Wilson’s Winter Sports have been in full swing for the past two months. Girl’s swimming and diving is undefeated, girl’s basketball claimed first place in their division, and many other teams have had incredible success. Here is a breakdown of all the teams as the Bulldogs finished out their 2024-2025 season.
Girl’s Basketball: Our girl’s basketball team has been successful this season as they finished first in Berks Division 1 with a conference record of 4-1 and an overall record of 15-7. Returning Berks All Stars include Laila Jones, Kalani Hardy, Laura Crocona, and Violet Houck. Matt Raquet is their coach for the 2024-2025 season. He commented that their most memorable moment this season was their win against Dallastown. “They are one of the best teams in our district and we beat them at home. Kailani Hardy was instrumental in this victory. She led us down the stretch with some key scoring including a behind the back pullup jumper!” Coach also states,“We talk a lot about communication, competitiveness and coachability. Our team goals are structured around these key values and we believe if we do these things and develop them, positive things will happen for our team.” They are the number two seed going into postseason and play Schuylkill Valley at home in the first round of the BCIAA playoffs.
Boy’s Basketball: The boy’s basketball team also going into the playoffs as the number two seed. They finished the season with an overall record of 17-5 and a league record of 8-4. This gave them second place in the Berks Division 1 Conference. During the season, senior Madyx Gruber reached 1,000 career points. This makes the guard one of less than two hundred players to ever accomplish this milestone. Memorable moments from this season include their games against schools like Berks Catholic and Governor Mifflin. The energy in the gym was unbelievable when they faced these league rivals.
Swimming and Diving: Both the girls’ and boys’ swimming and diving teams became the league champions. The girls finished with an incredible overall record of 12-0 while the boys finished 10-2. Both teams were undefeated within the league. Highlights from this year include senior Kai Boyer and junior Keagan Eisenhower both breaking the Governor Mifflin pool record. Boyer broke the record in the 100 meter butterfly event and Eisenhower broke the record in the 100 meter breaststroke event. The girls also set records in the Mifflin pool with Olivia Vecchio, Emma Dougherty, Evelyn Quick, and Neveah Houck breaking the record in the 200 relay. At the county championships both boys’ and girls’ brought home first place. Girls individual winners include: Kendall Bausher, Emma Dougherty, Evelyn Quick, and Olivia Vecchio. Coach Thomas Houck stated that the team element was the most important aspect that brought success to these teams. “Most outsiders look at a sport like swimming and diving and it looks like an individual sport. But it is not. The most successful teams treat this sport as a team sport. And this group has done that. The way they work together and grow together is awesome to watch.” He also goes on to say, “They [the swimmers] train very hard and are very dedicated. The way they keep improving is they support each other at practice and in competition…The team synergy has been very special. The seniors we have this year aren’t just incredibly talented, but they are incredible leaders and wonderful young adults.”
Rifle: Wilson Air Rifle is a coed sport that has gone through many changes this season. One major change came in the coaching staff. For the 2025 season, JROTC instructor Gerald New began coaching the team. Although not winning any big championships within the Lancaster Lebanon League, the team is looking forward to developing for next season. This year’s captains were seniors Catherine Wolf and Abby Schaffer. Both are fourth year shooters and major contributors to the team not only with their scores but with their ability to use their voice and be strong leaders. Coach New reflected on the season by stating, “This was a great season. We were lucky to have two great senior team leaders, Catherine Wolf and Abigail Schaeffer. These two great young ladies really set the tone for the other team members to follow. They left a great legacy for the new team leaders to follow and to emulate. Their leadership, work ethic and positive attitude will be missed. The team is well positioned to improve on this year’s performance but that is only achievable if they remain committed to each other and continue to live up to the teams “On Target Values” of personal accountability, academic improvement both in the classroom and shooting techniques, teamwork, and sportsmanship toward their competitors and themselves. I am excited for next season and look forward to building on this season.” A few athletes went on to compete at the individual championships held the last week of the season. These athletes include: Natalie Rapp, Abby Arnholt, Reece Baines, Abby Schaeffer, Lilli Mensinger, Shania Gouin and Micah Hollock. Coach New also commented on their most memorable moment this season “I believe the most memorable moment in the season is when we defeated Governor Mifflin for the first win of the season. The victory started a string of 490 scores, we had the first two 100 scores posted and it really showed our potential as both a team and individual shooters.” The first two perfect targets of the season were shot by Cece DeJoseph and Catherine Wolf in this meet. The Wilson Air Rifle team looks forward to developing going into next year.
Wrestling: The Wilson Boys’ Wrestling team had been extremely successful this season. The boys were undefeated within the league and had an overall record of 12-4. There are many talented athletes on this team including Junior Abramm Schaffer who won his 100th career match at this year’s BCIAA Individual Tournament. Girl’s wrestling was first recognized as a PIAA sport back in 2023 making this their second official season. Wilson’s girl’s wrestling team has some outstanding athletes such as Jocelyn Dietz, Hayley Cilento, Olivia Tillman, and Tammy Nguyen. The growth of this team offers a promising future for the future of women in the sport of wrestling.
Wilson’s athletic program is incredible having many talented athletes and coaches with immense passion for the sports they are a part of. This success is exciting to witness as the community awaits warm weather and the beginning of spring sports season for the Wilson Bulldogs.
