Notre Dame Coach: Matt Veres (7th year, 79-19) 2023-24 record: 16-2; District 11 2A duals champion, PIAA 2A duals third-place, District 11 2A individual tournament champion, South East regional 2A individual tournament runner-up. Class: 3A Twitter/social media: Twitter, @NDGPwrestle; Instagram, @notre_dame_wrestling Returning wrestlers: So. Jacob Volpe (121); Sr. Cooper Feltmann (127); Sr. Tanner Berkenstock (133); Jr. Gavyn Kelton (139); Jr. Jared Gonzalez (145); Sr. Stephen Bialek (152); Sr. Keegan Ramsay (160/172); Jr. Dom Sumpolec (160/172); Jr. Connor Smalley (189); So. Noah Knorp (215). Newcomers: Fr. Cael Mueller (107); Fr. Aiden Vanicky (114) So. John Hull (215/285). Top records from 2023-24 (SQ: state qualifier, RQ, regional qualifier): Ramsay 34-12 (PIAA 3rd); Sumpolec 43-13 (PIAA 7th); Smalley 35-14 (SQ); Kelton 26-15 (SQ); Feltmann 21-14 (SQ); Berkenstock 23-18 (SQ). Wrestler you don’t know now, but will by March: Fr. Cael Mueller (107) Season opener: Tuesday, Southern Lehigh (home) Dual match to watch: at Bethlehem Catholic, Jan. 4 Outlook: For the first time since Matt Veres’ first year in charge of the Notre Dame-Green Pond wrestling team, it does not have a defending state champion on its roster. To be clear, the cupboard isn’t bare for the Crusaders, but they are transitioning from Class 2A to Class 3A with a relatively young roster that features five seniors. As has been the case in recent years, Notre Dame has a rugged schedule that will prepare it well for the team and individual postseason. Individual tournaments include the nationally-renowned Walsh Jesuit Ironman on Dec. 6 and 7, Beast of the East on Dec. 21 and 22, Powerade on Dec. 27 and 28 and Escape the Rock on Jan. 18 and 19. The dual meet schedule features a trip to recent rival Bethlehem Catholic and a home match against Pennridge, which finished fourth at the PIAA 3A dual meet tournament last winter, on Dec. 11. That daunting slate, especially the individual tournaments, means the Crusdars’ won’t be overwhelmed by competing now in 3A, but postseason success will be harder to come by. Ramsay showed his talent in a solid run to the state semifinials at 172 last winter and, after a tough loss to Luke Fugazzotto of Northwestern Lehigh, showed his mental toughness by bouncing back with a pair of high-scoring wins to earn bronze. Sumpolec had a successful first season on the mat as a sophomore and earned a coveted odd-numbered place finish in his first trip to Hershey. Sumpolec, who recently committed to George Mason, won more than half of his matches by fall last year and that aggressive style will be fun to watch this winter. Ramsay and Sumpolec will likely swap spots at 160 and 172 throughout the season and it will be interesting to see how this spot in the Crusaders' lineup looks later on in the season. Feltmann and Smalley both won once at the individual state tournament last year. That pair, along with the Crusaders’ other returning state qualifiers, Kelton and Berkenstock, will need to improve exponentially over the course of the season to become a state medalist. A prediction or two: Looking at what the bump up to 3A means from the team perspective, it looks like Notre Dame’s run of four straight D-11 titles will come to an end. The Crusaders have often come close, but are yet to knock off Bethlehem Catholic since the Golden Hawks since they’ve become a fixture on each other’s schedule. Easton, Nazareth and Northampton also boast loaded lineups that will be tough matchups for Notre Dame at the team district tournament. Individually, Ramsay has both the mat IQ and toughness to earn another state medal. How many teammates join him on the podium comes down to how much Feltmann, Berkenstock and the Crusaders’ promising junior class improves this season. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to lehighvalleylive.com. Desmond Boyle may be reached at dboyle@lehighvalleylive.com . More high school sportsTikTok's future uncertain after appeals court rejects its bid to overturn possible US ban A federal appeals court panel on Friday unanimously upheld a law that could lead to a ban on TikTok in a few short months, handing a resounding defeat to the popular social media platform as it fights for its survival in the U.S. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that the law - which requires TikTok to break ties with its China-based parent company ByteDance or be banned by mid-January - is constitutional, rebuffing TikTok’s challenge that the statute ran afoul of the First Amendment and unfairly targeted the platform. TikTok and ByteDance — another plaintiff in the lawsuit — are expected to appeal to the Supreme Court. 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Rafael Mariano Grossi spoke in Bahrain, on the sidelines of the International Institute of Strategic Studies’ Manama Dialogue. He says Iran had begun preparing advanced centrifuge cascades to spin at nuclear facilities to increase its supply of 60% enriched uranium. That kind of material is a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%. Grossi says this is “very concerning." Iran did not immediately acknowledge the preparations, which Grossi said had begun on Friday. Inspectors hope to examine what’s going on. US added a strong 227,000 jobs in November in bounce-back from October slowdown WASHINGTON (AP) — America’s job market rebounded in November, adding 227,000 workers in a solid recovery from the previous month, when the effects of strikes and hurricanes had sharply diminished employers’ payrolls. Last month’s hiring growth was up considerably from a meager gain of 36,000 jobs in October. 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Penny is facing charges of manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide in the death of Jordan Neely, who Penny held in a chokehold for about six minutes on a New York City subway in 2023. Vance tells residents in hurricane-stricken North Carolina that they haven't been forgotten FAIRVIEW, N.C. (AP) — Vice President-elect JD Vance is surveying hurricane damage in western North Carolina in one of his first public appearances since the November election. Vance and his wife, Usha, visited the Fairview Volunteer Fire Department, which was flooded with 4 to 6 inches of water in the storm. They heard that roughly a dozen people contracted walking pneumonia while responding to the hurricane's destruction and that power outages prevented some first responders from talking with their families. Vance said, “My simple message to the people of Appalachia is that we haven’t forgotten you — we love you.” Vance has largely stayed out of the public eye since the election aside from shepherding Trump’s Cabinet nominees around Capitol Hill.None
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NYT Connections hints and answers for today: December 20 puzzle solved
Dick's Sporting Goods director Larry Fitzgerald Jr. buys $49,462 in stockLKQ Corp. stock rises Tuesday, outperforms marketOXFORD, Miss. (AP) — Sira Thienou scored 16 points with six rebounds, five assists and four steals and No. 18 Mississippi coasted to an 89-24 win over Alabama State on Saturday. Starr Jacobs and Christeen Iwuala both added 12 points and Kennedy Todd-Williams had 11 for the Rebels (5-2), who had a breather after losing to No. 2 UConn by 13 in the Bahamas. Kaitlyn Bryant had seven points to lead the Hornets (2-5), who shot 19% with 33 turnovers and were outrebounded 43-25. Alabama State was 1 of 8 with 11 turnovers in the first quarter, falling behind 24-4. The Hornets were 2 of 11 with seven giveaways in the second quarter when they were outscored 33-6 to trail 57-10 at the half. The Rebels shot 58% with 28 points off turnovers. They scored the first 16 points of the game and the first 24 points of the second quarter. Ole Miss had the last five points of the third quarter and the first seven of the fourth to get the lead to 82-22. The Hornets went 1 of 10 in the final 10 minutes with 10 turnovers. It was Mississippi's third win against teams from the Southwestern Athletic Conference with one more to play. The Rebels play at NC State on Thursday in the SEC/ACC Challenge. ___ Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here . AP women’s college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball