Volleyball Booster Club Fundraiser

Legion Season Comes to an End

Andy Weaver has done a great job of keeping me, and everyone else up to date throughtout the legion baseball season, as the team had one of its best seasons ever. Here is his note from yesterday:

"Nazareth Legion Baseball Season came to a end Today with a 15-9 Loss to Norgywn finishing their season 27-4. I Would like to thank the whole team for giving me one of the best Summers of games I Can remember! It was exciting to go to all 32 games and see them play exciting ball. Thanks to all of them for the autographed Baseball! It been a season that I Don't think anybody ever thought would happen! Thanks Again!!!

And the Morning Call has a report on the game as well (read it here).

Congratulations to all the players for a great season!

MS Swimming Pool Rumor

There has been a lot of talk circulating about the new MS swimming pool not being regulation. A reader today posted a comment and asked, so I reached out to Bob Furst, of Furst Architecture and here is his response (thanks for the quick reply Bob!):

In response to your e-mail request I can tell you categorically that any rumor(s) about the pool are false. We are currently in the final stage of construction (installing the shell tile) and will shortly have the pool dimensions verified and certified as required. There is NO indication at this point that there is any discrepancy.

I look forward to the future when everyone can experience the building first hand.

Robert A. Furst AIA, CDT, LEED AP

Principal, Architecture FURST Pc

5K Run Walk

Thanks to Race Director Scott Kately for forwarding this along:

The 10th Annual Blue Eagle 5K Run/Walk is scheduled for August 8, 2009 (rain or shine). The run benefits the high school track and cross country teams. Last year's event drew 300 participants.

Registration form in PDF format can be downloaded here.

The Angel 34 ICEE truck will be at the event. ICEES are free....we encourage everyone to make a small donation to the cause: Learn more about the organization here: www.angel34.com

For more information contact skately@verizon.net

Legion Team Rallies to Win

From Andy (thanks again!):

Nazareth beats Twin Valley 10-9. Nazareth come behind 8-2 to win the game!!!! Nazareth will play Tuesday (Time TBA) Stay Tune later...

Tough Loss for Legion 11-10, Play Resumes Today

Thanks to Andy for forwarding the update on a tough loss for the Nazareth Legion team.

The team lost yesterday to Hatsfield 11-10. Nazareth plays Twin Valley at 12:30pm this Afternoon!

Legion Advances With 10 Inning Victory

Thanks again to Andy for keeping me updated on the Nazareth Legion, who defeated South Parkland in 10 innings last night.

The Morning Call also has an article on the game (read it here). Next up is Hatboro.

Region 2 Legion Tournament

The Reading Eagle Times has a nice overview with team by team background on the Region 2 Legion Baseball Tournament (read it here).

Good luck Nazareth!

Nazareth Legion Wins Championship

Congrats to the Legion baseball team and thanks to Andy for sending me this note through Facebook:

You might want to post something, nazareth are 2009 northampton county champs! they beat kemp 2-0 to win the throphy! they play south parkland saturday at 3:45pm down in landsdale pa in the regionals.

Steller Tournament for Nazareth

Unofficial word (couldn't find results in either paper this morning) is that the Nazareth Boys Basketball team made it to the championship game and finished 2nd in the 36 team Steller Tournament in Allentown over the weekend.

Two players were named to the first team all-star squad and Nazareth took home the Milo Steward Coach's Award.

Thanks to KT for posting on Facebook - and congrats to Coach Arndt and the players!

You can read the Morning Call's Keith Groller's post from Saturday on the event here.

Nazareth Resident Competes in NHRA Event

Came across a press announcement from July 4th featuring the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series Event at Lebanon Valley Dragway, West Lebanon, NY (read it here).

In the release I saw that Dave Yediny, of Nazareth, finished 2nd in the Comp Eliminator Class, driving a 1971 Opel GT, with a time under index of -.568.

At the event there were several classes including Alcohol Funny Cars and Dragsters which hit speeds of 250+ mph.

What a way to spend the 4th of July holiday - congrats to Dave for the great finish in his class!

Baseball Update

Got this note from Andy who asked me to forward it along:

can you post on your site the time change of the nazareth baseball game. it was moved from 5:30 to 7:30. it is now at Lehigh Twp. It's game 2 of best of 3 playoffs first round.

Upcoming Fundraisers

The Morning Call Sports Calendar had a few events noted for the Nazareth area:

• NAZARETH FOOTBALL BOOSTER CLUB GOLF OUTING, JULY 6 -- Woodstone C.C. … 1 p.m. shotgun start … $85/golfer, $340/foursome … info and to register call Lori Mori 610-703-5199 or Keith Koch 610-759-0469
• NAZARETH BLUE EAGLE 5K RUN/WALK, AUG. 8 -- Event begins and ende at Lower Nazareth Elementary School, Newberg Road, Lower Nazareth Twp. … event benefits track and cross country programs at Nazareth H.S. … pre-registration $20 until July 25 … pre-registration guarantees T-shirt, $25/July 26 through race day (shirts if available) … Forms available www.nazarethtrackandcrosscountry.com, click on 5K link. … Awards to overall male/female, plus, 11U, 12-15, 16-19, 20-24 through 65 and over in five-year increments … info Scott Kately, race director, e-mail skately@verizon.net.

Youth Football Camp

Come join the Nazareth Blue Eagles coaching staff for it’s annual Youth Football Camp!!

Where: Andrew S. Leh Stadium

When: Monday July 27 thru Thursday July 30th

Sessions: 5:00 – 8:00 PM

Grades: Upcoming 6 – 9th graders

Cost: $70.00 postmarked before June 30th

$80.00 after June 30th

Brochures/registration forms can be picked up at the High School Athletic Office. Any questions, please call Lori Moyer, President, at 610- 703- 5199

Carpenter's Cup Team Falls 5-4

The Express-Times reports that the Lehigh Valley Carpenter's Cup team, which features several Nazareth players, lost in the quarterfinal round at the University of Pennsylvania by a score of 5-4 (read the article here).

Local Baseball News

The Morning Call reports (read it here) that the LV Carptenters Cup team featuring four Nazareth players won its opener at the University of Pennsylvania. The next game is Friday. If they win that game they will be in the semi-finals.

Andy Weaver reports on his blog that the Nazareth Legion is off to an 11-0 start - great job guys!

Carpenter's Cup

The Express-Times has an article that includes the schedule and players for this year's Carpenter's Cup baseball team (read it here).

Congratulations to Mike Squires, Kyle Dauscher, Drew Hercik, and Karl Keglovits for making the team.

Last year the team finished second.

Nazareth Lacrosse Has Outstanding Debut

In their first Varsity season, Nazareth's Girls Lacrosse started 16-0, finished 19-3, and the Express-Times named Amy Rydeen player of the year and Jennifer Nolan coach of the year (read the article here).

Congratulations to all the players and coaches for an outstanding inaugural season.

Barber National Race 1 > Qualifying

This is a long post, mostly because I want to give due credit to the hospitality I received, events I watched and facility I visited (plus I had a bunch of pictures I wanted to include:-).

On Saturday, my father and I drove 2.5 hours to spend the day at the Formula X event at the New Jersey Motorsports Park to watch a pair of Nazareth race car drivers compete in a Barber National Event.

The facility was amazing. The "Park" had two road courses, five racing series, three open-wheel and two sports car, were at Thunderbolt Raceway. The Barber National, Star Mazda, and Atlantic Championship are the three steps a driver takes to compete in IndyCar. Each was participating, along with IMSA Lites which feature drivers who desire to run in the Can-Am and endurance races such as 12 Hours of Sebring, 24 Hours of Daytona, and 24 Hours of LeMans.

The track is a 12 turn natural road course 2.17 miles in length, but in turn three the chicane was used to slow the cars, essentially adding another turn. Barber National cars could hit roughly 115-120 mph and average lap speed was in the neighborhood of 70-80 mph, mostly due to a very slow, technical set of turns from 7 through 11.

There are two components to this story, the experience of being with the drivers and families, and the race itself.

We arrived about 9:30 at the track. While it rained at home, it was bright and sunny all day, had to be high 80s. We immediately headed over to the Barber National tents where the cars were being prepared. First we saw Jody Karam, father of driver Sage Karam. Sage had won a scholarship for the series, becoming the youngest driver ever, at age 14 to do so. They decided to decline that scholarship, however, due to the terms, and were able to find a a sponsor, which was a bit like an angel investor. While talking to Jody, Sage came by and we had a chance to meet and speak with him briefly as well. We soon were talking to the entire family. Sage's mother, and grandparents were all in attendance. We talked about his racing, how they handled it, and soon in a short time you understood the passion and pressure everyone felt.

The Barber National is an elite level of racing with international drivers as well as U.S. based drivers. Each driver must come up with the money to run at each event, roughly $9000 not including the travel related expenses. The cars belong to Skip Barber and if you get hit, as both Lewis and Karam did, any damage, regardless of fault, is paid by the driver. In a ladder system, improvement and high finishes are critical to get you to the next series, and in some cases to the next race.

We next went over to Corey Lewis' car and his family. We met his parents, brother, and friends who travelled to the closest stop on the circuit from Nazareth. Corey had the fastest lap in the rain on Thursday, then his car experienced electrical problems on Friday which hampered practice. A complete over-haul of his car after Friday practice had everyone concerned about what he'd have under him during Saturday's qualifying.

Before we knew it, it was time to qualify. Thirty minutes, all cars on track, best lap against everyone else's best lap. We watched the cars pull off to line up to get on track. For qualifying we went to the bleachers on the backstraight, near the chicane and could see the cars come off turn two through three and into four. I could listen to track officials, who were positioned around the track and provided information and commentary throughout the session.

At the end Karam qualified seventh and Lewis 13th. Both were within one second of pole winner Court Vernon (read the Barber Series report here). Lewis was concerned with his car. He said the adjustments made after Friday didn't correct the back end from going out on turns. We could see as he went through the chicane it stepped out on him several times and as it happened I wasn't sure if he was hitting the curbing and causing it or if he was that loose. Turns out he was that loose. Later we learned that during the overhaul the back end was set up opposite what it should have been, which caused the loose condition. While frustrating that he didn't get the qualifying position he wanted (he was 5th in both the previous races), there was confidence with a car set-up to his liking that he could move through the field.

Nazareth's Faust Named Top Freshman in Softball by MC

Congratulations to Nazareth Softball pitcher Sarah Faust, who was named the best freshman softball player in the Lehigh Valley by the Morning Call (read the article here).

She finished with an 11-7 record, but posted an incredible 0.67 era. During the season she pitched 49 scoreless innings and in that time had 6 shutouts. The streak ended in a 1-0 loss to Parkland, who is contending for the state title.

Safe to say, if she continues to improve and has hitting to support her, the future is bright for the team.