The track and field teams were represented at the District Three 3A Championships held at Shippensburg University on Friday and Saturday, May 19-20 and their efforts garnered a handful of medals.

Colin Whitaker was the top finisher for the Pioneers, grabbing a silver medal with his 9:10.75 in the 3200-meter run on Friday. Susquehannock senior Matthew O'Brien earned gold with an 8:59.82. Teammate Ben Devine also competed in the 3200 and was .35 away from a district medal. His 9:21.09 was good for ninth place.

On Saturday, Whitaker competed in the mile and earned a fifth-place medal, finishing just .02 behind teammate Parker Stoner who claimed fourth place with a 4:13.02. "They both broke the school record again, having broken it at the league meet just a week prior," noted head coach Cal Esh.

Also grabbing two medals was Maggie Swarr. The senior thrower tossed the shot put a personal best 38-0.25 on her final attempt and moved into fourth place on Friday. She was the top L-L League place-winner. Saturday, she competed in the javelin (124-11) and settled for another fourth-place effort, holding off Palmyra's Sofie Price by two inches.

Also taking a place on the medal stand was Lyndi Wall. The senior clocked a 12.87 in the 100-meter prelims, and a 12.75 in the semifinals-both on Friday. Saturday, she settled for sixth place with a 12.54.

Also competing was Elly Bruner who settled for 12th in the high jump (4-10) and Aidan Wiley in the pole vault.

GIRLS' LACROSSE

The Pioneers were faced with a tall task when they went up against Section One champ Manheim Township (17-2) in the Lancaster-Lebanon League championship game at Penn Manor Thursday, May 18. The Streaks had won the past 12 League crowns. L-S was making its debut performance.

The Pioneers got off to a slow start, leaving Township with a quick 4-0 advantage but settled in after that and managed to cut the lead to 7-5 after scoring the final three goals of the half. Hannah Cissne sparked the rally with a low, reverse goal, Rowan Kimmel assisted Bethany Stoltzfus and then scored her only goal of the game.

"My team loves to compete; they thrive on playing excellent teams," said head coach Marshall Krebs. "When a team goes up on them, which has happened against most of our toughest opponents, they do not blink. They pull together and lean on confidence. They are cool under pressure. We were able to gain possession late in the half," he added, "and the offense was patient and deliberate."

That rally, however, was not enough to push the Pioneers through the second half. Township found the back of the net four more times and held L-S to one as they captured their 13th LL crown.

"As a coach, you do everything you can to prepare the team long term, short term, off-season work, club play, lots of film, and specially designed practices," said Krebs. "When you couple that with talented players, a team has a chance to compete. The team has a ton of pride and confidence that only comes with the hard work they put in individually and with each other."

Cissne and Stoltzfus (1a) both finished with two goals. Kimmel dished a pair of assists and Ryann Logan scored once. In goal, freshman Jillian Kelly recorded eight saves.

"Jillian played behind a three-year starter who is injured," noted Krebs. "Her time will come, and that time happened to be now. She is ready. The credit goes to Jillian and our goalie coach, Kelby Hodge."

SOFTBALL

The softball team entered the District Three 4A championships as the only team with a losing record (9-10) and the last seed, 14th. But that didn't matter when they traveled to Fleetwood for an opening round game last Monday, May 22. The Pioneers jumped out to a 6-2 lead in the first inning and never looked back. Fleetwood cut the lead to 6-4 in the second but single runs in the third and sixth innings, along with a convincing four-spot in the seventh allowed the visitors to pull away.

"We had a number of players who hit well," said head coach Earl Rutledge. "Maura (Savoca) pitched well (2K, 1W) and Ally Raub slammed the door. We also had great defense from Gabby Hiles (shortstop) and overall, we had zero errors for the game."

Julia Gerard opened the game with a double, Raub singled and Brooke Zuber's hit was misplayed, scoring Gerard. Kara Scranton singled in Raub and Paige Baxter's double pushed in two more runs. Mackenzie Maki reached on an error that also allowed Baxter to score. And with two outs, Chloe Meck's fly ball to left field was also misplayed, allowing Hiles to score the sixth run.

Two errors and a wild pitch led to Lampeter's seventh run and Zuber's sixth inning homer made it 8-4. Gerard's two run triple sparked the visitors four-run seventh inning.

Baxter's three hits and three RBI led the 14-hit attack. Raub (2RBI) also finished with three hits while Gerard and Zuber each had two.

"It was a great win but now we play No. 2 seed Hamburg," Rutledge noted.

BASEBALL

The baseball team opened district play in dramatic fashion Friday, May 19 at home. The fifth seeded Pioneers needed ten innings to get past No. 12 Spring Grove, 2-1. In the bottom of the 10th, Anthony Turek, whose fifth inning homer tied the score at 1-1, walked. He was on first, with two outs, when Will Bailey drew a walk. "Kyler Branco also walked, and Logan Leaman got a two-strike hit to drive in Anthony with the winning run," recalled head coach Jeff Swarr.

"Justin (White) and Peyton Harnish pitched their hearts out," he added. "They both worked out of numerous jams to continue to give us an opportunity to win the game."

L-S out hit the Rockets 10-8. White, Harsh and Leaman all finished with two hits.

Monday, they traveled to No. 4 Greencastle-Antrim where they saw their 4-0 lead vanish late in the game. The Blue Devils rallied down the stretch and pulled off an 8-5 victory. They took a 5-4 lead in the fourth only to see L-S tie the game in the top of the sixth on a Harsh sac fly. Not to be out done, the hosts scored three times in the bottom half to pull out the win.

"Peyton (2K, 1W) started on two days rest and went as long as he could," noted Swarr. "Mason Coe came in and competed. They bunched a couple hits with some walks and scored three times in that sixth inning. You have to credit Greencastle; they competed at the plate and took advantage of their opportunities."

Will Bailey's two hits led the Pioneers seven-hit offense.

The top five teams in Class 5A will advance to the PIAA championships.

"We still have an opportunity to work our way into the state playoffs," said Swarr. "We are extremely proud of this group of players. They continue to work hard every day."