Susquehanna graduate Teresa Covert, a four-time state champion, presents the 100-meter hurdles gold medal to Lakeland's Cassidy Jenkins after Jenkins broke Covert's 17-year-old District 2 record in the event. Photo by Tom Robinson.
SCRANTON – Hunter Watkins and Laurren Whitney quickly established themselves as the best javelin throwers at the District 2 Class AA Track and Field Championships.
Watkins, an Elk Lake junior, secured a trip to the state championships by meeting the qualifying standard on his first attempt, and went on to successfully defend his district championship.
Only Watkins was able to surpass his own first attempt, going six feet further to win by more than 29 feet with a heave of 192-4.
Whitney, a Blue Ridge senior, had closer competition on the way to the girls title. Her first attempt of 115-0, however, held up for the district championship.
Elk Lake 800-meter runner Katie Bennett joined Watkins and Whitney as the individual champions from Susquehanna County while the Montrose girls 400 relay and Elk Lake girls 3200 relay teams also captured gold medals at Scranton Memorial Stadium May 11.
In addition to the district titles, other county athletes earned the chance to compete at the state championships.
Blue Ridge’s Lindsey Rupakus made it in the 300-meter hurdles by meeting the state qualifying standard.
Class AA boys is the only District 2 track and field championship where the top two athletes in each event advance to the state meet.
Blue Ridge’s Brett Hepler, in the discus, and Montrose’s Billy Hewes, in the 110-meter hurdles, qualified as individuals by finishing second. The Elk Lake 3200 relay team also advanced by taking second.
Montrose’s Zach Mead was fourth, but qualified for the state meet when the top two finishers in the 1600 meters scratched to concentrate on their other events.
Watkins needed a throw of 176 feet to assure himself a state berth regardless of his place finish. When his first throw went beyond 186 feet, all stress was removed from the rest of the meet.
After his second throw landed outside the sector, Watkins unleashed his official winning throw of 192-4, coming within three feet of his career-best, which was posted a week earlier at the Spagna Lackawanna Track Conference Championships.
“I just try to stay consistent,” Watkins said. “At that point, I knew I was going to make it to states.”
When he arrives at Shippensburg University to pursue a state medal, Watkins will have a special number in mind.
“I had a goal set this year at 200 feet,” he said. “At the beginning of this year, I thought it was unreachable.
“If I could get to 200 at states, I would be quite competitive.”
Whitney knew to expect a competitive District 2 meet when she went in as the third seed and one of three competitors leading the field with season-best efforts between 112 and 113 feet.
The opening throw of 115-0 held up as the winner.
“Having a 115, I felt confident about it,” she said, “but I wasn’t sure, because with the javelin, if the wind catches it, it can really sail.”
Bennett also won a title in an event where she was seeded third. She finished first in the 800 in 2:24.0.
When Elk Lake won the day’s first gold medal, Bennett also played a role.
The 3200 relay team beat out cross country rivals Holy Redeemer and Holy Cross, winning by 13.87 seconds in 10:00.82.
Julie VanEtten, Keri Jones, Bennett and Justine Johns formed the winning relay.
Montrose rallied with freshman anchor Mckenzie Newhart to win the 400 relay. Amber Kadlecik, Krysten Morgan and Madelyn Pasteka ran the first three legs for the team, which finished in 51.91 seconds.
Newhart said that the baton exchange from Pasteka to her was not their best. However, it was better than the one by Meyers and helped give Newhart the momentum she needed to take over the lead.
Rupakus was the only county athlete to make it to Shippensburg strictly on the result she put up.
The state qualifying standard in the 300 hurdles was 47.64. Rupakus easily surpassed it, finishing in 45.95 while chasing four-time champion Cassidy Jenkins of Lakeland, who was in the process of breaking her own record.
“She has helped me ever since freshman year,” said Rupakus, who also qualified for the state meet based on her time last year.
Hepler was second in the discus with a throw of 137-3 and Hewes was second in the 110 high hurdles with a time of 16.12 seconds.
Cody Oswald, Eddie Cumens, Seth Owens and Hunter Bedell took second in the 3200 relay for Elk Lake in 8:42.90.
Mead finished the 1600 in 4:45.22.
Bennett’s individual win and relay victory helped the Elk Lake girls finish fifth out of 18 teams with 60 points.
Lakeland edged Holy Redeemer, 88-86, for the title.
Megyn Stevens was fourth in both the shot put and discus for Elk Lake, which also picked up the usual points from its distance runners.
Kenzie Jones was fourth in both the 3200 and 1600. Justine Johns was fourth in the 800. Keri Jones was fifth in the 1600.
Elk Lake’s other points came from Lydia Ofalt’s fifth in the 300 hurdles, sixths from the 400 and 1600 relays and Mikaela Parrett’s eighth in the javelin.
The top six in each event earned medals while the top eight scored points.
Montrose was eighth with 43 points, Blue Ridge ninth with 41, Susquehanna 13th with 13 and Mountain View 15th with 9 1/3.
Pasteka added to her relay win by taking third in the high jump and being part of Montrose's fifth-place 1600 relay.
Hannah Dieck was also third in the triple jump along with a seventh in the pole vault.
The Lady Meteors also got points from: 3200 relay, fourth; Emma Washo, fifth, 3200; Radvile Vaiciulyte, sixth, high jump; Kadlecik, seventh, 100; and Maura Blachek, eighth, discus.
Blue Ridge’s Rupakus was also third in the 1600 relay, and fourth in the 100 hurdles and the 400 relay team.
Amber Brecht, Isabella Cosmello and Katherine Kempa were on both relays with Rupakus.
Cosmello was also eighth in the 400.
Casey Purdum was fifth in the 800 and Kim Klim was seventh in the triple jump.
Skyla Wilson, the freshman daughter of four-time state hurdles champion Teresa Covert, accounted for all of Susquehanna’s scoring. Wilson was fourth in the 300 hurdles and 400 as well as sixth in the 100 hurdles.
Emillee Miller was fifth in the shot put for Mountain View, which also got points from: Stephanie Ostir, sixth, 200; Alexis Presley, seventh, 100 hurdles; and Audrey Cameron, eighth, high jump.
Montrose had the top county boys’ finish, taking fifth with 48 points.
Lakeland ran away with the team title with 100 points. The Meteors were just 10 points out of second place.
Hewes led the way for Montrose, adding a fifth in the 300 hurdles to his second in the 110 high hurdles and anchoring the fourth-place 1600 relay.
Colin Mondi was third in the high jump and sixth in the pole vault.
The 3200 relay team of Austin Cook, Owen Brewer, Brandon Curley and Zach Mead was third. Brewer was fifth in the 3200 while Curley was also eighth in the 1600.
Steven Shelp, Mike Stewart and Harley Mullins ran on both the fourth-place 1600 relay team and the fifth-place 400 relay team. Justin Richel joined them in the 400.
Shelp was also seventh in the 300 hurdles.
Elk Lake finished eighth with 37 ½ points.
Watkins added a third-place finish in the 300 hurdles where he placed behind two of the three fastest hurdlers in the state, based on times at district championships.
Dakota Oswald was third in the 800.
Elk Lake also got points from: Tommy Malindri, fourth, shot put; Seth Tewksbury, tie seventh, high jump; and Anthony Falcone, tie seventh, pole vault.
Blue Ridge tied for 12th with 30 points.
Hepler added a seventh in the triple jump to his second in the discus.
Craig Stanley, Zach Conrad, Steven Jesse and Hunter Conklin were third in the 400 relay.
Stanley was also fifth in the triple jump and seventh in the long jump.
Conrad (400) and Conklin (200) finished sixth.
Travis Hinkley was seventh in the 1600.
Mountain View was 17th with 16 points.
James Goodenough led the Eagles, taking fourth in the 400 and running on the sixth-place 1600 relay.
Joe Nally was fourth in the pole vault.
Kristian Passetti tied for fifth in the high jup.
Susquehanna did not score a point. Luke Falletta’s 10th in the 800 was the best finish for the Sabers.
WEEK IN REVIEW
Nanticoke eliminated host Mountain View from the District 2 Class AA boys’ volleyball tournament Sunday afternoon with a 25-23, 25-12, 25-10 victory.
In high school baseball, Holy Cross edged Mountain View, 2-1, Friday in a District 2 Class AA first-round game.
Chris White threw a five-hitter for Mountain View in the loss with three walks and seven strikeouts.
James Wetter answered with a 13-strikeout, three-hitter for Holy Cross and was the only player in the game with two hits.
In boys’ tennis, both Montrose teams were eliminated in the first round of the District 2 Class AA doubles tournament.
Christopher Lewis-Kory Morrison fell to Tunkhannock’s Packie Cronin-Luke Straley, 7-5, 6-1, and Caleb Hoal-Noah Kildare lost to fourth-seeded and eventual semifinalist P.J. Sova-Alec Rodway of Valley View.
In professional hockey, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins had their season come to an end when they lost four games to one in the second round of the American Hockey League’s Calder Cup Playoffs.
The Manchester Monarchs, the top seed in the Eastern Conference, finished off the Penguins by winning 5-2 on May 11 and 2-1 on May 12.
Jordan Weal had a hat trick to lead Manchester in Game Four.
The Monarchs opened a 2-0, first-period lead in the clincher.
COLLEGE CORNER
After sitting out the spring of 2014, Julia Koloski had a big outdoor track and field season as a fifth-year senior at the University of Pittsburgh before suffering a foot injury Friday at the Atlantic Coast Conference Track and Field Championships.
The former state champion from Montrose has been Pitt’s top triple jumper, second-best long jumper and a member of its best 1600- and 800-meter relay teams while also competing in the 100- and 400-meter dashes.
Koloski had the second-best triple jump this season by any ACC woman. She got hurt on her second attempt in the long jump, finishing 10th in the ACC, and had to miss the triple jump.
In 2013, Koloski won the ECAC/IC4A Championship in the triple jump with a career-best of 12.90 meters.
Koloski won the triple jump at the Virginia Challenge in April with a leap of 12.72 meters. She set career-bests this season in the 100, with a time of 12.39 seconds at the Texas Relays, and in the 400, with a time of 58.76 at the Wake Forest Open.
THE WEEK AHEAD
Susquehanna County will be represented by seven individuals and three relay teams in the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Track and Field Championships Friday and Saturday at Shippensburg University.
Elk Lake’s Watkins, the county’s top state contender, will take a shot at being among the first to receive medals.
Watkins is seeded third out of 25 in the Class AA boys javelin, which is one of the field events contested beginning at 9 a.m. Friday.
Elk Lake runners are also involved in the first of the weekend’s field events.
The 3200-meter relay is the first event on the track, also starting at 9 a.m. Friday.
The Elk Lake girls are seeded 12th of 26 in the event. The Elk Lake boys are seeded last among the 25 teams in the event.
The top eight in each event make it to Saturday’s 11 a.m. finals.
Montrose’s Hewes is in the 110 hurdles, which has preliminaries Friday at 11 a.m., the semifinals for the top 16 Saturday at 10:15 a.m. and the finals for the top eighth Saturdah at 12:25 p.m.
Hewes is seeded 19th of 24.
Montrose’s Mead is seeded 27th of 29 in the 1600, which is scheduled for Friday at noon qualifying and Saturday at 12:45 p.m. finals.
The 400 relay is set for qualifying Friday at 1 with the finals Saturday at 1:15. The Montrose girls are seeded 25th of 27.
Blue Ridge’s Rupakus goes in as the top threat among county girls.
Rupakus is seeded seventh of 30 in the 300 hurdles. The top eight in each event score points and earn medals for their teams.
The 300 hurdles has qualifying Friday at 3 and finals Saturday at 2.
The 800 follows at 3:30 Friday and 2:30 Saturday.
Elk Lake’s Bennett is seeded 18th of 26.
The other county throwers are part of the Saturday 9 a.m. set of field events.
Blue Ridge’s Hepler is seeded 16th of 25 in the boys discus and Whitney is 22nd of 27 in the girls javelin.
In high school softball, Mountain View will host a District 2 Class A semifinal Thursday against the Old Forge-MMI Prep winner. The other semifinal will feature the Susquehanna/Blue Ridge winner against the Forest City-Lackawanna Trail winner.
The Class A final is set for Tuesday, May 26.
The District 2 Class AA tournament has quarterfinals Wednesday and semifinals Friday.
Montrose and Elk Lake were scheduled to play their first-round games Monday.
In high school baseball, the District 2 Class A semifinals are set for Wednesday. The District 2 Class AA semifinals are Thursday.
The Elk Lake-Forest City winner will meet the Susquehanna-MMI Prep winner in one Class A semifinal while the Old Forge-Blue Ridge winner will play at top-seeded Lackawanna Trail in the other.
Montrose was the top seed in Class AA and needed to get past visiting Holy Cross in a game scheduled for Tuesday in order to reach the semifinals. The Meteors had a first-round bye.
The finals will all be played Monday, May 25 at PNC Field in Moosic.
The Class A final is at 4 p.m. and the Class AA game is at 7 p.m.
TOM ROBINSON writes a weekly local sports column for the Susquehanna County Transcript. He can be reached online at RobbyTR@aol.com or followed on Twitter at @tomjrobinson.
