It’s hard to believe that it’s already mid-May, meaning we have just about reached the end of the regular season road for our eight Upper School varsity spring teams. Some will play their final league contests this week, while others will do so the week of May 15. And while the Inter-Ac playoff structure is a little different than how other leagues typically do things, there will be some kind of postseason for a majority of our Penn Charter teams.
So, while summer is knocking at the door, it’s not time to answer just yet. Let’s take a team-by-team look at where things stand as we begin to enter the homestretch of what has already been an exciting and accomplished spring campaign.
Note: This report covers athletic contests played between May 5-10.
Crew
At the PSRA City Championships on May 6-7, Penn Charter finished 13th out of 74 competing teams—the best finish at this event in program history.
Per head coach Katherine York, the Quakers had 32 rowers compete in the two-day event. There were 13 total boats—10 of the 13 boats advanced to the next stage, and nine qualified for finals, the most ever for PC at City Champs. Four boats medaled, and the Quakers had multiple boats in two of the finals races.
The results for each race that the Quakers competed in are listed below:
Saturday, May 6:
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Boys Freshman/Novice 2x: Liam Haines/Rainer Malhotra—1st place, 5:37.89
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Girls Novice 4x: Caroline Sumner/Hannah Aldinger/Penelope Gray/Liliana DeMartinis—3rd place, 6:12.87
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Boys Novice 4x: Ross Lee/Alexander Brown/Avi Mondgock/Tiernan Perkins—13th place, 5:54.54
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Boys JV 1x: Jack Davey—8th place, 5:55.70
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Girls JV 2x: Claire Lewis/Zoe Page—1st place, 5:47.28; Grace Agosto/Grace Magee—5th place, 6:14.41
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Girls JV 4x: Ali Sweeney/Safiyah Muhammad/Brea Turner/Inaya Edwards—11th place, 6:04.33
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Boys JV 4x: Elias Moulton/James Foley/Jack Bowen/Mac Haines—5th place, 4:56.39
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Girls Varsity 1x: Charlotte Baker—5th place, 6:46.80
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Girls Varsity 2x: Ellie Choate/Ella Bretschneider—1st place, 5:47.45; Merrill Gadsden/Lindsay Gadsden—4th place, 5:53.88
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Boys Varsity 2x: James Glomb/Scott Sweeney—2nd place, 5:02.84; Harrison Signorello/Matt Clarke—13th place, 5:32.44
Sunday, May 7:
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Boys JV 1x Semi-Final: Jack Davey—4th place, 5:59.78
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Boys Varsity 2x Semi-Final: James Glomb/Scott Sweeney—1st place, 5:14.86
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Boys Freshman/Novice 2x Final: Liam Haines/Rainer Malhotra—1st place, 5:46.06
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Girls Novice 4x Final: Caroline Sumner/Hannah Aldinger/Penelope Gray/Liliana DeMartinis—1st place, 6:04.29
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Girls JV 2x Final: Claire Lewis/Zoe Page—2nd place, 6:50.43; Grace Agosto/Grace Magee—4th place, 7:00.05
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Boys JV 4x Final: Elias Moulton/James Foley/Jack Bowen/Mac Haines—4th place, 5:22.07
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Girls Varsity 1x Final: Charlotte Baker—5th place, 7:34.36
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Girls Varsity 2x Final: Ellie Choate/Ella Bretschneider—3rd place, 6:39.99; Merrill Gadsden/Lindsay Gadsden—6th place, 7:07.15
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Boys Varsity 2x Final: James Glomb/Scott Sweeney—4th place, 6:00.10
“We are so proud of all of our rowers,” York said. “It was an incredibly exhilarating, rewarding weekend.”
The Quakers will next be in action on May 19-20 in the Stotesbury Cup Regatta, their penultimate race of the season.
Baseball
The Quakers fell into an early 1-0 hole against Episcopal on May 5, a team that had beaten PC 5-1 back on April 18. Penn Charter starting pitcher Will Vieira gave up a second-inning run but limited the damage thereafter. He pitched 4 ⅓ strong innings, allowing three hits while striking out six.
PC finally broke through with three sixth-inning runs to earn a huge 3-1 victory over the Churchmen. Colin Schumm tied the game with an RBI single before Liam Rowan gave the Quakers the lead for good with a run-scoring double. Ryan Conrad pitched the final 2 ⅔ innings and held EA scoreless to earn the win in relief.
Penn Charter dropped a 7-5 non-league loss to Archbishop Carroll the following day, but the final score was secondary to the team commemorating the occasion by honoring the seven seniors on the roster—Rowan, Schumm, Scott Doran, Cliff Harling, Oliver Zulick, Shawn Flynn and Tim Ford.
On May 9, the Quakers hosted Malvern Prep and led the Friars 1-0 after three innings. However, Malvern blasted a pair of two-run home runs in the fifth inning and a solo shot in the sixth; meanwhile, three Friars pitchers teamed up to hold PC to just two hits in the eventual 5-1 Malvern victory. The Quakers dropped a pair of hard-fought battles this season to the reigning league champions.
Penn Charter (13-8, 3-5) has four games remaining on its regular season schedule—two league contests and two of the non-league variety. PC will look to sweep the season series at Germantown Academy on May 12 (4 p.m.) before hosting Father Judge (May 13, noon) and Neumann-Goretti (May 15, 4 p.m.) in a three-day span. The Quakers will close it out on May 16 at SCH Academy (4 p.m.) before the team turns its attention to the PAISAA Tournament, which begins on May 19. PC advanced to the semifinals a season ago.
Softball
With one game left on their regular season schedule, the Quakers are playing some of their best softball of the season. Penn Charter followed a four-game losing streak from April 25 to May 3 (three of the defeats were to Inter-Ac opponents) with three straight victories in the past week, giving the team momentum as it gets set for its first PAISAA Tournament under the direction of head coach Charles Warren.
The win streak started with a May 5 contest against Notre Dame, with the Quakers breaking through against the Irish with a dominant 16-1 win. Lauren Gedraitis allowed just two hits over four scoreless innings, while it was a big day at the plate for both Ryan Hatty (three doubles, six RBI) and Jordan Simon (two doubles, four RBI).
“The confidence went up for sure,” Warren said. “It’s always good to get back to playing the right way and doing the things we need to. Notre Dame is having a down year and we knew it was a good opportunity for us to take care of business.”
PC followed its win over Notre Dame with a 10-4 victory over St. Hubert on May 8. Macie Bergmann (three doubles, four RBI, four runs scored) and Maddy Wray (two doubles, three runs, two stolen bases) had major impacts offensively, while Hatty went 4-for-4 at the plate with four RBI while firing a complete game victory with 10 strikeouts and no walks from the pitching circle. Hatty is now hitting a blistering .569 on the season with a team-leading 11 doubles; she’s also started nine games at pitcher, picking up six of the team’s nine wins.
“She’s willing to take it on her shoulders and accept responsibility,” Warren said of Hatty. “And as a sophomore, her potential is still untapped. Whether she’s pitching or hitting in the middle of our lineup, she answers the call and does her job.”
Finally, the Quakers (9-7, 3-6) secured a huge 7-6 win at Germantown Academy on May 10, avenging a 9-6 loss to the Patriots on April 25. PC set the tempo out of the gate by batting around in a five-run top of the first inning, highlighted by a two-run home run off the bat of Maddie Bergmann. The Quakers scored twice more in the fourth on a two-run single from Payton Handler, and while GA slowly chipped away at the lead, Hatty stranded the tying run on second base by inducing weak contact from the Patriots’ cleanup and five-hole hitters in the seventh inning. The team had a strong defensive effort, with Simon making several good catches in right field and Maddie Bergmann and Ellie McKernan sealing off the middle infield.
The Quakers have one Inter-Ac game remaining against Baldwin at home on May 12 (4 p.m.) before shifting their attention to the PAISAA Tournament, which begins on May 18. It’s a young team that has had its share of peaks and valleys, but Warren loves the way the Quakers are playing as they prepare for their first postseason run together.
“We’ve started playing more complete games for all seven innings,” he said. “We’re in a pretty good spot. We aren’t going to win the Inter-Ac, but I’m looking at this through a wider lens over the next two to four years. It’s trending in the right direction, and we have everybody returning next season. But before then, we still feel like we have a statement to make.”
Boys Track & Field
Just like the girls, the boys track team competed in its final meet of the regular season on May 5 at the 2023 Henderson Invitational in West Chester.
Ohifame Ijeboi secured the highest PC finish of the event, placing third in the 100 with a season-best time of 10.89. Isaiah Grimes picked up a 10th-place finish in the high jump (5-8), while Mark Butler was 10th in the long jump (20-10.5). Christian Black had the team’s other top-15 finish, placing 15th in the triple jump at 39-0.
The team will have the same Inter-Ac Championship schedule as the girls squad: trials at Penn Charter on May 11, throwing events at Germantown Academy on May 12 (3 p.m.) and finals in all of the other events on May 13 back at Penn Charter (10 a.m. for field events; running events begin at 1 p.m.). The Quakers went 2-1 in league dual meets this season and will look to improve upon their last-place finish at last year’s league championship event.
Girls Track & Field
The Quakers had their final regular season meet on May 5 at the 2023 Henderson Invitational in West Chester. Alli DeLisi finished first in the 800 in 2:09.66, improving upon her school-record time in the event. Michaela Poland secured a sixth-place finish in the 200 (25.63), while Mariah Mays placed eighth in the shot put (33-0).
Elsewhere, both Kaylinn Bethea (12th, 12.76) and Poland (13th, 12.77) were top-15 finishers in the 100, while Lucy Sokoloff placed 11th in the 300 hurdles with a personal-best time of 49.15.
“Overall, the team had an excellent meet preparing themselves for the upcoming champs meets,” head coach Candice Lee said.
The Inter-Ac Championship, which PC won last year, will unfold across a three-day period: trials at Penn Charter on May 11, throwing events at Germantown Academy on May 12 (3 p.m.) and finals for all other events on May 13 back at Penn Charter at 10 a.m. Lee said that PC’s strongest events should be the 1600, 800, 400, 200, hurdles and high jump, as well as all of the relays. A detailed champs recap will be featured in next week’s report, and Lee is confident in her team’s chance to repeat.
“The entire team is definitely locked in and focused on defending the title,” she said. “I believe that PC is the most complete team in the league and we can pick up points in almost all of the events. I just want all of the athletes to compete to the best of their abilities.”
Boys Tennis
The Quakers have had a busy few days of competition following Nate Arnold winning the Inter-Ac Singles Championship on April 27. The team went 1-2 over a three-match stretch with some strong tennis being played within each contest.
On May 5, PC dropped a 5-2 decision to Germantown Academy. Arnold continued his dominant play this season with a straight-set 6-3, 6-1 victory.
A few days later on May 8, the Quakers completed the season sweep of Malvern Prep with a convincing 6-1 win. All three singles players—Arnold, Justin Cockerham and Justin Gantz—picked up easy wins, as did the No. 4 doubles team of Alex Zoldan and Steven Bernstein. Penn Charter also secured well-fought, tight triumphs from its No. 1 (Eric Liriano & Jake Morgan) and No. 2 (Ethan Cohen & Ryan Packel) doubles teams.
On May 10, the Quakers (3-9, 2-7) fell 4-3 to SCH Academy. Arnold and Cockerham cruised to victories, while Gantz outlasted his opponent in a 10-7 third-set super-breaker win.
The team’s last match of the season—May 11 vs. GA—will be recapped more thoroughly in next week’s report. It will be the final match in the careers of seniors Bernstein, Cockerham, Cohen, Liriano and Packel.
“Definitely a successful season in terms of individual growth as players, support of each other in practice and matches and a whole lot of fun,” head coach Philip Stevens said on the eve of the finale. “This has been a really hard-working bunch of guys who set about getting better every day. There’s not much more a coach can ask for from any team.”
Girls Lacrosse
The Quakers continued their recent stretch of strong play, winning three of their four games that took place between May 5-10. The team has now won 10 of its last 13 games dating back to April 11.
This recent four-game stretch began with a 16-5 win over Notre Dame on May 5. PC jumped out to an 11-3 halftime lead and never looked back in completing the season sweep of the Irish. Aditi Foster and Grace Walter each scored four times, while Bea Buckley, Gracie Shoup and Ava Diaz all netted two goals apiece. Molly Dougherty and Harbor Campbell rounded out the scoring, and Kayla Joyce made 11 saves in goal.
Following a 9-6 win over visiting Manheim Township on May 6, PC had a couple of days off from competition before reconvening at Penn Charter to face Archbishop Carroll, the No. 7 ranked team in the nation on May 9. In a hard-fought battle, PC fell 10-8, with Foster and Buckley finding the back of the net twice each. Dougherty, Grace Walter, Eva Walter and Alex Glomb rounded out the scoring, while Joyce was again strong between the posts in making eight saves. This marked the final regular season home game for the program’s nine seniors—Buckley, Glomb, Shoup, Joyce, Sydney DelBello, Bella Toomey, Casey Jones, Olivia Summers and team manager Kayla Pham.
Penn Charter didn’t have to wait long to get over the Carroll loss as the team traveled to Downingtown on May 10 to play a night game at Bishop Shanahan, ultimately securing a 13-8 victory after jumping out to a 9-2 halftime advantage. Foster scored six times, Grace Walter netted four goals and Shoup tallied a pair of scores. Dougherty also scored a goal, and Joyce made 11 saves.
The Quakers (12-8, 4-4) will close the regular season with a pair of Inter-Ac road showdowns. First, the team will hit the road for a May 12 game at Germantown Academy (3:30 p.m.) as PC seeks payback following GA’s 9-8 win at Penn Charter on April 25. The finale will be at Agnes Irwin, a team the Quakers knocked off in overtime on April 21. That one will also be played at 3:30, and after that PC will look forward to defending last year’s PAISAA title, with that tournament set to commence on May 18.
Boys Lacrosse
The Quakers were in action three times over the past week, dropping a pair of league battles while securing a dominant non-league victory.
Penn Charter dropped a 13-6 decision to Episcopal on May 5, with Owen Black leading the way with three goals and an assist against the Churchmen. Gavin Michener continued his sterling junior season with a pair of scores, while Casey Felter also found the back of the net twice. George Glomb won 18 of 24 faceoffs and Noah Dacanay came away with nine saves in goal.
After scoring a season-high 19 goals in a 19-7 win over Allentown Catholic on May 6, PC hosted its final home game of the season on May 9 against Malvern Prep. The Friars, ranked No. 25 in the country by USA Lacrosse Magazine, completed the season sweep with a dominant 18-4 victory. Black scored twice and added an assist, while Felter and Casey Weinstein each netted one goal. Chet Kempinski contributed an assist.
The loss to Malvern marked the final home game for the program’s seniors: Black, Glomb, Kempinski, Dacanay, Patrick Rullo, Seamus McCain, Patrick McDonough, Nick Walter, David Comitale, Ryan Egan and Lance Kay.
The final game of the season for Penn Charter (7-13, 1-8) will be played May 12 at Germantown Academy (4 p.m.) when the Quakers will look to finish strong and complete the season sweep of the Patriots.