With a record-tying 14 qualifiers, the Lampeter-Strasburg swim teams were bound to find success at the District Three Championships held Friday and Saturday, March 3-4 at Cumberland Valley High School. That success led to six individual medals, two relay medals, and two new school records.

"It was an exciting weekend with a number of standout efforts and PR's," said head coach Kylie Hearn. "We have five girls who will represent L-S at the state meet and four of them are returning state qualifiers. They will compete in five different events which is the highest number of events that L-S has qualified for in school history!"

Zara Paisley led the charge, garnering a pair of district medals. The junior swam season bests in both the 50 and 100 free. Her 25.04 was good for a fourth-place medal in the 50 while a 54.28 was just behind Donegal's Sierra Houck (54.27) in the 100 and secured the bronze medal.

Paisley also anchored both medal-winning relays. She joined Krista Lambert, Ashley Prouse and Kylie Gerhardt for a school record 1:43.29 in the 200 free relay and a fourth-place medal.

She also teamed with Prouse, Madelyn Juba, and Gerhardt in the 400 free relay. Their 3:48.87 was a season best and brought home a fifth-place medal.

Gerhardt also medaled in the 200 IM and the 100 backstroke. The junior clocked a personal best 2:19.71 in the IM, good for fourth place and almost did the same thing in the backstroke. Her 1:01.39 personal record earned a fifth-place medal.

Ashley Prouse joined the success in the 100 fly, securing eighth place with a record-setting 1:01.75. She also swam a season best in the 100 free, where she finished in 10th place.

Wrapping up the medal winners was Kyle Spaulding. His seventh-place medal was the result of a HS best 5:18.84. The senior also posted a personal best 13th place finish in the 200 IM and swam on two relays. He teamed with Ryan Smecker, Matthew Rota, and Christian Rota in the 200 medley that finished ninth. The same foursome, but in a different order, also placed ninth in the 200 free relay.

Other standout performers that contributed to Lampeter's fifth place team finish included Claire Eckert (24th, 500 free), Madelyn Juba (19th, 200 free and 22nd, 200 IM), Lambert (17th - 50 free and 18th- 500 free) and Grace Schonour (22nd - 100 back PR).

Also swimming for the boys was Adam Zook (23rd- 100 free PR), M. Rota (10th - 100 fly PR and 17th- 100 breaststroke PR), C. Rota (15th- 100 back), and Smecker (11th- 200 free and 16th- 100 back).

L-S finished in 11th place overall.

Competing this weekend at Bucknell University will be Paisley (50 free and 100 free), Gerhardt (100 back), 200 free relay (Lambert, Prouse, Gerhardt and Paisley) and the 400 free relay (Prouse, Juba, Gerhardt, and Paisley).

BOWLING

Also competing in the post-season were two members of the bowling team. Katie Pope and Ethan Snyder took part in the Eastern PA Regional Championships on Friday, March 3. Pope bowled at Dutch Lanes while Snyder was at Leisure.

"Ethan and Katie have been 1-2 for us all season," said head coach John Achille who was recently voted Coach of the Year. "They both had solid junior seasons, and both continue to improve. I expect bigger and better things from them and the team next season."

Pope finished 82nd, rolling games of 179, 131, 145, 163 and 135 for a 753 series while Snyder, a Section Three all-star with the fifth highest average in the section (199.94) was unable to finish due to a knee injury. The top 12 bowlers advanced.