It was a good week to be a Pioneer. The track teams racked up some medals at the L-L League Championships, the lacrosse teams competed in the District Three Championships and the baseball and softball teams worked their way to the L-L League championship finals.

The track and field championships were held Friday and Saturday, May 14-15 at Hempfield High School. Lampeter's Teagan Weaver was the top medal winner, earning seconds in both the 100 (11.36) and 200 (22.58) meter sprints as well as a third in the long jump (21-7.5).

And Arik Harnish was the teams' only gold medal winner, posting the top and a record-breaking time in the 800 (1:57.64). He also teamed with Nathan Eberly, Colin Whitaker, and Luka Vranich to finish second in the 4x800 (8:00.39). Whitaker, a freshman, also earned a fourth-place finish in the 3200 (9:28.13).

"Colin broke Tim Getz's 3200 school record of 9:34.38 set in 2007 and the relay team broke the 8:11.85 record set by Josh Donaldson, Matt Williams, Dan Yoder and Aidan Stiger set in 2005," noted head coach Cal Esh.

Also contributing to the sixth place team finish with top eight medals were Luke Wiley - fifth in the pole vault, Aiden Jones - sixth in the javelin, Zack Shelley - eighth in the shot put and David Prichard - eighth in the high jump.

The girls' team finished in eighth place overall and also scored a handful of medals. Maggie Swarr's second place javelin throw of 124-11 was the top finish for the Lady Pioneers. She also placed sixth in the shot (33-4.75).

Also earning a pair of medals was Lindi Wall taking fourth in the 100 (12.73) and fifth in the 200 (26.22).

She also anchored the fifth place 4x100 relay team with Elly Bruner, Madison Weichler and Katie Finn.

The 4x800 team of Tonna Harnish, Jaclyn Martin, Tori Heiserman and Aubry Magagna settled for sixth place as the Cameron Coleman with an 8-6 in the pole vault. Bruner added a fifth in the high jump, clearing 5-0.

BOYS' LACROSSE

The boys' lacrosse team, ranked second in Class 2A received a bye in the opening round of the tournament and opened play with a home game against No. 7 Conrad Weiser last Wednesday.

After a tight first quarter that saw L-S hold a slim 3-2 lead, the hosts took control, exploding for nine second half goals while giving up just one. That proved to be the difference as L-S barely outscored CW in the second half, 7-6.

Bryce Thomas recorded eight saves in the win. Stewart McClain sparked the attack with six goals and one assist. Connor Nolt (4g, 2a), Collin Sullivan (4g, 2a), Barrett Denlinger (3g), Chase Barger (1g, 1a) and Jack Filius (1a) also contributed.

GIRLS' LACROSSE

The No. 7 Lady Pioneers, making their fifth district appearance, hosted No. 10 Spring Grove last Monday and needed a strong second half to earn a 13-8 win and move on to the Class 2A quarterfinals.

Clinging to a 5-4 first half lead, L-S doubled Spring Grove's offensive output, 8-4, to pull away.

"We made several adjustments," said head coach Marshall Krebs. "Once we started winning draws it changed the makeup of the game and once we started moving the goalie with hitches, fakes and mis-directional shots we got rolling.

"Our defense was also a catalyst in the second half," he continued, "with a double team and then a turnover that sparked the run.

"Toward the end, we were able to kill the clock in the last three minutes. Overall, the girls relied on each other. They displayed maturity and poise on attack and defense especially when we went down by two goals early. They responded before the deficit became significant. I am proud of this team and ready to keep the season alive."

Rowan Kimmel and Hannah Gawne paced the attack with four goals each. Jeslyn Krebs and Riley Dawson chipped in with two each, Kelly Hostetter scored once and assisted twice, and Zoe Dilling collected five saves.

BASEBALL

After wrapping up the Section Two title, the Pioneers started their run through the L-L League playoffs with a pair of late game wins, holding off Cocalico 4-2 Saturday morning, May 15 and getting past Section Four champ Lancaster Catholic 5-2 last Tuesday. The results leave the Pioneers with a nine game win streak.

Two runs in the first inning gave L-S an early lead but the Eagles knotted the score in the top of the sixth, forcing the hosts to battle back. And battle back they did. Owen Fikker's (1-3) single plated Alex Knapp (1-3) and Jake Long (2-2) scored on a wild pitch.

Cocalico put two on in the top of the seventh but got no further.

Caleb Guyer got the win, giving up two earned runs over six innings, striking out six and walking one. Gehrig Harsh threw one inning of relief to earn the save.

At Ephrata Tuesday night, L-S fought off a one run deficit in the first inning and scored in each of the last three innings, including three in the fifth, to take control. Gio Malatesta, Long and Braedon Karpathios all went 2-4, accounting for six of Lampeter's seven hits.

On the hill, G. Harsh fanned eight and walked two in 5.2 innings of work to get the win. Peyton Harsh pitched the last four outs to earn the save.

"Every player is providing some contribution to the team's success," said head coach Jeff Swarr. "Alex Knapp and Braedon Karpathios have been putting together strong at bats while Owen Fikkert and Gio Malatesta are strong defensively up the middle. Our pitchers have grown throughout the season and compete with each pitch they throw," he continued.

GIRLS' SOFTBALL

After blowing past N. Lebanon 11-1 in the opening round of the Lancaster-Lebanon League playoffs last Monday at home, the Pioneers traveled to Millersville to take on Penn Manor.

Errors proved to be the difference in this one as the Pioneers finished with just one earned run in a tight 4-3 final.

"Nothing is ever easy," said head coach Gene Charles. "We didn't really play our best, but we took advantage of their mistakes and Kieva Middleton (8K, 2W) got the job done."

The Comets committed three errors in the first two innings and fell behind 4-0 with L-S earning just one of those runs.

L-S opened with two in the first and Manor looked to answer in the top of the second. Emily Riggs singled and scored on Maddie Trout's double but the run was called back when the ball rolled under the outfield fence.

"That really squashed our momentum," said Comet head coach Dave Stokes. "That could have been the difference in the game. I was going to send Maddy home for an inside the park homer, but they called it back. And the inning ended with a double play. We couldn't catch a break."

"That bases loaded double play was huge," said Charles. "Daisy Frank and Chloe Blantz are great out there. That's the third double play they've turned this year."

L-S loaded the bases in the bottom of the second and pushed two more runs across on a bobbled ball in the outfield.

The Pioneers were denied after that while the Comets plated single runs in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings to make things interesting.

"They out hit us 9-5," said Charles, "but we survived to play another day."

Against NL, Cam Byler's two run homer sparked a five run fourth inning as L-S jumped in front 10-0 before giving one back in the top of the fifth. Brook Zuber's RBI single in the home half of the fifth capped the scoring and was Lampeter's 14th hit of the game.