Solanco's Liam Hodgson prevailed in his final race on the Mules' home course Tuesday, October 13. Hodgson (17:37) topped second place Sam Mancuso of Garden Spot (17:40) with Manheim Township's Brian Delany third in 18:02. "Liam ran a smart and tactical race sitting on Township's Brian Delany for two miles before taking control of the race and finishing in a very commendable 17:37," said coach Craig Ausel. Solanco runners Patrick Workman, Keith Carnrike, and Ben Stickler finished 11-13, running 18:54, 18:55, and 18:56 respectively. "We were very, very proud of the next group of Mules who ran very strong as a pack to finish within three seconds of each other," said Ausel. "This is what we have been working for all season long. The boys squad knew all year long that they needed 5-6 guys running 18-19 minutes to record a +.500 record. We fell a little short at 10-11 but we were very impressed by the way they fought back from an 0-5 start after the first two races. Three wins last week and three wins this week brought some great pride."
Christian Stead rebounded with a solid 19:22 to finish as the Mules fifth runner. Rounding out the Solanco runners were Alec Munro, Ian Brown, Connor Neaves, Aidan McBride, Thomas Stienhauer, Timm Fetterman, Dan Riddell, Dan Keller, Jose Silva-Serrano, Damian Martinez, Brandon Smyth, Marshall Kinnamon, Josh Herr, David Simms, Payton Strang, Noah Huyett, Patrick Sweda, Patrick Workman, and Jason Wyatt. Solanco defeated Northern Lebanon 16-50, Manheim Township 25-31, and Garden Spot 27-34, and lost to Conestoga Valley 23-33. "It was a beautiful day to run and honor our seniors in their final home race," said Ausel. "The weather was fantastic and the Solanco cross country grounds crew had the course in perfect shape. Very seldom do you get to have two home meets in a row. This provided a great opportunity to improve on our times." The Solanco girls downed Conestoga Valley 21-34 and Northern Lebanon 15-55 and lost to Manheim Township 19-48 and Garden Spot 27-30. "The ladies fought hard against some very talented squads," Ausel said. "We knew Manheim Township was almost impossible to touch. No one in the L-L has come close to besting them this season. They are way too deep." Cortney Johnson paced the Mules with a third place finish. "Cortney ran another course PR at 20:29, 12 seconds faster than her home race the week before," Ausel said. "Cortney is getting stronger and stronger. She is really ready for the postseason." Morgan Perry finished 11th in 21:49, picking off three Garden Spot girls over the two miles of the race. Senior Essi Glah-Fisher was 15th in 22:31, knocking off more than 40 seconds off her time the previous week. "It was very nice to see Essi finish her final race with such improvement," said Ausel. "She is a delightful team member and she will be missed next season." Freshman Aubree Roop knocked more than 50 seconds off of her time from the previous week and recorded a time of 22:50. The Mules' fifth runner and final scorer was senior Christen Esposito. "This was Christen's first cross country season and she has improved remarkably and has made a large contribution to our squad," said Ausel. "Christen’s first race of the season was 29:07. She dropped her time to 24:38 on our very tough course." The rest of the Solanco runners are all slated to return next season – Hannah Wheeler 25:37, Casey Weder 27:00, Denise Brenneman 28:37, Autumn Boxlietner 28:52, and Eniyah Brown-Moore 30:08. The Mules finished the regular season at 13-8. On Saturday, October 10, Solanco's junior varsity boys team competed at the Gettysburg Invitational. "We have 15 ninth and 10th graders on our squad this season," Ausel said. "Some of these guys could have run junior high this season but they worked very hard this summer so we kept them on the varsity squad. They responded well at this end of season test." Stickler, a freshman, finished in third place in a field of 180 runners. "Ben ran 18:22 on a very wet course and was beaten by two seniors," said Ausel. "The soggy conditions probably cost most runners 20-30 seconds of time. Workman finished in 18:40 for sixth place. Brown also won a medal by finishing in 10th place in 19:09. McBride was 27th in 19:49 and Christian Stead placed 33rd in 19:58. Those five runners scored 60 points to record a first place finish ahead of Caesar High School with 91 points. Comments are closed.
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