WH Athletics

• The cheerleaders will look to defend their Patriot League championship tonight here at Whitman-Hanson. The competition starts at 6:30pm and with only 4 teams competing it will be brief, so don’t be late. Come out and support these talented hard working girls.
• The Whitman-Hanson wrestling team won the prestigious Division 2 sportsmanship award. This is an incredible honor which is selected by the officials. On the mat, senior captain Colin McSweeney has turned in one of the best seasons in school history as he is just 4 wins away from 100 in his career. After winning the south sectional championship, he advanced to the championship match in the division 2 state championships before losing in triple overtime in one of the most thrilling matches of the year. He moves on to all-states where he will have a shot at revenge and a chance to become a state champion. Also advancing to the state championships is junior captain Greg McGrath who also had a great showing finishing 5th. The team will compete in the team state tournament this weekend at Tsongas arena in Lowell. On a side-note, congratulations to former Whitman-Hanson principal and wrestling coach Bob Gay who was inducted into the Division 2 coaches Hall of Fame last weekend. It was a well deserved honor.
• The girls basketball team qualified for the state tournament last night defeating North Quincy 54-53 at home on senior night. Sophomore guard Marina Kelly nailed two free throws with 9.8 seconds left to give the win to the Panthers. Senior guard MacKenzie Hatfield led the Panthers with 15 points. Senior guard Cassie Chernicki added 12 points. Freshman Erin Clifford had a terrific all around game with 11 points and 16 rebounds.
• The boys basketball team has qualified for the state tournament once again. The team still has 3 games left, include tomorrow night when they host Duxbury on Senior night. Come out and show your support to our 4 fine seniors: Alex Nuby, Corey Arseneau, John Sullivan and Jason Silva. The team also plays host to the annual winter classic over break. The games are played on Monday and Wednesday (5 and 6:30pm each night) with Plymouth North, Scituate and Sandwich joining Whitman-Hanson.
• The Whitman-Hanson Special Olympics team, which has been mentored by the boys basketball team this winter and coached by Mr. Main, will be competing at halftime of the boys basketball game tomorrow night. This is always a special and inspirational night for the Whitman-Hanson community. WATD, 95.9Fm, will be here broadcasting the entire night.
• The boys and girls hockey teams have been eliminated from post season contention but both teams continue to work hard. The girls earned a 4-4 tie against Marshfield over the weekend. The boys will be participating in the Bishop Stang tournament this weekend (Friday and Saturday night).
• Our amazing track teams continue to make Whitman-Hanson proud:
o The girls track team had a great night at the Patriot League meet with 4 individual champions and one relay champion. Leading the way was Abby Baker in the 1000 meters, she broke the school record in a time of 3:03. Sam Richner high jump, Nicole Galewski long jump and Rachael Baker in the mile all won individual championships. The 4x800 team of Kelsey Tierney, Caroline Mulrey and the Bakers sisters won by 25 seconds. Next up is the D2 state championships tomorrow.
• The Boys’ Track team had a great showing at the Patriot League meet on Friday night at the Reggie Lewis center, earning medals in nearly every event for the top times in the league. It was a night of many personal bests and outstanding performances from the Panthers. Below are some of the highlights from the meet:

1. Pat Ryan was league champion in the 2 mile and Pat Mulrey took second place
2. The 4X800 team of Pat Ryan, Nate Stephansky, Mike Reimer, and Dylan Foureau took 1st
3. The 4X400 team ran a great race to finish 2nd with Dom Cacciatore, Paul Kennedy, Luke Laubacher, and Anthony Iannone
4. Mike Reimer and Nate Stephansky took 2nd and 3rd in the 1000 meter
5. Dylan Foureau took 3rd in the 600
6. Ian MacDonald took 3rd place in the shot put
7. Brian Sheppard won the JV 1000 meter
The team now looks ahead to the Division II Championship meet tomorrow.
• Spring sports will begin on Monday March 19th. All student-athletes should have signed up online and attended the pre-season meeting with their respective coaches. Any questions, see Mr. Rodgers asap.
• Thank you to all of those who participated in the Southwest Airlines raffle. The winner will be determined tonight based on the mass state lottery number even drawing. The first two digits determines the winner. All participants have been notified of their numbers. Good luck to everyone.
• Senior Corey Burns will be featured on an upcoming edition of A+ student on Channel 5 with David Brown. When we know the date of the airing of this feature we will pass it along. We are all very proud of Corey as he represents everything we want from our student-athletes here at Whitman-Hanson. He was recently accepted to Tufts University where he will be playing football.
• A special thank you to our outstanding faculty at Whitman-Hanson who go above and beyond to help our student-athletes succeed in the classroom. Our new academic probation program is making a real difference for our students. This winter we have 30% fewer students on probation and of the students who were on probation at progress reports this winter, 84% of them have raised their grade and 63% have raised it above a C-. This program is working so well because teachers take extra time to fill out progress reports and work with students to make up work while the coaches enforce the rules without regard to the player’s ability. We all believe the word student comes first for a reason when we talk about our student-athletes.