Delone Catholic: A district three-peat, and the end of a District 3 drought

Brandon Stoneburg | GameTimePA

Between the 10 Hanover-Adams area high schools, there are 179 athletic teams. Among those 179 teams, just two won district titles during the 2014-2015 season. Both wore black and gold and hailed from McSherrystown.

Delone Catholic brought home a district crown in softball and another in girls' cross country.

For the girls' cross country team, it was the Squirettes' third straight District 3 Class A crown — a feat that had never been accomplished by a girls' team at Delone. In the spring, the softball team ended a 16-year district title drought and earned retribution from a 2014 championship game defeat.

"Our athletic program continues to be very competitive, and it all starts with our coaching staffs and the countless hours they put in," Delone athletic director Dave Lawrence said. "Both teams (softball and cross country) have girls who put in the extra time to improve the sports they are involved in."

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Run to a three-peat

</p><p>The cross country team's success came as little surprise to head coach R.C. Zinn and his staff.</p><p>"We knew we had a majority of our top runners returning from the 2012 and 2013 district championship teams, and the girls had great leadership from their seniors and upperclassmen," Zinn said. "We all hoped and thought we had a chance at the beginning of the year."</p><partner-banner util-module-path=elements/partner fluid bottom lazy class=spacer-large min-height=390 outstream></partner-banner><partner-inline util-module-path=elements/partner placement=native-article_link sizes="[[300, 250], [3, 3]]" min-height=250 fluid outstream></partner-inline><p>Led by <a href=http://GameTimePA.com>GameTimePA.com</a> all-stars Kate Mowrey and Leanne Sneeringer, the Squirettes went 14-6 and won the YAIAA Division III title for the third straight season. They edged York Catholic, which also gave Delone a fight to the finish in the district-title race. After finishing fourth at the YAIAA meet, Mowrey took silver at Class A districts with a time of 20:35 — just nine seconds out of first. Two other Squirettes finished in the top 10 — Sneeringer (fourth) and Alyssa Alberghini (seventh).</p><p>The girls and coaches were nervous while awaiting the results after the race, Zinn said, but once they found out they won the team title, the mood quickly changed.</p><cta-atoms-container-inline util-module-path=elements/cta class=spacer-large></cta-atoms-container-inline><p>"I hit refresh on my phone so many times," Zinn said in October. "I knew it was going to be close. The coaches were as nervous as the runners were. The girls were sad but then were really excited when they found out they won."</p><p>The team's reaction after finding out the Squirettes had won and qualified for the PIAA championships is a moment Zinn said he will never forget.</p><partner-banner util-module-path=elements/partner fluid bottom lazy class=spacer-large min-height=600 outstream momentum></partner-banner><p>"The happy tears and the excitement when the girls realized they were going to states as a team and they had won the district championship again is something that sticks with me," he said. "The culmination of hard work in the summer and early season they did together for that moment really became relief and joy after they got the results."</p><p>Mowrey said that for most of the season the Squirettes relied on their middle runners to beat a team. However, on that breezy, 45-degree day in Hershey, Mowrey and Leanne Sneeringer were the ones who had to come up big for their team. A freshman, Sneeringer turned in a fourth-place performance.</p><partner-inline util-module-path=elements/partner class=spacer-large placement=native-article_link sizes="[[300, 250], [3, 3]]" min-height=250 fluid outstream></partner-inline><p>"We just thought of all the hard work we put in this summer, in training camp and during the season," said Mowrey, a junior. "And it paid off."</p><h5 class="subhead wordpress-header">Ending a drought</h5><p><iframe width=560 height=315 src=https://www.youtube.com/embed/jsRb0J8ozCc frameborder=0 allowfullscreen></p><p>Softball coach Don Smith admitted he was surprised this year's squad ended the program's 16-year title drought.</p><partner-banner util-module-path=elements/partner fluid bottom lazy class=spacer-large min-height=390 outstream></partner-banner><p>But the Squirettes caught a few breaks, he said, and hit their stride late in the season. After back-to-back losses in mid-April, Delone won eight in a row before falling to Central York in the YAIAA title game.</p><p>Led by a trio of juniors — Shelbee Holcomb (.762 average, 10 home runs, 49 RBIs), Katie Laughman (.500 average, 5 home runs, 27 RBIs) and Cassie Rickrode (13-4, 1.95 ERA, 100 strikeouts, .538 average, 5 home runs, 39 RBIs) — Delone entered the district tournament as the No. 1 team in Class AA.</p><p>Rickrode surrendered just two earned runs in three district playoff games while Delone outscored its opponents 22-4, capped by a 10-3 championship victory against Kutztown.</p><p>"It's so big for us," said Laughman, who was less than a year old the last time Delone softball won a district title. "We wanted to come out even stronger and come out on top this time to get the title. And we've got it now. We're all so happy to make history."</p><partner-banner util-module-path=elements/partner fluid bottom lazy class=spacer-large min-height=390 outstream></partner-banner><p>Two impressive Squirette teams with impressive seasons. Now there are two shiny, new trophies to add to the collection outside Sheppard Memorial Gymnasium.</p><h5 class="subhead wordpress-header">Near-misses</h5><p>While Delone Catholic managed to bring home Adams County's only two district titles, the Squire(tte)s came close to bringing home a few more. Here are a few of their near-misses worthy of mentioning:</p><p><b>Girls' volleyball:</b> Lost in the district championship</p><p><b>Boys' cross country:</b> Finished third at districts</p><p><b>Football:</b> Lost in the district semifinals</p><p><b>Wrestling:</b> Finished fourth at districts</p><p><b>Girls' basketball:</b> Finished fourth at districts</p><lit-timestamp class="column ten-column no-gutter spacer-small" slot=timestamp publishdate="2015-06-24 05:32:14 +0000 UTC" updatedate="2015-06-24 05:32:14 +0000 UTC"></lit-timestamp><style>html a.nsb-link,html .primary-content a.nsb-link{box-shadow:0 0;cursor:pointer;height:var(--spacer-twentyfour,24px);margin-right:var(--spacer-twentyfour,24px);text-shadow:none;width:var(--spacer-twentyfour,24px)}a.nsb-link span{max-width:0;overflow:hidden;position:absolute;visibility:hidden}.nsb-svg{height:var(--spacer-twentyfour,24px);width:var(--spacer-twentyfour,24px)}.nsb-twitter-button{fill:var(--social-twitter,#4099ff)}.nsb-email-button{fill:var(--color-dove-gray,#787878)}.nsb-facebook-button{fill:var(--social-facebook,#3b5998)}.nsb-sms-button{fill:var(--color-ui-green,#008c33)}.nsb-svg.gallery{fill:var(--color-ui-white,#fff)}</style><div class="spacer-small column ten-column no-gutter"><a alt="Post the article to your Facebook Timeline" class="nsb-link nsb-facebook inline-flex" data-size=large onclick="fireNavShareAnalytics('facebook');" rel=noopener target=_blank><svg class="universal-low nsb-svg nsb-facebook-button" view-box='0 0 24 24'> <path d="M12.6143832,21 L3.99346182,21 C3.44462725,21 3,20.5550968 3,20.006476 L3,3.99345411 C3,3.44469364 3.44469709,3 3.99346182,3 L20.006608,3 C20.5552331,3 21,3.44469364 21,3.99345411 L21,20.006476 C21,20.5551667 20.5551632,21 20.006608,21 L15.4197395,21 L15.4197395,14.029408 L17.7594454,14.029408 L18.1097832,11.3128446 L15.4197395,11.3128446 L15.4197395,9.57849053 C15.4197395,8.79198274 15.6381418,8.25600363 16.7659836,8.25600363 L18.2044917,8.25537504 L18.2044917,5.82565895 C17.9557072,5.79255313 17.1017938,5.71858885 16.108332,5.71858885 C14.0343128,5.71858885 12.6143832,6.98457234 12.6143832,9.30945332 L12.6143832,11.3128446 L10.2686707,11.3128446 L10.2686707,14.029408 L12.6143832,14.029408 L12.6143832,21 L12.6143832,21 Z"></path> </svg><span>Facebook</span></a> <a alt="Tweet about this article" class="nsb-twitter nsb-link inline-flex" data-size=large onclick="fireNavShareAnalytics('twitter')" rel=noopener target=_blank><svg class="universal-low nsb-svg nsb-twitter-button" view-box='0 0 24 24'> <path d="M21,6.77573131 C20.338616,7.07692308 19.6265188,7.28060672 18.8795563,7.3716143 C19.6423666,6.9035753 20.2276809,6.16143012 20.5034337,5.27735645 C19.7892235,5.71072589 19,6.02600217 18.1568938,6.19501625 C17.4849445,5.45937161 16.5245642,5 15.461701,5 C13.4236661,5 11.770206,6.69555796 11.770206,8.78656555 C11.770206,9.08342362 11.8019017,9.3716143 11.8652932,9.64897075 C8.79609086,9.4907909 6.07554147,7.98483207 4.25303751,5.69122427 C3.93502377,6.2524377 3.75330164,6.9035753 3.75330164,7.59696641 C3.75330164,8.91007584 4.40517697,10.0693391 5.39619651,10.7486457 C4.79186476,10.7302275 4.22134179,10.5579632 3.72266244,10.276273 L3.72266244,10.3228602 C3.72266244,12.1581798 4.9957739,13.6890574 6.68621236,14.035753 C6.37665082,14.1245937 6.05018489,14.1690141 5.71315372,14.1690141 C5.47543582,14.1690141 5.24300053,14.1462622 5.01796091,14.1018418 C5.4881141,15.6056338 6.85103011,16.7009751 8.46751189,16.7302275 C7.20390914,17.7464789 5.61067089,18.3521127 3.88114105,18.3521127 C3.58320127,18.3521127 3.28843106,18.3347779 3,18.3001083 C4.63444268,19.3726977 6.57633386,20 8.66085578,20 C15.4543053,20 19.1679873,14.2307692 19.1679873,9.22643554 C19.1679873,9.06175515 19.1648177,8.89707476 19.1584786,8.73564464 C19.8800845,8.20151679 20.5066033,7.53521127 21,6.77573131"></path> </svg><span>Twitter</span></a> <a alt="Email this article" class="nsb-email nsb-link inline-flex" onclick="fireNavShareAnalytics('email')" rel=noopener target=_blank><svg class="universal-low nsb-svg nsb-email-button" view-box='0 0 24 24'> <path d="M3,5.8757627 C3,5.39209232 3.39269552,5 3.8926228,5 L20.1073772,5 C20.6003592,5 21,5.40389442 21,5.8757627 L21,18.1242373 C21,18.6079077 20.6073045,19 20.1073772,19 L3.8926228,19 C3.39964084,19 3,18.5961056 3,18.1242373 L3,5.8757627 Z M12,11.09375 L3,6.74107143 L3,8.48214286 L12,12.8348214 L21,8.48214286 L21,6.74107143 L12,11.09375 Z"></path> </svg><span>Email</span></a></div><script> (function () { let route = window.ga_data.route, headline = route.headline || document.title, url = route.url, sponsoredText = (route.sponsoredSeries || route.sponsoredStory) ? 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