nathan Thomas (139) collecting those medals. Hayden Best (114) was the final Bear to win his last match, claiming seventh place. Elizabethtown's final two medalists were Ryan Findley at 145 and Bradley Candy at 285.

E-town kept their post season train moving with a trip to Central Dauphin on the 31st. The Bears dropped their opening bout of the District 3-3A Team Championship to Spring Grove by a 52-16 final. Elizabethtown mustered just four wins starting with Burke at 121. Reitmeyer (127), Findley (152) and Robinson (160) claimed the remaining three wins.

BOWLING

The 2022-2023 season continues to go sideways for the bowling team with losses to Conestoga Valley and Ephrata making it six straight setbacks for the Bears. Elizabethtown opened strong against CV, taking the first game 973-940 but the Buckskins took over from there to secure the 5-2 win on January 30th. Mason Moore was the top Bear with a 638 series. Derek Deardorff (613) and Zach Wentzel (604) also broke the 600 barrier with Ella Eberle (589) the last to bowl all three games. Declan Lentz and Billy Dougherty completed the match.

Elizabethtown was even closer to snapping their slide on the 27th, falling to Ephrata by a 4-3 final. The Bears snagged the team point for total pin count, edging the Mountaineers 3164-3094 but sluggish first and third games allowed Ephrata to steal the match. Wentzel (696), Moore (659) and Eberle (643) all broke the 600-pin barrier while both Deardorff (587) and Lentz (579) fell just short.

GIRLS' BASKETBALL

The slow ride to the end of the girls' basketball season hit two more bumps in the form of losses to Warwick and Solanco, putting the Lady Bears at 3-17 on the season.

Elizabethtown was able to keep Solanco close on the 31st but ultimately dropped the 38-28 final. All of the damage came in the opening half where the Golden Mares enjoyed a 20-10 edge. The two sides played even through the second half, leaving Solanco's 10-point halftime lead to stand. Taryn Hummer finished with nine points and Callie Love-Morris seven.

The Lady Bears were not as fortunate against Warwick on the 26th. The Lady Warriors held a scoring edge in all four quarters leading to the 39-19 final. Only four players managed to score for E-town with Jayden Lloyd posting a team-high 11 points. Chloe Wilkinson added four points while both Emily Williams and Olivia Martin had two points.

RIFLE

The rifle team continued their late season surge, topping Garden Spot and Wilson to improve to 7-5 on the year. Elizabethtown used perfect matches from both Parker Bryant and Rachel Gerberich to slip by Spot 496-494 on the 26th. Branden Rain and Adilynn Ginder added matching 99s while Isabelle Overdorf finished with a 98.

E-town welcomed Wilson on the 31st and the result was an easy 494-481 victory. Ginder was the lone perfect shooter on the day but the Bears did get two near misses from Rain and Luke Turner. Bryant and Daniel Reigner rounded out the top five with their 98s.

SWIMMING

The Elizabethtown swimming teams wrapped up their regular season slate and with a win in their season finale the boy's team secured the Section Two crown. "I'm really proud of both squads," said head coach Chad Houck, "We set out this year with some pretty big goals and we've met one of them with the boys' victory."

The victory Houck referenced was the 87-83 win over Ephrata. "It took every bit of work, strategy, and execution to top a team like Ephrata and every single boy played a part in getting Etown to the top of Section II," Houck added.

The proof to back Houck's words come in the form of just two victories for E-town. Jack Ketchum claimed the 100-backstroke and was joined by Everett Rachael, Jared Louie and Reid Gilmore to take the 400-free relay. The Lady Bears also managed just two wins in their meet against Ephrata but ended up on the wrong side of a 99-71 final. Morgan Conway (100-breaststoke) and Ali Fink (100-butterfly) were responsible for the two wins.

Both sides were able to take out Lancaster Catholic on the 26th with the boy's winning 126-31 and the girls 132-30. The boys took all three relay races with only Ketchum (100-backstroke and 200-free) posting multiple solo wins. Rachael (100-free), Gilmore (500-free), Louie (100-butterfly), Carter Ketchum (200 IM) and Logan Conway (100-breaststroke) all earned firsts.

For the Lady Bears it was a similar rundown with Elizabethtown sweeping the three relay events. Morgan Conway posted the lone double with her wins in the 100-breaststroke and 50-free. Tessa Cronin (100-free), Fink (100-butterfly), Olivia Hirst (100-backstroke), Julia Garber (500-free) and Annale Nguyen (200-free) cleaned up the remaining solo wins.