SuburbanOneSports.com recognizes a male and female featured athlete each week. The awards, sponsored by Univest, are given to seniors of high 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 Dec. 3, 2015)
Ariana Crossgrove knows what it’s like to watch her team from the pool deck. And the Souderton senior doesn’t enjoy the view even a little. As a promising freshman, Crossgrove was involved in a collision during a preseason practice. She suffered a concussion and was sidelined the entire season. “On the outside, I fought through it and I tried to be positive, but there were nights when I would just be in tears,” Crossgrove said. “It was the most frustrating experience. Even thinking back on it now – it’s still frustrating because I feel if I had swam my freshman year I could have been even better this year, but there’s nothing I can do about it now.” Except raise the bar higher for herself, which is exactly what Crossgrove has done.
Last season, she set a goal of swimming the 100 backstroke in under a minute. At the District One AAA meet, Crossgrove touched the wall in 1:00.03 – three hundredths of a second from her goal. “She was very, very upset about it,” coach Caitlin Warren said. “I don’t blame her. You work all season for the one goal, and what’s so cool about Ariana is right after that she swam the 100 free and the free relay, and she stood up on that podium and gave it her best shot.” It would have been easy for Crossgrove to come back for her final high 
school season with the singular goal of swimming the 100 back in under a minute. She has much higher goals. “My goal is to break a minute at the beginning of the season,” she said. “I’d love to go a 57, but three seconds is big drop when you’re going a fast time like that already. I have other big drops on my other times I also want to get.” Although the backstroke is Crossgrove’s top event, she is versatile in the pool. “She will do whatever she’s asked – no ifs, ands or buts, no complaining,” Warren said. “She absolutely loves swimming.”
Although missing her freshman season was frustrating, it reinforced just how much swimming meant to Crossgrove. “(It) made me realize how much I really loved swimming and how much a part of my life it had become,” she said. “It has also helped me realize how much I couldn’t live without it.” The Souderton senior has committed to continue her swimming career at Millersville University. Outside of the pool, Crossgrove is active with her church and volunteers in her community. An excellent student, she recently received the Tech Ed Student of the Month Award. With enough credits to graduate, Crossgrove is using the year this year to focus on another of her passions - art. She plans to major in art education with a minor in psychology with her sight set on a possible career in art therapy.
To read Crossgrove’s complete profile, please click on the following link: http://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/female/ariana-crossgrove-0057852
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Male Athlete (Week of Dec. 3, 2015)
To the naked eye, a quick scan of past honorees of the Maxwell Club’s Jim Henry Award would indicate it was based solely on football ability as the list includes past and present NFL players. However, according to the Maxwell Club’s website, the award’s namesake insisted the criteria be based on “academics as well as contributions to the school and community.” In other words, it takes a rare breed of student-athlete. It takes someone like Central Bucks East senior Jack Lamb, a nominee for the prestigious award. Among other qualities setting Lamb apart is leadership ability so intense he was elected team captain as a junior. That same year, due to injuries, the standout linebacker – with some experience at fullback and tight end – was thrown into the fire at quarterback for the duration of the season and remained under center as a senior. He did that while also playing the other side of the ball at middle linebacker. Lamb fits the other criteria as a top-notch student, exemplified by his 3.8 GPA while being a member of the National Honor Society and active in groups like Athletes Helping Athletes.
Lamb finished his career with 243 tackles, including 38.5 for a loss. That earned him first team all-league honors this year and second team last year. As a duel-threat quarterback, he had close to 1,400 yards in total offense and 15 touchdowns, earning third team all-league honors. But the numbers and honors pale in comparison to what he has meant to the program since his freshman year. “I could talk about Jack as a person and player for hours,” coach John Donnelly said. “What he meant to our team as a two-year captain, from a leadership standpoint, is immeasurable. His will to win, competitive drive and positive attitude had a ripple effect on our team. He overcame injury and displayed an unselfish ‘team first’ mentality when we needed him to become our quarterback in his junior season in an emergency situation, which turned out to be permanent. Even as a freshman, you could see the kind of qualities he possessed that we point to as the cornerstones of our program.” This year Lamb led the Patriots to an 8-3 mark and a district playoff berth.
The finalists to land Lamb’s talents are Lafayette, Colgate and Lehigh. He plans to major in chemistry. Just like he knows he needed a support system to lead the Patriots to new heights on the field, Lamb knows he could not have become the complete package without a support system. The list begins with his parents, and he also gave a shout out to his personal trainer, Brandon Hughes, who helped him come back from Tommy John surgery in April and will be guiding him through workouts to get ready for college football. He also credited his coaches. “Perhaps the greatest gift he gave to us is the gold standard model and example that our underclassmen can look up to and work toward being like Jack,” Donnelly said.
To read Lamb’s compete profile, please click on the following link: http://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/male/jack-lamb-0057851
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