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Fulton Takes 4th at Regionals, Qualifies for States

BY MONA STEINHAUER

Solanco’s wrestling team had five matmen compete in the 3A District Three/South Central Regional championships on Friday and Saturday, February 25-26 at Spring Grove High School but only one booked a trip to Hershey’s Giant Center with a fourth-place finish. Jared Fulton, wrestling at 132, went 4-2 to punch his ticket to states.

“We were happy to get Jared through,” said head coach Tony Mendez. “It was disappointing though, to go 1-4 in the opening round.”

Fulton posted a 7-2 decision over Red Land’s Ryan Beck in the round of 16 but then suffered an 8-4 quarterfinals loss to Garden Spot’s Garrett Gehr. Fulton fell behind 5-0 before a third quarter rally fell short.

He shook off that loss with three consolation wins to get to the thirdplace bout. Facing Gehr again, Fulton dropped a 7-3 result and settled for fourth place.

“That kid was tough,” said Mendez. “He wrestled at 138 most of the year and dropped to 130.”

Fulton earned a 2:00 fall over Jaciah Whitcomb (Cumberland Valley), and edged Central’s Uriah Warner 2-1 when Warner was called for stalling with seconds remaining, thus gaining the winning point. And his consi-semis match was another fall, this time he put Cedar Cliff’s Aidan Bachman to his back in 4:07.

“This will be Jared’s first trip to states,” Mendez noted. “It’s good to have a break at this point to let the body heal.”

The state tournament gets underway March 10 and runs through to the 12.

Also making the trip to Spring Grove was Weston Bare, Wade Adams, Blaine Plastino, and Robert Castagna.

Bare, who qualified for districts two years ago, gave up a second period escape to Jake Mitchell (Cumberland Valley) and suffered a 1-0 opening round loss at 120. He came back with a 5-0 decision over Hunter Goff (Twin Valley) but then lost a second 1-0 decision, this time to Northern’s Rocco Fratelli, the eventual third place finisher, to end his season.

“Weston was right there,” stated Mendez. “The Fratelli kid went on to win two more close matches.”

Wrestling at 152, Adams also had a single win sandwiched around a pair of losses. He dropped a 14-0 major decision to the eventual second place finisher, Dominic Frontino (Shippensburg) but rebounded with a 4-2 decision over Tyler Bard (West York) before closing out with a scrappy 10-7 result against Andrew McClune (Warwick).

“This was Wade’s first trip and he just wrestled as hard as he could wrestle,” Mendez said. “He had a tough opening round against a returning district champ.”

Plastino, a junior, was pinning (5:20) in his opening round matchup against Mitchell Adams (Carlisle) and then suffered a disappointing 5-4 loss to Waynesboro’s Titus Mong. He was down 5-3 in the second period and opened the third period with an escape but could not take the lead.

“Blaine’s first round match was close until the third period,” Mendez recalled. “Overall, he gained valuable experience.”

Castagna, wrestling at 189, was the last Mule to step on the mats. He came up against a familiar foe in CV’s Jonathan Lopez in the opening round. Lopez used a five point move in the first period to take control and went on to win 8-5.

“Robert just ran out of time,” said Mendez. “That five-point move was hard to come back from. He bet Lopez before in a match before Christmas.”

In the consolations, Castagna put Antonio Zeno (Mechanicsburg) to his back in 1:59 but then had the roles reversed in his second consi bout, suffering a 4:51 fall to eventual fourth place finisher Diesel Koser (Shippensburg).

“For Wade and Robert, being seniors and becoming regional qualifiers was a great accomplishment for them,” Mendez said. “Weston is another senior, wrestling in a tough weight class.

“Blaine and Jared are both juniors,” he went on. “Jared was a regional qualifier two years ago and this year he qualifies for states. Both have another season to get back here.

“Three of our five guys qualified for the first time,” he added. “The long and short of it is that they were wrestling the best they have this year.”

INDOOR TRACK

At the State Indoor Track Championships held at Penn State Sunday, February 27, Solanco’s Katie Urbine tied her career high, clearing 13 feet to win the pole vault competition. In a field of 13 jumpers, Urbine hit the mark on her second attempt. She finished sixth in the PIAA outdoor finals last spring, clearing 11-6.

GIRLS’ BASKETBALL

Everyone starts their respective sports season with the goal of advancing to playoffs. More often than not, that plan goes awry for one reason or another. But when you sit and look back there are always positives to take away. Such was the case for the girls’ basketball team. They went 3-19 on the year and literally suffered bruises along the way. Arianna Seiberlich missed the season with a torn ACL (soccer), Hannah Wood suffered a meniscus tear and missed over half of the season. Frances Northern had nagging knee injuries that kept her out off and on in December and again late January. Rachel Armstrong suffered a concussion at the Holiday Tournament and missed the remainder of the season and missing about the last eight games was Martha Weaver with a lower leg fracture.

Injuries always play a role, but Solanco took a hit in that department this year.

“Despite her injury, Hannah was our emotional leader on the bench and at practice,” said head coach Chad McDowell.

Statistically, Olivia Lasko and Kendall Janssen led the way. Lasko finished with 231 points (10.5 ppg avg). Janssen netted 137 points for a 6.3 average. They also topped the rebound chart with Lasko hauling in 198 and Janssen grabbing another 100.

“Hannah and Jaelyn Olmeda were our force in the post and on the defensive side,” said McDowell. “Jaelyn was one of our defensive stoppers late in the season while Hannah excelled in the scoring and rebounding part.

“Defensive was one of our stronger areas this year,” he added, “and it showed as we were able to play man-to-man in our final three games and were able to win two of those games.

“We also rebounded well, winning the battle of the board in 17 of our 22 games.”

Offensively Solanco shot 31% from the field, 52% from the foul line and 16% from three-point range. “We will definitely work on that in the off-season,” said McDowell.

“Our seniors (Olmeda, K. Janssen, Lasko and Wood) provided great leadership and left everything on the court. They are a vital part of our past two section championship teams, our present and our future (laying the foundation for success). Our returning players have big shoes to fill. I have challenged that group. We need to be better next season and I am confident that we will be.”

Photo by Cheri Sine

Weston Bare works to break down Jake Mitchell of Cumberland Valley in a 120-pound, first-round contest in the South Central AAA Regional Tournament in Spring Grove on February 25.

Photo by Cheri Sine

Solanco’s Jared Fulton works towards a 7-2 decision over Red Land’s Ryan Beck in a 132-pound opener at the South Central AAA Regional Championships in Spring Grove on February 25. Fulton went 4-2 in the tournament to place fourth in the bracket and qualify for the PIAA Championships in Hershey’s Giant Center, March 10-12.

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Staff photo

Solanco’s Robert Castagna mixes it up with Conestoga Valley’s Jonathan Lopez in a 189-pound first-round bout in the South Central AAA Regionals at Spring Grove High School on February 25.

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