SCRANTON – Colin Mondi quickly dealt with the disappointment of not making the baseball team as an eighth-grader.
Mondi joined the Montrose junior high track team the same day and soon had more than one place to compete each spring.
Fitting in among both the jumpers and the throwers, Mondi became a key four-event performer on a Meteors high school team that has won four straight Lackawanna Track Conference Division 4 titles.
“I just tried to find events where I could hold my own,” said Mondi, a senior who has done much more than that.
Mondi was the only Susquehanna County boy to earn a silver medal May 9 during the Robert Spagna Memorial LTC Championships at Memorial Stadium. He finished second in the pole vault by clearing 12-6 and also added a fifth-place tie in the high jump while helping make the Montrose boys the highestfinishing team from the county.
Skyla Wilson finished second in the 300-meter hurdles to help make Susquehanna the highest-finishing girls team from the county.
Sarah Korty, who competes for Carbondale as part of Forest City’s cooperative sponsorship of the sport, claimed two silver medals in the throws while her sister, Jenn Korty, earned one in the 800.
Hannah Perkins from Montrose also finished second in the 3200.
The Montrose boys, who already won the division title, the Lasagna Invitational in Wyalusing and the Jordan Relays in Scranton, finished third among the 10 Class 2A teams that scored points and ninth out of 19 teams overall.
The final Class 2A boys standings were: Lakeland 68, Western Wayne 51, Montrose 37.5, Carbondale 28, Holy Cross 24, Lackawanna Trail 21, Dunmore 21, Mid Valley 14, Riverside 12, Blue Ridge 3.
“It’s been a great season overall so far,” said Mondi, the 2015 Spagna Meet high jump champion who is seeded second in the pole vault, third in the discus, tied for third in the high jump and fifth in the shot put for Wednesday’s District 2 Class 2A Championships. “We’re hoping districts next week will be even better.”
The top three in every event earned medals and the top eight scored points for their team.
Collin Chidester was Montrose’s other medalist with a third-place finish in the 110-meter hurdles, one place and one-hundredth of a second ahead of teammate Harley Mullins after they ran the exact same time in qualifying.
Zach Mead, in the 1600, and the 3200 relay team of Eric Bixby, Max Brewer, Nick Coy and Liam Mead also finished fourth for Montrose.
Owen Brewer was fifth in the 3200 and Brandon Curley was eighth in the 1600.
Blue Ridge was the only other county boys team to score in the meet.
Hunter Conklin was seventh in the 100 and Travis Hickling was eighth in the 400 for the Raiders.
Wilson and Jenn Korty missed out on gold medals by the narrowest of margins.
Lakeland’s Madison Harding edged Wilson by four-hundredths of a second in the 100 hurdles. Wilson had also qualified second for the 100 hurdles, but was disqualified from the final because of a false start.
Sam Killiany from Wallenpaupack rallied by Korty to win by 0.35 seconds in the 800.
The Susquehanna girls finished sixth out of 10 Class 2A teams that scored and 12th out of 19 teams overall.
The final Class 2A girls standings were: Lakeland 87 ½, Western Wayne 65, Holy Cross 56, Carbondale 39, Dunmore 33 ½, Susquehanna 23, Montrose 21, Lackawanna Trail 4, Blue Ridge 3, Mid Valley 2.
Alexia Presley finished fifth in both the 100 hurdles and long jump for Susquehanna while Lauren Soden was fifth in the javelin.
The Lady Sabers also took sixth in the 400 relay with the team of Kendra Colwell, Taylor Huyck, Bethany Maby and Saige Perry.
Perkins led the way for Montrose with her medal in the 3200.
Chalice Guyette was fourth in the 200 and fifth in the 100. Radvile Vaiciulyte was fifth in the high jump.
Sarah Korty took second in both the shot put with 33-9 and the discus with 112-0.
Blue Ridge’s Isabella Cosmello was sixth in the 400.
WEEK IN REVIEW
Blue Ridge completed an unbeaten championship season in boys’ volleyball May 9 when, for the second time in eight days, it rallied from losing the first two games to pull out a win at Abington Heights.
Garrett Mansfield had 17 kills and five blocks as the Raiders won, 23-25, 22-25, 25-23, 25-19, 15-4.
Dominick Rogers had 33 assists, Kyle Bayle had 13 digs, Corbin French had 12 digs and four aces and Charlie Randall had eight kills in the win.
The final standings were: Blue Ridge 12-0, Mountain View 9-3, Abington Heights 9-3, Forest City 5-7, Western Wayne 5-7, Elk Lake 1-11, Susquehanna 1-11.
In boys’ tennis, both Montrose players won their opening round matches before losing to seeded opponents in the second round of the District 2 Class A singles tournament.
Chris Lewis defeated Mark Roginski from Dallas, 6-1, 6-4, then was eliminated by sixth-seeded Chris Habeeb from Scranton Prep, 6-0, 6-4.
Ben Hoal beat Coughlin’s Matthew Hamel, 6-2, 6-1, then lost to eighth-seeded Jonathan Smith from MMI Prep, 6-1, 6-0.
The Meteors opened the week in the team tournament where they lost in the quarterfinals, 5-0, to top-seed and eventual champion Wyoming Seminary.
In baseball, Forest City moved back into a tie for first place with Blue Ridge in Lackawanna League Division 5.
Both teams entered the week with 8-2 records and had games scheduled for Monday and Tuesday to complete their schedules.
In softball, Montrose and Elk Lake each entered the final week of the regular season with just one loss in Lackawanna League Division 4.
COLLEGE CORNER
Allison Lewis from Montrose anchored the West Chester University 3200-meter relay team that won the title at the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships May 6 at Bloomsburg.
The team ran a winning time of 9:18.85, second-best in school history.
The effort led West Chester to fourth place in the final team standings, the first top-five finish for the program since 1988.
Lewis, a junior, was also on the second-place 1600 relay team. She placed third in the 800 in an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 2:12.81.
Mansfield University’s Hunter Watkins, a freshman from Elk Lake, was second in the javelin with a throw of 209-8 1/8, which also is a provisional qualifying throw.
Provisional qualifiers are under consideration for the NCAA Division II Champonships, depending on how they compare to results of other athletes.
Kenzie Jones, a sophomore and another Elk Lake graduate at Mansfield, was fifth in the women’s 1500-meter run.
Taylor Watkins, Hunter’s sister, was 13th in the javelin while representing East Stroudsburg University. She is a junior from Elk Lake.
THE WEEK AHEAD
District 2 moved the Class 2A Track and Field Championships back two days to Wednesday in order to try to avoid weather issues.
The meet is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m.
When seeds were announced late last week, the Montrose boys landed two top spots. The Meteors have Zach Mead seeded first in the 1600-meter run and the 1600-meter relay team – likely to feature Gilhool, Chidester, Mike Henry and Mullins – also seeded first.
If every team scores points according to where athletes are seeded, Montrose is projected to finish second out of 20 teams.
Hanover Area is projected to score 111 points. Montrose is projected to finish with 91, 1 ½ more than Lakeland.
Both Hanover Area and Montrose have athletes seeded in the top eight in 14 of 18 events. The top eight score team points.
Lakeland is a slight favorite over Western Wayne in the girls team race.
Susquehanna’s Wilson is the defending champion and top seed in the 300 hurdles. She is also the top seed in the 100 hurdles.
Elk Lake’s Lydia Ofalt is the top seed and defending champion and top seed in the 400.
Carbondale’s Jenn Korty is the defending champion in both the 800 and 1600. She is top-seeded in the 800 and the fourth seed in the 1600.
Blue Ridge is seeded fourth in the 400 relay where Cosmello and Kandace Smith are both back from last year’s gold-medal winning team. Cosmello is the lone returnee expected to run in the 1600 relay where the Raiders are also defending champions.
In boys’ volleyball, Blue Ridge is the top seed and will host a quarterfinal doubleheader when the eight-team District 2 Class 2A tournament opens Wednesday.
Mountain View and Abington Heights play in the 5 p.m. opener. Blue Ridge meets North Pocono (7-5) a half hour after the conclusion of that match.
The semifinals are scheduled for Tuesday, May 23 in the tournament which advances the top three teams into state competition.
In boys’ tennis, the District 2 Class 2A doubles tournament opens Wednesday at Kirby Park.
Three rounds of play will trim the field to the four semifinal teams that will resume action Thursday.
Lewis-Liam McGranaghan and Billy Hotaling-Zeb Swartley are the Montrose entries.
In baseball, the District 2 Class 3A tournament, which includes Montrose, is scheduled to open Friday.
Blue Ridge, Mountain View and Elk Lake are part of the field in District 2 Class 2A, which begins play Monday, May 22.
Susquehanna and Forest City will be part of the District 2-11 Class A Subregional, which is not yet scheduled.
In softball, the District 2 Class 3A opening round and District 2 Class 2A quarterfinals are scheduled for Tuesday, May 23.
Montrose is part of the Class 3A field.
Winless Mountain View opted out of the Class 2A tournament, reducing the field to eight teams and eliminating the need for a first-round game this week. Blue Ridge and Elk Lake will be part of the field and may wind up playing each other in the opener.
Susquehanna and Forest City will be part of the District 2-11 Class A Subregional. The schedule is to be determined.
TOM ROBINSON writes a weekly local sports column for the Susquehanna County Transcript. He can be reached online at RobbyTR@aol.com.
