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Ephrata to host L-L cross country Meet Thursday
- 20 October 2005
The Ephrata Middle School will once again play host to the
Lancaster-Lebanon League cross country meet to be held this afternoon
(10/20/05).The girls' run will begin at 4:15 PM with the boys to follow at 5 PM.
The Ephrata girls are expected to challenge for a top five spot in the team standings, but Lancaster Mennonite (21-0) would have to be the favorite for the girls team title going into today's race. The Blazers are led by sophomore sensation and defending league champion Katie Ruth, junior Lindsey Shertzer and sophomore Lisa Wingard, with sophomore Alyssa Groff and freshmen Katelyn Rittenhouse, Ali Brown, Becca Yoder and Izzy Hoffer providing an excellent pack behind the top three runners.
Ruth will be looking to duplicate her victory from a year ago. The last female to win back-to-back individual league championships also came from Mennonite, with Greta Hertzler performing the feat in 1997 and 1998. In addition, perhaps the stars are aligned for the Blazers.
After going 20-1 last season and finishing third at leagues (only 16 points behind first-place Solanco), Lancaster Mennonite is the team to beat this time around. The Blazers will get some tough competition from Manheim Township (20-1), Ephrata (19-2) and Hempfield (18-3).
The Blue Streaks are led by freshman Ruthie Rosenberger and senior Katie Calhoun.
Ephrata relies on a strong pack since the Mountaineers do not have anyone who can run up front with Ruth, Shertzer and Rosenberger. Juniors Alicia Harbold and Jaime Singer, sophomores Brynn Lyons and Samantha Fink and freshman Dana Haas consistently run within 45 seconds of each other.
A plan of attack for these teams against LM would be to have their top runners try to position themselves near Ruth, Shertzer and Wingard and then pack in their third, fourth and fifth runners ahead of Mennonite's fourth and fifth spots.
The big story will be on the boys' side where Manheim Township's Craig Miller will be going for his fourth-straight individual championship. Manheim Township (21-0) is the county's powerhouse and is led by the senior twin brothers Craig and Brad Miller. Along with Craig Miller seeking his fourth straight L-L title, the Blue Streaks will also be looking to achieve their third team championship in four years.
Miller may be facing his toughest challenge up to now, with his brother Brad and Conestoga Valley sophomore Vince McNally lurking right behind him.
After bursting onto the scene as a freshman last year and finishing third at the league meet, McNally has been improving steadily and has the potential to upset Miller in the last mile of today's race.
McNally only lost to Miller by six seconds at the Gettysburg Invitational on Sept. 10 with their respective times of 14:56 and 15:02 being two of the fastest high school 5,000-meter times in Pennsylvania in the past five years.
All qualifiers from Thursday's race will enter the District Three Meet which will be held October 29.
We here at www.ephratamounts.com are proud sponsors of the Dodgeball for Diabetes tournament.