With just seven girls competing at the District Three Class AA Swimming Championships at Central York High School on Saturday, March 6, the Lady Pioneer swimmers tied for fifth place in a field of 13 and secured seven medals.

"To place fifth with just seven girls is a big accomplishment," said head coach Kylie Turner. "What helped us was filling nine of the 11 events and having two swimmers in three events. Plus, each relay qualified and medaled top eight."

Two of those relays finished in fourth place. Bre Fluhr, Elizabeth Horner, Kara Scranton and Zara Paisley clocked a 1:54.90 in the 200-medley relay and the team of Ellizabeth Horner, Abby Welchans, Scranton and Zara Paisley raced to a 3:52.71 in the 400 free exchange.

Lampeter's 200 free relay team of Welchans, Ellie Parido, Ashley Prouse and Fluhr settled for eighth with a 1:49.74.

Individually, Horner was the top finisher for the Pioneers earning sixth place medals in both the 200 IM (2:12.36) and the 500 free with a season best time of 5:26.62.

Also securing a district medal was Fluhr. Her season best 1:01.74 in the backstroke was good for seventh place. And Paisley, making her debut appearance as a freshman, stopped the clock at 56.95 in the 100 free for eighth place. She was also ninth in the 50 free.

"Bre was seeded 11th," noted Turner, "and dropped 2.5 seconds to earn a medal."

Also placing in the top 12 was Scranton with a personal best 1:03.44 in the 100 fly (10th). She was also 10th in the 100 free. Welchans grabbed 10th in the 500 free with her best time of 5:41.51 while Parido's PR in the 100 fly (1:04.70) was good for 12th.

The boys' team also found success in the district meet and brought home a couple of medals.

Ryan Smecker, Nathan Eberly, Kyle Spaulding, and Andrew Reidenbaugh competed in both the 200 and 400 free relays and placed fourth and eighth, respectively.

Reidenbaugh just missed an individual medal, placing ninth in the 50 free. Spaulding was 10th in the 200 free, Eberly was 11th in the 500 free and Smecker settled for 12th in the 50 free.

"This was a good showing for the boys," said Turner. "Ryan, Kyle and Andrew competed for the first time in individual events. Nathan was a returning competitor.

"Unfortunately, we have no one advancing to states," the coach continued. "Elizabeth is a second alternate. This year you had to win your event to be an automatic qualifier and then an additional six spots open for the next fastest with a time. They cut the state meet in half, from top 32 to top 16.

BASKETBALL

Despite an abbreviated schedule (13 games), the Pioneers were hoping to make some noise in the District Three Class 5A basketball championships, but it wasn't to be. L-S ended its season with a 60-41 loss to Shippensburg Thursday, March 4. Their 9-4 final record also included a 3-point loss to Lower Dauphin (2nd seed), and two losses (six points and two points) to fifth seed Cocalico who advanced to the 5A finals.

"We played fewer games than anyone in the district," said head coach Ed Berryman. "A regular schedule would have been 22 games. Last year we played 27 games."

The Greyhounds led from start to finish in this one but did not pull away until late in the game. The hosts used a 10-0 run through the first quarter and held a 15-8 lead at the end of the frame.

L-S knocked down three treys in the second quarter, outscored the Greyhounds 14-12 and cut the lead to 25-22 with Ty Burton's triple with 1:05 left in the half.

The hosts, however, used a 14-7 third quarter to gain some breathing room and then wrapped up the win with a 19-12 fourth quarter effort.

"We had no choice but to press in the fourth quarter," said Berryman. "We had to gamble to try to make something happen.

"I don't think the score was a good indication of how we played," he added. "We only turned the ball over five times. That is a season low. We just could not knock down shots. It was a good effort. It just was not our night."

L-S shot 23% from three-point range, 40% from two-point range, and 31% overall.

Burton led the way with 18 points, knocking down four treys and canning eight points in both the second and fourth quarters. Nick DelGrande, averaging four points a game coming in, finished with nine. Luka Vranich (7), senior Shawn McTaggert (2) and Beau Heyser (2) also contributed.

"They were very athletic and their big kid, Anthony Smith (6"7) finished with 24 points. He was huge but I thought we were very patient and took the open shots," Berryman stated.

Shippensburg also had a 1,000-point scorer in Jayden Statum. He added 16 points.

"It was a strange season," said Berryman. "We were shut down twice, so it was hard to get any continuity. I felt we were just getting back into it and the season is over. Plus, we were without Ben Wert for the second half of the season, and he was a starter.

"We have just about everyone coming back so I'm already looking forward to next year and hoping that we can have a real off-season this summer."