By Tom Robinson, NEPASportsNation.com
UPDATED: 11:37 p.m.
SCRANTON – Five multi-sport athletes scratched from an event for the May 27-28 Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Track and Field Championships at Shippensburg University in order to concentrate on their top event(s).
Lake-Lehman’s Nick Hockenbury scratched from the Class 2A boys 1600.
Hockenbury will run the 3200 where he won a district title Tuesday. He qualified in the 1600 by finishing second.
Class 2A boys is the only division in which District 2 is guaranteed at least two athletes in every event.
Holy Redeemer’s Tom Brady will replace Hockenbury as District 2’s second representative in the event. Brady finished third.
The other scratches include North Pocono’s Colin Kravitz, in Class 3A, and Holy Redeemer’s Justice Shoats, in Class 2A, both in the 100-meter dash.
Both are four-event district champions.
Kravitz still has the 200, 400 and 1600 relay for the state meet.
Shoats has the 400 relay, high jump and long jump. He is the defending state champion in the long jump.
Second-place finisher Connor Hilling from Valley View already had qualified by meeting the state standard, so Kravitz will not be replaced.
Similarly, the top seven had all qualified in Class 2A, so Shoats is not replaced.
The other scratches are Western Wayne’s Ella Dougher in the Class 2A girls 100 and North Pocono’s Caleb Kenyon in the Class 3A boys 1600.
Dougher was a third-place finisher who met the standard, so, with other representation already in place, she will not be replaced.
Honesdale’s Aiden LaTourette had already qualified as a second-place finisher in the 1600. There will not be an additional runner to substitute for Kenyon.
UPDATED: 10:53 p.m.
Full results – every team score and the top eight finishers of every Wednesday event – have been posted at: https://nepasportsnation.com/district-2-track-and-field-wednesday-results/.
UPDATED: 9:24 p.m.
SCRANTON – The top 10 team scores in each class after the North Pocono boys, Wyoming Area boys, Wallenpaupack girls and Montrose girls won team titles.
Class 3A boys: North Pocono 113, Crestwood 85, Valley View 74, Hazleton Area 64, Scranton 54, Abington Heights 53 1/3, Honesdale 40 2/3, Wallenpaupack 38, Wilkes-Barre Area 34, West Scranton 32.
Class 3A girls: Wallenpaupack 94 ½, Abington Heights 87, Dallas 69 ½, Pittston Area 63 ½, Tunkhannock 57, Crestwood 54, Hazleton Area 42, Scranton Prep 34, North Pocono 32, Honesdale 29.
Class 2A boys: Wyoming Area 141 ½, Mid Valley 119 ½, Holy Redeemer 91, Lakeland 52, Lake-Lehman 47, Dunmore 45, Blue Ridge 36, Riverside 30, Nanticoke 25, Holy Cross 20.
Class 2A girls: Montrose 103 2/3, Wyoming Area 94, Riverside 76, Lake-Lehman 69, Holy Redeemer 65, Lakeland 50, Western Wayne 49 1/3, Carbondale 40, Holy Cross 35, Susquehanna 28.
The meet has ended, but our reporting has not. More information still to come tonight.
UPDATED: 8:15 p.m.
SCRANTON – The closing 1600 relays were won by Montrose girls, Abington Heights girls, Blue Ridge boys and North Pocono boys.
Wyoming Area finished second in Class 2A boys to take the other state spot.
UPDATED: 7:51 p.m.
SCRANTON – The North Pocono boys have repeated as Class 3A champions, clinching prior to the closing 1600 relay.
The Trojans join the Wyoming Area boys, Wallenpaupack girls and Montrose girls as team champions.
UPDATED: 7:27 p.m.
SCRANTON – Wallenpaupack’s Anastasia Ioppolo won her fourth gold medal and set her second meet record on the last jump of the two-day meet, going 18-5 ¼ in the long jump to break her own Class 3A girls record set in 2019 as a freshman.
Western Wayne’s Richie Reed set a record of 14-6 in the Class 2A boys pole vault.
Jack Lynett from Scranton Prep had set the record last year at 14-2.
Hazleton Area’s Matthew Cusatis won his second gold medal of the meet, taking the Class 3A boys high jump in 6-3.
Nikolai Williams from Abington Heights won the Class 3A boys discus with 149-4.
While Reed was winning, Nicholas Scalzo and Kendall Heck finished second and third to clinch the Class 2A boys team title for Wyoming Area.
Wallenpaupack won the Class 3A girls title.
Montrose won the Class 2A girls title, clinching in the final event with a 1600 relay win.
UPDATED: 7:15 p.m.
SCRANTON – Sprinters continue to shine.
Tatum Norris broke a district record for the third time in 24 hours and won for the second time today when the Susquehanna junior won the Class 2A girls 200-meter dash.
Norris ran 25.47 in qualifying to break the record of 25.69 set by Nanticoke’s Amiah Lukowski in 2016.
After winning the 100 in record time in the afternoon, Norris went out this evening and won the 200 in 25.35.
Montrose’s Tangi Smith earned a shot at repeated her state medal by coming in under the 26.25 qualifying standard in 26.09 for second place.
Colin Kravitz sprinted to his third title of the day, adding the 200 to the 100 and 400 in Class 3A. Kravitz repeated his title in 21.93.
Valley View’s Connor Hilling again qualified for the state meet by finishing second to Kravitz. He finished in 22.48.
Tunkhannock’s Jessica Cervenak won both the 100 and 200 in Class 3A. She finished the 200 in 25.92.
London Montgomery, the major college football prospect from Scranton Prep, followed up a state-qualifying performance in the 100 by winning the Class 2A boys 200 by one-hundredth of a second over Lakeland’s Jon Seamans.
Seamans will also go to the state meet.
UPDATED: 6:55 p.m.
SCRANTON – The 800-meter run became a significant one in terms of team races.
Rachel Korty, who won the 400 last year, captured the Class 2A girls title in 2:21.03.
Wyoming Area’s Madelyn Keating and Elle McKernan finished second and third to move the Lady Warriors ahead of Montrose by 5 1/3 points with two events left.
Gigi Sabatini won the Class 3A girls race in 2:16.92 and teammates Reese Morgan and Emma Horsley came in fifth and seventh.
That combination allowed Abington Heights to cut the Wallenpaupack lead to 9½ points with three events left.
Mid Valley’s Gabe Pacyna won Class 2A boys in 2:01.50 and teammate Vincenzo Iacavazzi was third.
Those results pulled the Spartans to within 11 points of Wyoming Area in the team race.
Ronnie Prislupski from Holy Cross took the district’s second state berth.
North Pocono used a 1-2 finish by Mason Natalini and Caleb Kenyon, who both broke two minutes, to open a 27-point lead over second-place Crestwood in Class 3A boys.
UPDATED: 6:28 p.m
SCRANTON – Blue Ridge’s Heath Bowker and North Pocono’s Colin Kravitz won the Class 2A and 3A boys title in the 400-meter run.
Kravitz repeated his title from last year.
Mid Valley’s Kyle Marcinkevich, last year’s champion, took the automatic second state spot in Class 2A.
More field event results are in:
Allie Melchiorre from Berwick gets her second throwing win of the day, adding the javelin to the discus. She won by nearly 18 feet with 138-4.
Mid Valley’s Josh Angelo repeated in Class 2A boys shot put with 50-8½.
Wyoming Area’s Drew Mruk, who set a meet record in the javelin Tuesday, landed the second state berth.
UPDATED: 6:04 p.m.
SCRANTON – Honesdale’s Rachael Collins won the Class 3A girls 400-meter title in 58.32 seconds.
Stephanie Summerville’s win in 1:00.17 was what gave Montrose the Class 2A girls lead.
In the first completed field event of the late session, Riverside’s Madelynn Perfilio won the Class 2A girls triple jump in 36-0½.
UPDATED: 5:48 p.m.
SCRANTON – The team title races are shaping up.
Through 15 of 18 events, Montrose leads Wyoming Area, 83 2/3-75, in Class 2A girls. Riverside is a close third with 71.
The other three team races are at the two-thirds points, through 12 of 18 events.
North Pocono leads Valley, 60-59, in the closest battle, Class 3A boys.
Crestwood (55), Scranton (49) and Hazleton Area (46) round out the top five.
Wallenpaupack leads Class 3A girls with 63½ points. Crestwood has a 53-47 edge over Abington Heights for second place.
The Wyoming Area boys have the highest point total, leading Class 2A, 95-78, over Holy Redeemer.
Mid Valley is third with 64.
UPDATED: 5:33 p.m.
SCRANTON – Early field event winners:
Avery Rebar from Mid Valley with 36-3 ¾ in the Class 2A girls shot put.
Hazleton Area’s Samuel Guzman won the Class 3A boys javelin with a throw of 172-10.
Anna Scoblick from Abington Heights, 5-3, in the Class 3A girls high jump.
Ella Dougher from Western Wayne won the Class 2A girls pole vault with 12-3. Susquehanna’s Tatum Norris also qualified for the also met the state standard at 11-6.
Wyoming Area’s Rocco Pizano won the Class 2A triple jump with 42-8½. Holy Redeemer’s Ryan Walton was second for the other automatic state berth.
Berwick’s Allie Melchiorre won the Class 3A girls discus with 114-8.
Scranton’s Antonio Hairston won the Class 3A boys long jump with 21-1¾.
UPDATED: 5:15 p.m.
SCRANTON – The 400-meter relay winners were:
Pittston Area, in Class 3A and, Montrose, in Class 2A, in girls.
Valley View and Holy Redeemer in boys.
Wyoming Area was second to Holy Redeemer for the other state berth.
UPDATED: 4:55 p.m.
SCRANTON – District 2 had three additional qualifiers in the 1600-meter run after meeting state standards.
Wyoming Area’s Madelyn Keating won her third gold medal with a time of 5:08.37 in Class 2A.
Carbondale’s Kate Korty and Elk Lake’s Krista Jones each came in well under the 5:18.30 qualifying standard to join Keating at states. Keating won the 3200 Tuesday, also with two state qualifiers chasing her.
Scranton Prep’s Rita Collins repeated in Class 3A with a time of 5:11.40.
Dunmore freshman Tommy Clark won the Class 2A boys title in 4:31.45 and Lake-Lehman’s Nick Hockenbury was the automatic qualifier as the second-place finisher.
North Pocono’s Caleb Kenyon won in Class 3A in 4:20.87.
Honesdale’s Aidan LaTourette met the state standard by finishing in 4:23.68.
UPDATED: 4:06 p.m.
SCRANTON – The 100-meter dash is one of track’s premier events and District 2’s sprinters did not disappoint.
The district will be sending 13 sprinters to the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Championships in the 100, which is highly likely to be the most from any event.
The times are both a sign of the current quality of sprinters in the district and perhaps and endorsement of the new two-day format that had those sprinters running their first race of the day in the final.
Tatum Norris from Susquehanna set her second record of the championships. After setting a record during 200 qualifying Tuesday, she won the Class 2A girls title in 12.18 seconds.
Norris broke the mark of 12.22, established by Lackawanna Trail’s Lauren Ellsworth in 2011.
Montrose’s Tangi Smith and Holy Redeemer’s Isabella Granteed finished in 12.47 and 12.65 to make the state meet, beating the qualifying standard of 12.70.
Jessica Cervenak and Noelle Alguire gave Tunkhannock a 1-2 finish in Class 3A girls.
Holy Redeemer’s Justice Shoats finished in 10.92 in Class 2A boys to earn his third gold medal and lead a group of seven qualifiers.
Wyoming Area had two of the qualifiers, second-place Aaron Crossley and seventh-place Rocco Pizano.
Lakeland’s Jon Seamans, Scranton Prep’s London Montgomery, Mid Valley’s Jomar Rodriguez and Blue Ridge’s Gerald Welsted were all part of the group that finished better than 11.30.
North Pocono’s Colin Kravitzwon the Class 3A boys race in 10.96.
Valley View’s Connor Hilling qualified for the state meet in 11.07.
UPDATED: 3:17 p.m.
SCRANTON – Wallenpaupack’s Anastasia Ioppolo is the first to three gold medals with a win in Class 3A girls in the opening event of the day, the 100-meter hurdles.
Ioppolo has beaten quality competition and pursuing her may have helped that competition.
In all three of Ioppolo’s wins, other athletes have met the state qualifying standards, something that is not easy to do.
Of Tuesday’s seven qualifiers through the state standard, four came by finishing second and third to Ioppolo in the 300 hurdles and in her record-setting triple jump.
Wilkes-Barre Area’s Esabella Mendola made it five by qualifying while finishing second to Ioppolo in the 100 hurdles. She finished in 15.30, coming in under the standard of 15.40.
Riverside’s Nathan Oliphant won the Class 2A 110-meter high hurdles and Wyoming Area’s Usamah Alansari grabbed the automatic second state berth available in Class 2A boys only.
Colin Manley from West Scranton won the Class 3A boys high hurdles.
POSTED: 3:01 p.m.
SCRANTON – Day Two – with nothing but finals – got underway three minutes early at the District 2 Track and Field Championships.
The first champion of the day is Chloe Diaz from Montrose in the 100-meter hurdles. Avery Meredick from Riverside and Ella Dougher from Western Wayne joined her in qualifying by meeting the state standard.
As we get started, here is a quick guide to Tuesday’s coverage.
The blog, which had updates throughout the day can be found at: https://nepasportsnation.com/district-2-track-tuesday-blog/.
The results, with all team scores and top eight finishers in every event that finished are at: https://nepasportsnation.com/district-2-track-tuesday-results/.
A Photo Gallery, with the work of Tim Drewes, is at: https://nepasportsnation.com/track-and-field-photo-gallery/.
Return often. There are many more updates to come.
