Penn High’s Wrestling season ended at the State Championships in Indianapolis on Friday, Feb. 16.

The Kingsmen qualified six wrestlers for the State Finals – Vince Sparrow (120), Tanner DeMien (126), Logan Hill (132), Preston Risner (138), Max Chaffee (182) and Rockne Hurley (195).

Each of the Penn Wrestlers was defeated in the first round.

Penn's Kingsmen captured first place in six events at the Penn Boys and Swimming Sectional on Saturday, Feb. 17. Penn placed second in the sectional to South Bend Riley.

Kingsmen qualifiers advance to the State Championships on Friday, Feb. 23, and Saturday, Feb. 24, at the Indiana University Natatorium on the campus of IUPUI in Indianapolis.

The 200 Medley Relay Team of Aaron Dies, Evan Dies, Joel Cummins and Ethan Backhus won blue ribbons in a time of 1:36.43.

Evan Dies won a total of three blue ribbons, winning the 100 breaststroke and the 200 individual medley in addition to being on the winning 200 Medley Relay Team.

Matthew Rach earned first place in two events, the 50 freestyle and the 100 butterfly.

Aaron Dies placed first in the 100 backstroke, and was also on the winning 200 Medley Relay Team.

IHSAA BOYS SWIM SECTIONAL

At Penn

TEAM SCORES: Riley 510, Penn 491 ½, New Prairie 256, Bremen 254, Adams 172, Saint Joseph 155, Marian 125 ½, Mishawaka 107, Clay 77, Washington 50.

200 Medley Relay: 1, Penn (Aaron Dies, Evan Dies, Joel Cummins, Ethan Backhus) 1:36.43. 2, Riley 1:39.25. 3, Bremen 1:40.86. 4, New Prairie 1:45.46. 5, Marian 1:52.07. 6, Adams 1:52.15. 7, Mishawaka 1:52.17. 8, Saint Joseph 2:00.78.

200 Freestyle: 1, Aiden Maurer (Riley) 1:42.43. 2, Kyle Brothers (Penn) 1:48.04. 3, Joel Cummins (Penn) 1:49.27. 4, Joseph Gomes (Riley) 1:49.44. 5, Troy Weber (Penn) 1:50.00. 6, Anders Brurok (Bremen) 1:51.24. 7, Carter Filchak (Bremen) 1:52.65. 8, Bernal Cortes (Adams) 1:56.03.

200 Individual Medley: 1, Evan Dies (Penn) 1:55.56. 2, Joseph Radde (Riley) 1:59.33. 3, Aaron Dies (Penn) 1:59.80. 4, Michael Burns (Riley) 2:01.49. 5, Beck Brurok (Bremen) 2:01.72. 6, Connor Craig (Penn) 2:01.76. 7, Garrett Woodbury (Riley) 2:04.64. 8, Chris Achkar (Saint Joseph) 2:08.56.

50 Freestyle: 1, Matthew Rach (Penn) 21.31. 2, Errol Thomas (Riley) 21.46**. 3, Isaac Baker (Riley) 21.95. 4, Axel Brandenburg (Penn) 22.20. 5, Tie between Filip Kosel (Marian) and Ethan Backhus (Penn) 22.38. 7, Gage Hannewyk (Saint Joseph) 22.73. 8, Dalton Thomas (New Prairie)  23.09.

Diving: 1, Kyle Kirkpatrick (Riley) 372.15. 2, Andrew Walkowski (Riley) 333.85. 3, Briley Leeper (Bremen) 312.05. 4, Jacob Hazel (Saint Joseph) 309.35. 5, Chase Carrico (Bremen) 301.00. 6, Brant Zickefoose (Mishawaka) 286.05. 7, Spencer Houghton (Riley) 285.40. 8, Mahalha Chalulu (Adams) 273.45.

100 Butterfly: 1, Matthew Rach (Penn) 52.35. 2, Joseph Radde (Riley) 52.89. 3, Bryce Knight (Riley) 54.01. 4, Filip Kosel (Marian) 54.31. 5, Luke Becker (Bremen) 54.60. 6, Michael Adami (Penn) 55.73. 7, Adam Broadstreet (Riley) 55.82. 8, Matthew Pruitt (Penn) 1:00.96.

100 Freestyle: 1, Errol Thomas (Riley) 47.72. 2, Isaac Baker (Riley) 48.16. 3, Axel Brandenburg (Penn) 48.55. 4, Kyle Brothers (Penn) 49.10. 5, Joel Cummins (Penn) 49.29. 6, Carter Filchak (Bremen) 49.86. 7, Gage Hannewyk (Saint Joseph) 50.06. 8, Bryce Schwing (Riley) 50.53.

500 Freestyle: 1, Aiden Maurer (Riley) 4:51.39. 2, Anders Brurok (Bremen) 4:57.57. 3, Matt Howell (Penn) 4:57.92. 4, Garrett Woodbury (Riley) 4:59.92. 5, Troy Weber (Penn) 5:07.12.  6, Cody Mowers (Marian) 5:07.54. 7, Bernal Cortes (Adams) 5:11.26. 8, Matthew Pruitt (Penn) 5:18.51.

200 Freestyle Relay: 1, Riley (Joseph Radde, Isaac Baker, Aiden Maurer, Errol Thomas) 1:25.96. 2, Penn (Matthew Rach, Alex Brandenburg, Ethan Backhus, Joel Cummins) 1:26.36**. 2, Bremen 1:33.96. 4, New Prairie 1:34.40. 5, Saint Joseph 1:35.21. 6, Adams 1:38.11. 7, Mishawaka 1:38.30. 8, Clay 1:50.09.

100 Backstroke: 1, Aaron Dies (Penn) 52.87. 2, Bryce Schwing (Riley) 55.31. 3, Adam Broadstreet (Riley) 55.59. 4, Connor Craig (Penn) 56.52. 5, Matt Howell (Penn) 56.65. 6, Luke Becker (Bremen) 57.48. 7, Bryce Knight (Riley) 58.69. 8, Wrigley Hemphill (New Prairie) 58.81.

100 Breaststroke: 1, Evan Dies (Penn) 58.67. 2, Michael Burns (Riley) 1:00.97. 3, Michael Adami (Penn) 1:01.36. 4, Ethan Backhus (Penn) 1:02.34. 5, Joseph Gomes (Riley) 1:03.17. 6, Beck Brurok (Bremen) 1:03.75. 7, Adam Boniface (New Prairie) 1:04.92. 8, Ethan Piergalski (New Prairie) 1:08.06.

400 Freestyle Relay: 1, Riley (Joseph Radde, Isaac Baker, Errol Thomas, Aiden Maurer) 3:11.69. 2, Penn (Matthew Rach, Axel Brandenburg, Kyle Brothers, Evan Dies) 3:11.98**. 3, New Prairie 3:30.38. 4, Bremen 3:32.47. 5, Saint Joseph 3:32.55. 6, Adams 3:32.71. 7, Marian 3:42.95. 8, Clay 4:10.38.

** Met State Standard.

Penn High’s Kingsmen pounced on Plymouth early and sprinted to a 69-45 high school basketball victory on Saturday, Feb. 17.

"I thought our half-court defense was excellent tonight and our rebounding was very strong," Penn Head Coach Al Rhodes said. "We are playing very well on offense as a unit.  It is exciting to see the team come together!"

The Kingsmen used an efficient offense – connecting on 59 percent of their shots (19-of-32). Penn hit 8-of-14 shots (57 percent) from 3-point range.

On defense, the Kingsmen limited Plymouth to 41 percent shooting.

Penn’s rebounding played a critical role in the victory. Penn outrebounded Plymouth 30-12. The Kingsmen boasted a 91 percent defensive rebounding percentage to Plymouth’s 50 percent. Penn outscored Plymouth 12-0 in second-chance points.

Noah Applegate led Penn with 21 points, eight rebounds and three assists. Applegate also swatted away two shots.

Drew Lutz scored 19 points, including 4 rockets from 3-point range. Lutz dished out seven assists.

Beau Ludwick scored nine points.

Kegan Hoskins scored seven points.

PENN 69: Carter Hickey 2, Drew Lutz 19, Drew Schneider 0, Beau Ludwick 9, Luke Carlton 3, Noah Applegate 21, Noah Krathwohl 4, Kegan Hoskins 7, Cameron Koschnick 2, Jeffrey Hemmelgarn 2, Christian Marshall 0.

Plymouth 45: Benji Nixon 0, Clay Hilliard 11, Bryce Carmichael 2, Cole Filson 5, Kadin McCrammer 11, Tim Tremaine 3, Jake Reichard 7, Brayson Leazenby 2, Payton Skirvin 2, Garrett Tharp 2.

PENN             13        20        19        17 – 69

Plymouth       7          13        8          17 – 45

Three-pointers: PENN 8 (Drew Lutz 4, Noah Applegate 2, Luke Carlton 1, Beau Ludwick 1), Plymouth 8 (Hilliard 3, McCrammer 2, Tremaine 1, Reichard 1, Carmichael 1).

Penn High’s Boys Basketball Team turned in one of its best defensive efforts of the season as the Kingsmen rolled past Jimtown, 60-37, on Tuesday, Feb. 20.
 
Jimtown is the third opponent this season that the Kingsmen have held to less than 40 points (Penn beat Concord 66-37 and beat Bremen 79-38).
 
"I thought we played excellent defense throughout the game," Penn Head Coach Al Rhodes said. "We played together well on offense and had a strong rebounding performance!"
 
Penn’s relentless defense harassed Jimtown into 36 percent shooting, and forced the Jimmies into 16 turnovers. Penn outscored the Jimmies 24-8 in points off of turnovers.
 
Penn’s efficient offense delivered 18 assists, while limiting Jimtown to one assist.
 
Noah Applegate powered the Kingsmen with a double-double – 25 points and 10 rebounds.
 
Drew Lutz scored 18 points and dished out seven assists.
 
Penn outrebounded Jimtown 35-18, including a 14-4 advantage in offensive rebounds.
 
Penn (13-8 overall, 7-5 in the NIC) hosts Merrillville on Friday.
 
PENN 60: Carter Hickey 0, Drew Lutz 18, Beau Ludwick 2, Luke Carlton 0, Noah Applegate 25, Noah Krathwohl 6, Kegan Hoskins 6, Cameron Koschnick 0, Jeffrey Hemmelgarn 2, Evan Chrise 0, Christian Marshall 0, Ryan Williams 0.
 
Jimtown 37: Caaden Beck 2, Bill Pawlak 8, Austin Pearison 13, Braedon Brubaker 0, Dustin Whitman 0, Clay Campbell 5, Preston Phillips 3, Brayden Rice 2, Blake Garretson 4, Mike Laws 0.
 
PENN    15 19 19 7 – 60
Jimtown 9 5 14 9 – 37
 
Three-pointers: PENN 4 (Drew Lutz 2, Noah Applegate 2), Jimtown 5 (Pawlak 2, Pearison 2, Campbell 1).

Penn’s Kingsmen wiped out deficits of 10 points in the first half, and eight points in the fourth quarter, but lost to Marian, 87-86, in four overtimes in a high school boys basketball game at Marian on Friday, Feb. 16.

Last season, Marian beat Penn 72-69 in triple overtime.

In Friday’s Junior Varsity Game, Penn rallied from a six-point deficit in the fourth quarter to beat Marian 59-53.

Drew Lutz scored 27 points and had eight assists to lead the Penn Varsity effort in the four-overtime battle.

Beau Ludwick scored 22 points.

Noah Applegate scored 14 points and pulled down nine rebounds. Applegate also blocked four shots.

Kegan Hoskins scored 12 points and Noah Krathwohl scored eight points.

PENN 86: Drew Lutz 27, Beau Ludwick 22, Noah Applegate 14, Kegan Hoskins 12, Noah Krathwohl 8, Drew Schneider 0, Luke Carlton 1, Jeffrey Hemmelgarn 2, Carter Hickey 0.

Marian 87: Hemingway 26, Ivey 17, Lattimer 24, Muphey 0, Decker 10, King 0, Quinn 10, Bishop 0.

PENN             9          17        10        22        5          9          7          7 – 86

Marian            19        7          18        14        5          9          7          8 – 87

Three-pointers: PENN 7 (Drew Lutz 3, Beau Ludwick 3, Noah Applegate 1), Marian 7 (Lattimer 5, Ivey 2).

Penn High School swimmers dominated the Penn Sectional Preliminaries on Thursday, Feb. 15.

Kingsmen swimmers placed first in eight of the 11 events that were competed in the prelimaries. Bremen took two firsts and Marian took one first.

Penn swimmers will pursue individual Sectional Championships and the Team Championship at the Finals on Saturday, Feb. 17, at Penn. The Dive Finals are set for 9 a.m., and the Swim Finals are set for 1 p.m.

Penn is seeking its eighth consecutive Boys Swimming and Diving Sectional Championship and 18th in Program history.

The complete preliminary results and heat sheets are posted below.

Here is a list of Kingsmen first-place finishers at the preliminaries:

200 freestyle: Joel Cummins 1:49.12.

200 individual medley: Evan Dies 1:59.79

50 freestyle: Matthew Rach 21.97

100 freestyle: Axel Brandenburg 49.09

200 freestyle relay: Kyle Brothers, Joel Cummins, Ethan Backhus, Troy Weber 1:33.19

100 backstroke: Aaron Dies 53.13

100 breaststroke: Evan Dies 1:00.74

400 freestyle relay: Aaron Dies, Troy Weber, Matthew Howell, Connor Craig 3:29.48

Click here for the complete Sectional Preliminaries results.

Click here for the Heat Sheets for the Sectional Championships.

Two groups of Penn STEM Academy students made up from a multiple of disciplines (Robotics Team 135, engineering, architecture, and design classes) have spent the better half of the month of February designing and building structures from cans, and all for a good cause!

All this week (Feb. 12 – 19), a full-sized Kia car has been on display at the Chicago Auto Show as part of the Auto Show’s Food Drive benefiting a Chicago charity. Click here to see the photo gallery below. The “Kingsmen Cans” team used four different colored cans to make the car:

• Blue Cans – cut green beans, French style green beans, cream corn, whole corn, and sweet peas
• Yellow cans – corn
• Red cans – tomatoes
• White cans – white corn

There were many other types of cans used for the interior of the car for support. Students got support from sponsors like Kroger, Gurly Leep, Lowes, It’s Tops, McCarthy Insurance Group and of course Kia for the supplies needed to build the can car.

Students transported all the cans and supplies and delivered them to McCormick Place. It took the students about five hours to build the car on site. When the car is dismantled on February 19, the cans will be donated to A Safe Haven in Chicago. More information about the project can be found in this South Bend Tribune article from February 7.

This wasn’t the only can design Penn STEM students worked on this month. From Feb. 5 – 11, STEM students also participated in the annual Canstruction event held at University Park Mall benefiting Hope Ministries. For that event, Penn students used about 2,500 cans to build two structures—a sand castle and a light house—winning “Best Design” by the panel of judges. In this year’s Canstruction competition five area schools competed. All the canned goods used to build the structures are then donated to Hope Ministries and area food banks.

Penn High’s Kingsmen used a balanced scoring attack to defeat Elkhart Central, 58-43, in high school basketball action on Tuesday, Feb. 13.

“Crucial defensive stops and excellent execution on offense were the keys to the Kingsmen's win over Elkhart Central,” Penn Head Coach Al Rhodes said. “Each time the Blazers made a run, the Kingsmen were always prepared to answer.”

Penn improved to 11-7 overall and 5-4 in the Northern Indiana Conference. Elkhart Central is 8-11 and 4-6.

Beau Ludwick, Noah Applegate and Noah Krathwohl scored 13 points each.

Drew Lutz scored 12 points and dished out nine assists.

Penn connected on a torrid 65 percent of its shots (22-of-34). The Kingsmen hit 67 percent of their shots (12-of-18) in the first half.

Penn forced 17 turnovers and went on to outscore the Blue Blazers 25-8 in points off of turnovers.

PENN                         16        12        13        17 – 58

Elkhart Central         8          12        15        8 – 43

Three-pointers: PENN 3 (Drew Lutz 2, Noah Applegate 1), Elkhart Central 7 (Kiedon Warrell 3, Richard Wayker 2, Cole Alberson 2).

The Penn Boys Basketball Team defeated Elkhart Central, 58-43, on Tuesday, Feb. 13.

A Photo Gallery is posted below.

Penn High School will host the FIRST Robotics St. Joseph District Event on Saturday, March 10, and Sunday, March 11.

Including Penn’s Team 135, there will be more than 40 high school robotics teams from Indiana and Michigan participating in the event, which will involve more than 5,000 students, coaches, mentors, parents, and fans. The FRC teams will compete on a basketball court-sized field with four-foot tall, 120-pound robots.

Nearly 400 volunteers are needed for the event. Click here for information on the volunteers roles and how to sign up.

Teams of high school students have six weeks to design and build a fully functional robot to compete in this year’s challenge. Teams will qualify for the State Championship through their performance in district events, such as the one at Penn.

Qualifying teams will advance from the State Championship to represent Indiana at the World Championship in Detroit, Mich., on April 25-28.

“Penn High School is looking forward to hosting another Indiana FIRST Robotics Competition,” Penn High School STEM Academy Leader Josiah Parker said. “Some of the brightest students in Indiana and Michigan will bring 40 teams to compete on March 10-11.” Parker went on to say, “Penn and the STEM Academy are excited to showcase the amazing experiences our students participate in, the outstanding support we receive from our school and community, and the enjoyment and learning that FIRST provides.”

For more information, check:

• The Indiana First website: https://www.indianafirst.org/2018StJoseph
•  The Indiana First Facebook page: https://www.indianafirst.org/2018StJoseph
• Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2018-st-joseph-first-robotics-competition-tickets-41047909402

Saturday, March 10

• 10:30-11 a.m. Opening Ceremonies
• 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Qualification Matches
• 1-2 p.m. Lunch
• 2-7 p.m. Qualification Matches

Sunday, March 11

• 9-9:30 a.m. Opening Ceremonies
• 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Qualification Matches
• 12:30-1 p.m. Alliance Selections
• 1-2 p.m. Lunch
• 2-5 p.m. Playoff Matches
• 5-6:30 p.m. Awards Ceremony