LebCo Female Athletes of the Week: Lily Harchuska & Maddie Stout (Week Ending January 5, 2024)

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Lily Harchuska

Cedar Crest Girls Wrestling has gotten off to an exciting start in its inaugural season. Leading the way for the Lady Falcons has been Lily Harchuska. The freshman earned the 136-pound championship at Elizabethtown’s BAGUBA Tournament on December 21st, going a perfect 4-0. A week later, she went 5-1 at the Penn Manor New Year’s Eve Tournament to finish on the podium. As a result of her tremendous accomplishment, Harchuska was voted as a LebCo Female Athlete of the Week.

When asked to describe how she performed, Harchuska told LebCoSports.com, “It was tough competition in both tournaments. Winning the BAGUBA Tournament was exciting because I had gotten injured at the previous tournament and couldn’t continue, so this was a great way to come back. The Penn Manor Tournament was exhausting since I wrestled so many matches.”

Harchuska went 9-1 in the two tournaments and earned two medals. At BAGUBA, her 4-0 run to the top of the podium included two pins in her four matches. This included the gold medal match where Harchuska defeated an excellent wrestler from North Penn, pinning her at 1:36. At Penn Manor, she won five matches but could not make it any higher than 6th place due to a six-match limit. However, her run to the podium included a pin and a major decision.

When asked about Harchuska, head coach Ben Stum said, “Lily has had a fantastic start to her high school wrestling career as a freshman. She has developed quickly in the sport after switching over from basketball two years ago. She is 13-2 in the season, placing in all three of her tournaments with a tournament championship at the Elizabethtown tournament.”

While wrestling is an individual sport, the team aspect drives each athlete’s overall development. When asked about how she fits into the team goals, Harchuska said, “I try to help everyone keep a positive attitude, stay focused, and work hard.”

Her head coach elaborated on the effect she was having when he said, “When I took the job to coach the first-ever girls wrestling team at Cedar Crest, I knew that Lily had talent, but she has exceeded my expectations on and off the mat. I wanted to create a family culture for our team, and Lily and the other high school wrestlers took that to heart. She has been a great leader and has viewed every girl on our team as an integral part. She has worked hard to grow the team, both junior high and high school. She continually works to make it feel family-oriented and as one team, regardless of age or ability level. She does this by leading team building activities and getting to know each girl individually.”

While Harchuska made PJW States when she was in 7th and 8th grade (finishing 4th last year), this is her first time wrestling at the varsity level. After getting injured early this season, she has used it as fuel to become more determined than ever. She has set a goal this year to make it to Hershey for the PIAA State Wrestling Championships. Her sights are set on someday becoming the best in Pennsylvania.

Coach Stum touched on her high level of motivation when he said, “She has big goals in the sport of wrestling and has the desire to keep growing and learning. Coaching her and the rest of the girls on our team has been the most enjoyable experience in my coaching career.”

When it comes to wrestling, Harchuska wants more girls to try it. For her, it was a friend who convinced her to try it when she was in 7th grade, telling her it was “fun.” Since then, she has found that the sport has taught her a lot, including improving her “work ethic and discipline.” She has also found a family among the group of young ladies that she practices alongside daily as part of the first girls’ wrestling team in school history. In the long term, Harchuska would like to have the opportunity to wrestle in college and also be able to coach girls to find the same joy she has found in the sport.

As committed a wrestler as she is, it is not the only sport where Harchuska has found an outlet for her competitiveness. She plays goalie for the Cedar Crest Girls Soccer Team and plays club soccer for Hershey.

For now, we wish Harchuska and all of her teammates the best as they hit the mats the rest of this season. We will be watching closely to see which crazy socks she wears as she battles to earn a chance to compete at the Giant Center.

Photos provided by the Harchuska Family

Maddie Stout

From December 17th through January 3rd, ELCO Girls Basketball went 4-1 and won the Pine Grove Holiday Tournament. This included a three-game win streak for the Lady Raiders, where they were led by point guard Maddie Stout. In those games, the junior averaged 19.3 points. As a result of her outstanding scoring, Stout was voted as a LebCo Female Athlete of the Week.

The list of ELCO’s victims during the holiday season included Annville-Cleona, Shenandoah Valley, Pine Grove, and Pottsville. Paired with fellow junior Kenzie Eckhart, Stout has led the Lady Raiders to a solid 8-5 record. In addition to the Pine Grove Holiday Tournament Championship, ELCO also won the Hamburg Tip-Off Tournament to start the season. With nine games left to play in the regular season, their 10th-place standing in the District 3 Power Rankings has them in an excellent position to make the 5A Playoffs.

So far this season, Stout is averaging 14.5 points per game. In addition, she has averaged 2 assists & 5 rebounds per contest. This is all while taking over the floor general responsibilities following the graduation of Sara Miller.

What has led to Stout’s emergence as one of ELCO’s top players after taking over point guard duties this season? The answer is simple: Hard work. As head coach Karl Keath puts it, “Maddie puts the extra time in during the offseason, and it’s been neat to see her maturing over the last 3 years. She has definitely figured out the importance of practicing hard.”

As you can see, the head coach is not talking about the game; he’s talking about practice. Not a game, practice. That said, the work that Stout has put into practice is now paying off within the games. By working on her game, she has transformed into a point guard after playing in the post up until she hit the high school level.

However, for Stout, it’s not about her individual performance but how her play fits into the team’s goal of making the postseason. When asked about her performance as of late, Stout pointed to the team rather than any of her individual accolades when talking about how they played leading up to and immediately following Christmas. Stout said, “We fought really hard, playing better defense as a team and playing team basketball.”

ELCO celebrating the Pine Grove Championship

Stout is a basketball player through and through. When she’s not working on her game, reading is one of her favorite hobbies. She has plans to put her literary skills to use when studying to become a nurse once she graduates from ELCO in the Class of ’26. In deciding where she will pursue her degree, she will be looking for the opportunity to play basketball at the collegiate level.

When asked about Stout, Keath endorsed the idea of her playing in college, saying, “With continued progress, she will be an asset for a team at the next level.”

While this may not help her get on a collegiate roster, one fun fact to know about Stout is that she can do the A, B, Cs backwards.

For now, the only letter that Stout is interested in is “W”, as she helps ELCO racks up the wins. We with Stout and all of the Lady Raiders the best of the luck this season as they strive to extend their time together deep into the posteason.

Photos provided by ELCO Athletics

Read about this week’s LebCo Male Athlete of the Week: Kane Kline (coming soon)

For a full list of this week’s nominees, check out: Athlete of the Week Voting: December 16 – January 5 

Previous Winners

Mya Doster (Week of December 2nd)

Olivia Shutter (Week of December 2nd)

Kaila Francis (Week of December 9th)

Liliana Harrison (Week of December 9th)