Abington Heights from Dallas and Lackawanna Track Conference is set to compete in Class 3A girls, while Aria Messner from Pittston Area and Isabella Granteed from Holy Redeemer lead the individual representatives for the District 2 Track and Field Championships at Scranton Memorial Stadium on Monday and Tuesday.
Each day starts at 3 p.m. with half of the field events on Monday and the other half on Tuesday.
On Monday, there will be finals in the 3200-meter relay, 3200 run, and 300 hurdles, as well as qualifying heats in the 100 dash, 200 dash, and 100/110 hurdles. The finals for Monday's qualifying events will be held on Tuesday, along with the 400 dash, 800 run, 1600 run, 400 relay, and 1600 relay.
Dallas remained undefeated in WVC Division 1 and scored 160-111½ against host Hazleton Area last week, securing the girls title in the WVC Championship Meet.
The Mountaineers and Abington Heights might be involved in the most interesting of the team title races.
Abington Heights, the defending district champion, dominated the competition at last week's Robert Spagna Lackawanna Track Conference Championships, with an even higher point total than Dallas in the WVC, defeating Wallenpaupack 164½-72 in the team race. The Comets have achieved 17 straight unbeaten championship seasons in the LTC and have won 101 straight dual meets.
The defending team champions are the Valley View (Class 3A) and Mid Valley boys, and the Lake-Lehman girls.
In many cases, the top individuals tend to attract more attention than the team races.
This is where athletes like Messner, Granteed, Berwick’s Ty Wilkerson, and Dallas freshman Julia Natitus come into the spotlight.
Messner won three gold medals last year, and the only thing that prevented her from getting the maximum of four was an apparent officiating error in the long jump, being the top seed in three events this season. Messner and Granteed are the only two girls who are seeded first in two individual and one relay event.
The Pittston Area girls, in Class 3A, and Holy Redeemer girls, in Class 2A, each have three of the four members from last year’s 400 relay championship teams.
Messner is the top seed and defending champion in the 100 and is part of the top-seeded 400 relay team. She is the third seed in the high jump, in which she also won gold last season.
Granteed is the top seed in the 100 and 200, and part of the top-seeded and defending championship team in the 400 relay.
Holy Redeemer is seeded first in all three Class 2A girls relays.
Natitus is the first seed in both Class 3A girls hurdles events.
Crestwood’s Sarah Shipton is the top seed and defending champion in the Class 3A pole vault.
Also in Class 3A girls: Wyoming Area’s Ella McKernan in the 800, Crestwood’s Grayce Grazio in the high jump, and Dallas’ Morgan Langdon in the shot put are top seeds; Hazleton Area’s Sophia Shults is the defending champion and third seed in the triple jump; and Wyoming Area returns three of four runners, including McKernan, to try to defend in the 3200, one of two relays where Abington Heights is the top seed.
Berwick’s Wilkerson holds the highest seed in the long jump and is one of three sprinters tied for the top seed in the 100.
Jaden Shedlock, the defending champion from Crestwood, is also tied for first place in the 100.
The Hazleton Area boys, who are the WVC Division 1 champions, have Franklin Ritz (800), Darren Seiwell (pole vault), and Samuel Guzman (javelin) as the top seeds in 3A.
In Class 3A, other top seeds from the WVC include: Wilkes-Barre Area’s Timothy Leonard in the 200, Pittston Area’s Jalen Moore in the 400, the Wilkes-Barre Area 400 relay team, and Tunkhannock’s Will Lupinski (high jump) and Andrew Lupinski (triple jump).
Holy Redeemer also brings back three out of its four members from the 1600 team and two out of four from the 3200 team as it aims to repeat its victory in the Class 2A girls relays.
In the Class 2A girls category: Lake-Lehman’s Sophia Lenza holds the top seed in the long jump; teammate Kathryn Morgan is tied for the fourth-highest seed as she aims to defend her high jump title; and Holy Redeemer’s Avery Kozerski is the third seed and defending champion in the 400.
Seth Berry from Lake-Lehman holds the highest seed and is the defending long jump champion in Class 2A boys.
In Class 2A boys: Lake-Lehman has the top seed in the 3200 relay; and Lake-Lehman’s Bodhi Cronin is tied for the top seed in the triple jump.
Some of the LTC’s top athletes include: returning state javelin medalist Madison Zalewski from Abington Heights and sprinter Kaitlyn Kravitz from North Pocono in Class 3A girls; Scranton distance runner Aidan Graff and West Scranton hurdler Colin Manley in Class 3A boys; and Montrose hurdler Chloe Diaz, Lakeland distance runner Emily Black and Carbondale runner Kate Korty in Class 2A girls.
The victor of each event, as well as those who meet the high state qualifying standards, qualify for the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Championships on May 24-25 at Shippensburg University.
