Skyla Wilson from Susquehanna has a comfortable lead on her way to a win in the District 2 Class 2A 300-meter hurdles (Tom Robinson Photo)
SCRANTON – Susquehanna's Skyla Wilson swept the hurdles, setting a record in the process, and led a strong Susquehanna County girls' sprinting performance by adding a third gold medal in the 200-meter dash at Thursday's District 2 Class 2A Track and Field Championships.
Wilson's three wins were the only individual wins, but the county was well-represented with a relay champion, four additional state qualifiers and the strong sprinting contingent.
The sprinting efforts included a 400 relay title for Montrose's Anna Loomis, Chalice Guyette, Caroline Stack and McKenzie Newhart.
Elk Lake 400-meter runner Lydia Ofalt and 3200-meter runner Shyanne Bennett, district runners-up, are also headed to the state meet.
The Montrose boys are sending Brandon Curley, in the 1600, and Brennan Gilhool, in the 100, to states after their second-place finishes.
District champions qualify for the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Track and Field Championships along with a select group that meets lofty state standards without winning a title. Additionally, when a champion decides not to compete in a specific event, the runner-up is awarded the spot.
Susquehanna County girls' sprinters combined to finish in four of the top seven spots in the 200, four of the top eight in the 100 and three of the top seven in the 400.
Wilson was the meet's top girls' performer with three gold medals along with earning another medal by being part of a sixth-place 1600 relay.
The top six finishers in each event receive medals while the top eight score points for their teams.
Wilson ran the 300 hurdles in 43.56 seconds to break the three-year-old record of 43.83 set by Lakeland's Cassidy Jenkins.
"My favorite was probably getting the district record in the 300 hurdles," Wilson said. "I was aware of both of the hurdles records coming in. They were my goal times."
Wilson also won the 100 hurdles in 14.94, missing the record by 17-hundredths of a second. She took the 200 dash in 25.94, but scratched from that event on the state level to concentrate on the hurdles.
The senior said there is still work to do before her final high school meet Friday and Saturday in Shippensburg.
"I need to work on my quickness over the hurdles, my explosiveness for my starts and my endurance for the 300," Wilson said.
Elk Lake's Ofalt and Montrose's Guyette joined Wilson in leading the sprinting groups.
Ofalt was second in the 400 and third in the 100. Guyette was second in the 100 and third in the 200.
Susquehanna's Taylor Huyck, Montrose's Loomis and Newhart, Blue Ridge's Karris Fazzi and Mountain View's Brianna Spriggs were also part of the strong effort in the sprints.
Western Wayne won the team title with 116 points. Holy Redeemer edged Lake-Lehman for second, 77-72.
Montrose was seventh with 46 points. Elk Lake was ninth with 41, Susquehanna 10th with 40, Blue Ridge 14th with 9 and Mountain View 15th with 5.
Guyette led the way for Montrose with her relay gold, individual silver and bronze and an eighth-place finish on the 1600 relay team.
Loomis was fourth in the 400 and part of both the winning 400 relay and eighth-place 1600 relay. Newhart was seventh in the 200 along with also running on both relay teams.
Hannah Perkins was fourth in the 1600 and eighth in the 800.
Georgia Smith was fifth in the 800 and ran on the eighth-place relay.
Radvile Vaiciulyte placed fifth in the high jump.
Elk Lake's Ofalt qualified for the state meet in the 400 with her time of 59.82.
Teammate Bennett ran the 3200 in 12:13.43. She took the state berth when Lexi Walsh from Holy Cross scratched from the event to concentrate on the 1600, which she also won.
Grasyn Bushnell was fourth in the long jump and fifth in the triple jump. Makyala Cole was fourth in the shot put and seventh in the discus.
Kaitlynn Hongach was sixth in the shot put.
Susquehanna's Huyck was fifth in the 200 and sixth in the 100.
Liz Delaney, McKenzie Rhone and Rachel Day joined Wilson the sixth-place 1600 relay.
Blue Ridge got all of its points from Fazzi, who was fourth in the 800 and seventh in both the 400 dash and 100 hurdles.
Mountain View got a fifth-place finish from Samantha Jones in the long jump and an eighth from Spriggs in the 100.
Sarah Korty from Forest City, who competes for Carbondale as part of a cooperative sponsorship, was second in both the shot put and discus.
Curley and Gilhool led Montrose to a third-place finish out of 20 teams in the boys' standings.
Lakeland outscored Western Wayne, 102-71, for the title.
Montrose was third with 62. Elk Lake was 14th with 22 points, Susquehanna was 15th with 20, Blue Ridge was 19th with 2 and Mountain View did not score.
Curley met the state qualifying standard to reach the state meet with a time of 4:28.73 in the 1600. He also added a seventh-place finish in the 1600.
Gilhool had two second-place finishes and earned four medals total. He was second to the day's only four-event gold medalist, Lakeland's Cy Babcanec, in both the 100 and 200.
When Babcanec scratched from the state meet in the 100, it opened a spot for Gilhool.
Gilhool was also part of two medal-winning relay teams, the 1600 in fourth and the 3200 in sixth.
Liam Mead was third for Elk Lake in the 1600 and eighth in the 800.
Mike Henry was fourth, both individually in the 400 and as part of the 1600 relay.
Evan Snyder and Henry Rogers were also on the 1600 relay. Snyder added a seventh in the high jump. Rogers was on the sixth-place 400 relay.
Collin Chidester was fourth in the 110 high hurdles.
Colin Spellman was sixth in the 3200 and part of the seventh-place 3200 relay.
John Herman and Tyler Dovin were the others on the 400 relay.
Max Brewer (3200) and Maverick Tims (javelin) were seventh.
Nick Coy, Damien Riley and Nick Summerville also ran on the 3200 relay.
Cody Oswald led the way for Elk Lake, placing second to Babcanec in the 400 and finishing third in the 200.
Peyton Jones was also second in the 3200.
Susquehanna was led by Jakub Tomczyk's second-place finish in the high jump where C.J. Stone tied for fourth.
Tristan Meggivern was fifth in the triple jump while Mason Deakin was sixth in the long jump and eighth in the triple jump.
Ryan Mills took seventh for Blue Ridge in the triple jump.
WEEK IN REVIEW
Blue Ridge moved into the District 2 Class 2A boys' volleyball semifinals with Wednesday's 26-24, 25-17, 16-25, 25-17 victory over Forest City in the opener of the doubleheader at Holy Redeemer High School in Wilkes-Barre.
Garrett Mansfield led the way with 14 kills, 8 blocks, 23 digs and 2 aces.
The win was the seventh in the last eight matches for the Raiders. It was also Blue Ridge's third win of the season over Forest City, the team it shared second place with during Lackawanna League play.
Cameron Franks added 11 kills and 24 digs. Charlie Randall had 23 assists and 6 blocks. Ben Bleck had two aces.
Mountain View lost to Crestwood May 14 in a play-in match after the teams had tied for the eighth and final spot in the tournament field.
Crestwood needed a rally to pull out the close and lengthy match, 17-25, 26-24, 19-25, 25-13, 16-14.
In high school softball, Montrose completed an unbeaten season in Lackawanna League Division 4 play.
After pitching and defense clinched the title during a five-game shutout streak, offense took over in the regular-season finale.
Josie Flynn went 4-for-4 and drove in six runs Wednesday when Montrose defeated second-place Blue Ridge, 10-5, to finish 12-0 in the division.
Betsy Warner added three hits and scored three runs.
The Lady Meteors had extended their shutout streak May 14 when Maddie Guinane threw a six-inning, no-hitter with 13 strikeouts and no walks during a 10-0 win over Susquehanna.
The no-hitter was the second for Guinane during the shutout streak in which Montrose pitchers combined to allow just six hits in five games.
Flynn went 6-for-8 for the week.
Final division standings: Montrose 12-0, Blue Ridge 8-4, Lackawanna Trail 8-4, Forest City 6-6, Elk Lake 5-7, Mountain View 2-10, Susquehanna 1-11.
In high school baseball, Kyle Shema threw a two-hitter while Tyler Clift and Dakota Knehr-Cook led a potent offense Thursday when Forest City shut out Elk Lake, 14-0, in five innings to clinch the Lackawanna League Division 5 championship.
Clift, who drove in five runs, and Knehr-Cook, who drove in four, each went 4-for-4.
Final division standings: Forest City 10-2, Montrose 9-3, Elk Lake 7-5, Blue Ridge 7-5, Lackawanna Trail 6-6, Mountain View 2-10, Susquehanna 1-11.
In boys' tennis, both Montrose teams were eliminated in the first round of the District 2 Class 2A doubles tournament Thursday.
Honesdale's Jason Demers-Nick Theobald defeated Jackson Griffiths-Steven Vetri, 6-1, 6-2.
Wyoming Seminary's Will Zeigler-Duncan Lumia beat Billy Hotaling-Seth Bulkley, 6-0, 6-0. The Wyoming Seminary team was seeded third and wound up advancing to the finals.
COLLEGE CORNER
Elk Lake graduates Hunter Watkins and Kenzie Jones were named United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) All-Atlantic Region for their performances in the outdoor season at Mansfield University.
Both are repeat selections to the All-Region team.
Watkins, a sophomore, made the men's team in the javelin for the second straight year. The Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference champion is in the top 20 in the event nationally and has qualified to compete at this weekend's National Collegiate Athletic Association Division II National Championships.
Jones, a junior, was selected to the women's team for the 3,000-meter steeplechase and 5,000-meter run after making it in the 10,000-meter run last season. She ran a season-best 11:12.20 in the 5,000 at the Penn Relays.
THE WEEK AHEAD
Unbeaten Montrose is the top seed for the 10-team District 2 Class 3A softball tournament.
The Lady Meteors open Thursday at home against the winner of Tuesday's Carbondale-at-Meyers game.
The quarterfinals of the nine-team District 2 Class 2A tournament are Wednesday. Third-seeded Blue Ridge is home against Old Forge. Elk Lake is at second-seeded Lackawanna Trail.
The semifinals for both Class 3A and 2A are Tuesday, May 29.
Forest City was the only District 2 team to qualify for the District 2-11 Class A Subregional and did so as the last seed in the five-team tournament.
The Lady Foresters needed to win at Mahanoy Area in a game scheduled for Tuesday to make it into Thursday's semifinals at top-seeded Williams Valley.
In baseball, the District 2 Class 2A tournament includes a potential meeting of second-seeded Blue Ridge and third-seeded Elk Lake in Thursday's semifinals.
The Thursday semifinal schedule includes the winners of two quarterfinals scheduled for Tuesday – Mountain View at Blue Ridge and Northwest at Elk Lake.
Montrose had a bye into Wednesday's quarterfinals of the 12-team District 2 Class 3A tournament. The Meteors will host the winner of the game between Wilkes-Barre rivals Meyers and GAR.
The semifinals are scheduled for Friday and the championship game is Tuesday, May 29 at PNC Field in Moosic.
Forest City is the top seed in the District 2-11 Class A Subregional, a five-team event.
The Foresters will play the MMI Prep/Lincoln Leadership winner in the semifinals.
The District 2 championship game, which could potentially coincide with the Subregional semifinal, is scheduled for Tuesday, May 29 at PNC Field at 5 p.m.
In boys' volleyball, the District 2 Class 2A third-place match and championship are scheduled for Thursday at Dallas High School in a doubleheader that begins at 5 p.m.
The top three teams from the district qualify for the state tournament.
Blue Ridge was scheduled to take on top-seed and defending champion Holy Redeemer in one Tuesday semifinal after Berwick and Abington Heights played in the other.
Tuesday's two losers play in the third-place match before the two winners meet in the final.
In track and field, Susquehanna's Wilson is the second seed in both Class 2A girls' hurdles events for the PIAA Championships Friday and Saturday at Shippensburg University.
Wilson finished second in both events last year.
Elk Lake's Ofalt is 11th of 25 competitors in the 400 and Bennett is seeded 22nd out of 26 in the 3200.
Montrose's 400 relay team is seeded 21st of 25.
Curley leads the Montrose boys as the eighth seed out of 25 entries in the Class 2A 1600-meter run.
Gilhool is seeded 29th of 29 in the 100.
Friday's schedule has qualifying for the 100-meter hurdles at 10:30, the 100 dash at 11:30, the 1600 run at noon, the 400 relay at 1 p.m., 400 dash at 2 p.m. and the 300 hurdles at 3:00.
The 3200 runs just once (no qualifying) Saturday at 9 a.m.
There are semifinals in the 100 hurdles at 10 a.m. and 100 dash at 10:45 a.m. Saturday.
Finals are scheduled Saturday afternoon at 12:15 for the 100 hurdles, 12:30 for the 100 dash, 12:45 for the 1600, 1:20 for the 400 relay, 1:50 for the 400 and 2:05 for the 300 hurdles.
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.
