Langhorne

Why not go with the best? That was a question Willingboro's Crystal Langhorne and Cheltenham's Laura Harper heard repeatedly throughout their college recruiting process. Both are considered two of the top high school basketball players in the country. This season, they were McDonald's all-Americans and Inquirer players of the year in South Jersey and Southeastern Pennsylvania, respectively. Yesterday, Harper was named first-team all-state. Tomorrow, they will play in the McDonald's all-American game here at the Ford Center.

Crystal Langhorne's productivity during her four basketball seasons at Willingboro was exceeded only by her humility. Many times, Langhorne, a 6-foot-2 senior at Willingboro, wanted to bark at an opponent who had committed yet another hard foul against her. But Langhorne showed amazing restraint. That proved to be as noteworthy as her career, which will rank as one of the best ever in South Jersey history. In four varsity seasons, Langhorne scored 2,775 points and helped Willingboro win three conference titles, three sectional championships, and a state title.

Posing for pictures after earning Willingboro's most-valuable-player award yesterday, Crystal Langhorne's smile was not as bright - or sincere - as it might have been had she been holding the trophy she really wanted. The 6-foot-2 all-American forward completed her final game for Willingboro with a shiny memento, national acclaim and disappointment. Despite a game-high 34 points from Langhorne, Willingboro could do little to stop Malcolm X Shabazz from earning its second straight Group 3 NJSIAA state title yesterday in a 63-52 game at the Ritacco Center at Toms River North.

The style may have been out of character for the Willingboro girls' basketball team, but the result was not. The Chimeras gained their accustomed mid-March position in the Group 3 state title game last night, beating previously undefeated Highland, 61-54, in a state Group 3 semifinal at Toms River North's Ritacco Center. Ranked No. 3 in South Jersey by The Inquirer, Willingboro (24-4) will play in its third straight state final when it meets Shabazz Sunday at 4 p.m. at the Ritacco Center.

Willingboro's Crystal Langhorne, The Inquirer's South Jersey girls' basketball player of the year last season as a junior, was named yesterday to the East roster for the McDonald's All-American High School Game. Twenty-four players, 12 on the East team and 12 on the West, will take part in the event. A boys' and girls' doubleheader is set for Oklahoma City on March 31. Langhorne, who is averaging 25.7 points and 16 rebounds per game, has led the Chimeras to a 17-3 record and a No. 3 ranking by The Inquirer in South Jersey.

The original blueprint for Crystal Langhorne seemed so simple, and so attainable. Ten points a game. An average of 25 games per year. By the end of her senior year at Willingboro she would have 1,000 points. Langhorne was new to the game of basketball at the time, well before the endless phone calls, the AAU tournaments around the country, the reporters after each high school game, the South Jersey titles, the state championship, and the Tournament of Champions title-game appearance.

Hundreds of runners log thousands of practice miles every day. But how fast? How far? How many? How often? Committed coaches struggle with these questions as surely as their runners struggle up steep hills and against harsh winds. Science is here to help end the guessing game. Leave it to Council Rock, which created the blueprint for a successful cross-country program two decades ago, to look to the lab for answers. Council Rock North head coach Dave Marrington is collaborating with orthopedic surgeon Christopher Aland, sports psychologist Stephen Van Schoyck and physical therapist Stephen Black to test high school athletes in ways that were only previously available to national and world-class athletes.

Crystal Langhorne, The Inquirer's South Jersey girls' basketball player of the year and a two-time first-team all-South Jersey selection, has made an oral commitment to Maryland. The 6-foot-2 Langhorne chose the Terrapins over Connecticut, Virginia and Florida. She became the second highly touted frontcourt player to commit to the Terrapins. Laura Harper, a 6-3 center from Cheltenham High in Southeastern Pennsylvania, gave an oral commitment to the Atlantic Coast Conference team.

The Langhorne Players have been around for about 55 years, and in that time the community theater group has experienced more than its share of unscripted drama to go along with that on stage. The theater group has faced floods and fire, eviction and personal tragedy. It has performed in a functioning movie house, two area barns, and has shared space with a police department. The well-traveled troupe also has staged a protest in the county seat of Doylestown. What's more, the Langhorne Players haven't even performed in Langhorne for more than 50 years.

The bickering began with a screeching siren that alerts firemen to trouble and, at the same time, rattles the police chief's eardrums. "It's a health issue," Police Chief Ken Barnes said, his fingers plugging his ears. "It's absolutely necessary," Fire Chief Frank Farry responded. In a Bucks County town that spans a mere half-mile square, a growing feud between its two top uniformed men has hurt feelings and tested tempers far and wide. A snit over a siren. A tiff over a toilet.