District 1 Class AAA Southeastern Regional Wrestling Tournament

Two Phoenixville Area High School wrestlers have advanced to this weekend’s District 1 Class AAA Southeastern Regional Wrestling Tournament at Oxford High School.
Junior Chris Onder (112 pounds) and sophomore Ken Cenci (215) are still alive in the tournament for coach Dave Saville’s Phantoms. Both Onder and Cenci finished in third place at the District 1-AAA North Tournament at Quakertown High School last Saturday. The top four finishers advance to the next round.
A third Phoenixville wrestler, sophomore Matt Cermanski (125) took fifth place and is a first alternate for this weekend’s tourney.
Onder won his third-place consolation bout by a 14-2 major decision over Central Bucks East’s Doug Silveria. Cenci won a 3-1 decision over Quakertown’s Greg Walker. Cermanski won his fifth-place final by forfeit.
The top four finishers at Oxford will advance to the PIAA Championships at the Giant Center in Hershey, Pa., Thursday through Saturday, March 5-7.

Franklin K. Manley Final Four

The Pioneer Athletic Conference (PAC-10) Franklin K. Manley Final Four will crown its boys and girls basketball championship teams this week.
On Tuesday night at 7 p.m. at Spring-Ford High School’s Ram Gymnasium, Liberty Division winner Owen J. Roberts will take on Liberty runner-up Methacton, a newcomer to the league this year, for the boys title.
Owen J. Roberts ousted St. Pius X and Methacton upended Phoenixville in the semifinal round.
On the girls’ side, the championship game will be played Wednesday evening at 7 p.m. at Spring-Ford High School’s Ram Gymnasium.
In that encounter, Frontier Division winner St. Pius X will take on Frontier runner-up Pottsgrove for the top prize.
In Saturday’s Final Four semifinal round, St. Pius X defeated Methacton and Pottsgrove stopped Perkiomen Valley.
Both champions will be new. Pottstown’s boys won the crown a year ago and so did Spring-Ford’s girls in a three-year run at the top that came to a conclusion this winter.

The Phoenixville Area High School boys and girls swimmers

The Phoenixville Area High School boys and girls swimmers have not won a Pioneer Athletic Conference meet yet this season.
However, the Phantoms have had a lot of individual success stories in qualifying for the upcoming District 1 Class AA Championships for smaller schools.
Phoenixville senior boy Matt Heverly has had an excellent season. He has already qualified for districts in all 11 events, which includes individual events as well as relays.
Heverly was featured in The Phoenix Athlete of the Week section on Thursday, Jan. 29. Against Spring-Ford, Heverly won the 200-yard individual medley (2:07.13) and 100 freestyle (.51.60).
So was sophomore Brittany Rohall on the girls’ side. Against Spring-Ford at Ursinus College, Rohall won the 200-yard freestyle (2:13.26) and 100 backstroke (1:09.08).
Head coach Ty Bailey and assistant coach Dan Weinstein have focused on individual improvement in terms of personal bests and district qualifiers as opposed to meet victories against larger schools. The Phantoms are limited in numbers and are also limited in practice time at the Phoenixville Area YMCA.