Univest Featured Athletes (Wk. 2-28-19)

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 Feb. 28, 2019)

Dana Bandurick will never take competing in sports for granted. Sure, there may have been times in the Council Rock North senior’s stellar athletic career when that might have been the case, but those days are over. Ask Bandurck how much she appreciates being on the court with her basketball team, and her joy is unmistakable.“I am so ridiculously happy,” she said. “After spending so much time out – there are just random times when I’m in practice or we’re at a game or in the locker room, and I’ll think about how happy I am to be there with my team and playing a sport I love. You appreciate it a lot more after you miss out on a lot.”Bandurick certainly knows all about ‘missing out on a lot.’ On March 10, 2017, she tore the ACL in her right knee. A week to the day a year later, on March 3, 2018, Bandurick tore the ACL in her left knee. If anyone ever had a reason walk away from basketball, Bandurick certainly did.“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t thinking she might not come back because when she went down for the second time, she knew,” Rock North coach Lou Palkovics said. “I could hear her scream saying, ‘Not again, not again.’I’ve had a bunch of girls that had knee surgeries and have come back from them. She just seems to have come back stronger and quicker.”

If that sounds impossible, you haven’t met Dana Bandurick. Yes, she admits she did some soul searching when she tore her second ACL.A lot of people thought I was crazy when I came back from my first one,” she said. “Two ACL injuries – that’s a lot to deal with. I really thought hard about if it was worth coming back. It’s a huge commitment to think about. I tried to imagine not playing basketball and not continuing this huge part of my life. I couldn’t imagine not doing it. ”Bandurick isn’t just playing basketball for the sake of playing, she’s excelling. Through 22 games, she averaged 17.3 points and 8.3 rebounds with 51 blocked shots and 57 steals.“People don’t realize what she does offensively,” Palkovics said. “She’s so fast, she can beat most big people down the floor. She’s so athletic, tall and lanky. She can play the middle and block shots, she times people’s shots, she can step away, and her leadership has been unbelievable. What she’s done as a person – these girls have so much respect for her. Blowing one knee out, I’m thinking I’m not playing anymore. Blow two knees out and she’s still battling back and playing at this kind of level. It’s unbelievable. I’ve had some really great players. Her story is no story I’ve ever experienced before as a coach.”

Bandurick will continue her basketball career at Swarthmore College. I didn’t even know Swarthmore was a college until summer going into my junior year,” she said. “As soon as I took the tour, I had a good feeling about the place. I loved the environment and the coaches were so nice and the team was really nice.”The school also is a perfect fit for Bandurick academically, who plans to major in biology with her sights set on a career in medicine.“I really want to go to medical school and become some kind of doctor,” she said, admitting she is leaning toward specializing in orthopedics. “Swarthmore has a really good reputation. Their students have one of the highest acceptance rates in medical schools.That was definitely very interesting and a benefit for me. ”An outstanding student, Bandurick – who is taking three AP classes - is a member of the National Honor Society, Rho Kappa Social Studies Honor Society and the Spanish Honor Society.

To read Bandurick’s complete profile, please click on the following link: http://suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/female/dana-bandurick-0083222

 

Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Male Athlete (Week of Feb. 28, 2019)

Lucas Monroe lists versatility as his biggest strength. For someone who name drops Aristotle and Pistol Pete Maravich over the course of a relatively brief conversation, it’s unquestionable that this well-roundedness extends on and off the basketball court. Monroe, a 6-foot-6 senior on the Abington basketball team that has won 27 of its 28 games played this season, can play guard or forward, depending on the flow of the game and what his team needs him to do in order to win. Along with stud teammate and Villanova recruit Eric Dixon, Monroe can be counted on to score (he’s in the Abington top-10 for career points) if necessary, but he’s also just as comfortable being a facilitator (ranked second in school history in assists). On a team that won its third consecutive District 1 Class 6A championship and fourth in five years, the Galloping Ghost players have checked any and all egos at the door in favor of building a high school basketball dynasty. “Nobody on this team cares whose name is in the paper; if anything, I love seeing when other guys that don’t get the attention get some shine,” Monroe said. “There’s been no issues or jealousy. Me and Eric were just talking about how lucky we are and how important the other guys have been in all this. Maurice (Henry) saved our butts multiple times this season. Manir (Waller) and Darious (Brown) saved us against Pennridge in the SOL title game when I had one of my worst games of the season. Seeing Jack (Moynihan) hit a big three against Cheltenham and having 3,000 people erupt, that makes me happy to see how happy it makes him, because he doesn’t get to experience it a lot. We want to see each other succeed.”

Of course, everyone wants to ask Monroe about being the “other guy” on Abington, the Robin to Dixon’s Batman, an unnecessary narrative to create but one that exists anyway, to the point where Monroe struggled with it earlier this season. It wasn’t until he swept all the outside noise under the rug where he — and Abington — really hit his stride. “It was hard sometimes, like a little confidence killer,” Monroe admitted. “But what helps is how unselfish Eric is. He’s like a brother to me. I’d never be jealous of him and I always root for the best for him. It’s never caused any issues.”

What sets Monroe apart from other players being on a team with someone of Dixon’s caliber is his maturity, according to Abington head coach Charles Grasty, who spoke about how Monroe will come into the coach’s classroom during free period and just talk about life.It’s through the roof, to the point I feel like I’m talking to a grown man,” Grasty said. “It was tough for him in the beginning of the year. He’s a high school kid and he wants people to recognize him. We went out to Pittsburgh and he scored 23 points, and their local paper obviously talked about Eric and said Lucas ‘chipped in’ with 23. You get tired of seeing that, but he doesn’t care. By the middle of the season he was like, ‘You know what? That stuff doesn’t mean anything to me anymore. ’He just wants to win and enjoy his last season before going to college. He’s coming in the gym and just playing great. He’s handling the ball for us, he’s rebounding. He’s the other guy and he understands it, even if it could be frustrating. He’s in the gym at 5 a.m. improving himself, and his work ethic and basketball IQ are off the charts.”

Monroe’s versatility extends beyond the basketball court as well. After all, you don’t earn a scholarship to a school like the University of Pennsylvania if you’re not pulling your weight in the classroom. When asked about his motivation to ace his classes, Monroe cited the Aristotle quote “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act, but a habit.” In other words, he’s not your average high school senior.

To read Monroe’s complete profile, please click on the following link: http://suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/male/lucas-monroe-0083228

0