By Tom Robinson, NEPASportsNation.com
MESHOPPEN – Six varsity titles were on the line when the Wyoming Valley Conference Cross Country Coaches Ed Narkiewicz Championship Meet was conducted Oct. 20 at the Wyoming County Fairgrounds.
Crestwood’s program went home with four and a share of a fifth. Lake-Lehman shared in one and took another outright.
Molly DeMarzo and Nick Hockenbury won the individual titles while leading their teams to success.
Crestwood swept the girls prizes, with DeMarzo’s win, a comfortable championship meet team victory and the completion of an unbeaten, regular-season WVC championship.
As they have done repeatedly in recent years, teams used the Narkiewicz Meet to make up any postponed regular-season meets, scoring head-to-head duals off the larger meet results.
The Crestwood girls wound up 16-0 with the help of their three wins in those make-ups.
Crestwood and Lake-Lehman boys each went 3-0 on the day to finish 15-1 and tied for first place in the regular-season standings.
Hockenbury won the individual title and helped Lake-Lehman pull out a 27-28 victory over Dallas for the tie in the team standings, something he was unsure of well after the race had finished.
“At the end of the race, I was a little tired, so I lost track a little bit,” Hockenbury said. “ … Especially when it’s a big race like this, it gets very chaotic, very quickly.”
There was no mistaking the Crestwood girls team victory.
The Lady Comets posted a team score of 29, well in front of Holy Redeemer edging Dallas for second place, 68-70.
“I couldn’t be happier with my girls,” said DeMarzo, the only senior on a championship team otherwise made up entirely of freshmen and sophomores.
Crestwood’s boys had a few more anxious moments with just a 64-68 win over Holy Redeemer that needed more time to confirm.
Dallas beat out Lake-Lehman, 86-87, for third with all teams factored in, but when they were scored head-to-head, Lake-Lehman had the edge.
Hockenbury’s 18-second individual triumph added to the day’s accomplishments.
“I knew I was going to go out hard and I knew I was going to take the lead from the beginning,” Hockenbury said. “I didn’t plan on giving it up at any time.”
DeMarzo took a different approach as Dallas freshman Madison Hedglin, the eventual second-place finisher, took the lead early. DeMarzo caught and ran with Hedglin for a while, then won the race in the final half mile for her third Narkiewicz title.
“I didn’t want to end up how I did last year,” said DeMarzo, who finished second individually, but still led a team title as a junior. “I wanted to come out and get that win. (Hedglin) obviously wanted to win, too.
“It’s good to be pushed like that.”
Maggie Kozich and Ella Novelli finished third and fourth for Crestwood, helping create the wide victory margin.
Crestwood had three of the top seven boys finishers with Weston Medvetz third, Nash Green fifth and Jack Scanlan seventh.
Holy Redeemer’s Grant Smith was second and Tommy Brady sixth while Northwest’s Oliver Heintzelman was fourth.
All but the runners from Northwest and Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech, which are District 4 members that compete in the WVC in the regular season, will be back for the Oct. 28 District 2 championships.
The fairgrounds course had to be altered from previous years because of damage on the course from this year’s fair and is being adjusted again to try to create a better finish line area for the district meet.
ED NARKIEWICZ WYOMING VALLEY CONFERENCE COACHES MEET
(at Wyoming County Fairgrounds)
(3.1 miles varsity, 1.8 miles junior high)
Boys Conference Meet Team Scoring
1, Crestwood (Cr) 64; 2, Holy Redeemer (HR) 68; 3, Dallas (D) 86; 4, Lake-Lehman (LL) 87; 5, Berwick (B) 124; 6, Northwest (NW) 211; 7, Wyoming Valley West (WVW) 212, 8, Tunkhannock (T) 213; 9, Hazleton Area (Haz) 224; 10, Wyoming Area (WA) 249; 11 Wyoming Seminary (Sem) 250.
Incomplete teams: MMI Prep (MMI), Pittston Area (PA), Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech, Hanover Area, Wilkes-Barre Area.
Top Boys Finishers
1, Nick Hockenbury (LL) 16:47; 2, Grant Smith (HR) 17:05; 3, Weston Medvetz (Cr) 17:15; 4, Oliver Heintzelman (NW) 17:24; 5, Nash Greene (Cr) 17:32; 6, Tommy Brady (HR) 17:41; 7, Jack Scanlan (Cr) 17:46; 8, Casey Weaver (LL) 17:50; 9, Mattock Shultz (B) 17:50; 10, Woobie Kupsky (MMI) 17:56; 11, Bryce Phillips (D) 17:56; 12, Aiden Cotter (D) 18:01; 13, Aiden McDonald (HR) 18:04; 14, Michael Serafin (LL) 18:10; 15, Ben Bradley (D) 18:12; 16, Nick Rousseau (WVW) 18:21; 17, Jack Noveli (Sem) 18:25; 18, Preston Klem (PA) 18:26; 19, Patrick Branley (WA) 18:32; 20, Ben Carro (B) 18:32); 21, Derek Pierentoni (NW) 18:36; 22, Brendan Yatsko (T) 18:36; 23, James Modrovsky (Cr) 18:39; 24, J.T. Wysocki (D) 18:42; 25, Spencer Smith (HR) 18:46.
Unofficial Boys Dual Scores
(Completion of regular-season schedule)
Crestwood 20, Berwick 35
Crestwood 21, Northwest 40
Crestwood 15, Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech 15
Lake-Lehman 27, Dallas 28
Lake-Lehman 19, Wyoming Seminary 42
Lake-Lehman 17, Wyoming Area 46
Holy Redeemer 25, Dallas 31
Holy Redeemer 17, Wyoming Seminary 45
Holy Redeemer 17, Wyoming Area 46
Dallas 17, Tunkhannock 42
Dallas 17, Wyoming Valley West 43
Dallas 15, Hanover Area 50
Dallas 15, Nanticoke 50
Berwick 20, Hazleton Area 40
Berwick 19, MMI Prep 44
Tunkhannock 24, Wyoming Seminary 37
Tunkhannock 21, Wyoming Area 38
Wyoming Valley West 23, Wyoming Seminary 38
Wyoming Valley West 21, Wyoming Area 38
Wyoming Area 19, Hanover Area 44
Wyoming Area 15, Nanticoke 50
Hazleton Area 27, Northwest 32
Hazleton Area 15, Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech
Northwest 19, MMI Prep 36
Wyoming Seminary 18, Hanover Area 41
Wyoming Seminary 15, Nanticoke 50
MMI Prep 4, Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech 6
Unofficial Final Boys Standings
Crestwood 15-1, Lake-Lehman 15-1, Holy Redeemer 14-2, Dallas 13-3, Berwick 13-3, Tunkhannock 11-5, Wyoming Valley West 10-6, Wyoming Area 8-8, Hazleton Area 8-8, Northwest 7-9, Wyoming Seminary 6-10, Pittston Area 5-11, Wilkes-Barre Area 3-12, MMI Prep 1-12, Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech 1-13, Hanover Area 1-13, Nanticoke 0-14.
Girls Conference Meet Team Scoring
1, Crestwood (Cr) 29; 2, Holy Redeemer (HR) 68, 3, Dallas (D) 70; 4, Lake-Lehman (LL) 90, 5, Hazleton Area (Haz) 120, 6, MMI Prep (MMI) 155.
Incomplete teams: Hanover Area (Han), Northwest (NW), Wyoming Seminary (Sem), Berwick, Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech, Nanticoke, Pittston Area, Tunkhannock, Wyoming Area, Wyoming Seminary, Wyoming Valley West.
Top Girls Finishers
1, Molly DeMarzo (Cr) 19:25; 2, Madison Hedglin (D) 19:39; 3, Maggie Kozich (Cr) 20:04; 4, Ella Novelli (Cr) 20:17; 5, Hannah Sayre (LL) 20:34; 6, Jillian Wolk (Haz) 20:46; 7, Emily Lehman (HR) 20:50; 8, Sarah Williams (D) 21:33; 9, Ellie Kozich (Cr) 21:38; 10, Frankie Basalyga (HR) 21:40; 11, Alana Palmaioli (LL) 21:43; 12, Emily Leicht (Cr) 21:43; 13, Kendall Borgers (LL) 21:47; 14, Lexie Marcinkowski (HR) 21:53; 15, Mary Kate Kupsky (MMI) 21:54; 16, Olivia Thomas (D) 22:00; 17, Kyra Hayden (HR) 22:05; 18, Milana Daiute (Haz) 22:19; 19, Abigail Zielecki (NW) 22:34; 20, Julianna Sobocinski (D) 22:34; 21, Abigail McGowan (HR) 22:35; 22, Annabel Dobash (Sem) 22:35; 23, McKenna Nay (Han) 22:58; 24, Kaelyn Barker (Cr) 22:58; 25, Maggie Riccio (Cr) 23:13.
Unofficial Girls Dual Scores
(completion of regular-season schedule)
Crestwood 15, Berwick 50
Crestwood 15, Northwest 50
Crestwood 15, Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech 50
Hazleton Area 23, Northwest 33
Hazleton Area 19, Berwick 39
Hazleton Area 15, Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech 45
Dallas 25, Lake-Lehman 34
Dallas 16, Wyoming Valley West 47
Dallas 15, Tunkhannock 50
Lake-Lehman 17, Wyoming Seminary 46
Lake-Lehman 15, Wyoming Area 49
MMI Prep 21, Berwick 37
MMI Prep 15, Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech 44
Northwest 26, MMI Prep 29
Wyoming Area 4, Tunkhannock 6
Wyoming Seminary 4, Tunkhannock 6
Wyoming Valley West 16, Wyoming Seminary 20
Wyoming Valley West 14, Wyoming Area 22
Unofficial Final Girls Standings
Crestwood 16-0, Holy Redeemer 15-1, Hazleton Area 14-2, Dallas 13-3, Lake-Lehman 12-4, Berwick 9-7, Northwest 9-7, MMI Prep 9-7, Wyoming Valley West 9-7, Hanover Area 7-9, Pittston Area 7-9, Tunkhannock 4-12, Wyoming Seminary 4-12, Nanticoke 3-12, Wyoming Area 3-13, Wilkes-Barre Area 0-13, Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech 0-14.
Junior High Girls Conference Meet Team Scoring
1, Crestwood (Cr) 43; 2, Wyoming Area (WA) 48; 3, Dallas (D) 70; 4, Holy Redeemer (HR) 99; 5, Pittston Area (PA) 114; 6, Wyoming Valley West (WVW) 151; 7, Hazleton Area (Haz) 167.
Incomplete teams: Berwick (B), Hanover Area (Han), Lake-Lehman (LL), Northwest, Susquehanna Prep, Tunkhannock, Wilkes-Barre Area.
Top Junior High Girls Finishers
1, Betsy Digiovanni (LL) 13:34; 2, Kaylie Fraind (B) 13:50; 3, Katie Kozich (Cr) 13:54; 4, Alyssa Leicht (Cr) 13:56; 5, Addison Gaylord (WA) 14:04; 6, Nevaeh Figueroa (Han) 14:17; 7, Addison Ramirez (PA) 14:20; 8, Ava Pugliese (D) 14:20; 9, Maddie Schoenwetter (HR) 14:22; 10, Kate Stoposki (LL) 14:28.
Junior High Boys Conference Meet Team Scoring
1, Crestwood (Cr) 42; 2, Holy Redeemer (HR) 49; 3, Pittston Area (PA) 58; 4, Nrothwest (NW) 69; 5, Hazleton Area 130.
Incomplete teams: Berwick, Dallas, Lake-Lehman, Susquehanna Prep, Tunkhannock, Wilkes-Barre Area, Wyoming Area, Wyoming Valley West.
Top Junior High Boys Finishers
1, Mason Staude (Cr) 11:18; 2, Jakob Mead (PA) 11:41; 3, Michael Fritz (NW) 11:55; 4, Caden Boettger (PA) 12:14; 5, Sean Williams (HR) 12:23; 6, Parker Smith (HR) 12:32; 7, Nate Higgins (Cr) 12:36; 8, Taran Lawrence (HR) 12:40; 9, Brady Grevera (Cr) 12:43; 10, Caleb Clink (NW) 12:45.
