Germantown Academy

Award-winning author William Giraldi is visiting Germantown Academy in Fort Washington through Thursday to work with students during his stay as the school's writer-in-residence. Giraldi, an editor of the AGNI journal at Boston University, is a frequent contributor to publications including the New York Times Book Review and won the Pushchart Prize in 2010 for "Freaky Beasts," an essay on amateur bodybuilding. His first novel, Busy Monsters, chronicles a writer's efforts to win back his ex-fiance.

IF ANYONE wants to resurrect the old "M*A*S*H" TV series, Nick Lindner is ready to star. Well, as long as any future injuries would be fake. During his just-completed senior basketball season at Germantown Academy, the 5-10, 155-pound guard dislocated a finger in practice and then, in games, suffered a sprained wrist along with two sprained ankles (left one each time) and a concussion. How does he feel now? "Never better!" he gushed. "It was awesome!" It was the winning, Saturday night at Malvern Prep, of GA's first championship in the Pennsylvania Schools Independent Tournament.

Germantown Academy's girls set a national record in the 400-yard freestyle relay Saturday en route to winning the Eastern Interscholastic Swimming and Diving Championships on Saturday at La Salle University. Shannon McKernan, Meagan Dollard, Madison Visco, and Rachel Zilinskas finished the 400 in 3 minutes, 21.63 seconds, surpassing the 3:22.34 mark that GA had set in 2006. Peddie School won the boys' title. The Results BOYS Top 10 teams: Peddie 459.5, Malvern Prep 320, Loyola Blakefield 315, Phillips 253, Haverford School 210, Germantown Academy 191, Penn Charter 180, Cathedral 170, Deerfield 166.5, Mount St. Joseph 129. 200-yard medley relay: 1, Peddie, 1:31.53.

Luke Harris has stepped down as Germantown Academy's football coach after six seasons. "It's been an honor to represent my alma mater," he said in a statement. Harris, a member of GA's Class of 1992, posted a 21-35 overall record and a 6-24 mark in Inter-Academic League action. The Patriots went 3-6 overall and 0-5 in the league this season. Harris will remain at the school as a health and physical education teacher. - Rick O'Brien

Germantown Academy's powerful offense, highlighted by two two-run home runs off the bat of John Citrone, carried the Patriots to the championship of the Pennsylvania Independent Schools baseball tournament with a 14-4 win over Germantown Friends on Saturday at Perkiomen School. The top-seeded Patriots (29-3), who scored in double figures 14 times this season, outscored their four tournament opponents by 52-5. Sean Coyle doubled and tripled, and Greg Guers and Alex Wilson also lined doubles for Germantown Academy, which grabbed an 11-2 lead in three innings.

Someday, say in the year 2091, when the 205th game takes place between Penn Charter and Germantown Academy, there will be a yellowish, dog-eared photo of Courtney Batts stapled to a cardboard background in the main hall of the Penn Charter School. Stenciled in over the smiling Batts holding the Geis Trophy, which is awarded to the MVP of the game, will be the inscription: Nov. 9, 1991, Penn Charter 28, Germantown Academy 11. In the 105th meeting between the two schools yesterday, Batts caught three touchdown passes to help host Penn Charter to a surprising 28-11 victory over archrival Germantown Academy in an Inter-Ac League game.

Malvern Prep is considered a strong contender for the Inter-Ac League football title. As usual. But the Friars, who have won or shared 12 league titles in the last 18 years, should be severely challenged by Germantown Academy, which has one of the city's best backfields. Penn Charter, which shared the title with Malvern last season, was decimated by graduation. Ditto for Episcopal Academy, which lost 16 of 22 starters from last year's 6-3 team. Haverford School, 0-10 last year, will try to regroup behind veteran quarterback Frank DeFazio.

For the last 14 years, Germantown Academy has provided an alternative to the Delaware Valley Girls Track Association indoor meets in its fieldhouse in Fort Washington. Every other Friday afternoon, teams from the Inter-Academic and Friends Schools Leagues, along with a few PIAA squads, compete in a nonscoring, low-pressure meet. It helps teams with young athletes looking for some success or teams that find it inconvenient to travel to meets at Lehigh or Kutztown Universities.

1. The rivalry between Germantown Friends School and Germantown Academy could one day carry into the big leagues. It's been well-documented in these pages that Jesse Biddle, the pride of Friends, is dominating at double-A Reading. Sean Coyle, representing Academy, has been equally as dominating as an outfielder for Boston's high-A affiliate, Salem of the Carolina League. Coyle entered play Saturday hitting .313 with seven home runs, 12 RBIs, and a 1.086 OPS. 2. The price tag for the acquisition of Michael Young from Texas was hard-throwing righthanders Josh Lindblom and Lisalverto Bonilla.

Softball TRITON TOURNEY Clearview 11, Sacred Heart (N.J.) 10 GCIT 8, Clearview 4 GCIT 5, Clearview 3 Sacred Heart (N.J.) 8, Paul VI 5 Boys' Tennis NONLEAGUE Newark Academy 4, Haddonfield 1 Rowing CITY CHAMPIONSHIPS Girls' Lightweight 2x Final: 1. Ridgewood (Noel, Cannon), 5:45.43; 2. Haddon Township, 5:57.12; 3. Springside Chestnut Hill, 6:00.67. Girls' Lightweight 4+ Final: 1. Montclair (Schneider, Cailliarec, Mann, Schnittman, [Dolce-Bengtsson]

Baseball BICENTENNIAL LEAGUE Holy Ghost Prep 4, Devon Prep 1 CATHOLIC LEAGUE Roman Catholic 4, Cardinal O'Hara 2 LaSalle 2, St. Joseph's Prep 1 Archbishop Ryan 5, Father Judge 4 CENTRAL LEAGUE Radnor 3, Lower Merion 2 Conestoga 13, Upper Darby 3 Ridley 7, Haverford High 1 Strath Haven 4, Marple Newtown 3 Harriton 10, Springfield (D) 3 Garnet Valley 12, Penncrest 7 CHES-MONT AMERICAN Great Valley 14, Sun Valley 3 West Chester Rustin 3, Octorara 0 Oxford 6, Kennett 2 CHES-MONT NATIONAL Bishop Shanahan 7, West Chester East 6 Coatesville 10, Avon Grove 2 FRIENDS SCHOOLS LEAGUE Germantown Friends 18, Friends Select 7 INTER-AC LEAGUE Haverford School 5, Germantown Academy 4 PIONEER ATHLETIC CONFERENCE Phoenixville 11, Pope John Paul II 3 Pottstown 8, Spring-Ford 2 Owen J. Roberts 12, Boyertown 11 Upper Perkiomen 5, Pottsgrove 1 PUBLIC LEAGUE DIVISION A Esperanza 4, Central 2 SUBURBAN ONE AMERICAN Springfield (M)

Germantown Academy rallied from a five-goal deficit Tuesday to beat visiting Notre Dame, 12-11, in an Inter-Ac League lacrosse game. Notre Dame led, 9-4, early in the second half before Germantown Academy scored eight times, highlighted by Jennifer Stack's go-ahead goal. Emile Van Blarcom and Hanna Bogorowski each scored four times for GA. Central. Springfield (Delco) won at Harriton, 11-8, behind hat tricks from Emily Santana and Alex Poplawski. Catholic Academies. Ashley Stefanowicz led St. Basil with six goals and added two assists in a 20-11 victory at Nazareth Academy.

Award-winning author William Giraldi is visiting Germantown Academy in Fort Washington through Thursday to work with students during his stay as the school's writer-in-residence. Giraldi, an editor of the AGNI journal at Boston University, is a frequent contributor to publications including the New York Times Book Review and won the Pushchart Prize in 2010 for "Freaky Beasts," an essay on amateur bodybuilding. His first novel, Busy Monsters, chronicles a writer's efforts to win back his ex-fiance.

Germantown Academy's girls set a national record in the 400-yard freestyle relay Saturday en route to winning the Eastern Interscholastic Swimming and Diving Championships on Saturday at La Salle University. Shannon McKernan, Meagan Dollard, Madison Visco, and Rachel Zilinskas finished the 400 in 3 minutes, 21.63 seconds, surpassing the 3:22.34 mark that GA had set in 2006. Peddie School won the boys' title. The results BOYS Top 10 teams: Peddie 459.5, Malvern Prep 320, Loyola Blakefield 315, Phillips 253, Haverford School 210, Germantown Academy 191, Penn Charter 180, Cathedral 170, Deerfield 166.5, Mount St. Joseph 129. 200-yard medley relay: 1, Peddie, 1:31.53.

Germantown Academy's girls set a national record in the 400-yard freestyle relay Saturday en route to winning the Eastern Interscholastic Swimming and Diving Championships on Saturday at La Salle University. Shannon McKernan, Meagan Dollard, Madison Visco, and Rachel Zilinskas finished the 400 in 3 minutes, 21.63 seconds, surpassing the 3:22.34 mark that GA had set in 2006. Peddie School won the boys' title. The Results BOYS Top 10 teams: Peddie 459.5, Malvern Prep 320, Loyola Blakefield 315, Phillips 253, Haverford School 210, Germantown Academy 191, Penn Charter 180, Cathedral 170, Deerfield 166.5, Mount St. Joseph 129. 200-yard medley relay: 1, Peddie, 1:31.53.

IF ANYONE wants to resurrect the old "M*A*S*H" TV series, Nick Lindner is ready to star. Well, as long as any future injuries would be fake. During his just-completed senior basketball season at Germantown Academy, the 5-10, 155-pound guard dislocated a finger in practice and then, in games, suffered a sprained wrist along with two sprained ankles (left one each time) and a concussion. How does he feel now? "Never better!" he gushed. "It was awesome!" It was the winning, Saturday night at Malvern Prep, of GA's first championship in the Pennsylvania Schools Independent Tournament.