The heat is on for York-Adams fall sports practice
When the Kennard-Dale field hockey team took to the school's track for the 2-mile run that opened its first practice of the season, one particular senior didn't seem fazed despite the plus-90 degree mid-afternoon.
For Elizabeth Fix, it was just another jog, similar to what she does twice a month as a member of the Young Marines organization in Lancaster County.
"I looked into Young Marines and felt like it was something I should do," she said. "It helps me in school, for sports. It helps me learn how to work as a team and accomplish a goal.
"We do obstacle courses, running, and warrior runs. A lot of weight training and stuff like that. It helps you get physically and mentally prepared for the season. Everything is team led. We are only as fast as our slowest runner."
With the military being an important part of her family, Fix, who is also a member of the Rams track team, has the goal of getting into a college ROTC program. But for now, she is glad to begin her senior season.
"I look forward to it because I know as soon as I graduate and go off to college, I am going to be missing all of this," she said. "It's a nice way for us to bond as a team."
Related: Hanover-Adams sports teams open fall practice
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YORK SUBURBAN CROSS COUNTRY >> They're used to this in East York: Swarms of pedestrians running the streets and sidewalks on late August afternoons. In fact, many York Suburban cross country runners were doing this well before the first official day of fall practice.
"What's Plan A? Get to the state championship. There is no Plan B," boys' coach Ron Herman told about 50 potential runners sitting in front of him at East York Elementary School.
Both boys' and girls' programs reached Plan A last year after securing district championships, and the boys won their second state title since 2009. A few running alumni joined the cast for Monday's first official run, which stretched 6 to 8 miles around the town.
There have been plenty of unofficial runs.
How else would senior Olivia Gettle show that she's recovered after missing all three of last year's postseason races because of injury? Gettle returned for the track season in the spring as a distance runner, but she showed coach Dan Vanhouwe earlier this month she is ready.
"There's days I don't want to be here, but they drag me out," Vanhouwe said. "Saturday, I got Gettle-ized."
Vanhouwe was "Gettle-ized" on a 2-mile timed run.
"We hit the (first) mile," he said. "She looked at me, and she was gone."
Video: Central York boys' soccer
CENTRAL YORK BOYS' SOCCER >> Igor Gomes passed his conditioning test.
"13:02. I worked hard for that," said Gomes, last year's YAIAA Division I boys' soccer player of the year.
Believe it or not, Gomes failed his initial 2-mile running test last season when he just joined the team as a junior after moving to the country from Angola. He went on the score the only goal in Central York's YAIAA championship victory against Dallastown.
As the Panthers scrimmaged Monday, Gomes shuffled the ball between his feet and fired with his left. An assistant coach yelled that he could have taken the shot sooner and with his right foot, so head coach Frank Lenno punished his standout striker with 10 pushups.
"He really worked hard over the summer, and this time he got a better time than me," junior forward Pierce Miller said of Gomes' conditioning.
The Panthers will try to play for a third straight league championship if they can get there. Lenno would like them to advance in the state tournament. Central made the PIAA tourney for the first time two years ago.
"We've had some great players and great examples set for us," senior midfielder Mitchell Crane said. "It's our time now."
Video: Susquehannock girls' volleyball
SUSQUEHANNOCK VOLLEYBALL >> As the Warriors girls' volleyball team was taking its dinner break, first-year coach Darla Pennewell looked at home as she talked with the parents who had set up the team meal.
Although she took over for Rob Marrison, who capped a very successful coaching career after last season, Pennewell is hardly new to the school, sport or program.
Not only did she move up after coaching the junior high program the previous three seasons, Pennewell had a six-year stint as varsity head coach with the Warriors in the early 90s. She stepped away after her daughters were born, but coached club volleyball when her girls were old enough to play.
"I think that's going to help the transition because I had the (Susquehanncok) girls at the junior high level and we did a lot of work together over the summer," she said. "I took a break, and when the need came up for junior high it was a way to get back in it. Now that (my daughters) are finished and in college, the opening presented itself and here we are."
This week, Pennewell will also enter her 32nd season as a health and physical education teacher at Southern Middle School. She said she expects some subtle differences from the Marrison regime but added the goals haven't changed.
"Obviously what he did was very successful and I have a lot of respect for him," she said. "I know we both love the game, love the school and the kids. I want to continue to move the program in the direction he moved it. There's an adjustment, but we've had lots of good communication with seniors and returning players. They have a good thing going here; I want to keep things going."
Video: Dallastown girls' soccer
DALLASTOWN GIRLS' SOCCER >> Wildcats junior Natalie Gettle admitted that the alarm went off a little too early Monday morning. Her team was scheduled to run at 7 a.m.
But at the same time, she and her mates are excited to be preparing for a season of promise.
"We have a lot of good freshmen coming up. The team is very strong together. We have good team bonding and all over we are ready," Gettle said.
Wildcats coach Scott Austin knows there are expectations for his group.
"You have a very strong group of seniors. We are very senior heavy. It's a group of girls I have coached since U-6, so I am very excited to see what they can do," he said. "Sure, we want to win counties, we want to win the league, but let's be honest: We want to go after districts."
To help get ready for a big season, Dallastown beefed up its non-league schedule, starting with an early-season trip to the Hempfield tournament.
"It's nice to play that early on," he said. "We are going to be able to test ourselves, try some different formations and that will tell us we need to do to play against the Lancaster League, and the Mid Penn."
At least Gettle could smile during the Wildcats' second practice of the day, which was at 7 p.m. as a nice breeze settled over the Dallastown turf football field.
"It's nice out, it's not extremely hot," Gettle said. "We like having the later spot."
EASTERN YORK GOLF >> Just as Kevin Crumbling looked down, seemingly to check his phone, Eastern York golf coach Stephanie Lesser snuck her cart up to his right. She wanted to make sure he remembered the rule: No phones on the course.
While Monday's first day of fall practice offered the chance to get back into a rhythm, Crumbling and some of his teammates might already be in midseason form. They played a practice round at Cool Creek Golf Club, and some told Lesser they played only a dozen or so holes this summer. She knew better.
Crumbling won the York County Junior Golf Association's stroke play championship, sophomore Alexandra Lowder won the girls' stroke play title and senior teammate Andrew Davis won the YCJGA's match-play championship.
Crumbling, Davis and junior Zach Dixon all played on the YCJGA's victorious team during last week's War of the Roses event, which pits York County vs. Lancaster County. York won for the third straight year.
"I think we've got pretty good momentum. Our top four is pretty solid," said Crumbling, a senior this fall.
Eastern won the YAIAA Division II championship as a team last fall. Davis said this summer, after his match-play win, he thinks they can go further.
"We all have pretty good vibes from the summer," Davis said.
Momentum can be contagious. For some it might run in the family. Crumbling's father, Rod Crumbling, won a PIAA championship in high school. Lowder's father, John Lowder, won the Cool Creek club title a day before she and her teammates began their first day of practice.
CENTRAL YORK GOLF >> With Out Door Country Club booked for an event, the Panthers postponed their first tryout by a day. However, that didn't seem to bother Panthers coach Mike Ruby.
"In the situation I'm in, those kids play everywhere," he said.
Central won last year's YAIAA Division I golf title and returns its top two performers, seniors Gus Minkin and Connor Bacha. The Panthers were gifted a transfer in sophomore Joe Parrini, who won a District 3 Class AA championship last fall at York Catholic.
Another day probably won't hurt Central.
Video: Kennard-Dale field hockey practice