District 2 Boys Track: Hazleton Area comes up just shy of District 2 team title

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SCRANTON — It was a battle fought to the very last race of the day, but Hazleton Area came up just a few points short of catching Scranton and winning a team championship.

Scranton managed to hold off the Cougars to win the District 2 Class 3A boys track championship, outscoring Hazleton by just 2.5 points to win the team title.

Hazleton’s 1,600-meter relay team managed to finish a spot ahead of Scranton’s in the final race of the meet, but couldn’t make up the points to topple the Knights.

Mid Valley made it a Lackawanna Conference sweep of the team titles with a dominant win in the Class 2A team standings, scoring 133 points to win on a day where every single Class 2A event was won by an athlete from the Lackawanna Conference.

Hazleton Area leads strong WVC finishers in 3A field

Though they had just one winner in Tuesday’s second day of competition, the Cougars finished strong in several different events to climb the Class 3A team standings.

Samuell Guzman, the winner of the boys javelin event at last week’s WVC Championships, topped his personal-best throw from that meet with a gold medal throw of 207 feet, 5 inches to win the district title in a rout.

Guzman said after the WVC meet that he thought he had room for improvement, and he found a few extra feet with his best throw on Tuesday.

“As soon as it left my hands, I knew it was a good one,” Guzman said. “I was happy, I knew it was a good throw.”

Starting the day in a tie for fifth place, the Cougars quickly climbed the ladder and, at one point, were able to leap into first place ahead of Scranton, who began the day with the lead.

With just two events left, the Cougars were up a few points, but Scranton retook the lead with a strong showing in the high jump, and did just enough in the 1,600 relay finale to hold onto their slim lead.

The best performer of the day in Class 3A was Berwick’s Ty Wilkerson, winning three gold medals and helping his Bulldogs to a fourth-place team finish.

Wilkerson followed the same path as he did at the WVC meet: he won the 100 dash and the long jump on his own, and ran a blistering anchor leg on the 400 relay to bring home another set of gold medals for the Bulldogs.

“Catch up, catch up, that was my mindset,” Wilkerson said. “I’m happy to help my team out.”

Wilkerson’s final run of the day was a silver-medal finish in the 200 dash, with Crestwood’s George Jennings winning gold with a time of 22.60 seconds.

The Comets finished in fifth place, with Wilkes-Barre Area and Pittston Area following in sixth and seventh, respectively.

The WVC’s final two winners of the competition were Tunkhannock’s Will Lupinski in the high jump and Pittston Area’s Preston Klem in the 800 run.

Klem, already a gold medalist in Monday’s 4×800 relay, set a new school record with a time of 1:57.61 in the 800.

“It’s a dream come true,” Klem said. “Ever since freshman year, my goal was to make the state meet. Now I’m here, and it’s a great feeling.”

Lake-Lehman takes third place in Class 2A team standings

Entering the day Tuesday, the WVC had three gold medalists on the board: Lake-Lehman’s Seth Berry twice, with wins in the long jump and high jump, and the Lake-Lehman 3200 relay team.

That number wouldn’t budge, as all 11 finals decided in the Class 2A Boys Track and Field Championships were won by athletes from the Lackawanna Conference.

Mid Valley’s Victor Holt led the way with wins in the 100 and 200 along with the 400 relay, as the Spartans ran away with the District 2 team championship.

Lake-Lehman was still the WVC’s best performing team on Tuesday, ending the meet with 82.5 points and a third-place team finish.

Ben Wnuk had the strongest individual finish of the day for the Black Knights, winning silver in the 800 run while teammates Finn Cronin and Nicco Diana took third and fourth place, respectively.

Berry added two more medals to his haul for the championships, placing fourth in the triple jump and fifth as part of Lehman’s 400 Relay team. The school’s 1,600 relay team placed fourth to end the meet.

Outside of Lake-Lehman, Michael Stilp brought home a bronze medal for Holy Redeemer with his run in the 200, clocking in at 23.47 seconds behind second-place finisher Cory Domiano, of Dunmore, and race winner Holt.

Stilp’s teammate Andrew Chase won a fourth-place medal in the shot put. Hanover Area’s Anthony Anderson placed fifth in the 400 run to round out the WVC’s medalists on Tuesday.

District 2 Class 3A Boys Track and Field Championships

Team Standings – 1. Scranton (SCR) 72.5; 2. Hazleton Area (HAZ) 70; 3. Wallenpaupack (WAL) 61; 4. Berwick (BER) 55; 5. Crestwood (CRE) 54; 6. Wilkes-Barre Area (WBA) 45.5; 7. Pittston Area (PA) 44; 8. Abington Heights (AH) 42; 9. Delaware Valley (DV) 40; 10. Wyoming Area (WA) 37; T11. West Scranton (WSC) 36; T11. Tunkhannock (TUN) 36; 13. Dallas (DAL) 30; 14. Valley View (VV) 26; 15. Scranton Prep (SP) 21; 16. North Pocono (NP) 11; 17. Nanticoke Area (NAN) 8; 18. Honesdale (HON) 7; 19. Wyoming Valley West (WVW) 6.

110 Hurdles: 1. Colin Manley (WSC) 14.69; 2. Charles McClain (DV) 14.83 (state qual.); 3. Jhaven Sims (SCR) 15.80; 4. Zayden Lamfers (WAL) 16.41; 5. Kevin Wickizer (NP) 16.46; 6. Edie Salazar (SCR) 16.58.

100 Dash: 1. Ty Wilkerson (BER) 11.16; 2. Jaden Shedlock (CRE) 11.31; 3. Timothy Leonard (WBA) 11.42; 4. George Jennings (CRE) 11.42; 5. Kevon Creech (WBA) 11.52; 6. Aaton Crossley (WA) 11.55.

1600 Run: 1. Aiden Janowicz (WAL) 4:19.77; 2. Mason Staude (CRE) 4:23.35; 3. Franklin Ritz (HAZ) 4:25.37; 4. Aidan Graff (SCR) 4:25.79; 5. Ethan Williams (VV) 4:29.41; 6. Logan Novobilski (HON) 4:32.55.

400 Relay: 1. Berwick (Caleb May, Kaden Hickman, Alex Estrella, Ty Wilkerson) 43.66; 2. Wilkes-Barre Area 43.75; 3. Delaware Valley 44.31; 4. Wyoming Valley West 44.44; 5. North Pocono 44.47; 6. West Scranton 44.72.

400 Run: 1. DJ Rogers (AH) 50.76; 2. Jalen Moore (PA) 50.85; 3. Owen Pollock (HAZ) 51.74; 4. Taron Knight-Guerrier (WSC) 51.76; 5. Andrew Lupinski (TUN) 51.79; 6. Jacob Gardner (WAL) 51.88.

800 Run: 1. Preston Klem (PA) 1:57.61; 2. Franklin Ritz (HAZ) 1:57.71; 3. Mason Staude (CRE) 1:59.62; 4. Brian McCormack (SCR) 2:00.31; 5. Aiden Janowicz (WAL) 2:01.16; 6. Sean Rooney (AH) 2:01.16.

200 Dash: 1. George Jennings (CRE) 22.60; 2. Ty Wilkerson (BER) 22.76; 3. Jalen Moore (PA) 23.02; 4. Kevon Creech (WBA) 23.26; 5. Gavin Lewis (DAL) 23.34; 6. DJ Rogers (AH) 23.39.

1600 Relay: 1. Abington Heights (DJ Rogers, Sean Rooney, Jack Sorensen, Hamza Mirza) 3:28.29; 2. Wallenpaupack 3:30.86; 3. Hazleton Area 3:31.30; 4. Scranton 3:32.30; 5. Tunkhannock (TUN) 3:32.71; 6. Wilkes-Barre Area (WBA) 3:32.84

Long Jump: 1. Ty Wilkerson (BER) 22-0.25; 2. Davon Underwood (WBA) 21-10.5; 3. Xanye Murphy (WBA) 21-2.75; 4. Amir Robinson (WSC) 20-11.75; 5. Tristen Smith (SCR) 20-8.5; 6. Oscaudy Vasquez (HAZ) 20-5.25.

Javelin: 1. Samuell Guzman (HAZ) 207-5; 2. Matthew Staffin (HAZ) 176-5; 3. Caden Newswanger (TUN) 172-4; 4. Tyler Bird (DV) 167-1; 5. Rob Nolan (VV) 161-10; 6. Jack Gravine (WA) 152-1.

Discus: 1. Ben Ostrowski (WAL) 163-6; 2. Tyler Yakaboski (WAL) 159-7 (state qual.); 3. John Cummings (DAL) 152-2; 4. Anthony De Los Santos (SP) 147-0; 5. Ben Gravine (WA) 145-6; 6. Joel Vasquez (HAZ) 141-11.

High Jump: 1. Will Lupinski (TUN) 6-1; 2. Zack Fox (NAN) 5-11; 3. John Roberto (SCR) 5-11; 4. Shawn Rowell (SP) 5-11; 5. Skyler Pierce (WA) 5-9; 6. Nicholas VanBuskir (WAL) 5-9.

Class 2A Boys Track and Field Championships

Team Standings – 1. Mid Valley (MV) 133; 2. Dunmore (DUN) 102; 3. Lake-Lehman (LL) 82.5; 4. Riverside (RIV) 71; 5. Holy Cross (HC) 53; 6. Western Wayne (WW) 51.5 7. Lakeland (LAK) 46; 8. Elk Lake (ELK) 39; 9. Montrose (MON) 38; 10. Susquehanna (SUS) 27; 11. Carbondale Area (CAR) 18; 12. Holy Redeemer (HR) 16; T13. Lackawanna Trail (LT) 9; T13. Mountain View (MTV) 9; 15. Hanover Area (HAN) 4.

110 Hurdles: 1. Cael Krushnowski (RIV) 16.28; 2. Xavier Burke (DUN) 16.31; 3. Ryder Hobart (SUS) 17.07; 4. Carmelo Barnett (RIV) 17.23; 5. Jordan Malar (LAK) 17.33; 6. Tyler Atticks (LAK) 17.36.

100 Dash: 1. Victor Holt (MV) 11.44; 2. Timothy Kramer (MV) 11.73; 3. Jordan Chmielewski (MV) 11.73; 4. Daniel Gonsulas (CAR) 11.79; 5. Preston Casey (CAR) 11.79; 6. Cael Krushnowski (RIV) 11.86.

1600 Run: 1. Kendel Jones (ELK) 4:28.34; 2. Henry Decker (LAK) 4:35.36; 3. Michael Beach (MTV) 4:36.53; 4. Matthew Repecki (MV) 4:36.61; 5. Lorenzo Christian (MON) 4:39.07; 6. Daniel Danilovitz (RIV) 4:39.14.

400 Relay: 1. Mid Valley (Mason Vinansky, Victor Holt, Timothy Kramer, Jordan Chmielewski) 43.75; 2. Montrose 44.94; 3. Dunmore 45.06; 4. Carbondale Area 45.12; 5. Lake-Lehman 45.74; 6. Lackawanna Trail 46.02.

400 Run: 1. Cory Domiano (DUN) 50.21; 2. Jakob Lesher (MV) 52.36; 3. Carmelo Barnett (RIV) 52.62; 4. Nicolo Christian (MON) 52.87; 5. Anthony Anderson (HAN) 53.04; 6. JT Burke (SUS) 53.24.

800 Run: 1. Thomas Clark (DUN) 1:59.51; 2. Ben Wnuk (LL) 2:03.84; 3. Finn Cronin (LL) 2:04.25; 4. Nicco Diana (LL) 2:04.26; 5. Dylan Kopa (LAK) 2:05.11; 6. Luke Mozeleski (HC) 2:05.66.

200 Dash: 1. Victor Holt (MV) 22.77; 2. Cory Domiano (DUN) 23.05; 3. Matthew Stilp (HR) 23.47; 4. Dom DeSando (DUN) 23.62; 5. Timothy Kramer (MV) 23.62; 6. Nicolo Christian (MON) 23.90.

1600 Relay: 1. Dunmore (Gabe Franek, Dom DeSando, Cory Domiano, Thomas Clark) 3:27.99; 2. Mid Valley 3:32.73; 3. Susquehanna 3:35.45; 4. Lake-Lehman 3:35.84; 5. Lakeland 3:38.81; 6. Elk Lake 3:41.30.

Triple Jump: 1. Kevin Vincent (HC) 44-3.5; 2. Wyatt Johnson (ELK) 44-0.75 (state qual.); 3. Connor Oshinski (RIV) 42-6.5; 4. Seth Berry (LL) 42-1.75; 5. Josh Dudick (DUN) 40-6.5; 6. Miller Mattie (LL) 40-0.5.

Pole Vault: 1. Robert Carrelle (WW) 12-6; 2. Jordan Chmielewski (MV) 12-6; 3. Wyatt Youngblood (MV) 10-6; 4. Aiden Matthews (WW) 10-6; 5. Andrew Vigil (LAK) 9-6; 6. Ethan Parra (DUN) 9-0.

Shot Put: 1. Evan Dean (WW) 45-5; 2. Nathan Howey-Reuth (DUN) 44-1.25; 3. Nicholas Jackson (MV) 43-11; 4. Andrew Chase (HR) 43-1.50; 5. Robert Mattioli (MV) 42-9; 6. Hayden Mundrake (WW) 42-5.