Freshman Gwiazdowski getting taste of the big time at Arizona
Conversations about separate PIAA championships for public and private schools, no matter how vociferous the proponents, have always reached the same dead end.
Pennsylvania’s General Assembly, so goes the wellworn logic, would never allow it. The legislature, via Act 219 of 1972, bound together private and public schools under the PIAA; any procedural decoupling of state champs runs counter to that law, by letter or spirit, and opens the threat of litigation or worse.
Freshman Colin Gwiazdowski is competing for the University of Arizona men’s team and he’s learning about college swimming under fire in the tough PAC-12.
Gwiazdowski, from Reading and a Schuylkill Valley graduate, is still looking for his first collegiate victory. He competes in the 50 and 100 freestyle and the 100 butterfly for the Wildcats and his best times to date are 20.92 (50 free), 45.81 (100 free) and 50.54 (100 fly).
“For Colin there have certainly been some reality checks and difficult adaptation moments this season, but that can be said of most freshmen,” coach Augie Busch said. “His positive attitude, commitment to training and willingness to be an unselfish teammate are great attributes to have.”
“He clearly is adding value in several areas,” Busch said. “I believe the season is winding up nicely for him so we’re very excited to see what he does at the league championships.”
The PAC-12 Championship is scheduled for March 6-9 in Federal Way, Wash.
The junior finished second in the 500 meter dash for the Colgate men’s indoor track team at the college’s Class of ’32 meet on Feb. 9 in Hamilton, N.Y. His time was 1:09.46 and it was his third runner-up effort in that event this winter. Myers also helped the Raiders’ Distance Medley Relay finish first with a time of 10:43.59. On Feb. 2-3, he finished second in the 800 meter run with a time of 1:57.25 at the Blue and Orange Invitational and Multi in Utica, N.Y.
The freshman is starting at third base and seeing action behind the plate for the
This week, a maneuver to remove that legislative impediment has presented itself.
State Representative Scott Conklin (D-77) of Centre County intends to propose a bill that would amend that statute in a way that could give the PIAA the ability to crown separate champions.
“One of the reasons we’re doing that is that the PIAA has said that they’re worried that they’d be open to litigation if they pursued this,” Conklin told the Daily Times on Feb. 13. “By passing this piece of legislation, we (would) now allow the PIAA to set these tournaments up, that they can’t be litigated against.”
News of Conklin’s plan was first reported last Wednesday night by PennLive.com. He was scheduled to be discussing the matter at an event hosted by the Pennsylvania Delaware softball team, the Blue Hens 2-1 after a 6-3 victory over Maryland-Baltimore County on Feb. 10 in Baltimore. Kisamore scored a run in the game. She had a single and an RBI in an 8-7 loss to Norfolk State in the second game of a doubleheader on Feb. 8 in Norfolk, Va. and went 0-for-3 in a 3-1 season-opening victory over Norfolk in the first game.
The freshman finished fourth in the mile for the Geneva women’s indoor track team at the Dragon Grand Prix on Feb. 9 in Tiffin, OH. She was the third collegiate finisher out of 35 runners with a time of 5:40.68. She also finished 13th in the 800 meter run with a time of 2:39.25. Taylor kicked off her college career with two starts in the 5,000 meter run. She posted a time of 20.29.74 in her first college race at that distance and improved her time at 19:40.34, both in meets in Youngstown, OH.
The 5-foot-11, 195-pound senior defenseman scored his first collegiate goal and picked up his first collegiate assist to help the Marquette men’s lacrosse team open its season with a 15-9 victory over Bellarmine on Feb. 9 in Milwaukee, Wisc. He also had two ground balls and a caused turnover. Ehlert entered the season having played 31 games without a score but did have 27 ground balls and 16 caused turnovers. A corporate communications major, he has earned Big Ten All-Academic honors the past two years.
The 5-foot-11 freshman guard/forward recorded her first career double-double when she had 11 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Ursinus women’s basketball team to a 53-52 victory over Muhlenberg in a Centennial Coaches Association on Feb. 13 and could bring the bill as early as next week.
Conklin cited residency restrictions for Little League as an example of the delineation he wants to present, though that argument lacks a parallel for private schools. He raised concerns over lower attendance at PIAA championships due to the same teams perennially reaching finals. And he described it as a safety issue in which schools limited to geographic boundaries simply can’t compete against schools that can draw from across state lines or, as Conklin mentioned several times, anywhere in the world.
“It’s already a wellknown fact, the disadvantage that one school may have or one team may have if the other team is able to recruit around the world,” he said. Conference victory on Feb. 13 in Collegeville. Downs has played in all 24 games with 13 starts and is averaging 9.0 points a game. She’s hit 46 of 139 3-point attempts (33.1 percent).
“Gabby has added a whole new dimension to our team this season with her perimeter scoring ability,” coach Margaret White said. “She has made big shots in big moments.”
The coach feels that Downs has adjusted well to the pace of the college game as the season progressed.
“Gabby has grown tremendously on the defensive end,” Mitchell said.
The Bears are 16-8 overall and 13-6 in league play after the Muhlenberg victory.
The 6-foot-4, 189-pound freshman forward continues to be a solid player off the bench for the DeSales men’s basketball team, the Bulldogs 18-6 overall and in first place in the MAC Freedom Conference with an 11-2 record after a 74-68 league victory over Eastern on Feb. 9 in St. Davids. Mitchell is averaging 6.5 points and 4.2 rebounds and leads the team with 41 blocked shots. He had 10 points, eight rebounds and five blocks in a 90-71 victory over Bryn Athyn on Dec. 9 in Center Valley.
The senior from Reading helped the Ursinus women’s gymnastics team post a seasonhigh total of 186.150 but the Bears still finished behind West Chester and Cortland in a tri-meet on Feb. 9 in Cortland, N.Y. O’Brien finished ninth on the balance beam with a score of 9.500 and was tied for 10th in floor exercise with a score of 9.525. Both totals are season-best efforts for O’Brien, who is just one of two seniors on the squad.
Conklin was short on concrete details as to what the bill would do, and the difference is more than semantics. Conklin’s position is unequivocal: “I want separate tournaments. My position is that we need separate tournaments, but those separate tournaments will be overseen by PIAA.”
As to whether Conklin’s bill would mandate separate tournaments or give the PIAA the freedom – via its procedures – to vote on alternative ways to crown champions that weren’t previously available under the law is a crucial yet thus far undefined difference.
Conklin doesn’t intend to restrict meetings between public and private/ parochial schools in regular-season contests. He added that moves by the PIAA in recent months to impose stricter rules on eligibility for transferring students are insufficient to address competitive imbalance.
Via a spokesperson, the PIAA declined comment as it hadn’t yet seen the text of the proposed legislation.
The news caught stakeholders on both sides off guard, despite Conklin saying the bill was drafted last year. Sean McAleer, executive director of the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference and a staunch opponent of separate tournaments, hadn’t yet seen the legislation and declined to comment.
Members of the Pennsylvania Equity Committee, a coalition of public schools agitating for change, also hadn’t seen the bill and were surprised it was the first to come to fruition given their discussions with other legislators.
William Hall, the superintendent of the Millcreek Township School District in Erie and one of the founders of the Equity Committee, spoke to Conklin for the first time Thursday. He’s encouraged by early indications that Conklin’s ideas are within the spirit of the organization.
“We didn’t see the legislation, no one from our committee has seen it,” Hall said. “He did tell me snippets of it, and we’ll wait and see what he has tonight and what the legislation looks like on Monday when it comes out. But it looks like we’re talking the same language, which is encouraging.”
The PIAA has for years resisted calls to conduct separate tournaments for public and non-public schools, striking down such measures as introducing definitions of “boundary” and “non-boundary” to its bylaws. In lieu of partitioning tournaments, the PIAA passed measures in the last year to beef up enforcement of activities it believes contribute to competitive imbalance, including postseason bans for transfers after an athlete’s sophomore season and mandatory sit-out periods for in-season transfers.
In the wake of those changes, Hall and other public school administrators (primarily in Western Pennsylvania) convened conferences to discuss their recourses and define a set of shared principles.
Conklin is a seven-term state representative. He ran for lieutenant governor in 2010, on the unsuccessful ticket with Democratic candidate Dan Onorato.
He’s encouraged by the feedback he’s gotten so far to the bill.
“All we’re doing is we’re going to set up two competitive playoff systems with two champions that at the end of the day, if you’re a school that’s recruiting worldwide, you will be playing like schools,” he said. “If you’re a school that’s restricted that you can only recruit within your school district, you will be playing against schools that are within their school districts.”