Freshman Anthony Solis-Morales turned in an outstanding performance to lead Solanco at the Lancaster-Lebanon League Cross Country Championship Meet, held at Ephrata Middle School Tuesday, October 15. Solis-Morales earned a medal with a 22nd place finish. His time of 17:18 is the best ever recorded on the course by a Solanco freshman and ranked him 9th all-time among Mules cross country runners.
"Anthony’s method in securing his medal was not as we planned," coach Craig Ausel said. "He started out slow. He was sitting around 35-40 at the mile mark. His consistent work and determined effort across the last two miles was a true indicator of his talent and potential." Seniors led the way over the next three places. Tate Fisher was 71st in 18:30 to put his name on the top 40 all-time list of Solanco times on the L-L course. "We can’t say enough about Tate’s leadership this summer and this season," said Ausel. "Tate has helped establish a mindset and culture of hard work, discipline, and positivity that has made this team something special." Nathan Eller was close behind at 18:44 to finish 90th. "Nathan has got the very most from his potential with an outstanding year of training," said Ausel. "We look for him to finish strong at the District 3 race." Brandon Daniel ran his best race of the season at 19:22 to place 125th. "Brandon’s consistent hard work over the past two months has allowed him to move up from our eighth man into the top five" said Ausel. "Brandon stepped up big today." Sean Keller rounded out the Mules top five with a 140th place finish in 19:50. "Sean struggled a little today but will respond well at the district championship," said Ausel. "Sean can be a very important leader for this squad next summer leading into the 2020 season." Mason Sinclair (20:14) and Joey Hartigan (21:03) also competed for the Mules. Solanco placed 17th out of 22 teams. Cedar Crest captured the league title and Northern Lebanon's Gage Krall (16:17) won the race. "We struggled a little more than usual, as we were missing one of our top eight runners due to some academic lapses this past week," said Ausel. "All of our young people understand that we are students first and athletes second. We talked all year long about being proactive, to control the things we can control. I think we could have beat 4-5 more teams today, if we had a full squad but we did not. We are very proud of those student-athletes who stepped up today to overcome this situation." Freshman Daria Neaves paced the Mules girls squad with a 43rd place finish in 21:41. "Daria ran a very strong race," said Ausel. “She had her sights set on a 20th-30th place finish but fell a little short, not by lack of effort or determination. Upon reflection, she ran a very solid race. I knew she was ranked 19th in our Lancaster-Lebanon Section 1 at the end of the regular season and that there were 8-10 Section 2 runners just as strong as her. Twenty-30 would have been a great day, and 30-40 would be a good day." Her time placed her 29th on the all-time Solanco list on the league meet course. Emma Baxter was 53rd in 22:08, the 35th best time on that course by a Solanco runner. "Emma continues to run consistently strong," said Ausel. "Emma is so mechanically efficient and smooth. Her consistent effort across 3.1 miles always allows her to pick up places and finish strong." Nicole Dodson was 68th in 22:38. "Nicole did a great job in her first league championship, overcoming an extremely slow start to move up 40 places," said Ausel. "Nicole’s strong race allowed our top three runners to be within one minute of each other which allowed us to score pretty well through the first three runners." Halle Brown ran her fastest race of the season at 23:38 to finish 87th. "With the absence of Elaina Kreider, Halle’s strong race helped us greatly," the coach said. "Halle is learning how to race and that showed." Freshman Stella Woy was 126th in 26:16. "Stella found herself in a key role," said Ausel. "As our fifth runner, Stella stepped up big in her first appearance at the L-L race. We are very pleased with Stella’s determination and fight." The Solanco girls squad was 12th out of 17 teams. Hempfied prevailed in the team competition and Gwyneth Young of Cedar Crest finished first. "We were very pleased with our ladies who only had five ladies [in the event]," Ausel said. "If we had had our full squad, I am confident we could have finished closer to Warwick, who finished 10th. That was one of our season goals, to place in the top half of our league at L-L Championship. We fell a little short but are feeling blessed by the effort of these student-athletes." Comments are closed.
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