Lady Mounts Post Solid Effort in Win

Despite only being a freshman, Lampeter- Strasburg’s Colin Whitacre was well aware of what happened the last time the Pioneer boys faced Ephrata on the track.

“We lost to them two years ago by one point. I knew that, so I was expecting a really close meet,” he said.

Whitacre did his part to reverse that result during Monday’s meet. The frosh went out and won the 1,600-meter run in 4:36 and the 3,200 in 10:28.

In fact, the Mountaineers were leading the points when Whitacre and sophomore teammate Ben Devine took first and second in the 3,200. The swing gave Lampeter-Strasburg the lead and the 1,600 relay team’s victory to close the running portion clinched a 79-71 victory.

“It feels great, especially my teammates that were in the 400, and my other teammate did really good in the 2-mile,” Whitacre said. “That was really big.”

“That’s a close, close score,” Pioneers coach Calvin Esh said. “Today was perfect for distance kids. Not the greatest day for pole vault or whatever.”

The Lampeter-Strasburg 4x4 foursome of Nathan Eberly, Martin Brenneman, Tonna Harnish and Luca Vranich closed with a 3:37. Earlier, Vranich won the 400 impressively in 51.57.

“He’s the real deal. He had a nice day,” Esh said of Whitacre. “(Vranich) is not even really a 400 runner, but he was today. He’s a cross country track kid, so we had not thought of him as more than a 1,600 guy. And as you can see, he did a great job.

“We’ve not been strong in the 4x400, but this year they did very well. Both Harnish and Vranich are both very competitive. Harnish started with a kid in front of him and caught him. Vranich started with a lead and he wasn’t going to give it up.”

That same four opened the meet by combining to run an 8:39 to win the 3,200 relay, and Harnish also took first in the 800 run.

Lampeter-Strasburg improved to 3-0 after the huge Section Two meet, as the Mounts fell to 1-1.

Teagan Weaver won the 100 (11.3), the 200 (23.25) and the long jump (18-feet, 11.25 inches), earning huge points for the Pioneers.

Ephrata’s Kyle Emery was impressive winning both hurdle events.

On the girls’ side, Ephrata was solid across the board, getting three victories from Sheaffer in the 100 hurdles (17.2), the long jump (148.75) and triple jump (2810), leading the way to a 94-56 Mountaineer win.

Sophomore Madison Kimmel took care of the distance runs, capturing the 1,600 in 5:36 and 800 in 2.32. She was also on the Mounts’ winning 1,600 relay.

“I was pretty much numb the whole race. But it wasn’t that bad,” she said. “It feels good. We had been winning most every event, and if we kept it up, we should win.”

Jianna Long handled the sprints for Ephrata, with times of 12.9 in the 100 and 26.57 in the 200.

Ephrata’s girls improved to 2-0 in Section Two. Despite Maggie Swarr winning all the throwing events for L-S, the Pioneer fell to 1-2.

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