BLUE DEVIL DISPATCH 10-20-10

CROSS COUNTRY

Greencastle-Antrim’s Mid-Penn Conference Colonial Division championship team (8-0, 6-0 MPC-Colonial) made its mark at the Mid-Penn Conference Championship Meet last week. Led by Nikki Garns, the girls ran to a seventh-place finish among the 25 teams. Freshman Garns finished third with a time of 20:00.07 on the Big Spring course, just two seconds behind Boiling Springs’ Lillie Brown. Leigha Anderson, a Cumberland Valley senior, won the race in 19:38.72.

Mary Ward (21:15.72) and Lauren Powers (21:23.54) were 25th and 27th, respectively. Caitlyn Hetrick finished 54th in 22:25.87 and Desirae Shaffer was 125th in 24:51.54 to complete the scoring members with 229 points. Chambersburg won the meet with 52 points. Also competing for G-A in the varsity race were Melissa Holmes, 135th, 25:15.74; Gretchen Westley, 155th, 26:10.30; and Hannah Lougheed, 163rd, 27:04.86. Competing in the junior varsity girls race wereHeidi Stein and Kitana Reese.

The G-A boys (5-3, 3-3 MPC-Colonial) were 19th out of 26 teams in the event with the top finisher Brandon Thrush in 55th with a time of 18:19.48. The rest of the Devil harriers were Brandon Garlitz, 67th, 18:29.44; Gabe Martin, 97th, 19:11.59; Mike Hohl, 144th, 20:29.10; Zach Husband, 154th, 21:03.86; Cody Carbaugh, 163rd, 21:28.61; Ben Hockman, 187th, Ben Hockman, 24:26.10. Hershey won the boys meet with 103 points.

G-A’s runners will compete in the Wednesday, Oct. 27 District 3 Championships.

FIELD HOCKEY

The Blue Devil varsity field hockey squad (15-3-0, 10-0 MPC-Colonial) has played in the limelight all season and last week got its chance to play under the lights of Kaley Field. Mercersburg Academy was a formidable opponent, but the Devils registered a 3-2 win. G-A then finished up an unscathed Colonial Division season with a 6-2 win over Shippensburg.

Tache Smothers scored on a corner play and Sarah Gipe scored the go-ahead goal in the second half against the Blue Storm. Paige Klouser connected on a penalty stroke with 13:20 left in the game for the winning score. G-A’s advantage in shots on goal was 13-11 and in corners, 14-6. Emiley Maiorana recorded nine saves.

Against Shippensburg both Gipe and Sarah Jansen had two goals each. Dustina Miller and Jenna Lehman also scored. Gipe, Smothers and Heather Sanders each had an assist. The Devils dominated in shots, 25-6, and held an 8-7 lead in corners. Maiorana had three saves.

The junior varsity team (13-2-2) completed a solid season with a pair of victories. In a 6-0 shutout of Mercersburg Academy six different Devils scored with Kara Timmons, Bret Morgan, Moriah Woods, Hannah Mooers, Kaitlyn Burkett and Ashton Rockwell finding the net. Rockwell also had two assists. Lorraine Armstrong had an assist. Woods had two goals and Morgan the other score in a 3-0 blanking of Shippensburg. Rockwell was credited with an assist.

VOLLEYBALL

The Blue Devil volleyball team (14-0, 10-0 MPC-Capital) had an efficient week, stopping both Shippensburg (25-20, 25-12, 25-18) and Big Spring (25-8, 25-12, 25-13) in straight games to keep its undefeated streak going in dual matches.

Against Ship, Nakita Gearhart delivered 13 kills, closely followed by Natasha Gibble with 12. Gearhart again lead the pack with a total of 12 kills, followed by Lauren Verhoef at eight kills and Sami Rudy at six.  

Unbeaten G-A has the top ranking in the District 3-AA power ratings with .839914. Manheim Central (12-1) is second at .823751 and Susquehannock (10-0) at .823206.

The junior varsity Devils (11-5, 9-1 MPC-Capital) swept Shippensburg last week by scores of 25-23 and 25-20. Tiffany Briggs delivered 11 assists. Amanda Hammer and Abbey Pool each had five kills. Dakotah Pine recorded five digs.

SOCCER

G-A soccer team (5-12-1, 4-7 MPC-Capital) has a tough final week of competition, falling to Chambersburg, Shippensburg and Northern.

The week started out with a game against Chambersburg, which took a 2-0 lead into the half. When G-A got back onto the field they showed some resilience but couldn’t find the cage. After a tough match G-A went directly on to play Shippensburg and things didn’t start well. The Hounds took a 2-0 advantage before senior Kyle Crider managed to score the lone goal of the week, leaving a 2-1 setback. The Devils had a solid defensive game against Northern to close the second, however fell 2-0.

“We had fun,” said Crider. “It was a tough last game, but we played as hard as we could and that’s what matters.”

The junior varsity team (2-8-3) started out its last week with a loss as well, losing to Chambersburg at 1-0. They quickly rebounded though, winning 2-0 against Shippensburg and closing with a 1-0 victory over Northern.