Alum Bednarski holds a field hockey game in Wyoming; the hoop coach for the girls walks away

Wyoming’s sports program is undergoing changes to the girls’ coaching staff for the 2022-23 school year.

At the last meeting of the school board, the new field hockey coach was appointed by the former Wyoming hockey player and state hockey player Penn Bidnarsky.

The sports department now has another place to tackle after Chad Loewski stepped down as the girls ’basketball coach on Friday.

Both changes are happening in programs on the rise.

Led by Erin McGinley, coach for the past five seasons, the field hockey program has continued its rapid growth through the Wyoming Valley Conference and has become a state-level factor with trips to the state’s Class 2A semifinals over the past two years. concessions COVID).

When Loewski led the program for eight seasons, the Wyoming district doubled the overall winning streak and tripled the number of wins at the WVC over the previous run of the same number of years. The Warriors moved each season from the losing team and the last-half team to the only team that lost just one season in the last seven.

Bednarski was a leader in the initial appearance of the Wyoming field in field hockey. The team, which had a record a year before her arrival and during the first season, went 13-2, missing one game before the WVC title in 2015, her senior season when Bednarski set a state record for goals for the season.

While in college, first during a season at the University of Michigan and then at Penn State in a career that ended last fall, Bednarski tracked progress at home.

“I’ve been watching this a lot,” said Bednarsky, who was also the district’s sprint champion and stellar outfielder, splitting his time between athletics and softball in the spring when he was in high school. “Now you see a lot of girls, more than when I was in school, who are going to play in college.

“Obviously the program is improving a lot and I watched it back in school. I see the talent they have. It made me want to join them. “

In the spring of 2021, Bednarski graduated from Penn State and then took advantage of an additional year of eligibility due to COVID to play again last fall, continuing his studies. Preparing for a possible future in education, she began her coaching career this spring as an assistant in the junior track and field team.

When she learned about the discovery at the school of field hockey coach, it was natural.

“I thought it would be good to go back and teach some of the skills and lessons I’ve learned over the years of field hockey,” Bednarski said.

The Wyoming region has established itself as the No. 2 team in the Wyoming Valley conference, one of the nation’s strongest in field hockey in high school. In recent seasons, the Warriors are consistently second only to the national rankings of Wyoming Seminary, which is the first team in the state to win four PIAA titles in a row.

Bednarski has played 64 games in four seasons at Penn State, starting at 25. She has scored 11 goals and made nine assists in her career, culminating in a loss to the NCAA tournament last fall when the Nittany Lions finished fourth in the country.

“I’m just making connections with my teammates,” Bednarski said of her favorite memories of playing at Penn State. “Then I know we didn’t win the Big Ten tournament, but when we hosted the tournament at our company, we didn’t have the best start that season, but we were in the Big Ten championship.

“It was probably one of my highlights, just being in that situation, being able to feel that intensity and that environment of that game.”

Bednarski put Penn State there with the winner of the overtime game in the semifinals with Maryland, who finished second, before the Lions lost 1-0 in overtime against Iowa in the final.

If Bednarsky’s coaching career in high school is just beginning, Loevsky’s can be over.

“I have a growing practice of financial advice and I have the opportunity to work remotely and spend some time in warm climates in the winter months,” said Lajewski, who briefed school officials and the Warriors team on his decision after determining he would leave the square. sometimes during the season.

Loevsky said it was difficult to leave.

“I love the program; I love the school district, ”Loevsky said. “The sports director of the administration … everyone supported it like that. I made a lot of new friends there, and I will definitely continue this friendship. “

In the eight seasons when Laewski led the program, Wyoming showed five record-breaking records and a .500 season, winning 60-54 at the Wyoming Valley Conference and 92-89 overall.

“A lot of blood, sweat and tears,” Loevsky said. “We didn’t hang a banner on the wall as I had hoped.

“I hope I left it in a better place than it was when I came, and perhaps a bridge to the next plateau.”

Loevsky was proud to have developed a feeder program starting in third grade, and he hopes it will continue to pay off.

Loevsky hopes other parts of the program will also remain intact.

“They have a fantastic coaching staff there, which obviously I helped put together,” he said. “I certainly hope they are considered.”