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H.S. Extra Notebook: MPC track at Trojan Stadium


The three-week track & field postseason is ready to get started.

And it's a treat for local fans, because there's not much traveling to be done. The Mid Penn Conference championships are this Saturday at Trojan Stadium in Chambersburg, starting at 9 a.m., while Shippensburg University's Seth Grove Stadium hosts the District 3 and PIAA Championships on May 20-21 and 27-28, respectively.

This is the fifth straight year Chambersburg has hosted Mid Penns.

Trojan boys coach Bob Walker said, "The competition will be awesome. We're hoping for a break with the weather - rain is OK, but not thunderstorms. Our kids are excited and ready to compete."

Chambersburg - and some other schools - have proms Saturday night, so any major delays because of weather may cause some tough decisions to be made.

"We are going to use this meet to hopefully get some more girls qualified for districts, and to improve district seed position," Trojan girls coach Chris Monheim said. "Hopefully the weather is OK and gives us a chance for some season-best performances."

The Mid Penn seeds were not available by press time Thursday, but several area athletes are expected to gain top seeds.

END OF A LONG STREAK: The Chambersburg boys track team was very young this year and although there appears to be some talented youngsters in the mix, the Trojans ended up with a 3-4 record.

According to P.O. records, it is the first losing season for the Chambersburg boys team since it went 3-6 in 1972, which is not an indictment of this year's team so much as it is noting that it's a pretty amazing streak that got stopped.

In the years in between, there were five seasons with .500 records (1973, 1976, 1981, 1983 and 1985).

SPEAKING OF YOUNG: The boys lacrosse team at Chambersburg was also lacking upperclass depth and it skidded to a 1-16 record.

Coach Paul Flohr's crew was especially young on offense, and it averaged only five goals per game.

But the team's biggest Achilles' heel was on faceoffs. In lacrosse, if you can't win your share of faceoffs, your defense will be constantly under attack, and that's what happened this year. Opponents routinely used faceoffs to gain possession and wear the Trojan defense down, and it allowed 16.7 goals per game.

We're guessing faceoff technique will be a priority of Flohr's offseason training.

ATTRITION: The problem for the Chambersburg girls lacrosse team was that it was hit with the injury bug.

"We ended up having to move a lot of players around and into different positions," coach Katie Feairheller said.

That not only forced some players to learn new skills and tactics, but it also weakened the positions they had been playing previously.

OUTSIDE LOOKING IN: The playoff chances do not look good for Chambersburg's boys volleyball team. With its season complete and an 8-5 record, the Trojans are No. 14 in the District 3 Class AAA power rankings and only the top 12 get in.

Since No. 12 Manheim Township (10-5) is also done, Chambersburg must root for No. 13 Mechanicsburg to lose to Palmyra and for No. 11 Lower Dauphin to lose to Dallastown. That would make both of those teams 10-5, which might still not be enough to drop them below the Trojans.

LOOKING WEST: The area's District 5 track & field teams warmed up for the district championships - which will be held on Wednesday, May 18, at Northern Bedford - with the ICC championships on Tuesday.

The athletes appear poised to do well -- local girls won eight first places in the ICC meet and the boys added another four.