Wallenpaupack Area student-athletes attain rare varsity milestones
HAWLEY — One of the toughest athletic milestones for any student athlete to reach is earning 12 varsity letters during a four-year high school career.
At Wallenpaupack Area, a student can earn a letter as a senior if they participate in that sport for three seasons.
For other years, in soccer and basketball, they must play in at least half of the sum time of all games and in track must earn 15 points per season.
Two recent graduates, Megan Desmet and Devon Kiesendahl, have successfully put in the time since they were ninth graders.
Out of the Gate
Both of these Lady Bucks charted a similar path to copping a dozen letters.
As plebes, both quickly collected minutes on the field seeing action n no less than 18 games. Meg knocked in five goals while Devon tallied one.
Considering they were competing for time with five seniors and several more veteran juniors and sophomores, the amount of action both saw was above average.
“It was a goal of mine since I learned about it,” Kiesendahl stated. “When I got my letter for soccer as a freshman, I definitely thought that there would be a possibility to get all 12.”
Rolling into basketball season ,they faced a bigger challenge. A trio of seniors were hot to trot and undeniably marked as starters.
Low and behold, both Meg and Devon frequently found their way on to the court. So much to the point where Kiesendahl was the number-four scorer of the season with 81 points and Desmet was sixth with 44.
“I had it as a goal right from the start,” Desmet said. “I didn’t know how that would go because we had a lot of upperclassmen on the soccer team and some very good seniors playing basketball.”
Not only did both rack up enough points during track season, but Devon also found herself going to states as a part of the girls 4x400 relay team. Meg also hung a district silver medal around her neck as a part of the 4x800 relay team.
Challenges Ahead
As the duo moved into their sophomore season, they boosted their soccer and basketball stats.
Then on Friday, March 13, 2020, high school athletics squealed to a sudden stop as programs throughout the commonwealth went on hold, and eventually were scratched due to the pandemic.
“When COVID hit I was worried it would cause an issue with us getting letters,” Devon said.
Paupack athletics decided that year any senior that would have likely qualified would receive their spring letters and underclassmen that would have been starters or probably met the points requirements would be awarded their letters as well.
With five each to their names, the girls added the sixth despite the lack of competition. The rest was a walk in the park, for the most part.
While COVID restrictions continued into the 2020-21 season, both Meg and Devon fought through quarantines and shortened schedules throughout the year.
As juniors they provided leadership and scoring in a difficult time.
As seniors, there was no resting on laurels. Both accepted new roles on the pitch and bounded back on the court. Still though, with heading to the end of their careers, there wasn’t a district championship on their resumes.
Until this past May, that is, when the Lady Bucks took home their first-ever District 2 Class AAA track & field title.
“It’s crazy that we finally got a championship,” Meg said. “We worked hard all the time and it’s definitely paid off.”
Over four seasons on the pitch Meg earned 51 points with 18 goals and 15 assists while Devon tallied 67 points by 27 goals and 13 assists.
In basketball, Meg chalked up a career 582 points and shot 147-for-227 at the stripe while Devon ended with 653 points and went 111-for-179 on free throws.
Both added district track medals as upperclassmen. Meg medaled in the 800M run while Devon medaled in the 100M.
Honored Few
Wallenpaupack Area is arguably producing the best athletes in its history.
From 1981-2000, just five Buckhorns earned 12 varsity letters during their careers in Purple & White: Sharon Peifer in 1982; James Oplinger in 1986; Christie Kennedy in 1988; Lisa Hochreither in 1994; and Erin Maculaitis in 2000.
Between the turn of the millennium and 2014 there was a drought that was broken by Nickole Mann. Then two years later, Matthew Vosburg entered the club.
In 2019, for the first time in Paupack history, two attained such a feat: Madison Schmalzle and Rachael Tirjan.
Megan Desmet and Devon Kiesendahl will add their names to the trophy marking them as the fifth and sixth Buckhorns to reach the 12-letter mark in just the past eight years.
This article originally appeared on Tri-County Independent: Lackawanna League Varsity Letters Wallenpaupack Area Desmet Kiesendahl
