Montrose, District 2’s most successful cross country program on the state level a year ago, got off to a strong start on its home course Wednesday in the only Lackawanna League cluster meet that was able to be conducted as scheduled.
Both Montrose teams went 3-0 on the day and Nate Sinkovich was the top boys finisher.
Both Elk Lake teams also went 3-0.
As cluster partners, Montrose and Elk Lake are not scored against each other until one meet in the middle of the season.
The Meteors and Warriors swept teams from Susquehanna, Mountain View and Forest City in both boys and girls.
Kate Korty from Forest City won the girls race.
Montrose was third in the state in Class A girls and 10th in Class A boys at last season’s Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Championships.
The Meteors defeated Susquehanna, 21-34; Mountain View, 18-39; and Forest City, 15-45, in the boys meet and beat Susquehanna, 15-40; Mountain View, 16-39; and Forest City, 20-35, in the girls meet.
The Blue Ridge boys went 2-1. Susquehanna was 1-2 with a 25-32 victory over Blue Ridge. Mountain View and Forest City were both 0-3.
Sinkovich covered his 2.93-mile home course in 16:31.4.
Elk Lake’s Kendall Jones and Dylan Way were second and third. Jones, the only other runner to break 18 minutes, was 14 seconds behind Sinkovich.
The rest of the top 10 was: fourth, Lorenzo Christian, Montrose; fifth, Max Ksenich, Blue Ridge; sixth, Andrew Chichester, Montrose; seventh, Cody Adams, Elk Lake; eighth, Duncan Geyer, Blue Ridge; ninth, J.T. Burke, Susquehanna; and 10th, Carter Dolaway, Montrose.
Montrose, Elk Lake and Blue Ridge all went 3-0 by sweeping Susquehanna, Mountain View and Forest 8City in the girls meet.
The only meet decided by fewer than 11 points was Blue Ridge’s 26-30 victory over Mountain View.
Korty won by more than a minute in 18:54.0.
Montrose had the next four and five of the next six finishers.
Paige Brewer was followed by teammates Avery Kerr, Stephanie Summerville and Daegan Giannone.
Mountain View’s Corinne Flynn was sixth and Montrose’s Mary Pichette was seventh.
Sydney Upright and Mackenzie Strohl were eighth and ninth for Elk Lake followed by Genevieve Larkin from Mountain View in 10th.
The Wyoming Valley Conference also got in one cluster meet, but the WVC takes a different approach.
Teams that will run together in the cluster format throughout the season go against each other in the first week of the season, without running against any other schools in the opener.
Holy Redeemer went 3-0 in both boys and girls.
The Royals beat Wyoming Seminary, 22-37, and the Lady Royals beat Wyoming Seminary, 19-37, as both Blue Knights teams finished the day 2-1.
Nanticoke won, 15-50, over Hanover Area to go 1-3 in boys. The Nanticoke-Hanover Area girls meet was a “no contest.”
The Holy Redeemer boys also beat Nanticoke, 15-45, and Hanover Area, 15-50, while the girls beat both of those opponents by the maximum, 15-50 scores.
Jack Novelli from Wyoming Seminary won the boys race in 17:55, followed by the Holy Redeemer combination of Donato Strish, John Gillespie and Aiden McDonald.
Holy Redeemer’s Lexie Marcinkowski won in 21:39, one second ahead of teammate Emily Lehman.
Wyoming Seminary’s Annabel Dobash was third.
MORE SCORES
Complete scores from each of the matchups in Wednesday’s cluster meets can be found in the scoreboard at: Wednesday’s District 2 scores – NEPA Sports Nation.
