Garrett Gehr and Mason Musser reached the championship bouts of their weight classes of the District Three Class-AAA Section One tournament at Governor Mifflin on Saturday, February 19. As a team, the Spartans had six wrestlers qualify for districts, which included Gehr taking the 132-pound weight class and Musser placing second in the 285-pound class.

Diego Portales won the third-place match at 126 pounds and Blake Weaver did the same at 172. Finishing fourth in the 138 and the 215-pound weight classes, respectively, were Jeremy Schilling and Tyler Hurst.

Gehr's championship path began with back-to-back pins, followed by 16-1 technical fall in the semis. Gehr capped the run with a first-period pin in the title bout, defeating Tristan Mellinger of Ephrata 1:28 into the finale.

Musser had a first-round bye before registering two pins himself. In the semis he pinned Ezequiel Fonseca of Reading but could not get past Conestoga Valley's Mukhammed Karayev in the title bout.

Portales blanked Wyatt Fritz of Cocalico 5-0 before going to the consis where he pinned Oley Valley's Garrett Fronheiser, setting the stage for the third-place match. Portales came through in a close 3-2 decision, defeating Caden Herb of Wilson.

Weaver also won on a decision in the third-place match, beating Nate Kirchner of Conestoga Valley 5-2. After registering a pin against Finn Strauss of Exeter, a 5-3 loss to Governor Mifflin's Cole Lang sent Weaver to the consis where he pinned Tyler Wertley of Lebanon before taking on Kirchner.

Rebounding from a pin in the championship brackets, Hurst needed only 43 seconds to notch a pin in his first consolation match. He posted a first-period pin over Sampson Evans of Muhlenberg and earned a place in the third-place match on a forfeit where Jacob Humphrey of Cocalico won on a fall.

Schilling's 10-4 decision placed him in the semifinals at 138 where he suffered a 9-5 setback to Brett Machiano of Daniel Boone. The Spartan senior took only 45 seconds to poke Jermickey Gumby out of the consolation semis. Eathan Vogelin of Mifflin prevailed, however, in the third-place match.

Adam Hahn battled back from a first-round setback to record consecutive pins in the 113-pound consolation brackets. A close 6-4 decision in the consolation semis went in favor of Oley Valley wrestler Vinny Dick, setting the stage for Hahn to win a dominant 17-2 technical fall over Noah Tlumach of Ephrata in the fifth-place match.

Josiah Smucker went 2-2 on the day, wrestling at 120. He pinned in his first bout but suffered a loss in the second round. In the consolations, he pinned 3:50 into the first round only to suffer a tough defeat in overtime by a 12-10 margin.

GIRLS' BASKETBALL

The Garden Spot girls' basketball team traveled to Gettysburg for a District Three Class 5A playoff game on Tuesday, February 22.

On a date that read 2/22/22, the number two seeded Warriors held off the Spartans 45-29, ending Garden Spot's season with an 11-12 mark.

The Spartans entered districts as the number 15 seed. They opened the game with a strong first period, leading the Warriors by a point heading into the second stanza.

Gettysburg battled back for a 23-17 halftime edge and maintained momentum for the second half, outscoring Spot 22 -12.

Taylor Soehner led the Spartans in scoring with 10 points while both Nicole Zeiset and Morgan Pavelik poured in seven points each.

SWIMMING

Zach Delgado, Peter Hasse and Kayla Parry qualified for two events each for the District Three Class AA Swimming and Diving Championships to be held on Friday and Saturday, March 4-5 at Cumberland Valley High School.

"This is a great accomplishment for Garden Spot and these dedicated, hardworking swimmers," said Spot swim coach Darin Parry.

The highest seed among the three swimmers is Kayla Parry's for both the 100-yard butterfly as well as the 200 individual medley. She is the second seed in both.

Hasse has earned fourth seed (2:06.84) in the boys' 200 IM and fifth (1:03.09) in the 100 breaststroke while Delgado is 14th seed in the 100 butterfly and 19th in the 100 freestyle.

"These athletes demonstrate hard work, discipline and commitment," Parry emphasized. "Competitive swimming is a grind. There are very few days off, so they are training in the pool five or six days per week - sometimes even twice a day."

The swimmers last competed in the Lancaster-Lebanon League championships on February 11-12 at Wilson High School, where Parry, a junior, had a district qualifying time of 2:07.04 for the 200 IM.

"Her 200 IM and 100 butterfly were both lifetime bests," Darin Parry pointed out, referring also to Parry's the first-place time of 57.44 in the 100 fly.

"She is a junior and swam against two very strong seniors," Parry said. "She went out and cut 1.05 from her entry time to beat the second-place swimmer by 0.53 seconds. Her hard work qualified her to compete at districts."

Hasse's time of 2:06.84 was also lower than the entry time of 2:10.44 in the league championship meet for the 200 IM.

"He cut 3.60 seconds and he finished sixth in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:03.89, which was a drop of 1.63 seconds from the entry time," Parry noted.

"Zach Delgado was new to the team this year," continued the coach. "He had a strong showing at the league championship meet and cut his time in both events."