LEHIGH VALLEY FLASHBACK

A look back at Lehigh Valley sports stories over the years from March 18.

2011: Lehigh sophomore Robert Hamlin makes history as he wins his quarterfinal and semifinal bouts at the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships as the No. 2 seed at 184 pounds. Hamlin’s victory in the quarterfinals made him the first Vermont native to earn AllAmerican status in NCAA Division I history. The Mountain Hawks’ Zach Rey, the top seed at 285 pounds, and Oklahoma State’s Jordan

Oliver, an Easton graduate and top seed at 133 pounds, both earn berths in the finals as well.

2006: The Emmaus boys and the Parkland girls win PIAA Class 3A state swimming championships. George Rae-Grant wins four medals, including two golds, to help the Green Hornets win their first title by a convincing margin (244-160) over State College. Freshman Jamie Malandra swims on two winning relay teams and adds two individual medals to help the Trojans to their second title. 1998: Mahanoy Area defeats the Marian Catholic girls basketball team with a 53-41 victory in the PIAA Class A East final.

1988: Stacey Paukovitz scores 22 points while Chris Snyder’s three-point play with 1:56 left snaps a 53-53 tie and propels Catasauqua (26-2) to a 59-56 win over Kennett to reach the PIAA Class 2A girls basketball Eastern final.

1983: Catasauqua’s Matt Gerhard (37-0) beats Athen’s Dave Kennedy 13-7 in the 112-pound finals to win his third PIAA Class 2A wrestling championship.

1983: Duane Peoples beats Penn Hills’ Kevin Haselrig 5-3 in the PIAA Class 3A quarterfinals to become the winningest wrestler (135 wins) in state history, but the Bethlehem Catholic grappler settles for fourth after falling in the semifinals and the consolation finals.

1978: Jeannie Booros scores 18 points and Central Catholic uses a late 16-5 run to erase a four-point deficit and edge Mt. Lebanon

53-52 to win its second PIAA Class 3A girls basketball championship in five years. Ellen Malone’s free throw with 48 seconds left gives the Vikettes, who also won the inaugural 1973 title, their final point. It’s the second title for a District 11 girls team for day as Pottsville Nativity beats Johnsonburg 46-41 in the Class A final.