Penn High School’s Dance Team, coached by Cindi Minegar, placed second in the Northern Regional Championships at Lake Central on Saturday, Feb. 25, and earned a trip to the State Finals.

Penn’s Dance Team will compete in the State Finals on Saturday, March 11, at New Castle.

Penn High School’s Girls Wrestling program served immediate notice that the Kingsmen will be a force, storming to the first Indiana High School Girls Wrestling State Championship.

Penn High School won the event with 67 points, well outpacing the rest of the schools in the 44-team event on Jan. 20 at Hamilton Heights High School. Hamilton Heights was second with 27 points.

Jaden Johnson led Penn with state championship in the 88-pound weight class.

“What a outstanding opportunity for our high school girls,” Penn coach Brad Harper said. “Having an all-Girls Wrestling Team has been a goal for our program to develop ever since (Olympic hopeful) Sarah Hildbrandt left our program.

“Now that they offer an all-Girls Wrestling State Finals, we have develop amazing girls wrestling team,” Harper said. “I’m proud that we made history who has made history by winning the very first all-Girls Wrestling State Finals.

Harper said that if any girl would like to join Penn’s all-Girls Wrestling Team, no experience is required, just a willingness to learn and to be the best.”

Penn results:

88 – Jaden Johnson placed 1st, winning by falls in rounds two & three to win the tournament.

98 – Eryn Benak placed 3rd

138 – Alexis Garwood placed 5th.

152 – Madison Burke placed 5th.

160 – Morgan Caldwell placed 2nd.

170 – Karissa Bennett placed 4th.

170 – Fernanda Arjona placed 2nd.

182 – Kaylee Meyers placed 5th.

195 – Aisha Helepa placed 2nd.

220 – Andelisia Henry placed 2nd.

285 – Mikayla Ringer placed 3rd.

Penn High School Principal Steve Hope announced that 12 Penn students have been named Finalists in the 2017 National Merit Scholarship academic competition.

Grant Brenner, Muqsit Buchh, Balajimonesh Devireddy, Jonathan Harley, Sanjana Kulkarni, Julia Kwak, Mason Lee, Hannah McGinness, Baker Nasser, Peter Rutkowski, Matthew Shan and Michelle Tapp of Penn are among 15,000 students nationwide who have been named National Merit Scholarship FinalistsMore than 1.6 million students entered to competition. A total of 7,500 students will be named to share more than $33 million in scholarship money.

“We are proud to congratulate and honor our 12 National Merit Finalists,” Hope said. “There is no higher honor for a student than to be named as a National Merit Finalist.

“The fact that Penn High School has 12 National Merit Finalists stands as not only tribute to these incredible students, but also to the Penn staff for providing the rigorous and challenging course work to produce students of such high caliber,” Hope continued. This is a great honor for these students and a great honor for Penn High School.”

Tickets to the 2017 IHSAA Boys Basketball Sectional at Elkhart’s historic Northside Gym, which includes the Penn Kingsmen, will be available at the Penn Athletic Office beginning on Wednesday, Feb. 22.

Tickets are $10 (pre-sale) and good for all of the 2017 Elkhart Boys Basketball Sectional games.

Sectional tickets will be on sale from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Penn’s Athletic office on Wednesday (Feb. 22), Thursday (Feb. 23) and Friday Feb. 24).

Sales at the Athletic office will cease at 9 a.m. on Monday, Feb. 27.

Penn takes on Elkhart Central at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, March 1, in the opening round.

Ticket Price:  $10 season ticket (pre-sale) good for all contests

Location: Historic Northside Gym

Tuesday, Feb. 28

Game 1:  Concord vs. Goshen 7 p.m.

Wednesday, March 1

Game 2: Elkhart Central vs. Penn 6 p.m.

Game 3: Northridge vs. Warsaw 

Friday, March 3

Game 4: Elkhart Memorial vs. Winner of Game 1 6 p.m.

Game 5: Winner of Game 2 vs. Winner of Game 3

Saturday, March 4

Game 6: Championship 7 p.m.

By CARTER DE JONG

Student reporter

Penn High School’s engineering classes are participating in the CANstruction event at University Park Mall this year. The event benefits Hope Ministries of South Bend.

Four of Mr. Jim Langfeldt’s Introduction to Engineering Design classes will be building different structures made completely out of donated cans of food. Penn students have been donating cans over the past few weeks for CANstruction.

About 6,000 cans will be used to build one structure.

Penn's Engineering and Tech classes were busy boxing and packing thousands of cans on Tuesday, Feb. 21, to take to the Mall at 6 a.m. on Wednesday.  For 12 hours, students will stack cans into shapes they’ve designed and built in class. Penn will have four structures at the mall, while other local schools will also have their own builds. Click here to see the photo gallery of the build.

CANstruction will be on display Thursday, Feb. 23, through Sunday, Feb. 26. The public is encouraged to come out and see the structures, but to also bring canned goods for Hope Ministries and to vote on the best designs. So Penn students, families, teachers and staff … please head to the Mall and vote for the Penn CANstructions. Remember, get there by this Sunday, Feb. 26.!

Mr. Langfeldt’s classes will be building structures based on Dory from “Finding Nemo”,  Lightning McQueen from “Cars”, a spaceship, and an alien head. The past year’s builds included Pac-Man and Rosie the Riveter, which was voted the winner.

On Feb. 26, all of the cans used in CANstruction will be donated to Hope Ministries. Hope Ministries will then distribute them to less fortunate members of our community. Click here to find out how you can get involved and volunteer at Hope Ministries.

The results of the voting won’t be announced until the Awards Ceremony on March 26.

Langfeldt said that he appreciates the CANstruction event on different levels.

"I like to put students in new situations. Designing in class is one thing, but actually making your design is really the test!

“Canstruction has so much going on besides just building something out of cans,” Langfeldt said. “You can actively engage 30 students in one project due to the many opportunities it brings into the classroom. From marketing to making community contacts, to a lot of research on costs, this class is much more than just design and build during CANstruction. The level of teamwork that is needed is rarely matched in a classroom. Students experience highs and lows and ultimately get to showcase their work to thousands of people from the community.”

Langfeldt also likes the community service aspect of CANstruction.

“CANstruction has been a community outreach project that most of Penn has gotten around,” Langfeldt said. “It has been very rewarding to see the outpouring of support from our school! My students are very motivated to help make a difference and truly have amazed me with their work!”

Noah Applegate scored 19 points, but the Penn Kingsmen were defeated, 61-51, at Plymouth in high school basketball action on Tuesday.

Penn fought back from a 16-point deficit – 24-8 – to tie the score at 29-29 at halftime. Applegate scored 12 points in the second quarter to spark a 21-5 run by the Kingsmen to finish the first half.

PENN 61: Drew Lutz 5, Drew Schneider 4, Brian Doslak 7, Beau Ludwick 4, Luke Carlton 0, Noah Applegate 19, Noah Krathwohl 3, Kegan Hoskins 0, Matt McCown 2, Connor Schneider 5, Riley Smith 0.

Plymouth 51: Benji Nixon 0, Clay Hilliard 3, Cam Dennie 5, Ryan Carmichael 10, Nick Felke 18, Nathan Patterson 5, Travis Owen 0, Dyllon Pavey 14, Cole Filson 4, Tyler Games 0, Garrett Tharp 2.

PENN             8          21        7          15 – 51

Plymouth        18        11        12        20 – 61

Three-pointers: PENN 3 (Lutz 1, Applegate 1, Doslak 1), Plymouth 5 (Carmichael 2, Felke 1, Hilliard 1, Dennie 1).

Penn placekicker Jared Hancock committed to play at Anderson University.

Originally, Hancock committed to St. Joseph College in Rensselaer, Indiana, but unfortunately the college will be closing after this school year.

“When I heard St, Joe was closing, I knew I had to start looking for schools that needed a kicker,” Hancock said. “Anderson was also a good fit for me academically.”

During the 2016 season, Hancock had a game-winning 40-yard field goal against Michigan powerhouse St. Mary’s Prep. He ended the season with 26 touchbacks and three field goals beyond the 40-yard line.  

Penn High School students earned 15 Scholastic Writing Awards, including seven Gold Key Awards.

Lauren Funk won four awards, including one Gold Key Award, and Renee Yaseen won three awards, including two Gold Key Awards.

Penn’s Scholastic Award Winners:

Emily Daley, Short Story, Silver Key

Lauren Funk, Poetry, Gold Key

Lauren Funk, Poetry, Silver Key

Lauren Funk, Poetry, Honorable Mention

Lauren Funk, Short Story, Honorable Mention

Lucie Horvath, Flash Fiction, Honorable Mention

Neya Johnson, Poetry, Gold Key

Rachel Kario, Poetry, Gold Key

Zoe LaBonte, Poetry, Gold Key

Anna Lang, Short Story, Silver Key

Sydney Seigel, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Gold Key

Sabrina Thayer, Short Story, Silver Key

Renee Yaseen, Poetry, Gold Key

Renee Yaseen, Poetry, Gold Key

Renee Yaseen, Poetry, Honorable Mention

Jarod Swank rallied from a 4-0 deficit to win the East Chicago Semi-State championship of the 170-pound weight class in high school wrestling state tournament action on Saturday, Feb. 11.

Swank’s championship highlighted a Semi-state effort that saw four Kingsmen punch their tickets to the State Championships Feb. 17-18 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. Kory Cavanaugh (113), Tanner DeMien (120) and Will Vakalahi (220) will join Swank in pursuing state crowns.

Swank, Cavanaugh and DeMien are in an elite group of eight wrestlers in Kingsmen history to be three-time State Finalists. DeMien qualified twice with NorthWood High School.

Swank, the 29th Semi-state Champion in Penn history (est. 1958), defeated Zack Fattore of Hobart 10-7 for the title. Swank (33-3) beat Ben Warren of Andrean with a pin in 3:38, and knocked out Jamari Washington of Hammond Gavit 19-3. He own the semifinal bout with a 6-1 decision against Ismael Cornejo of Portage.

Cavanaugh placed second at 113, DeMien placed fourth (injury) at 120, and Vakalahi placed fourth at 220.

By ANDREW SPALDING

Pennant Reporter

Penn High’s Kingsmen girls swim team competed for state at the world famous IUPUI Natatorium last Friday and Saturday. The Kingsmen captured a fifth-place finish behind strong performances from Penn’s relay teams.

A fifth-place finish is quite incredible considering Indiana swimming is among the most competitive in the country. The Carmel girls swim team won their 31st consecutive state championship, with Chesterton coming in second. Penn’s state finish capped off a great season.

Kingsmen State Finals Results:

200 Medley Relay (Madilyn Ziegert, Kionna Clayton, Makenna Bottorff, Meagan Ronci) – 1:42.95 (3rd)

200 Freestyle- Kayla Molnar 1:53.74 (18th)

50 Freestyle- Madilyn Ziegert 23.57 (8th)

100 Butterfly- Makenna Bottorff  57.15 (15th), Taylor Bush 57.20 (17th)

100 Freestyle- Meagan Ronci 51.21 (5th)

500 Freestyle- Kayla Molnar 5:04.42 (14th)

200 Freestyle Relay (Meagan Ronci, Madilyn Ziegert, Sydney Acito, Makenna Bottorff) – 1:35.44 (4th)

100 Breastroke- Kionna Clayton 1:03.14 (4th)

400 Freestyle Relay (Meagan Ronci, Madilyn Ziegert, Kionna Clayton, Makenna Bottorff) – 3:27.19 (3rd)