The Solanco cross country squad faced some of the other top teams in the league at Manheim Central Tuesday, September 24. "Cross country is a great sport in which you can often be very successful and yet not always attain the desired outcomes," Mules coach Craig Ausel said. "We had some outstanding times on this very flat and fast course but so did our competition." The girls lost to McCaskey, Manheim Township, and Manheim Central.
Morgan Perry, was the first in for the Mules, recording a time of 20:11 and finishing 3rd overall. "Morgan missed the very last flag with 100 meters to go and had to turn back to make a correction," said Ausel. "By the time the correction was made, Manheim Township runner, Emily McBride was able to narrow Morgan's previous 20-meter lead to outsprint Morgan by one second. It's a tough lesson to learn but better learned early in a career than in later years in bigger races." Essi Glah-Fisher, running on fresh legs, filled in for the Mules' number two runner Natalie Crum who need to sit out because of a reaccuring hip injury. She placed ninth overall in 21:10. Essi was outstanding today," Ausel said. "She went out hard and finished strong. Essi is a big key to our success at the end of the season and she continues to get stronger and stronger." Carly Allport ran a solid 21:55 to finish 15th. Julia Whitehill was Solanco's fourth runner in 23:07. "Julia ran a strong race in the middle picking up a lot of places before her 22nd place finish," said Ausel. First year runner, Dakota White continues to improve, recording a time of 24:01. Rounding out some fast times for Solanco were Denise Brenneman 24:29. Aliah-Mei Foulk 24:30, and Autumn Boxlietner 26:31. "Despite losing to three very good teams today we were very successful in recording some solid time coming off a tough course on Saturday," said Ausel. It was more of the same on the boys side, Ausel said, as the Solanco runners put together some fast times against strong competition. Liam Hodgson helped the Mules by picking up for teammate Noah Brady, said Ausel. "Noah went out hard to compete with three of the leagues finest runners," said Ausel. "Noah struggled with some tightness in his back at the midway point. Liam picked up the pace to assist his team." Hodgson ran 17:33 to finish seventh. Brady finished in eighth in 17:49. Next in at 13th and 14th place respectively were Kyle Munro and Matt Curran running 18:19 and 18:23. "Kyle and Matt are going to be big keys to our post season success," said Ausel. "They continue to improve each week." Connor Brown, who had been battling a stomach virus for two days, fought hard to finish in 20:16. Next in for the Mules was Scott Tice and Alec Munro, both at 20:23, recording fast times for their season. The rest of the Mules Connor Neaves 20:29, Daniel Riddell 21:34, Joey Segich 22:06, Michael McFadden 22:45, Brady Frampton 23:14, Dustin Hodges 24:43 and Patrick Sweda 24:50. "Despite three hard races in eight days, part of our training plan, and with several key runners nursing some injuries and sickness, not our plan, our teams should have peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to become the best of which you are capable," said Ausel. "We have three weeks until the league meet and that should be just enough time to get healthy and get our fresh legs back for some post season success." On Saturday, September 21, Solanco traveled to Big Spring High School for the "Ben Bloser Big Spring Invitational" for a race against the very best runners in District 3. "We had strong performances by so many runners who brought home five medals and many personal records on a very tough course," said Ausel. In the boys varsity race, Brady, Hodgson, and Munro all placed in the top 30 of the AAA field to earn medals for the day. Brady ran 17:24 and finished 12th in the 250 runner field. Hodgson was 22nd in 17:37. Munro finished 45th overall. Curran scored valuable points as the fourth runner at 48th in 18:09. Brown was 132nd in 19:29. "This was an outstanding time for Connor who we have consistently relied on all season long," said Ausel. "We also had strong runs from Alec Munro 20:45 and Scott Tice 21:30." The boys finished fifth in a very strong field of 40+ teams. In the boys JV race, freshman Connor Neaves put together his smartest race of the season, according to the coach. "Connor has begun to learn what it means to run at a consistent pace," Ausel said, and recorded an 87th place finish in 21:14. Recording personal records in the race were Joey Segich 22:15, Daniel Riddell 22:35, Michael McFadden 23:18, Brady Frampton, and Dustin Hodges 24:23. "It has been so exciting to see this group improve," said Ausel. "We are really looking forward to seeing the how these young runners improve in the next year as they log more summer miles." The Solanco girls recorded some strong performances to bring home two Top 10 finishes and two medals. Perry finished fifth with a time of 20:08. "Morgan has been so close to breaking into the 19 minute range all season long and will certainly attain that goal by season's end," said Ausel. Natalie Crum caught 10 runners over the final two miles to finish eighth in 20:35. Allport ran a very good time of 23:17 on the rolling course. "Carly's veteran leadership is something we count on each week," said Ausel. Rounding out the Mules were White 24:28, Whitehill 24:31, and Kaitlyn Ashley 25:18. In the girls JV race, freshman Aliah-Mei Foulk just missed the medals with a 37th place finish in 25:27. Boxlietner recorded one of her best times of the season at 26:53. Comments are closed.
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