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H.S. Extra Notebook: Blue Storm hitting stride


It has been a season to remember for the Mercersburg Academy boys lacrosse team.

The Blue Storm have a 10-5 record, and, with only three games left, have guaranteed the program a winning record for the first time since 2006.

"I usually prefer to emphasize the process rather than setting a bunch of goals," said Mercersburg's second-year coach Michael Conklin, "but one goal we did have this year was to have a winning record. We've taken it one game at a time, but that was a long-term goal."

And here's the best thing: There are no seniors in the program, so next year could be even better.

Conklin said, "We only had a few seniors last year, so our current group of 11th-graders have played a significant role."

Among those juniors are two players from Washington County, Md., midfielder Nick Nelson and defenseman Tom Cremins. They are both captains, and Cremins actually became a captain midway through his sophomore season.

Nelson is, Conklin said, "A complete player. He's a midfielder that I find hard to take off the field."

Nelson leads the team with 77 ground balls through the first 13 games.

The leading scorer, with 91 points, is attacker Nick Schulkin.

However, the biggest hurdle Conklin faced when he took over the program was getting the team focused on playing.

"I think a very significant thing we did was to emphasize discipline," he said. "That had not been emphasized before. That, and the growth and maturity of a young team have made the biggest difference."

Mercersburg has a 12-7 victory over Peddie to its credit - the first time in at least 10 years the Blue Storm beat the Falcons - and is 2-1 in the rugged Mid-Atlantic Prep League. The Storm also reached the semifinals of the MILL tournament, falling to The Heights for the second time this year.

LACROSSE LEADERS: The top scorers for the Chambersburg boys team are Cedric Adams (13 goals, 2 assists), Brandin Cosey (11 goals) and Haden Ocker (11 goals, 4 assists).

For the Trojan girls, Liza Ernst (25, 3), Avery Rife (19, 2), Hannah Raines (21, 1), Kendall Stewart (8, 1) and Kaylea Garman (8 goals) lead the way. For the Mercersburg girls, Elizabeth Fitzgeralsds has 19 goals and Amanda Broyles has 10.

GIRLS SOCCER LEADERS: For Shalom Christian, Lexy Poe and Brooke Emge have proven to be a powerful 1-2 punch on the attack. Eas has scored 24 goals; Poe has 13 assists and Emge eight. Also, Sarah Priest has seven goals and two assists.

For Cumberland Valley Christian, Emily Bard has four goals, and three other players have three each.

MORE RECORDS: This has already been a season full of school records in track & field. And they keep coming.

Thursday afternoon, Greencastle-Antrim's Jordan Pizzarro - who had tied the Kaley Stadium girls record in the 200 with a time of 26.0 on Tuesday - crushed it with a time of 25.6 against Trinity.

Also in that Tuesday meet, G-A's Liam Okal broke the school record in the boys 200 with a 21.7 effort, and Campbell broke his own stadium record with a discus throw of 173-08.