The Garden Spot boys' track & field team, led by Sean Kelch and Alan Kruck on the track and Jaden Rodriguez, Aiden Durante and Kaleb Zimmerman in the field, topped Manheim Central 86.5 to 63.5 in a Section Two meet on Monday, May 8.

Rodriguez had a 5-10 high jump and also took second in the triple jump at 36-2.5. Zimmerman's shot put toss went 50-1.25, the farthest in the meet, while his discus toss of 133-2 was good for second place.

Durante, meanwhile, gave Garden Spot two first-place finishes - the long jump of 19-7.75 and triple jump at 38-5. Diego Portales earned first in the pole vault, 10-6.

Landon Fridell's 44-2.5 shot put, and 126-3 discus were second and third, respectively, in those events.

Kruck set the winning pace of 4:54.3 in the 1,600-meter race while Kelch claimed the 400-m dash at 52.3 seconds.

Andrew Pemberton, who took second in the 100 and 200-m dashes earned third in the long jump as well - 18-11.25. Also in the sprints, Zach Nagle took third in the 110-m high hurdles and second (42.9) in the 300-m hurdles. Trent Hoober's 2:09.5 was good for a win in the 800-m while Gavin Reimers's 4:55.6 secured second in the 1,600.

Jaden Burkholder earned third (143-7) in the javelin.

The girls' team came up short at Central as the Barons earned a 97.5 to 48.5 win.

One of the bright spots for the Spartans was Chloe Grady. Her 32-4 triple jump as well as 15-8.25 long jump and 4-10 high jump all earned second place in those events.

While Angela Nuse earned the only first-place finishes in the track events, taking the 200-m (26.7) and the 100-m (12.5) sprints, she and Grady teamed up with Lauren Horning and Kaitlyn Davis for a first-place time of 50.6 seconds in the 4x100 relay.

Davis was third in the 100-m and Horning third in the 200. Also finishing third on the day was Erin Hamer (6:06.1) in the 1,600.

Megan Hechler had two third-place finishes with her 4-8 high jump and her 48.8 time in the 300 hurdles.

Maggie Martin's 97-10 javelin was good for second in that field event. Trin Xiong's 81-8 was third in the discus distances.

Three more second-place finishes belonged to Elisa Krock (2:29.5 in 800) Riley Arment (1:04.8 in 400) and Melanie Esh (5:47.7 in 1,600)

BASEBALL

As is often the case, baseball games can be feast or famine for a given team's offense. One day the lineup can produce 11 runs and less than a week later, the same team is shut down by an opponent 2-1.

That was the course of action for Garden Spot's baseball team. The Spartans dominated Cocalico on Thursday afternoon, May 4, posting an 11-2 victory.

Four days later, they started the week with a 2-1 loss to Donegal on a Monday.

The Cocalico game featured a six-run inning and a four-run inning for the Spartans (9-10; 7-8 league).

Caiden Murphy had four hits in the cleanup spot, including a solo home run. He also doubled and came around to score three times.

Caleb Zimmerman and Madix Bracken each had two hits in the top two spots of the batting order. Bracken had two runs and drove in a pair also.

The consistency of this lineup includes big games from the bottom of the order. Seniors Colin Smith and Gabe Smeltz had three hits each with Smith driving in three runs and Smeltz scoring two.

Ryan Speers went 5 2/3 innings to earn the win. He struck out six, walked two and only allowed two hits.

The Spartans were held to one run on six hits, including a Zimmerman double, in their 2-1 loss to Donegal. Zimmerman took the tough loss, despite pitching a complete game and striking out six.

Kye Harting singled and scored the lone Garden Spot run. Bracken drove in said run. Speers, Murphy and Smeltz had one single each.

BOYS' VOLLEYBALL

The Spartans suffered back-to-back defeats against Section Two rivals Cocalico and Elizabethtown as they neared the end of the boys' volleyball regular season.

The Eagles bounced back from a dominant opening set victory by Garden Spot on Thursday, May 4 in New Holland. The Eagles squeezed out a 25-16 win followed by an even closer 25-21 victory before wrapping up the match, 25-16.

Tanner Laukhuff put down a phenomenal 28 kills and one service ace for Garden Spot. Nicholas Smucker's five blocks, Justin Mininger's eight digs and Keegan Redcay's 32 assists were tops on the team.

Chase Stark registered 17 kills to lead Cocalico.

Laukhuff pounded another 28 kills in a high-scoring match at E-town on Tuesday night. He also registered one block as did Smucker and Ezra Hubik, who also served two aces. Redcay distributed 38 assists and Mininger recorded ten digs.

The Spartans, who had won the first set 27-25, narrowly missed making it a 2-0 advantage. The Bears pulled off a 27-25 win of their own and held on for a 25-21 third set. In the fourth set, the Bears went on to win 25-14.