Time marches on. One door closes and another one opens. Both sayings are relevant to the passing of the winter sports season and the approach of the spring.

It was a long cold winter in Central PA but for the CM sports teams, time passed rather quickly as seasons tend to do. It seemed like yesterday that the teams held their first practices and now the practices have been completed, the games played and the uniforms collected and stored away for another offseason.

As could be expected, there was some good and there were some struggles along the way on the hardwood, in the pool and on the mats. Of course, we will focus on the good.

The girls basketball team finished their campaign with an overall record of 10-12 while going 5-5 in the very competitive HAC-I. The biggest win for the Wildcats was their road victory at Shikellamy. The Wildcats were a guard-dominated team as they suffered from a serious lack of size. Thus, a lack of interior scoring as well as rebounding was a challenge throughout the season.

Three Wildcats — Lena Walker, Camdyn Weaver and Taylor Doyle — averaged double figures in scoring for the season while Ava Doyle led the team in rebounding. Weaver will return next season to lead what will be a younger CM squad as five seniors graduate from this year’s team. Expect a slightly different offensive and defensive approach for the Wildcats next season.

The boys basketball team finished 9-14 while also going 5-5 in the HAC-I. Coach Tyler Bardo’s squad struggled with consistency throughout the season. When mentally engaged they had the ability to compete with the best that their schedule had to offer. However, there were other games where a lack of focus led to disappointing losses.

Lack of size was an issue for the boys as well, yet when focused on the task at hand the Wildcats found ways to compete on the interior from both a scoring and rebounding perspective. Overall, the team scored an average of 58 points per game, but surrendered 62 per contest.

The Wildcats will lose four seniors, all of whom started games this season. Their production will need to be replaced by the five letterman who should return as well as newcomers that will hopefully rise from the JV and middle school teams. Two of those underclassmen finished as the team’s second- and third-leading scorers on the team behind senior Hunter Hoy who eclipsed the 1,000 point plateau late in the season.

Hoy was also the team’s leading rebounder.

CM wrestling was once again dominate in the regular season while also capturing the District 6 Class AAA Dual crown. The Wildcats posted a 14-2 dual meet record while also having solid tournament finishes. They finished second in the 32-team King of the Mountain field, third out of 57 at Mid-Winter Mayhem, and second out of 46 at the Ultimate Warrior Tournament.

Along the way there were many individual successes.

Coach Biff Walizer’s squad was impacted by injuries this season which prompted lineup changes and shuffling.

“We did a lot of maneuvering with our lineup throughout the season,” Walizer said. “When we bumped guys around, or inserted a new person into the lineup, they always seemed to respond well when given the opportunity.”

Winning individual District 6 gold medals were Dalton Perry and Patrick Tarantella while Gavin Heverly, Aiden Kunes, Bryce Brungard and Hayes Henry finished second. Collin Bauman recorded a third-place finish.

At the West Class AAA Regional, Perry captured another championship to push his overall career record to 158-15 and earning a trip to the state meet this weekend. Teammate Aiden Kunes earned a trip to states with a fifth-place finish. Walizer will lose four seniors from this years squad — Perry, Luke Ananea, Bryce Brungard and Jacob Weaver, who was injured very early in the season and was sidelined throughout.

The Central Mountain girls wrestling program continued to make strides. Under the direction of former CM standout Dylan Caprio, the Wildcats completed their dual meet season 4-9. The girls also competed in numerous tournaments and showcases with varying results.

From an individual standpoint, the Wildcats got very solid seasons from junior Ashlyn Miller (22-8), junior Kendall Wagner (25-7) and sophomore Austynn Falls (29-4).

Each of them finished as a runner-up at the District 5-6-9 championship meet. Falls and Wagner finished as regional runner-ups as well and thus will participate in the state tournament this weekend in Hershey. CM had just one senior on the roster this season in first-year participant Jacey Tripp.

Boys and girls swimming both had a solid season with the boys finishing 14-1 and the girls 13-2. The lone loss for the boys was to Danville by just two points in an early-season meet where the Wildcats left a few lanes empty due to a lack of versatility in the line-up at that time.

Coach Scott Bair was impressed that as the season progressed his team improved their versatility to become a much more well-rounded team.

Some accomplishments for the swimmers this year included achieving many personal records over the course of the season. Camryn Bair and Jonathan Hughes combined to set six new school records. A total of 22 Wildcats qualified for districts this season which was nine more than a year ago. The boys team won the Blue Jay Invitational and defeated Williamsport in a dual meet for the first time ever.

As for state qualifiers, Bair will compete in the state meet at Bucknell next weekend in the 50 free and 100 breaststroke. That will mark her fourth trip to the state tournament.

Last but not least, was the unified bocce team. The program offers a great example of inclusion and diversity of athletes in an athletic setting. The team went 7-3 this season and registered a second-place finish at the league championship meet. Just two seniors competed this season, Sophia McKeague and Malaky Moyd. Coach Dana Robinson credited Moyd with playing an integral role in leading the young team this season.

TeamS of the winter

Going to need to declare a tie here. The boys wrestling and swim teams stand a bit or more above the others and so they get the honors. Girls swimming gets an honorable mention.

ATHLETES OF THE WINTER

This is a tough one. Deservedly considered here were boys basketballs tandout Hunter Hoy and swimmer Jonathan Hughes, who had very solid seasons on the hardwood and in the pool, respectively. Several other swimmers and wrestlers had solid individual seasons as well.

However, I’m going with swimmer Camryn Bair and wrestler Dalton Perry as the top CM athletes of the winter.

Looking ahead

The state wrestling championships are this weekend in Hershey. Next weekend, the state swimming championships will take place at Bucknell. Spring sports began official workouts this week. Baseball will look to keep its winning tradition alive under longtime head coach Mike Kramer while the softball squad will look to replace a solid senior class and continue its winning ways under new head coach, former CM standout Taylor Thompson.

Previews can be found in the sprint sports preview feature coming soon in The Express.