The Penn Charter winter sports season is officially a thing of the past. This winter was a cold one, but the winter 2024-25 campaign featured plenty of scorching performances from the Penn Charter basketball, wrestling, squash, swimming & diving and indoor track squads. Before flipping focus to the forthcoming spring season, let’s take one last look back at how each individual winter team fared on School House Lane.
Pictures by Zamani Feelings.
BOYS BASKETBALL
Penn Charter won its second consecutive outright Inter-Ac title in 2024-25, making it four straight seasons the Quakers have earned at least a share of the league’s most valuable prize. The team won all ten of its Inter-Ac contests for the first time in 21 years, and three Quakers finished their careers with more than 1,000 points: Matt Gilhool (1,454), Jake West (1,254) and Kai Shinholster (1,088). All three will continue their basketball careers at Division-I colleges. West was named the Inter-Ac’s Most Valuable Player after Gilhool received the honor the previous season. The trio earned First Team all-league honors, while fellow senior Jamal Hicks was named to the Second Team. The Quakers finished the season with an overall record of 24-5 and posted separate win streaks of seven and 11 games during their special run. Head coach Brandon Williams was also honored at the conclusion of the season as he was named the 2025 Markward Club Male Inter-Ac Coach of the Year.
GIRLS BASKETBALL
The Quakers enjoyed a hot start to the November and December portions of their schedule, winning nine of 11 contests to open the season under the direction of first-year head coach Erin Martin. PC dropped its first three Inter-Ac games, which prevented the program from claiming a share of its fourth consecutive league title, but bounced back by winning six of their next nine. Penn Charter ended up with an overall record of 16-10 and knocked off George School in an opening round PAISAA Tournament victory before its season ended at the hands of Westtown School in the quarterfinals. Junior Marleigh Jackson enjoyed a breakout campaign while averaging almost 17 points per game, and senior Kaylinn Bethea reached the 1,000-point milestone for her career along the way. Bethea will join former PC teammate Aleah Snead at Saint Joseph’s University next season. Bethea (First Team) and Jackson (Second Team) were PC’s two all-league selections.
WRESTLING
The Penn Charter wrestling program enjoyed a typically strong season in 2024-25 as the team won 17 of its 20 head-to-head dual meets and placed third in the Inter-Ac behind Malvern Prep and Germantown Academy. The Quakers also won the Abington Friends Kangaroo Duals, Academy of the New Church Lion Duals and Penn Charter Duals during the season, earned second-place finishes at the Kent County (MD) Holiday Tournament and Howard (DE) Wildcat Invitational, and captured third place in both the Penn Charter Invitational and the Tommy Legge Memorial Tournament in Virginia. The Quakers placed fifth out of 19 competing teams at PA Prep States and 22nd out of more than 100 competitors at National Preps in February.
PC placed four student-athletes on the all-league team. Greyson Catlow-Sidler earned First Team honors at 175 pounds, going 32-4 his senior year and finishing his PC career with 104 victories. The Second Team selections were Hugh Maley at 150, Leo Pritchett at 175 and Tristen Padget at 215. Pritchett went 38-8 in his final season, while Maley was 24-10. Padget posted a 37-12 record as a junior.
GIRLS SWIMMING & DIVING
Penn Charter won six of its seven dual meets this season as the Quakers completed another strong campaign, finishing runner-up in the Inter-Ac to Germantown Academy during the regular season. The Quakers placed third at the league championship meet on Feb. 1 and secured a second-place finish to end the season at the Eastern Prep Swimming Championships at Franklin & Marshall College. Seven PC swimmers were selected to the Inter-Ac’s all-league team: Eliza Black, Ava Coombs, Cate DeMartinis, Lilliana DeMartinis, Eva McIver-Jenkins, Eila Spaman and Nola Waldbuesser. The team claimed three new PC pool records and another eight program records, with seven Quakers cracking the top eight at Easterns to make it to the podium to receive medals. The 200 medley relay team claimed gold at Easterns and Lili DeMartinis and Waldbuesser were individual champions at the event.
BOYS SWIMMING & DIVING
After dropping the first five meets of the 2024-25 season, the Quakers finished strong in securing a non-league win over Father Judge, finishing with 110 team points at the Inter-Ac Championships and concluding the year with a 17th-place showing at the Eastern Prep Swimming Championship in mid-February. Aiden Trautwein was one of three divers selected to the Inter-Ac’s all-league team.
GIRLS SQUASH
Penn Charter enjoyed a very successful girls squash season as the Quakers finished in second place in the Inter-Ac behind only Agnes Irwin, which won the league for the second consecutive year. PC finished 11-5 overall with a 3-1 Inter-Ac mark and also picked up a pair of wins at Nationals to close the season over Episcopal Academy and Massachusetts-based Noble and Greenough School. Senior Alex Jaffe won the Inter-Ac Most Valuable Player award for the second consecutive year, marking the third straight season that someone in the Jaffe family has picked up the honor (Alex’s twin sister Sam won the award in 2023). The Jaffes were both selected to the Inter-Ac’s First Team.
BOYS SQUASH
The Quakers finished 2-3 in a typically strong Inter-Ac League, picking up wins over Malvern Prep and SCH Academy that helped PC finish third in the standings. Penn Charter finished with an overall record of 6-12 but won three of five to close the season, including a 2-2 stretch at the very difficult Nationals Tournament. The Quakers claimed victories over Connecticut-based Darien and Westminster and placed two players on the all-league Second Team in James Killinger and Andrew Tanner.
GIRLS INDOOR TRACK
Penn Charter’s season came to an end in mid-March as the team sent five student-athletes to the New Balance Indoor Nationals in Boston in an event that ran from March 13-16. Gwen Hamilton (sixth, 2:07.57) and Alli DeLisi (10th, 2:08.45) each secured top 10 finishes in the 800-meter run. Additionally, the Quakers’ distance medley relay team ran a state-record time of 11:41.58 and placed third, while the 4x400 relay team raced to an eighth-place finish in 3:50.12 at Nationals.
Another season highlight for the Quakers included a PAISAA championship on Feb. 16, which featured first-place finishes for Leonard (60 & 200-meter dash), DeLisi (400-meter dash) and Poland (high jump), as well as victories for the 4x200, 4x400 and 4x800 relay teams. Hamilton captured victory in the 800-meter run at the PTFCA Indoor State Championship on March 2, as did PC’s 4x200 and 4x400 relay squads.
BOYS INDOOR TRACK
Penn Charter’s distance medley relay team of Matthew Dunn, Matthew Furda, Nate Johnson and T.J. Zwall captured an 11th-place finish at New Balance Indoor Nationals in Boston to close the season, completing the event in 10:14.08. Johnson and Zwall also qualified to compete in the one-mile run, while Zahir Kalam Id-Din raced in the 60-meter dash. Earlier in the month at the Eastern States Championship at the Armory Track & Field Center in New York City, Dunn also competed in the one-mile run, finishing fourth in 4:22.78.
The Quakers finished tied for seventh as a team at the PAISAA Championships in mid-February, buoyed by Zwall, Johnson and Dunn finishing first, third and fourth, respectively, in the 800-meter run. The same distance medley relay team that finished 11th at Nationals also nabbed a third-place result at the PTFCA Indoor State Championship on March 2.
- Ed Morrone, OPC '04