Spartans Participate in Tri-County All-Star Game

Four Spartans have been named to participate in the 2013 Tri-County All-Star game which pits the northern Lancaster-Lebanon schools against the southern.  The game is held at Manheim Central’s Retew field, May 25th at 7:00 pm.  The Spartans’s include Matt Martin, Ben Weaver, Austin Haas, and Matt Christie.

Matt Martin, #9, will continue his education and football experience at Miseracordia University.  Matt was a first team section 3 DB, All-League DB, and a PFN 2nd Team All-State DB during his senior year.

Ben Weaver, #66, will continue his education at the U.S. Naval Academy.  Ben was a First Team Section 3 All-Star and a Team Captain his senior year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Matt Christie, #66, will continue his education and playing career at Thadeous Stevens Trade School.  Matt was a 2nd tram Section 2 All-Star in 2012 and a First Team Section 3 All-Star in 2013.  Matt was also a 2012 league wrestling champion.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Austin Hass, #14, was a Second Team Section 3 Wide Receiver and a Second Team Section 3 Outside Linebacker in 2013.

Andrew Schrantz Wins League Swimming/Breaks Record

Senior Andrew Schrantz, swimming as an independent representing Garden Spot because we do not sponsor a swimming team, won two events at the Lancaster/Lebanon League swimming championship February 12.  Andrew won the 100 yard butterfly in 50.78 and then made an even bigger splash by winning the 100 yard backstroke in a time of 51.7 which was a Lancaster/Lebanon League record, along with a Lititz Recreation Center pool record.  The backstroke record stood since 1992. Andrew swims for the New Holland Dolphins during the summer and has been a member of the Diplomat Swim Club, where he trains for the past 10 years.  Andrew was able to qualify as an independent swimmer by competing as an “add on” in other schools meets.  This year he swam in meets at Lancaster Catholic, Conestoga Valley and McCaskey in order to get qualifying times.  Next Andrew will compete in the upcoming PIAA District 3 meet and hopefully the PIAA State meet.  Andrew hopes to attend West Point military Academy upon graduation.  He was named WGAL athlete of the week on February 19.

Wrestlers Win Individual Championships / Record 100 Wins

Senior Matthew Christie and Junior Ben Swarr were crowned League champions at the Lancaster/Lebanon Individual Wrestling Championship on January 26.  On February 16, juniors Zach Martin and Ben Swarr both won championships at the PIAA District 3 Sectional Tournament and Benn Swarr was named the Tournament Outstanding Wrestler.  Both Zach and Ben will advance to the PIAA District 3 tournament along with four other GS wrestlers, Nick Cook (12), Chance Norris (9), Tanner Leid (12), and Will Finkey(10).

Senior Nick Cook became the seventh wrestler in Garden Spot history to record 100 wins.  His 100th victory came in a bout at the Governor Mifflin Holiday Tournament on December 29.  As of now Nick’s record stands at 119 wins, just 4 wins shy of tying the overall Garden Spot record set by Jeff Witwer in 1989.  Senior Tanner Leid won his 100th match becoming the eighth Garden Spot wrestler to achieve that honor, at the District 3 Sectional Tournament on February 16.  It is quite an accomplishment to reach 100 varsity wins which is why so few wrestlers in the history of the Garden Spot program have ever achieved that.  In almost all cases, the wrestler has to be competing in varsity matches as a Freshman in order to be able to even have a chance at this accomplishment.

Bowling Team is Section 2 Champions

You might find Garden Spot Bowling Team under the definition of “Dynasty” in the dictionary.  It is currently the most consistently successful sport at Garden Spot.  For the fifth year in a row the bowling team won the L/L League Section 2 championship.  This year they finished the league season with a record of 11-1 and an overall record of 13-2.  On top of that the team won the prestigious Ice Breaker Tournament back in December.  This is a tournament that hosts the best bowling teams in District 3.  Although the team was in first place with a record of 10-1 going into the last match of the season, they had to bowl Elizabethtown, the second place team, at their home center and had to win at least one point out of seven.  Elizabethtown was on a roll at that time and had the same record as the Spartans, but was in second on fewer points.  The Spartans cam through and beat E-town 7-0 to claim their fifth Section championship in a row.  The team is now preparing for the upcoming PIAA District 3 tournament.  The team was lead throughout the season by the top five bowlers, Matt Martin (12), Sirena Rowland (12), Nick Martin (11), Nate Wallace (11), and Travis Balowski (11).  The team is coached by Harry Charlesen.

Wrestling Team is Section 2 Champions

The 2013 wrestling team had a season of lows and highs.  Luckily the highs came at just the right time to earn the team a share of the Lancaster/Lebanon League Section 2 championship.  The team last won the section championship in 2011 and last year lost the championship to Manheim Central by one point.  Back to this year . . .the team was undefeated in league competitions when they traveled to Manheim Central on January 10 to face the Barons who had just come off a loss to Conestoga Valley.  Through a very tough night of close bouts with lots of ups and downs, the Barons defeated the Spartans in the final bout of the night 34-31.  All was not lost with that match though.  In the final match of the season Garden Spot hosted Conestoga Valley will everything on the line.  CV was undefeated and favored coming into the match and the Spartans needed an upset for a piece of the title.  There was a packed house on hand for this match, probably the largest crowd to watch a wrestling match in the new GS gym.  The match was very close with several upsets for both teams.  With two matches to go, and not many points to be had in those matches, Michael Bressi, wrestling at 220 pounds looked like he was about to get pinned when he reversed his opponent on the edge of the matt right to his back, and fought to keep him in bounds long enough to get the pin.  The crowd erupted as that was enough to secure the win for the Spartans.  The final score of the match was GS 32 – CV 27.  The team finished third out of 24 teams at the Lancaster/Lebanon League Championship, qualified for the PIAA District 3 Team Tournament where they lost in the first round to Chambersburg, and finished second out of 13 teams at the District 3 Sectional Championship advancing 6 wrestlers to the upcoming Distriict 3 Championship.

Nick Martin is L/L League Bowling Champion

Junior Nick Martin captured the Lancaster/Lebanon League Bowling Individual Championship on February 15.  Nick bowled 11 games throughout the day against the best competition in the league.  He had to make it through the first two rounds where all the bowlers in the league that qualified competed to get into the semi-finals.  In the semi-finals he beat a Lancaster Mennonite bowler with a score of 257 to get to the finals where he met the best bowler from Elizabethtown.  Nick won that game 237 – 193 to earn the championship. Nick’s best game of the day was a 288 he rolled during the qualifier.  The championship was held at Rocky Springs Lanes this year which is known to have a challenging oil pattern on their lanes.  Nick said his style worked well with the pattern and he only had to use one ball the whole day which helped with his consistency.

Zachary Garey is L/L League Rifle Champion

The Garden Spot Rifle teams ended the regular season with an overall record of 8-4for a second place finish in the Lancaster/Lebanon League. On February 9th the team traveled to the Lancaster/Lebanon Rifle Individual Championship at the Mount Joy Sportsman’s Club where all of the teams brought their 6 best shooters for the season’s culminating event. The Spartans finished as top scoring team, with a combined 6 shooter score of 1172 to earn the Team Championship. Junior Zachery Garey shot a 198 4c (c= perfect center shots) earning him the Lancaster/Lebanon League Individual Championship. The last GS shooter to achieve that honor was in 2005. Garden Spot placed three shooters in the top 10. Placing 4th was senior Jalisa Zimmerman shooting a 197 3c, and sophomore Julia Irvin placed 5th shooting a 197 1c. The remaining GS shooters placed 13th, 20th, and 25th out of the total 48 shooters.