Winter championship season has arrived and Hill’s teams are ready for postseason competition. Below are team-by-team previews of upcoming events:
Boys’ and Girls’ Basketball are in the Pennsylvania Independent School Athletic Association (PAISAA) state tournament, which begins on Thursday, February 13. The Hill girls visit Episcopal Academy on February 13 while the boys host Haverford School on February 14. Read more about the PAISAA Basketball Tournament.
The Indoor Track and Field teams aim to build off their success in the PAISAA championship meet at the MAPL Championship, hosted by Lawrenceville on February 15. A year ago, The Hill boys finished just 16-points behind Lawrenceville, and the boys’ competition is expected to be another tight finish between the rival schools. Hill’s girls finished second in the PAISAA meet and hope to improve upon last year’s third place MAPL finish.
Day Squash Center is the host site of the Boys’ Squash MAPL Championship Tournament, which will be held on February 15. Hill is the second seed, having defeated Blair and Mercersburg but lost to Lawrenceville in regular season play. The Blues open the tournament against third-seed Blair Academy at 11:00 AM and, with a win, would advance to play the winner of the Lawrenceville vs. Mercersburg preliminary match.
Meanwhile, the Girls’ Squash team travels to Lawrenceville for the girls’ tournament. Hill’s girls also are the second seed, having defeated Blair and Mercersburg by identical 5-4 scores but falling to Lawrenceville during the regular season. The first-round matchups on the girls’ side are identical to the boys’ side.
On February 21 and 22, the squash teams will travel to Connecticut to compete in the HEAD US Squash High School Team Championships. Divided into divisions, the tournament is held at various colleges and prep schools in the greater Hartford area, centered at Trinity College. A final draw will be released next week and can be found on the tournament website.
Members of the Swimming and Diving team who qualified for the event conclude the season in the Eastern Interscholastic Swimming and Diving Championships, held on February 14 – 15. For the third-consecutive year, the swimming events will be held at Franklin and Marshall College while Germantown Academy hosts the diving competition. Visit the Easterns website to view the schedule, a link to the video feed, and preliminary heat sheets.
On February 14, the Wrestling team will head to Westtown School for the Pennsylvania Independent School Wrestling Tournament. Preliminary rounds begin at 4:30 PM and continue with the championship round quarterfinals and the early consolation rounds. On Saturday morning, all wrestlers who have not been eliminated (the tournament is double elimination) return for both the championship and consolation brackets. The final championship matches are scheduled for 2:00 PM on Saturday afternoon.
All wrestlers who finish in the top-six of his or her weight class at the PAISWT automatically qualify for the National Prep Tournament, held at Lehigh University on February 21 and February 22; the seventh and eighth-place finishers are alternates for Nationals. Five Hill wrestlers appear in the top-12 of their respective weight class in the February 7 National Prep rankings.