The Pioneers' boy's cross country team hit the road to Big Spring High School, Saturday, October 30 and came home with the school's first District Three 2A championship, placing five runners in the top 22 and holding off Greencastle-Antrim 53-67.

"Going in the boys knew that Greencastle was the team to compete with and they stepped up to do that," said head coach Mari Cunningham. "Several of them had a Greencastle runner in their sights and worked hard to pass them at some point in the race."

Colin Whitaker, a sophomore, led the way clocking a 15:58 and placing second overall. He trailed Greencastle senior Weber Long by 13 seconds. Last year Whitaker was third with a 16:17.2.

Juniors Ben Devine and Parker Stoner followed, placing 9th (16:51) and 15th (17:08) overall while Adrian Elia (17th, 17:13) and Luka Vranich (22nd, 17:35) rounded out the top five counters. David Pritchard (32nd, 17:57) and Luke Smith (48th, 18:15) also competed. The top 20 earned individual medals.

The boys finished second last year with 68 points, following Kennard-Dale (45 points).

"Colin ran a smart race," said Cunningham. "He was in a pack at the beginning and stuck with the second runner and then pulled ahead to finish second. He was just two seconds off his PR for the season on a muddy and slippery course," she added. "Ben Devine also ran a PR.

"This is our first district title so this team is making L-S history," the coach added. "And I believe it's the first time we've qualified for states as a team."

The girls' also competed as a team and finished seventh overall in a field of 13 teams. They were 12 points ahead of Octorara and 51 points ahead of 10th place Lancaster Catholic.

Aubrey Magagna was the only medal-winner for the girls, placing 17th with a 21:19. Freshman Keira Smecker ran a 22:08 clip and placed 32nd overall. She was seventh freshman to cross the line.

Morgan Wright also cracked the top 50, claiming 47th place in 22:48 while Jaclyn Martin (61st) and Molly Wissler (76th) rounded out the top five. Tori Smith and Abby Welchans were 87th and 88th respectively.

VOLLEYBALL

Under first-year head coach Sharon Mullin, the L-S girls' volleyball team returned to the District Three Championships for the first time since 2018. The 14th seed Pioneers (8-8) opened post-season play Thursday, October 28 against No. 3 Berks Catholic (17-1). The visitors needed a goliath of an effort to pull off the upset. They fell short 25-8, 25-13, 25-13.

"To my knowledge, none of these girls had ever played in a playoff game," said Mullin. "Playing in a new gym, against a new opponent is challenging for any team. I'm sure it was surreal for some and emotional for others...knowing it would be their last game if the result was a loss."

While the results were not what they were looking for, the Pioneers did put together a number of long rallies in the second and third sets and battled to the end. Berks, however, set the tone early, jumping to a 10-0 lead in the first set. The second set was nip and tuck up to a 7-7 tie before the hosts used an 8-1 run to gain momentum. L-S kept pace in the third set as well. They were down 10-9 before unforced errors again aided Berks, who slowly pulled away.

"That first game they served us off the court," Mullin said. "It was 10-0 before we got a side out. That is a deficit that isn't easily overcome. They had a good server and we just made several mistakes in a row.

"We did start out stronger in the second game but couldn't make the adjustments we needed to pull out the win," she continued. "Berks is a great team and when you play strong teams, you have to play strong and smart 100% of the time. We had moments of excellence and then mistakes. They capitalized on that."

Emily Mullin was tops in both kills (6) and assists (8). Anya Myers worked for 18 digs, Jenna Hoover put put up one block and Sachi Singh added a pair of aces.

"Overall, I was proud of the team," Mullin said. "Qualifying for districts is something new for his group. Hopefully it is the beginning of something that will cascade further in the coming years for the program."

FOOTBALL

While the cross country and volleyball teams were competing in post-season competition, the football team was wrapping up the Section Three title. On a wet and windy Friday, October 29th, Lampeter-Strasburg blanked visiting Lebanon 74-0 and claimed the section title outright.

"It was quite some weather for sure," said head coach Victor Ridenour. "I am glad we got through the game without injury. We have a little break now and we still have quite a few things we need to work on."

L-S set the tone in the first 13 seconds. Payton Cunningham celebrated his 18th birthday by returning the opening kickoff 75 yards. He followed up with a 20-yard rushing touchdown on the very next drive, pushing the lead to 14-0. Beau Heyser and Jonathan Mellinger were next up to reach the endzone while Giovani Malatesta scored twice in the final 2:10, pushing the first quarter lead to 41-zip.

Berkeley Wagner, Carson Coleman (61 yards rushing), Austin Cole and Mathan Schreiner (52 yards) accounted for Lampeter's second quarter scores as coach Reidnour started substituting freely. Trent Wagner's 41-yard run in the third quarter capped the scoring. In all, the Pioneers rushed for 388 yards on 40 carries with seven different players scoring.

Drexton Frank finished with eight total tackles and Jackson Heeter added seven as the Pioneers piled up 61 for the game.

Next up for L-S is the District Championships. After a first round bye, the No. 2 seed Pioneers host the winner of No. 7 Conrad Weiser (7-3) and No. 10 Big Spring (7-3). That game gets underway at 7pm on Nov. 12. For more photos, visit townlively.com.