Solanco's track teams hosted the undefeated Barons of Manheim Central last Tuesday and while the odds of pulling off an upset were slim, both squads went full steam ahead and turned in some solid performances. Katie Urbine won three events and Hannah Wood added two in an 83-67 loss for the girls while Ryan Vanover grabbed a pair of victories and Elijah Reimold placed in four events before the Barons pulled away 99-51.

"We were missing a few student athletes due to injury and quarantine, but I am still super proud, especially of the girls' team," stated head coach Jen McDowell. "So many sophomores and juniors stepped it up and we came very close to beating Manheim. We certainly scored more points than I expected. The boys' team also performed better than anticipated."

Urbine won the 100- and 200-meter sprints and the pole vault (11-2). The sophomore was also second in the long jump.

Wood, a junior, threw a winning eight-foot PR in the discus (98-2.5), added a first in the shot (32-5.75) and added a PR in the javelin with a second-place throw of 99-6.

Also in the field, sophomore Martha Weaver's 29-5 shot put toss was a personal best and good for second place. She also finished third in the javelin with a 15-foot PR of 90-10. Marissa Cannizzaro, another sophomore, provided a shot-put sweep with a third-place effort of 29-4.5.

Solanco opened the meet with a win in the 3200 relay with Halle Brown, Christine Wagner, Emma Baxter and Alanna Brown and also picked up a 400 relay win with the efforts of Faith Roth, Sophia Stoltzfus, Haylee Byers and Carly Rose. Kara Peace won the open 400.

In addition to Vanover winning the sprints, he anchored the winning 4x100 relay with Johnnie Revolorio, Aidan Wood, and Riley Ford.

"Ryan's 10.9 is super close to a school record in the 100m," noted McDowell.

Reimold placed in four events and PR'd in three of them. He won the high jump (6-0 PR), was second in the pole vault (10-0 PR) and took third in the long with a 19-5 PR. He was also second in the triple.

Also placing in multiple events with PR's was Connor Smith with a second in the discus (119-5) and a third in the shot (42-0).

Picking up Solanco's fifth victory of the day was Ian Althoff with a 56.7 in the 400.

Placing with personal bests were Anthony Solis with a second in mile and Joey Hartigan who was second in the 3200.

BASEBALL

For the first time this season, the Solanco nine dropped four straight games, watching their overall record slip to 6-6. After dropping an 11-0 shutout against Warwick, Solanco faced the undefeated Streaks of Manheim Township Friday, April 23 and fell short, 10-0, in six innings. One day later, Spring Grove handed the Mules a 6-2 loss and last Monday, in their final crossover game, the visiting Comets prevailed 8-3.

"It's been a tough stretch here lately," said head coach Tom Fish. "Township could very well be one of the top high school baseball teams in the state. While we got seven hits, they kept us off the board. They threw two great pitchers at us and had a very deep, very strong line up."

Township pounded out 14 hits and scored runs in four of the six innings. Their pitchers struck out nine batters and did not give up a single walk.

Logan Wagner, Ethan Cleary, Avery Jacobson and Kyle Stively all saw action on the hill and combined for two strikeouts and three walks.

"Nate Harnish doubled, and Garrett Worthington continues to swing a hot bat," said Fish. "He singled and walked. Mitchell Moyer also had a hit but other than that, we didn't have too many highlights."

Despite an early start against Spring Grove, the Mules suffered another loss on Saturday. Nate Harnish doubled in two first inning runs, plating Ronnie Fulton, who reached on an error, and Worthington, who walked.

"Seth Harnish pitched very well in relief," said Fish of Harnish allowing just two earned runs over five innings. "We just could not get the bats going. Logan Wagner had two singles later in the game but that was it, just three hits for the game."

Solanco did load the bags in the seventh with a pair of walks and a Spring Grove error but could not capitalize.

Monday the Mules wrapped up the Section One crossover games with an 8-3 loss to visiting Penn Manor.

The Comets, just 4-7 overall, put Hunter Sipel on the hill and Solanco struggled, striking out 12 times.

Manor jumped out to a 2-0 lead before Nate Miller's solo homer in the bottom of the second cut the lead in half. Unfortunately, the Mules did not score again until the seventh inning. In the meantime, the Comets extended their advantage with four runs in the third and two more in the fourth.

Ronnie Fulton started Solanco's bottom of the seventh rally with a base hit and scored on a grounder by Seth Harnish. Worthington followed with a double and scored on a sac fly by Nate Harnish.

"We faced another ace pitcher and struggled to score," noted Fish.

Cleary, Moyer, Jacobson and Stively combined to scatter ten hits. They struck out five and walked five.

"We are still alive in the Section Two race, as our next five games are against Section Two opponents," Fish commented. "We went 3-2 over our first trip through the section. A 4-1 second trip will assure us a spot in the league playoffs. We are currently in 19th place in the district standings with the top 16 qualifying. We still have an outside chance to get there but we have to start winning some games."