Carlisle’s bocce ball team continues to advance through the post season with an overall record of 11-2. Junior Sawyer Carlton noted how much fun he has had playing bocce ball this year, even though he never saw himself playing. “I want to say how proud I am with everyone on the team for giving it their all during practice and games and having amazing teamwork.” Sawyer remarks. They are now headed to Juniatta for regionals. Good luck to them as they progress through their season!

In their first official PIAA season, Girls Wrestling found success with a final record of 3-4. Junior Rachel Plant explains that, “We have doubled the size of the team since becoming a PIAA sanctioned sport and hope to continue to grow leading into next year.” After participating in many tournaments, they placed fairly high, and even had a shutout win against Central Dauphin East, which hadn’t occurred in years. Plant remarks that, “Everyone on the team has improved in skill, and we have been having a successful season since then [a close loss at a dual meet against Boiling Springs at the start of the season].”

Carlisle’s boys wrestling lost some crucial wrestlers last year, but have managed to come out of this season with some success. Finishing 4-8, Steffon Urban mentions the team’s comeback against Mechanicsburg and how that was a highlight of the season after losing to them the previous year. Urban, a sophomore with passion for the sport, says, “I’m proud of how much effort everyone has been putting into this wonderful sport and how much improvement I have seen from our new wrestlers.” Urban notes that the team culture is incredibly positive, noting, “most importantly, I love the respect aspect, I respect anyone who stands in front of me and in return, I get the same back.” Moving beyond sectionals, Urban, Brayden Jumper, and Carter Pederick will be competing at Districts. Jumper finished 4th at Districts and takes on States in the upcoming weeks.

Girl’s basketball experienced a rollercoaster of a season, dealing with both ups and downs. With a record of 8-11, they had some significant accomplishments including a big win over Reading as well as a big win during their senior night against Waynesboro. Senior Olivia Baldwin noted that there were “games we should have won that we lost, and games that we shouldn’t have won that we did.” Some other recognizable accomplishments they experienced this season was beating Central Dauphin and Chambersburg twice, and senior Kayla Spencer signing with Bryn Mawr college to pursue women’s basketball.

The boys basketball team has been working hard and has drawn in a large crowd this winter, reaching max capacity at the home Central Dauphin game and having to pre-sell tickets to the at home Cumberland Valley game. The team this year is strong and shows this on the court, finishing with a record of 18-4. Junior Parker Smith notes, “the playoffs always seemed like the goal for the end of the season, just you know, making it there. But this year it’s different. I believe we have a team and players that all play together….This year’s goal is to go on to play in the Giant Center in the district championship.” The herd battled against CV to be the Mid-Penn Conference champs, but fell just short and finished second. However, they did not let that discourage them, and the boys were ready to take over the district. The boys went into the postseason with confidence, and fought against three tough teams, but they finished 0-3 in the postseason.

Both the boys and girls swim teams had good seasons, the boys finishing 4-6 and the girls finishing 5-5. Many of their swimmers continued to compete at mid-penns, and the remaining dominated at the Polar Plunge. They are also sending a handful of swimmers onto Districts. Colby Cox, Maddy Coombs, Ashleigh Booths, Emily Coombs, Isabella Knisely, Aidan Lippert, and Cayden Plank will be competing the weekend of March 2nd. Cox, a senior captain recaps the season, remarking that she has “enjoyed this season, especially with the amount of positivity that comes out during hard practices. Our team has made it clear that you do not need to be an upperclassman to be a leader.” The team faced some tough competition and managed to fight their way through the meets.

“Carlisle diving is back!” exclaims freshman diver, Rebekah Fletcher. After a couple of years, Carlisle had a diving team again. The diving team practiced at Big Spring High School where coach Fletcher dual coached both teams. Under the coaching, Carlisle’s divers, Fletcher and Ella Burkholder were largely successful this season. The sport was pretty new to both of them, but Fletcher says, “We worked hard this season at getting new dives and competing with them.” The girls placed top three at all of their dual meets and scored well at invitationals and Mid-Penns. Despite both being freshmen, the girls held their ground.

The indoor track team for Carlisle put in the work and brought many personal wins home as they progressed through their prosperous season. The Distance Medley Team, made up of Emily Leatherman, Elisabeth Bordner, Ana Bondy, and Savannah Oakes placed 3rd at state championships, and are #17 in the nation. It is also noted that freshman Joshua Blanton ran a 4:36 mile ranking himself as the 27th fastest freshman in the nation, as well as senior Darian Crim qualifying for the 400 meter in nationals. Sophomore Savannah Oakes celebrated, “[the improvements] over the course of the season and  will continue to get better as the season progresses.” Good luck to them as they keep up the good work with their achievements and represent Carlisle in nationals!