SuburbanOneSports.com recognizes a male and female featured athlete each week. The awards, sponsored by Univest, are given to seniors of good character who are students in good standing that have made significant contributions to their teams. Selections are based on nominations received from coaches, athletic directors and administrators.
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Female Athlete (Week of Nov. 7, 2013)
Cecilia Weir was born to play defense. “In every sport I played, I was really defensive,” the William Tennent senior said. “It was what I always did. It’s what I like about the game.” Few play defense better than Weir, who has set the standard for the libero position at Tennent. “You do get spoiled,” coach Brian Bassler said. “She made me look smart. She made my job easy. I didn’t have to do too much coaching. I just let her go, and she’s picking up balls that nobody has any business picking up. You can see the other team rolling their eyes like, ‘What am I supposed to do?’ That’s a great weapon to have.”
And quite a weapon she has been. It’s not a coincidence that during the past three years with Weir anchoring the defense the Panthers were 46-13 with two playoff wins. In a sport dominated by tall players and big kills, Weir has quietly and without fanfare been a difference maker. The Panthers defeated perennial SOL National Conference power Pennsbury for the first time last year. They did it again this year. “Against their offense, we just wouldn’t have been able to get it done without her,” Bassler said. Last year, the Panthers made history when they earned their first ever district playoff win a five-set win over Central Bucks South. “She obviously was instrumental in that,” Bassler said. “It was a 19-17 fifth set win, and that’s her picking up balls. A couple points here and there, and we don’t win that match. It’s those balls that she saves.”
A captain, Weir was a leader of this year’s Panther squad that reeled off a school record 19 straight match wins. “I think being a senior she embraced a leadership role,” Bassler said. The Panthers finished second behind Pennsbury in the conference standings and advanced to the second round of the district playoffs, finishing the season with an impressive 20-4 record. “We had high expectations, but we also were happy with how we ended up,” Weir said. “I’m just lucky that my senior year was the best we’ve had so far.”
When it comes time to choose a college, Weir will consider academics first. “Right now I’m thinking school before sports, so I’m not positive whether I’ll be playing in college or not,” she said. “I always put school first before everything, and I guess it paid off in the end.” Penn State is at the top of her college list, and she also is considering La Salle and Temple. She plans to major in speech therapy. In addition to excelling in the classroom, Weir also is involved in student government and Powder Puff football. “She’s very well liked at the high school,” Bassler said. “She puts herself in good situations inside the classroom and outside the classroom. She’s a hard worker. She’s a mature girl. You know people who are going to be successful whatever they end up doing, and she’s one of those people.”
To read Weir’s complete profile, please click on the following link: http://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/female/cecilia-weir-0039298
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Male Athlete (Week of Nov. 7, 2013)
Connor Hanlon is the star quarterback with the near-perfect SAT and a member of the Homecoming court. He is the proverbial big man on campus at Plymouth Whitemarsh High School. He is the guy in those old John Hughes movies of the 1980s that you are not supposed to like, but in the case of Connor Hanlon, that is where well-worn stereotypes end and reality beings. For starters, Hanlon is 5 feet, 8 inches and weighs in at 160 pounds, and that hardly equates to being a big man on any campus. It’s more the size of his heart, soul and character that make him who and what he is to friends and family; to coaches and teammates.
“I don’t have anything to complain about,” is a common refrain when asked about the physical and mental toll placed on him on a weekly basis as a two-way starter for the Colonials or the time he spends perfecting his craft in the film room. The self-made signal caller could relish in his meteoric rise to prominence in his first year under center in the triple-option attack of coach Dan Chang, but that is not his style. Hanlon is quick to share the spotlight – or even elude it, like a would-be tackler. He gives credit to his fellow seniors for easing the leadership burden and to his offensive line for creating the holes to run through and the time to throw. And he traces it all back to his family – like parents Brian and Kerrie and older sister Kyra who is currently at Georgetown University – that is bonded closely together by the fact that his younger brother, 15-year-old Sean, is afflicted with cerebral palsy. “Sean has always been an inspiration to me,” he said. “He has been through so much, with hospital trips, and has endured so much pain. It is a lot of my motivation. I know that Sean never had opportunity that I have now. He can’t walk or talk, but I like to think that I have a typical brother relationship with him. I just treat him like my younger brother. I think it brings us closer together as a family.”
Heading into PW’s playoff tilt against CB West, he had rushed for 601 yards and a team high 10 touchdowns and thrown for 898 yards and nine scores. “He is a tremendous leader for us and a guy that others look up to,” said Chang. “His work ethic and preparation is second to none. He’s really developed into a legitimate threat for us with the ball in his hands.”
Hanlon, who led the Colonials to an SOL American Conference crown, plans to attend Penn State, MIT or Princeton where he will study math.
To view Hanlon’s complete profile, please click on the following link: http://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/male/connor-hanlon-0039313
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