Photo by Curt Werner

Northern High School distance runner Marlee Starliper crosses the finish line, winning her third straight PIAA Class AA Girls State Cross Country Championship Saturday in Hershey.

Record win for Starliper as Bears claim state silver

Joe Guty

   Patience is a virtue.

   Especially in cross country running.

   Last Saturday in Hershey, Northern H.S. distance star Marlee Starliper won her third straight PIAA Class AA Girls State Cross Country Championship. Starliper solidified her stature in the history of Pennsylvania high school runners as she also set a meet record of 17:10.9 over the five-kilometer Parkview course.

   For the first mile, the senior ran patiently in the front pack that included 2016 state champon and long-time rival and senior Taryn Parks of Greencastle-Antrim. By mile two, Starliper was on her own in the lead and strode smoothly over the soggy course to finish almost a minute faster than runner-up Parks (18:06).

   A total of 208 runners and 17 teams finished the AA race, and when the numbers came back, the Northern girls' squad placed second with 77 points--oh-so-close behind team champion South Fayette H.S. (62). Warrior Run placed third (116) followed by Central Cambria (159) and Lewisurg Area (182). Individualy, senior Gionna Quarzo of Brownsville Area took third (18:18.40), sophmore Olivia Haas of Blue Mountain was fourth (18:23.40) and junior Cori McCormick of North Shuylkill was fifth (18:44).

   While there was some initial post-race dissapointment, the reality of being one of the top teams in the state began to sink in for the Lady Polar Bears.

   "I couldn't have asked for a better last cross-country race in a Northern uniform," said Starliper who ran the fastest all-time girls' 5K in PA earlier this season. "The race was an experience that I will always remember because of how I was also running for my team to achieve a greater goal."

   Teammate and fellow senior Katie Anthony capped the outstanding Northern cross-country career with a medal winning 17th place finish. Anthony clocked 19:40.20.

   "I am so thrilled," said Anthony. "We were coming here hoping for first, but our place freshman year was fifth, sophmore year fourth, last year sixth and this year second, so it's our first-time getting state hardware."

   The season's dynamic duo again ran consistent, high quality races: junior Madison Saltsburg placed 44th in the time of 20:32.50 and not far behind was sophmore Allie Engle who placed 47th as she clocked 20:34.50. Freshman Anslee DePasqua placed 81st (21:00.10) followed by juniors Dixie Ramsey who finished 95th (21:15.60) and Marissa Freed in 120th place (21:36.10).

   "The season went well and I'm happy for the girls," said Head Coach Al Houser who was also at the helm when the 2007 Northern girls' sqaud captured second place in Class AAA. "They worked really hard during the season and they all ran good races today--it's just that another team was a little better."

                                Paper ballots leave trail of frustration

Peggie Williams

   New voting procedures caused confusion and long lines at some local polling places during Tuesday's elections.

   The new machines allow for a paper trail for possible recounts in the event of any problems, including hacking, with the electronic counting.

   However, each polling location in York County recieved only one machine to electronically scan the ballots, which led to long lines at some locations.

   Some areas of the county had problems with ballots incorrectly printed or on incorrect paper stock, but locally the problems revolved around delays at the scanner.

   Reports were recieved at the Dillsburg Banner office of long lines at the new scanning machine in Carroll Township. There were also reports of the paper ballots being abandoned or taken out of the building as voters could not wait in the lines.

   Franklin Township also experienced some long lines at the scanning machines and several people left to return later in hopes of a shorter wait.

   "I had a doctor's appointment this morning. I couldn't wait," said one woman as she left the building after successfully voting around 2 p.m.

   An official at that location commented they were surprised how many people were unaware of the change over to the paper ballot, but said overall thngs were going smoothly with the average time to fill out the forms and scan them into the machines under 20 minutes.

   Holly Kelley, the Republican Party representative for Dillsburg Borough, said she would describe things as steady but manageable at the borough location. She said most of the feedback she heard about the new system was positive. She said there was a minimum of the new machines distributed to polling places because turnout was expected to be low for this election, but more would be available for the 2020 elections.

   State election board officials report that York County had the most problems statewide. Late in the afternoon the York County Board of Commissioners issued an apology, admitting "one machine per polling place as simple not enough."

   They said that any ballots placed in the mahines' emergency holding boxes will be scanned at the polling places by the election officials, and that they were already working to address this issue for the next election on Jan. 14 for the 48th State Senate seat.

                                                                                                                      Photo by Curt Werner

Connor Swope maneuvers around a Lower Dauphin player during the second-half.

Northern's season ends at states, Bears finish 17-5-1

Andy Sandrik 

   There was doubt at the beginning of the season as to whether the Northern boys soccer team, suffering the graduation of 11 seniors, could even hold a candle to last year's Polar Bears squad, which posted a winning record and qualified for the district playoffs.

   It turns out that Gaz Davies' 2019 squad--with a 17-5-1 record, a colonial Division championship, an appearance in the district finals and a finish among the top 16 teams in the state--was even better.

   Northern's exhilarating postseason run finally came to an end, with the Polar Bears dropping 3-0 losses to Lower Dauphin in the District 3-3A title game on Friday and to Archbishop Wood in Tuedy afternoon's PIAA 3A first round game.

   "Our boys will be back, I know it," Davies said. "I now have the experience to go with it, too."

                                                                                                                                                        Photo by Curt Werner

                                                                      NIna Burns advances the ball around East Pennsboro's Caroline Kim.

                                          Lady Bears advance at states

Joe Guty 

   In opening round of the 2019 PIAA Class 2A Field Hockey Championships, Northern H.S. left little doubt they belong at the Big Dance. The Lady Polar Bears recorded their 20th win of the season as they upended Bangor H.S. 6-1 at Emmaus H.S. this past Tuesday, November 5.

   Bangor, the top seed in District 1, fell to 16-6. Meanwhile, Northern (20-4) earned a ticket to the Quarterfinals this Saturday, Nov. 9 where they will play the winner of the Bishop Shanahan H.S. and Wyoming Valley West contest held Tuesday. District III champion Palmyra and and third place winner Twin Valley also avanced.

   In the PIAA District III, Class 2A third place game last Saturday, Northern went into overtime before Twin Valley took home the bronze with a 3-2 win. In the first half, Twin Valley's Natalie Foster scored first at 14:45. Natalie Saltzer countered with a goal at 7:29. Brynn Crouse put Northern ahead in the second half at 3:18. Nina Burns made the assist for the Lady Polar Bears. Twin Valley's Foster tied it up at 1:17. In OT, Foster sent it home at 12:57 to seal the win. Kasey Davis made five saves in goal for Northern. In the Semifinals last week, East Pennsboro edged Northern 1-0. Alison Buffington scored the Lady Panther's goal at 20:39 in the first half. Kasey Davis had three saves and East Pennsboro's Alexa Johnson had three.

   The Mid Penn Conference coaches announced the 2019 Field Hockey All-Star teams this week. Nothern was well-represented in the Capital Division. First Team members included: senior Kasey Davis, juniors Natalie Saltzer, Kelse Heltzel and Emma Rosensteel and sophmore Brynn Crouse. Junior Kayla Michaels was named to the Capital Division Second Team.