Boys Lead the Way at the Elmira Relays

The Falcons boys Dominated 4 relay events and placed first or second 8 times in field events as they won the overall team competition at the Elmira Relays Saturday, April 13 at Elmira High School.

Meanwhile the Falcons girls team finished a distant second behind meet winner Philomath Despite placing first in four events.  Kennady Lainge led the girls, winning the triple jump with a mark of
32-06.5 as well as being a part of the first place 4x120 shuttle hurdles team, with Claire Head, Page Reichenberger and Lexie Geiger.  The Falcons won the relay with at time of 1:17.42.  Geiger also placed first in the High Jump with a leap of 4-10.  Sydney Green won the long jump competition with a leap of 13-10.5.

The Falcon boys were peerless hosts in the relays.  With Brady Nagel anchoring the 4x100 and the 4x200 runs and Riley Chambers Anchoring the Varsity DMR and 4x100 Shuttle Hurdle Relays, Elmira swept 4 relays events.  Desmond Wilson, Colton Zsiga, Brady Scroggins, Everett Greenwood, Derek Anderson, Brandon Foote, Tyler Henderson, Alex Head, and Josiah Lorenze filled out the winning relay teams. 

Lorenze had a spectacular and productive afternoon for the Falcons, not only a part of the winning 4x100 shuttle hurdle relay, but also placed 2nd in the pole vault with a jump of 11-6; second in the high jump and 3rd in the 110m hurdles. 

Other winners were Cobyn Herbert in the discus; Maisen Heide in the high jump; Ethan Yost in the long jump and Carlson Fix in the triple jump.

Lady Falcons Struggle to Get 2nd Win in 10 Years over JC

Coming off a tough loss, Elmira's girls' soccer team brokered an early lead and then survived a furious rally by Junction City to take a 2-1 decision over the Lady Tigers, Thursday September 27 at Swartz Field.  Paige Reichenberger got the Lady Falcons started with a goal inside just outside of 5 minutes into the game.  Elmira kept pressure on in the first half and Lexie Gieger got a breakaway and scored her second goal of the season to put up the Falcons up two and seemingly in control.

"She (Gieger) has really improved on dribbling with a soft touch and keeping the ball in striking distance while sprinting toward the goal," Elmira head coach Rob Lee commented in an email.  "This helps freeze the keeper in her spot, allowing Lexie to place the ball right around her." 

Elmira junior Lexi Geiger rushes into the Junction City zone on her way to scoring her second goal of the season in the Lady Falcons'  2-1 victory over Junction City, Thursday September 27 at Swartz Field. Photo by Kimberly Lillie.

However, a defensive lapse in the last 30 seconds of the first half allowed Junction City's Maya Miller to score and close the gap to 2-1 at half.

The score by the Tigers sparked a furious second half rally by Junction City, where many times the Falcons seemed out of sync and frustrated, unable to manufacture any offense to counter the Lady Tigers' frequent excursions into the Elmira zone.

"(The) girls were a bit worn down," Lee noted   "You could see it in their lackluster efforts to chase down loose balls. Junction city made some adjustments and really put some extra pressure on our defense."  Lee mentioned that Megan Porter and Kati Kennedy did stand out.  Andrah Cobb once again had a sterling performance as the Falcons rode her 9 saves enroute to only the Lady Falcons second victory in 10 years over Junction City.