---

May 2, 2001

Chris Lentz Was Dedicated to the OCHS Basketball Players

By TOM WILLIAMS
Sports Columnist

When the Ocean City High School girls basketball team opens its 2001-02 season against Mainland on Dec. 14 there will be a new coach in charge for the first time in 16 years.

As The Gazette told you two months ago, Chris Lentz has decided not to return for her 17th season as head coach. She has already been a finalist for a couple of school administrative positions and, if the expected wisdom exists among South Jersey school boards, she will move up to become an assistant principal or principal very soon.

You see, Lentz has always focused on the student-athlete to the exclusion of everything else. Those who have been in her science classes will tell you that is the way she teaches. It certainly is the way she coaches.

"Kids are unique," she said earlier this year, "and they are getting more unique every year. It is important as a basketball coach to blend them together as a team. But it is important as a teacher to allow them their individuality. Doing both can be very challenging."

But it is, as Lentz said, important.

Her teams were different on the court. Starting with the Margaret Rowell-led teams of the early years that used physical ability to win. There was more of that with Joi Johnson's teams of the early-1990s. There was the backcourt combination of Tricia Hopson and Chris Carcara. The flashy skills of Pam McFarland. The quiet efficiency of Jessica Brookes. The perimeter bombing of Shannon Garrity and Megan Fox. The intense determination of Mikenzie Custer. The intelligent leadership of Erin Donahue and Judy Eckerson. The perpetual motion of Margaret Carey, who moved away before her senior year.

The last 16 seasons were good years in a Cape-Atlantic League that was gradually becoming the best girls basketball conference in South Jersey. If the poll-makers are on the money, the top three teams in next year's pre-season South Jersey rankings will be Holy Spirit, Wildwood and Sacred Heart. And both Absegami and Mainland should join them in the top 10.

Ocean City should be competitive in that conference. Senior Lindsay DuRoss, the team's leading scorer last season, will leave with Lentz. So will seniors Heather Liddell and Amber Wilent. But the next four in scoring behind Lindsay DuRoss were sophomores - Ashley DuRoss, Kaitlyn Lawlor, Catie LaRue and Casey Geary. Meghan Ludgate is a junior. There are promising sophomores Jenny Williams and Kim Treen, plus freshman Meghan Larsen.

The cupboard is definitely not bare.

But things were not always rosy during the last 16 years and the actions of a few thoughtless parents probably had a negative impact on the experiences of some of those talented girls.

There was one parent who heckled an Ocean City freshman when she was playing. This was an Ocean City parent, understand. He was apparently unhappy that this young girl was taking court time away from his daughter.

Another parent instructed his daughter to take a petition into the locker room calling for the replacement of Lentz and get the players to sign it. The players all refused.

Sure, these things happen in all programs. (Well, maybe not THOSE things, but similar things.) Dealing with parents can be one of the biggest challenges of a high school coach. Parents don't sit in class and critique a science teacher's strategy. Most of them probably wouldn't remember the things she was teaching, anyway. But too many parents believe themselves experts on the sports their kids play.

Of course, we're only talking about a couple of parents here. But Lentz also had to deal with a leaky roof in the old high school gym (you've probably read a word or two about that) which limited practice time and sometimes caused freshmen games to be cancelled. Her home games, like the boys basketball team, were played in the Intermediate School. That forced her teams to frequently practice at night, since the Intermediate School teams practiced in the same gym.

When you think about it, we should feel fortunate that Lentz stuck around so long. And, if it were not for her dedication to her players and the mutual respect she enjoyed with them, she might not have.

There are more important things in high school sports than wins. But Chris Lentz gave Ocean City fans the wins, along with those other things. The players came first with her and she was dedicated to creating an atmosphere that would make high school basketball an educational and learning experience for them - something they would remember fondly.

She was successful.

GO TO OUR FORUM TO EXPRESS YOUR OPINION ABOUT THIS COLUMN, OR ANYTHING ELSE THAT'S ON YOUR MIND!