Rachael Buchtan, basketball
Rachael Buchtan made the most of individual attention she received at Mapletown that she likely would not have received at a bigger school.
As a senior at Mapletown, Buchtan reaped the benefits of playing and studying at one of Pennsylvania’s smaller schools. While that sounds very challenging, being in a small school is quite beneficial to the students and athletes.
It helped Buchtan, the daughter of Jennifer and Andy Buchtan, of Greensboro, earn the school’s selection as its winter sports female selection in the Centennial Chevrolet Scholar/Athlete Spotlight program. Her older brother, Andrew, played football at Mapletown and is a freshman at California (Pa.) University.
She has a 3.7 GPA and also plays volleyball and is a cheerleader. She plans to attend West Virginia University and is not sure of major or field of study.
“There is more of a chance to play because you don’t have as many people to compete with,” Buchtan said. “Plus, you get more one-on-one attention and more help with your position and what you need to do. The same holds true in the classroom. Since we have smaller classes, teachers can spend more time with each student.”
It gives an athlete like Buchtan the opportunity to play more than one sport.
“I thought volleyball was my favorite sport, but once I got into basketball season, I realized how much I like playing basketball,” she said. “I think part of that is because we had more success in basketball, but also I just like the whole concept better and the fact that it’s a little bit more physical, where you can get a body on someone.”
The Lady Maples finished 5-17 in the first season under coach Erik Smith’s leadership. Buchtan, a team captain, is proud to say she leaves the program on better footing than she found it.
“This was one of our better seasons as a team in recent years,” said Buchtan, a 6-0 center. “We had five wins and that’s more than I actually remember having since I was here. My freshman year we had one, my sophomore year we didn’t win any and my junior we had one.
“So, this was actually a pretty good turnaround year for us. It was not good, but it was better than it had been. It was great being here to help Mapletown turn the corner at least a little bit. We can only get better. We have some girls coming up from eighth grade who can only help us.”
“I thought it was one of my best seasons personally. Coach Smith helped me a lot with my positioning because he played the same position. I learned how to work as a team better and help the team more,” Buchtan said.
The ultimate team player was asked for her most memorable sports moment at Mapletown. Not surprisingly, it didn’t necessarily involve her.
“It actually wasn’t me, but we were playing Western Beaver and it was our only win last year,” Buchtan said, referring to a 56-53 home win. “It was tied in the fourth quarter and there were like three seconds left. Our only freshman on the team, Hannah Dingle, hit a 3-pointer and we won the game and everybody went crazy.”
Now that’s the kind of leadership any coach would admire.