November 27, 2008 Issue                                       

©2007 The Chestnut Hill Local

Local Sports

CHC men look to make strides in Division II
by TOM UTESCHER

Chestnut Hill College tri-captains (left to right) Tom Magnum, Larz Jeter, and David Goode, with Griffins head coach Jesse Balcer.  (Photo by Tom Utescher)

After just one season of competition in NCAA Division II, the Chestnut Hill College men’s basketball team isn’t expected to make a huge leap forward, but as the Griffins start to bring in more D-II caliber players, they believe they’re taking steps in the right direction.

Chestnut Hill saw its first action of the 2008-09 campaign at West Chester University’s tip-off tournament. Facing a pair of long-established Division II teams, the Griffins lost their Nov. 15 opener to Edinboro (Pa.) University, 79-61, and then were shaded by the host Golden Rams the following night, 74-68.

Former Georgetown star now leading GFS Tigers
by TOM UTESCHER

Ebiho Ahonkhai (left), the new girls basketball coach at Germantown Friends School, stands with her team tri-captains (left to right) seniors Nina Voith and Jasmine West, and junior Shelby Tucker.  (Photo by Tom Utescher)

Basketball fans at Germantown Friends School knew it wouldn’t be easy to replace longtime girls varsity coach Tom Myran. With this in mind, GFS administrators focused intently on the task and, to borrow a metaphor from another sport, hit one out of the park with the hiring of former Georgetown University star Ebiho Ahonkhai.

“The basketball world is actually a fairly small one,” the erstwhile Hoya said, “and I learned about the position here through Micah Hauben.”

Hauben, now in his third year as Director of Boys Athletics for the GFS Tigers, was an assistant coach for the women’s hoop team at Boston University for three years, and he developed a number of contacts in the college game.

Chestut Hill College women now under King’s rule
by TOM UTESCHER

Chestnut Hill College’s new coach and her 2008-2009 tri-captains (from left): Carley Glass, coach Kiesha King, Jenna Beck, and Davina Yacab.  (Photo by Tom Utescher)

At Chestnut Hill College, the title of women’s basketball head coach is a new one for Kiesha King, but she’s already a familiar face to hoops fans at the Griffins’ Sorgenti Arena.

King has been an assistant coach for the team for the past three seasons, and she also works full-time at Chestnut Hill as the school’s ACT 101 (Higher Education Equal Opportunity Program) Administrator.

The CHC women opened their season two weekends ago in a tournament at Bloomsburg (Pa.) University, losing to the host school, 77-49, and then succumbing to Mansfield University, 65-58, in the tourney consolation game.

PC wrestler Botwin enters high school on a roll
by TOM UTESCHER

Freshman wrestler Evan Botwin may be a new addition to the Penn Charter varsity, but he’s probably had more experience and more success in the sport than anyone on the team.

The Chestnut Hill native has been performing on the mat since he was five years old, and by the end of the 2008 club season last summer, he had amassed an incredible total of 627 career victories.

Over the past three years he has won the Area 11 (Southeastern Pa.) Pennsylvania Junior Wrestling championship three times, and at the annual PJW tournament he won the 2008 state championship in his weight class last March, having placed fifth in 2005 and third in 2007.