Sizing up the District 2 track and field championships

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Dallas and Lackawanna Track Conference powerhouse Abington Heights are headed for a clash in Class 3A girls while Pittston Area’s Aria Messner and Holy Redeemer’s Isabella Granteed lead the Wyoming Valley Conference’s individual representatives for the District 2 Track and Field Championships at Scranton Memorial Stadium Monday and Tuesday.

Action begins each day at 3 p.m. with half of the field events being decided Monday and the other half Tuesday.

Monday’s track schedule calls for 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 of the events that featured Monday qualifying are being held Tuesday along with the 400 dash, 800 run, 1600 run, 400 relay and 1600 relay.

Dallas went unbeaten in WVC Division 1 and outscored host Hazleton Area 160-111½ last week for the girls title in the WVC Championship Meet.

The Mountaineers and Abington Heights could end up in the most intriguing of the team title races.

Defending district champion Abington Heights destroyed the competition at last week’s Robert Spagna Lackawanna Track Conference Championships, putting up an even higher point total than Dallas did in the WVC, beating Wallenpaupack 164½-72 in the team race. The Comets have posted 17 straight, unbeaten, championship seasons in the LTC and have won 101 straight dual meets.

The Valley View (Class 3A) and Mid Valley boys and the Lake-Lehman girls are the other defending team champions.

In many ways, the top individuals tend to steal the spotlight from the team races.

That’s where athletes like Messner, Granteed, Berwick’s Ty Wilkerson and Dallas freshman Julia Natitus step into the forefront.

Messner won three gold medals a year ago and the only thing that kept her from the maximum four was an apparent officiating error in the long jump, one of three events where she is the top seed 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 return three of the four members of last year’s 400 relay championship teams.

Messner is the top seed and defending champion in the 100 and part of the top-seeded 400 relay team. She is the third seed in the high jump where 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 is the top seed in the long jump and one of three sprinters who are tied for the top seed in the 100.

Defending champion Jaden Shedlock from Crestwood is also tied for the top spot in the 100.

The Hazleton Area boys, the WVC Division 1 champions, have Franklin Ritz (800), Darren Seiwell (pole vault), and Samuel Guzman (javelin) seeded first in 3A.

Also holding top seeds from the WVC in Class 3A are: 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 returns three of its four from the 1600 team and two of four from the 3200 team as it tries to repeat its sweep of the Class 2A girls relays.

Also in Class 2A girls: Lake-Lehman’s Sophia Lenza is the top seed in the long jump; teammate Kathryn Morgan is tied for the fourth-highest seed as she tries to repeat in the high jump; and Holy Redeemer’s Avery Kozerski is the third seed and defending champion in the 400.

Lake-Lehman’s Seth Berry is the top seed and defending long jump champion in Class 2A boys.

Also in Class 2A boys: Lake-Lehman is 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 are: 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 winner of each event, plus those who meet lofty pre-determined state qualifying standards, qualify for the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Championships May 24-25 at Shippensburg University.