District 2 Girls Track: WVC trio shines

SCRANTON – Aria Messner waited a year for a chance to capture what she believed already should have belonged to her.

Trinity Basara spent the day knowing the entire team portion of the Class 3A division could come down to her performance on the final lap that girls took around the track in the two-day District 2 Track and Field Championships.

Lackawanna Track Conference athletes captured the majority of the titles and medals, but three senior girls from the Wyoming Valley Conference – Pittston Area’s Messner, Dallas’ Basara and Holy Redeemer’s Isabella Granteed were among Tuesday’s biggest stars.

Messner qualified for the PIAA Championships in four events and captured three gold medals and a silver for the second straight year. She punctuated that performance with a record-setting effort in the long jump.

Basara’s improbable performance on the last relay leg of the last event of the day allowed Dallas to take down Lackawanna Track Conference power Abington Heights and claim the Class 3A girls team title.

Granteed earned gold medals in all three of her events, including anchoring a meet record performance in the 400-meter relay.

All that stood between Messner and the maximum four gold medals a year ago was what was widely believed to be an uncorrected, officiating error, which cost her not only the gold medal in the long jump, but the meet record in the event.

Messner claimed that record on her second attempt, going 19-2½, which ultimately won by more than a foot.

“Out of everything I did today, if I could just get that record, that’s all I wanted to do,” Messner said. “I am thrilled.”

She did so much more.

Messner opened the day with a decisive victory in the 100-meter dash in 12.53 seconds. She anchored a Pittston Area win in the 400 relay. And, she broke out of a slump to clear a season-best, 5-3 in the high jump, which was enough to meet the state qualifying standard to make it to Shippensburg after finishing second in that event.

After Messner wound up missing last year’s state meet because of injuries suffered in an automobile accident, coach Joe Struckus said she would be entering all four events in the May 24-25 state championships.

Dallas continued a special season in which it went unbeaten in WVC Division 1 and ran away with the team title at the WVC Championships.

To do so, the Mountaineers had to get past Abington Heights. The Comets pushed their dual meet winning streak to 101 with one of the strongest of their 17 straight unbeaten teams and just a week ago outscored second-place Wallenpaupack 164½-72 for the Robert Spagna LTC Championship Meet title.

Dallas took the points lead away from Abington Heights early Tuesday, stretched it into double-digits, then faced a late surge by the Comets.

The Mountaineers entered the final event, the 1600 relay, with a one-point lead, but all top-seeded and significant favorite Abington Heights needed to do was finish in front of Dallas to win the team title.

The Comets seemed to have taken control in the middle two legs.

Enter Basara.

“I knew the possibility that it was going to be a close race,” Basara, the only senior, following a trio of freshmen, Gracie Coyne, Julia Natitus and Ava Puskar. “Coach has been preparing us for this race for weeks.”

To salvage the title, Dallas would need to beat a team that came in seeded more than four seconds faster, Basara would have to rally from almost three seconds behind and she would have to run more than two seconds faster than she ever had before.

“When I received the baton, I just had a lot of thoughts going through my head,” she said. “They had a decent lead on us. I was just really nervous about closing the gap.

“Our coach always tell us to go out hard the first 100 meters, then try to hold it. That’s just what I did to close the gap.”

Basara never slowed down.

The senior had run a season-best 1:00.73 to finish sixth in the 400 earlier in the day and had never run a relay split of better than 59.9.

By closing in 57.71, Basara led a victory by about a half-second.

“Between the 200 and 300 meters, I was kind of in the mindset of ‘alright, I’ve closed that gap and there’s still a gap there’,” Basara said. “I wasn’t sure I was going to be to catch her.”

Basara did on the final straightaway, then held on to win by .41 seconds.

That victory allowed Dallas to post a 113½-110½ triumph over Abington Heights. Pittston Area finished third in the team standings while Crestwood, Hazleton Area and Wyoming Area came in fifth through seventh in the 19-team field.

The relay victory was the only one for Dallas Tuesday, but they picked up a dozen other medals, including two silvers and three bronzes.

The top six in each event received medals and the top eight earned team points.

Granteed helped Holy Redeemer finish second in the Class 2A team race behind Lakeland.

She won the 100 (12.46) and 200 (26.05) by wide margins, then anchored a record-setting team that included McKenzie Chimock, Aleese Stair and Jane Gillespie.

“I feel like I still have a lot of improvement and a lot of areas that I can get better in,” Granteed said. “I’m excited about what states could bring.”

Holy Redeemer completed a sweep of the three relays, with Gillespie also running on the win in the 1600.

Ella McKernan picked up her second gold medal in as many days, using a 1-2 finish with Wyoming Area teammate Hannah Stoss to win the 800.

Other Class 3A winners from the WVC were Hazleton Area’s Gabriella Bredbenner in the 400 and Crestwood’s Grayce Grazio, who beat out Messner by clearing 5-5 in the high jump.

DISTRICT 2 GIRLS TRACK AND FIELD

Class 3A

Team scoring: 1, Dallas (DAL) 113½; 2, Abington Heights (AH) 110½; 3, Pittston Area (PA) 55; 4, North Pocono (NP) 53; 5, Crestwood (CRE) 51; 6, Hazleton Area (HAZ) 47½; 7, Wyoming Area (WA) 47; 8, Delaware Valley (DV) 43; 8, Wallenpaupack (WALL) 43; 10, Honesdale (HON) 26; 10, Tunkhannock (TUNK) 26; 12, Valley View (VV) 22; 13, Scranton (SCR) 21; 14, Nanticoke (NAN) 16; 15, West Scranton (WS) 14; 16, Scranton Prep (SP) 10; 17, Wyoming Valley West (WVW) 2; 18, Berwick (BER) 1; 19, Wilkes-Barre Area (WBA) ½.

100 hurdles: 1, Emma Simmons, DV, 16.18; 2, Julia Natitus, DAL, 15.74; 3, Eyinah Smith, SCR, 16.09; 4, Abby Kimler, WAL, 16.20; 5, Ella Smith, WAL, 16.21; 6, Emily Stefani, WS, 16.77.

100: 1, Aria Messner, PA, 12.53; 2, Kaitlyn Kravitz, NP, 12.85; 3, Noelle Alguire, TUNK, 12.86; 4, Trinity Basara, DAL, 12.92; 5, Gracie Coyne, DAL, 13.03; 6, Jenna Grieco, PA, 13.04.

1600: 1, Brenna Dahlgren, HON, 5:13.56; 2, Anna Pucilowski, AH, 5:14.15; 3, Madison Hedglin, DAL, 5:18.7; 4, Katie Kozich, CRE, 5:21.36; 5, Kaelyn Barker, CRE, 5:21.48; 6, Sarah Williams, DAL, 5:22.08.

400 relay: 1, Pittston Area (Ali Butcher, Jenna Grieco, Annika Lien, Aria Messner), 49.54; 2, Abington Heights, 50.60; 3, North Pocono, 50.79; 4, Delaware Valley, 51.16; 5, Scranton, 51.30; 6, Valley View, 51.59.

Discus: 1, Peyton Fox, SP, 116-3; 2, Jasmin Nguyen, DAL, 107-5; 3, Morgan Langdon, DAL, 107-4; 4, Hope Kline, CRE, 105-10; 5, Gianna Julian, AH, 104-2; 6, Kelsey Porasky, TUNK, 103-3.

400: 1, Gabriella Bredbenner, HAZ, 58.25; 2, Kaitlyn Kravitz, NP, 58.51 (state qualifier); 3, Gracie Coyne, DAL, 58.55 (state qualifier); 4, Nevaeh Baran, NANT, 59.30; 5, Noelle Alguire, TUNK, 1:00.47; 6, Trinity Basara, DAL, 1:00.73.

High jump: 1, Grayce Grazio, CRE, 5-5; 2, Aria Messner, PA, 5-3 (state qualifier); 3, Gabriella DaSilva, DAL, 5-1; 3, Madison Zalewski, AH, 5-1; 5, Paige Bittman, PA, 5-1; 6, Abby Kimler, WALL, 5-1.

800: 1, Ella McKernan, WA, 2:15.18; 2, Hannah Stoss, WA, 2:20.63; 3, Reese Morgan, AH, 2:22.20; 4, Emma Horsley, AH, 2:23.09; 5, Marygrace Sabatini, AH, 2:23.92; 6, Sophia Benyo, HAZ, 2:27.57.

200: 1, Kaitlyn Kravitz, NP, 26.12; 2, Gabriella Bredbenner, HAZ, 26.41; 3, Lilia Calvert, AH, 26.62; 4, Maggie Coleman, AH, 26.79; 5, Trinity Basara, DAL, 26.96; 6, Gracie Coyne, DAL, 27.00.

Javelin: 1, Emma Miller, VV, 128-9; 2, Erika Badner, WALL, 124-6 (state qualifier); 3, Madison Zalewski, AH, 121-9; 4, Rozalyn Mikulak, HON, 115-0; 5, Mary Zabielski, VV, 113-3; 6, Madi Geiger, CRE, 112-8.

Long jump: 1, Aria Messner, PA, 19-2½; 2, Soyer Delucy, NP, 18-2¼; 3, Navaeh Baran, NAN, 17-3¼; 4, Noelle Alguire, TUNK, 16-11½; 5, Sophia Shults, HAZ, 16-5¼; 6, Tomara Seid, AH, 16-2½.

1600 relay: 1, Dallas (Gracie Coyne, Julia Natitus, Ava Puskar, Trinity Basara) 4:01.54; 2, Abington Heights, 4:01.95; 3, Wyoming Area, 4:08.85; Wallenpaupack, 4:10.68; 5, West Scranton, 4:11.88; 6, Scranton, 4:11.92.

Class 2A

Team scoring: 1, Lakeland (LAKE) 95; 2, Holy Redeemer (HR) 78; 3, Mid Valley (MV) 77; 4, Montrose (MON) 67; 5, Lake-Lehman (LL) 65; 6, Mountain View (MTV) 54; 7, Elk Lake (EL) 52; 8, Western Wayne (WW) 39; 9, Carbondale (CARB) 31; 10, Riverside (RIV) 22; 10, Hanover Area (HAN) 22; 10, Holy Cross (HC) 22; 13, Blue Ridge (BR) 21; 14, Dunmore (DUN) 19; 15, Lackawanna Trail (LT) 18; 16, Susquehanna (SUS) 14; 17, Wyoming Seminary (SEM) 5.

100 hurdles: 1, Chloe Diaz, MON, 15.70; 2, Natalie Talluto, MV, 16.23; 3, Kaylyn Davis, LAKE, 16.73; 4, Gabriella Martini, 16.89; 5, Lydia Vivian, LL, 17.01; 6, Ivy Bishop, SUS, 17.07.

100: 1, Isabella Granteed, HR, 12.46; 2, Mae Kaufman, MV, 13.08; 3, Braelyn Reed, RIV, 13.10; 4, Rhys Evans, MTV, 13.18; 5, Sophia Lenza, LL, 13.21; 6, Aleese Stair, HR, 13.25.

1600: 1, Carissa Flynn, MTV, 5:21.72; 2, Emily Black, LAKE, 5:25.53; 3, Annika Von Ahnen, MV, 5:31.46; 4, Alana Palmaioli, LL, 5:38.35; 5, Corrinne Flynn, MTV, 5:40.48; 6, Betsy Digiovanni, LL, 5:47.74.

Shot put: 1, Katie McGlynn, EL, 34-6; 2, Ella Axtell, LT, 33-4¾; 3, Gianna Tewksbury, EL, 32-1; 4, Makenzie Schirg, LT, 30-10½; 5, Gelina Smith, MON, 29-10½; 6, Molly Jenkins, LL, 29-6½.

400 relay: 1, Holy Redeemer (McKenzie Chimock, Aleese Stair, Jane Gillespie, Isabella Granteed), 49.48 (meet record); 2, Montrose, 50.55 (state qualifier); 3, Lake-Lehman, 52.23; 4, Mid Valley, 52.59; 5, Mountain View, 52.74; 6, Western Wayne, 53.57.

Pole vault: 1, Maura Michalczyk, DUN, 11-0; 2, Katie Skirpan, WW, 11-0; 3, Allyson Brodie, HAN, 8-0; 4, Emily Gorham, BR, 8-0; 5, Gabriella Granville, CARB, 7-6; 6, Trinity Deprez, MV, 7-6.

400: 1, Kate Korty, CARB, 58.85; 2, Kirsten Navich, LAKE, 1:00.30; 3, Mae Kaufman, MV, 1:00.32; 4, Carly Frey, MON, 1:01.33; 5, Jane Gillespie, HR, 1:02.33; 6, Rebecca Polgar, SEM, 1:02.57.

800: 1, Kate Korty, CARB, 2:17.51; 2, Avery Kozerski, HR, 2:19.26 (state qualifier); 3, Avery Kerr, MONT, 2:26.85; 4, Faith Wormuth, LAKE, 2:29.48; 5, Carissa Flynn, MTV, 2:30.21; 6, Sydney Upright, EL, 2:31.07.

200: 1, Isabella Granteed, HR, 26.05; 2, Mae Kaufman, MV, 27.03; 3, McKenzie Chimock, HR, 27.76; 4, Mandolay Velez, SUS, 28.03; 5 Braelyn Reed, RIV, 28.10; 6, Madison George, MV, 28.19.

1600 relay: 1, Holy Redeemer (Jane Gillespie, Emily Krevey, Avery Chepolis, Avery Kozerski), 4:08.38; 2, Montrose, 4:13.47; 3, Mid Valley, 4:15.33; 4, Lakeland, 4:16.29; 5, Blue Ridge, 4:19.71; 6, Mountain View, 4:23.86.

Triple jump: 1, Eva Carachilo, HC, 34-10¾; 2, Kirsten Navich, LAKE, 34-8½; 3, Demetra Messner, MTV, 33-11½; 4, Sophia Lenza, LL, 33-9¼; 5, Sydney Upright, EL, 33-8; 6, Sadie Jones, MON, 32-6.

NOTE: State qualifiers that were not listed in the results in the Tuesday on-line edition were: Sophia Lenza, LL, 2A long jump; Emily Black, LAKE, 2A 3200; Hannah Lafave, WAL, 3A pole vault; Lilianna Coe, DV, 3A triple jump; Tomara Seid, AH, 3A triple jump.