One of the biggest goals for most high school sports teams is to finish the season with a victory. As that would mean they hoist a championship trophy as the winner of the title bout. Manheim Central's boys' volleyball team would love to have that chance after falling in the PIAA-2A quarterfinals four years running.

Before Central could get their postseason trek underway they had to finish their 2023 regular season with a trip to New Holland to face Garden Spot on the 11th. The Spartans kept things close but Manheim Central was able to maintain their perfect regular season record with wins of 25-19, 25-17 and 25-21.

Dylan Musser led the way with 24 assists and two blocks with Landon Mattiace matching the two-block game. Logan Groff had six kills and Collin Rohrer 10 digs while Kevin Saengdara chipped in with two aces.

The Barons officially got their post season journey underway on May 15th, topping Cedar Crest 3-2 in the L-L semifinals, setting up a title match with Warwick with Central looking to claim their first L-L crown.

The Falcons and Barons battled back-and-forth with Central taking game one 25-19 only to see Cedar Crest enjoy a 25-22 game two win. Central put the match within reach thanks to a 25-23 game three win but Crest forced a game five by taking game four 25-19. Manheim Central was able to secure their second finals trip with a 16-14 game five win. Musser finished with 56 assists and Rohrer 21 digs. Add in 15 kills from Logan Groff along with five Toby Frey blocks and two Jacob Moyer aces and you get a 3-2 win.

BASEBALL

One and done is never a phrase you want to hear come playoff time as it means your post season dance was cut short. That is where the Manheim Central baseball team found themselves after a 6-4 setback on May 11th to Lampeter-Strasburg in the quarterfinal round of the Lancaster-Lebanon League Championship.

Central needed four pitchers to work through the seven innings with Cayde Connelly getting the start and taking the loss. He covered the opening four frames and surrendered half of the Pioneer tally while allowing three hits and one walk. Cael Martin took over in the fifth and was hit with two L-S runs before he could secure an out. That led to Cole Lawhorne taking over and coughing up the final Lampeter-Strasburg run over his two innings. Chase Travitz covered the seventh. Brady Harbach drove in two of the four Central runs using a third inning single that put Manheim up 2-0. Lampeter-Strasburg took the lead in the fourth and never looked back despite a mini-rally in the seventh for Central. That included one run off an L-S balk with a second run coming via Nolan Book's base hit.

TRACK & FIELD

As they do every year, the Manheim Central track and field teams made the short trip to Landisville for the 2023 edition of the Lancaster-Lebanon League Championship Meet, held at Hempfield High School on May 12th and 13th.

For the Lady Barons, the trip was a rousing success with Manheim amassing 87 team points. Unfortunately, that was the second-best total of the weekend, well short of McCaskey's championship winning 140-point total.

Leading the way was Maddie Knier who medaled in four events. She cleared 5-2 for gold in the high jump and added silver medal efforts in both the long (18-1.75) and triple (36-5.5) jumps and claimed bronze with a 129-10 throw of the javelin.

The Lady Barons also occupied six of the 16 total spots on the medal stand. The work of Liz Voegele (46.43), Abbie Reed (46.49) and Makenna Enck (49.285) gave Central a 2nd-3rd and 4th place run in the 300 hurdles.

In the 100 hurdles, it was Reed leading the way with a 15.91, earning her a second bronze. Voegele ran a 16.01 in the final to take sixth place while Kylie Mattiace checked in with a 17.11, good enough for the final spot on the medal stand.

Manheim picked up two more solo medals, the first in the 400m where Milan Snell was one of five runners to crack one minute, finishing fourth with a 59.34. The second solo medal came in the 800m where freshman Julia Kahler captured eighth with a 2:28.83. The pair manage to pick up a second medal for their work in a relay. Kahler joined Sarah Forry, Reagan Ibach and Julie Lindberg in the 3200m relay, their 9:51.38 good enough to take bronze. Manheim's final medal came as a fifth-place version in the 1600m relay with the quartet of Reed, Voegele, Forry and Snell posting a 4:11.76.

On the boy's side of things, just one Baron was able to enjoy a trip to the medal stand. Landon McGallicher collected two silver medals while in Landisville. The first was for his 14.91 in the 110 hurdles, with the second for his 39.52 in the 300's.