Solanco's Cortney Johnson advanced to the state cross country meet by virtue of her 11th place finish at the PIAA District III meet in Hershey. The girls finished seventh in the team competition. "We entered the day with big expectations of securing a solid team finish," coach Craig Ausel said. "We knew we had a realistic chance of scoring 180-200 points on a very good day. Last year the fourth place team scored 185 points to make it to the state championships. We have lacked depth beyond our fifth position all season so we knew that things had to come together just right."
When the dust had settled, Johnson was the lone Mule to advance to the November 1 state meet. "Cortney got out strong and established herself in the top 20 places early in the race and worked her way forward to cross the finish line in 19:56," the coach said. Morgan Perry was in next for the Mules at 20:37. "Morgan took a little different approach moving from 60th place to 36th place in the last mile of the race," said Ausel. "Morgan just missed qualifying for the state race by less than 10 seconds. We are very proud of Morgan’s progress this season." Natalie Crum was next across the line in 20:58. "Natalie went out well like she needed to do to secure the points we needed but faded on the hilly portion of the race," said Ausel. "She has been a great senior leader and did exactly as she needed to do early in the race, it just did not come together the way it does on most days. She has been one of the toughest competitors the Solanco cross country ladies program has ever seen." Essi Glah-Fisher finished at 51st place in 21:01. "Essi has been a solid fourth runner all season long," Ausel said. "Essi’s contribution has allowed us to be competitive against the very best teams in our league and the district." Rounding out the scoring was freshman standout Kaitlyn Borcky. "We knew that Kaitlyn could finish in 80 to 100th range on a very good day," Ausel said. "She did exactly what was expected of her as a freshman fifth runner." She ran 21:45 on a very difficult course and finishing at 96th position to secure a seventh place team finish for the Mules. Senior leader Carly Allport ran 23:22 to finish place in 166th position. "Carly has been a valuable leader in our team's success the past four years," Ausel said. Rounding out the top seven for the ladies was senior Kaitlyn Ashley. "Kaitlyn finished a great career with a time of 27:24," said Ausel. Solanco finished with 238 points. "We would have had a perfect day to knock off 50 points to catch the sixth place team, Palmyra," said Ausel. "We were beaten by six very good teams who rank very high in our state. We will miss our senior leaders but look forward to returning four of our top five runners next season." The Solanco boys started strong but struggled at the finish. "Our boys entered the day with hopes of rebounding from the Lancaster-Lebanon League meet," said Ausel. "Lead runners Noah Brady, Liam Hodgson, and Kyle Munro got off to a great start securing comfortable positions at the mile mark. We were very proud of the boys determination to do what was required to establish their proper place early in the race. Hershey is the type of course that requires a smart yet quick start. The boys did that very well. They finished strong but struggle a little in the middle allowing them to drop in to the 50s. Kyle Munro was in first at 51 in 17:32 followed by Liam Hodgson at 56th, and Noah Brady 59th. "All three of these fine student-athletes had great expectations in this big meet but handled the adversity with a great deal of character," said Ausel. Sophomore Alex Munro and freshman Patrick Workman ran two of their fastest times of the season on the very difficult course. Munro ran 19:19 and Workman ran 19:36. Senior leader Matt Curran was next. "Matthew has struggled with sickness most of the season but has been a great example of determination and hard work for our younger student-athletes," said Ausel. Keith Carnrike finished as Solanco's seventh runner in a time of 19:56. The Lancaster Lebanon Coaches Association announced their end of year honors. 1st Team All-stars: Noah Brady & Cortney Johnson. 2nd Team All-stars: Kyle Munro, Liam Hodgson, Natalie Crum, Morgan Perry L-L Team Sportsmanship Award: Girls 1st Place (3rd consecutive year), Boys 2nd Place L-L Senior Scholar Athlete Awards: Morgan Myer, Brooke McCardell, Kaitlyn Ashley, and Noah Brady. All of the student-athletes will be honored at the L-L Banquet on November 4 at the Willow Valley Double Tree. "We have been very pleased by the success of all our student-athletes in and out of the classroom this season," said Ausel. "It's been great fun." Comments are closed.
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