BURNHAM - Mifflin County hit the pool for the first time Tuesday, and the Huskies quickly found themselves swimming with sharks.
A more established Cumberland Valley squad outpaced the home team in its debut, with the girls falling to the Eagles 122-46, and the boys dropping their meet 135-31.
Despite the scores, Mifflin County coach Connie Welch said, there was much for her team to be happy about - and not just the bright new scoreboard, which was well received by contestants and fans alike.
Article Photos
Sentinel photo by BRADLEY KREITZER
Mifflin County’s Megan Becker swims the girls 100-yard butterfly against Cumberland Valley Tuesday evening as the Huskies opened the season at the Juniata Valley YMCA in Burnham.
"It was an awesome meet," she said, explaining that a number of Husky swimmers recorded personal best times. "There were some of the best times from our swimmers and to get that at a first meet is huge. Seeing how proud they were of themselves at the end of the meet is very rewarding."
Only two Mifflin County swimmers won their events, both girls: Sarah Bonson took the 500-yard freestyle, and Megan Becker tied for first in the 50-yard freestyle. Becker also was runner-up in the 100-yard butterfly, and Jenna Kyle finished second in the 200 freestyle.
Evan Becker had the best finish among the boys, a second-place effort in the 100 freestyle.
The Huskies stay in the Commonwealth Division for their next meet, a road event at Carlisle.
Wrestling
Mifflin County 49, Altoona 23
ALTOONA - Mifflin County won 10 of 14 matches in Altoona Tuesday, defeating the Mountain Lions 49-23 in a non-league wrestling match.
Altoona sophomore D.J. Hollingshead came up with a marquee victory to lead off the match at 132 pounds, topping returning PIAA Class AAA tournament qualifier Lucas Besch, 3-1.
But Mifflin County logged five falls and won two other bouts by forfeit to build a sizeable advantage. Joe Knarr, Darion Pearce, Jake Lilley, Daulton Wilson and Hayden Hidlay all showed their opponents the lights. Kevin Bair picked up a bonus point with a major decision.
Mifflin County (5-1) begins its Mid-Penn Conference schedule Thursday, hosting Central Dauphin East.
Mount Union 69, Everett 9
EVERETT - It was a short night for Mount Union's wrestling team, as the Trojans won their Inter-County Conference opener in a landslide over Everett.
"That's the way we like it, especially away," Mount Union coach Corey Wertz said. "We got pretty aggressive looking for pins. That's what we like to do."
Kord Aurand (132), Dylan Smith (160), Cory Kylor (170), Darrian Stapleton (182), Phil Kyle (220) and Tyler Foor (120) all ended their bouts in the first period. Only two matches went this distance; one to overtime, a win by the Trojans' Tyler Long at 145.
Mount Union (2-0 1-0) heads to Tussey Mountain Thursday.
Boys basketball
Cumberland Valley 56, Mifflin County 42
MECHANICSBURG - Mifflin County had a defensive plan going into its Mid-Penn boys basketball debut against Cumberland Valley, and that plan worked. At least, it worked until the fourth quarter.
At the end of the third, Mifflin County and Cumberland Valley were neck-and-neck as the Eagles lead by a slim 39-37, but in the fourth quarter both teams mixed up their defenses, and Mifflin County came out on the short end of the stick with the 56-42 loss.
"In the fourth they switched up their defense on us, and we struggled to score. In turn, we had to take some chances defensively," Mifflin County coach Aaron Gingrich said.
The lead scorer for the game was Cumberland Valley's Matt Tamanosky with 18. Hunter Wright led the Huskies with 11.
The JV team lost its game 43-42 in overtime.
Mifflin County (2-1, 0-1) hosts Central Dauphin on Friday.
Columbia County Christian 52, Juniata Mennonite 44
BLOOMSBURG - Juniata Mennonite stayed even with Columbia County Christian for three quarters and then some, but when players started dropping off the court and the Lions played short, the home team pulled away for a 52-44 Allegheny Christian Athletic Association win in boys basketball Tuesday.
Caleb Gehman had 21 for the Lions, and his night ending proved to be the breaking point for the visitors, who had three players carrying four fouls in the final stanza. Jesse Watts was first to foul out, and that took size away.
"Even after we lost Jesse we were still within a point or two," Juniata Mennonite coach Dennis Zimmerman said. "They showed a lot of heart tonight. They didn't quit."
The Lions (1-2, 0-1) travel to Belleville Mennonite Thursday.
Girls basketball
Juniata 46, Upper Dauphin 33
ELIZABETHVILLE - After a slow start, Juniata turned up the volume for three quarters Tuesday, knocking down Upper Dauphin, 46-33, in a Tri-Valley League girls basketball game.
Victoria Varner led all scorers with 16 points, including a perfect 7-for-7 at the charity stripe.
"She did a great job getting to the line," Juniata coach Meghan Geedey said. "She's just so good there and that makes the rest of her game fall through."
The fact that the Indians held up after trailing spoke well of what happened at the other end of the court, Geedey said.
"We absolutely preach defense," she said. "When we're having trouble scoring our defense has saved us."
Upper Dauphin won the JV game, 26-23.
Juniata (3-0, 1-0) travels to Bald Eagle Area Saturday.
East Juniata 47, Newport 40
NEWPORT - Kasi Horning and Lauren Maguire each scored 11 points and Kaitlin Hoover was a solid 7-of-8 at the line in the fourth quarter as East Juniata opened with a win for the first time in five years, downing Tri-Valley League rival Newport 47-40 in girls basketball Tuesday.
"It's good to get that monkey off our back and move forward," Tigers coach Travis Quici said.
East Juniata trailed at the half but put up 22 points in the final stanza to move in front after tying the game to end the third.
The Tigers also won the JV game, 37-14.
East Juniata (1-0, 1-0) travels to Lancaster Country Day Friday.
Columbia County Christian 37, Juniata Mennonite 36
BLOOMSBURG - Free throws can win basketball games, and that was the case Tuesday in Columbia County Christian's girls win over Juniata Mennonite.
Valarie Meiser - who had a career-high 17 points - blocked a shot at the end of the game, but her move drew a foul call, and Columbia County's Bethany Snyder hit one to break what was a stalemate.
Lions coach Andy Meiser said his team could have used a second scoring threat after the home team ran a box-and-one on Valarie Meiser.
"Sometimes we handled it well sometimes we didn't," he said. "We did some good things. I can't take any issue with their effort."
Juniata Mennonite (1-2, 0-1 Allegheny Christian Athletic Association) visits Belleville Mennonite Thursday.
Warrior Run 54, Midd-West 30
MIDDLEBURG - It's never fun to start the season with a loss. Just ask the Midd-West girls basketball team, which fell 54-30 in its first game of the season to Heartland Athletic Conference opponent Warrior Run.
Midd-West had an 8-5 lead after the first quarter, but strong quarters from Warrior Run throughout the rest of the game, followed by weak quarters from Midd-West, culminated in the loss for the Mustangs.
Midd-West's only player to hit double-digits was Brianna Beiler with 10. Warrior Run's Steph Shamburg lead in overall scoring with 22.
On Monday, Midd-West (0-1, 0-1) hosts East Juniata.
Mount Union 56, Huntingdon 47
MOUNT UNION - Tynita White scored 23 points and Ashlyn Drake hit four from downtown to lead Mountain Union to a 56-47 non-league win over Huntingdon Tuesday in girls basketball.
"(Drake) was definitely on tonight," Mount Union coach Jenny Cunningham said. "Our defense was much better. It was just a much better effort all around."
The fact that only four players scored - Ashley Foor joined Drake and White in double figures - and just six players hit the court is less of a concern to Cunningham than defensive lapses, she said.
White added 14 rebounds for a double-double, and Becca Sellers pulled 11 of the boards.
Huntingdon won the JV game, 29-15.
Mount Union (2-1) hosts Glendale Friday.
Millersburg 41, Greenwood 32
MILLERSTOWN - Mallory Fortenbaugh led the Greenwood girls basketball team with a game-high 14 points Tuesday night - almost twice as much as any of her teammates were able to score - but it wasn't enough to prevent the Wildcats' 41-32 Tri-Valley League loss to Millersburg.
The Wildcats were down by only one point at the end of the first quarter, but in the second quarter Millersburg strengthened its lead to 11 points, with a score of 24-13. From there, Millersburg kept a safe lead the rest of the game to hand Greenwood its third loss.
Greenwood (0-3, 0-1) travels to Upper Dauphin on Friday for more TVL action.
Junior High
Boys basketball
9th grade: Cumberland Valley 46, Mifflin County 30. High scorer, Cade Attick 14. Mifflin County hosts Altoona Thursday.
Wrestling
Mifflin County 67, Altoona 28. Winners for Mifflin County were Clayton Wolfgang, Joey Taptich, Noah Myers, Trent Hidlay, Kyle Smith, Jonah Kile, Dalton Hildebrandt, Isaac Habershon, Quentin Milliken, Isaac McClay, Mike Bielski, Trey Hartsock and Matt Lash.
Mount Union 90, Everett 12. Winners for Mount Union were Jonathan Atherton, Nathanael Morgan, Samuel Estep, D.J. Bookwalter, Teagan Locke, Mason Hockenberry, Austin Rhodes, Josh Boozel, Rylan Boone, Devon Pearce, Evan Fortney, Andrew Todaro, Bryton Stidfole, Bryce Smith, and Hunter Blair.
