Cross Country Round Up

“We want to do good this season and keep on going.”

Those were the words of Elizabethtown’s Jaycen Conrad.

Teammate Jackson Kay said, “it’s all about teamwork,” something he says hopes will take the Bears far.

Tuesday afternoon, those two and the rest of Elizabethtown’s boys cross country team sent out a strong message as they handled both Ephrata and Solanco.

Packing together the entire race at Ephrata Middle School, the Bears took two 15-48 wins, keeping their Lancaster-Lebanon League Section Two slate perfect at 6-0.

That sets up a showdown with Lampeter-Strasburg at home Sept. 26 for what should be the section title. L-S is the defending champ and also has an undefeated slate.

Conrad crossed the line first for the Bears, clocking a 17:03, while Kay was right behind with his 17:04.4.

Three teammates crossed the line close behind: Brad-ley Kreider (17:04.9), Dante Checco (17:07) and Jack Myers (17:15).

Ephrata freshman Kyle Reidenbaugh pushed all five, taking sixth with his 17:15.9, but it’s what Etown did behind him that is scary. Solanco’s Wyatt Tomison took seventh in 17:45, but the next five runners — Nathan Merlo (eighth in 17:54), Dalton Fink (ninth, 18:04), Derek Ippolito (10th, 18:15), Trevor Merlo (11th, 18:24) and Rykan Hess (12th, 18:28) —all wore Bears blue.

“I think they did send a statement,” Elizabethtown coach Ed Barlow said. “They are really focused and have had this in their heads since the end of cross country last year on what they are doing. It’s one meet at a time and that is a mindset.”

With construction taking place for a new softball facility, the course was completely different than the one runners have been accustomed to in years past. For the girls, that caused confusion at the start.

The lead pack made a right turn at the first flag, instead of running straight. The look on the face of Elizabethtown’s Ali Fink (20:37) when she got back on track said it all.

Fink was visibly fired up, yet wasted no time making up for lost time. By the half-mile mark, she was back in first and she led the rest of the race. Her sprint the last 500 yards with Ephrata’s Ella Pfautz on her tail was the difference maker.

“I was worked up when I realized I had to turn around,” Fink said. “I’ve always liked a sprint to the end. I like where there is that race to the end. I don’t know what my time was, but it felt like a good race.”

Pfautz, who finished in 20:42, was surprised that she took a wrong turn.

“I don’t know what happened or why I went that way. We have run this course at least four times,” Pfautz said. “I think it had something to do with I was so focused and went out with Ali. I lost like 10 seconds and I was kind of panicking. But I worked my way back up, and I and Fink were together going down the short hill towards the field hockey field.”

Christine Wagner (21:59), the first runner to cross for Solanco, was also part of that confusion. She managed to finish fifth and did so despite tripping over the roots of a tree late in the race.

“I was so tired and dragging my feet that I fell,” Wagner said. “They shouldn’t have had a yellow flag there. That means go right.”

Kayla Reidenbaugh did not make the turn, taking the early lead for Ephrata. She finished third in 21:26, followed by teammate Hannah Miller (21:56). Not far off the lead pack in sixth place was another Mount runner, Katie Brass (22:39).

“It was an interesting, memorable experience,” Reidenbaugh said. “Starting out in front with the mishaps in the beginning and having the times I have, I am really thankful for God and couldn’t ask for anything better.”

Along with Megan Martin (22:47.7), an Ephrata junior, who finished 10th, it propelled the Mountaineers to 3-0 on the year as they downed defending champion Elizabethtown 22-32 and Solanco 18-37.

The Bears (3-1) eked out a 23-32 win over the Mules (1-3).

Adreanna Georges (seventh in 22:36) and Jillian Wivell (9th, 22:47.3) finished in the top 10 for Etown while Solanco’s Isabelle Brown (8th, 22:42) was also in the top 10.

“We knew E-town was going to be tough and they have such good depth,” Ephrata coach Mickey Molchany said. “Megan really stepped it up and it was the missing piece. The one thing I was pleasantly surprised with is, in the past, we haven’t bounced back from a Saturday meet to a Tuesday meet well. Today, I thought we did a really nice job.”

Ephrata’s victories set up a showdown with Donegal, also undefeated, next week at home.

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