Maggie Coleman, right, competes in the Jordan Relays
SHIPPENSBURG – Madison Zalewski is more than just a standout, three-sport athlete at Abington Heights.
Zalewski proved to be a triple threat in her third sport when she added throwing to running and jumping this season.
The junior nearly doubled her first competitive effort from early in the season to wind up as District 2’s only state medalist in the final seven-event field session of the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Track and Field Championships May 27 at Shippensburg University.
Zalewski placed sixth in the Class 3A girls javelin with a throw of 131-1.
After falling well short of 70 feet in a scrimmage at Honesdale, Zalewski saw improvement in the season opener.
“I threw 90 and that’s when it just started to click and the jav started flying better out of my hand,” said Zalewski, an all-star basketball player who is committed to play National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I field hockey at Old Dominion, one of the nation’s most storied programs. “My coach started making adjustments and from then on, I just kept improving.”
By late April, Zalewski was the school record-holder at 116-11. She topped that with a 120-7 to win the District 2 championship and qualify for the state meet where she added more than 10 feet to the record.
The decision to throw the javelin came to try to fit better with Zalewski’s year-round training in field hockey, the sport of her future.
Zalewski was effective as a sprinter and high jumper last season on the track team, but replaced sprinting with shot put and javelin.
“The reason I didn’t do too many running events was that I was involved in basketball and field hockey, so all the travel was kind of hard last year,” Zalewski said. “To make it easier on my legs, we tried throwing this year.
“I’d like to get back into some of the running events next year, but we’re still unsure about that.”
Zalewski was the only individual representing a championship Abington Heights team at the state meet.
The Comets also had two relay teams entered.
The 3200 relay team ran a season-best 9:34.21 to place 17th. The 1600 relay team was 22nd in 4:08.19.
DISTRICT 2
SCRANTON – Abington Heights scored points in 15 of 18 events to win the District 2 Class 3A team championship over Dallas, 103½-80, despite having just Zalewski and the 1600 relay team as gold medalists.
Both teams were Division 1 champions of their respective conferences.
Abington Heights got points from three entries in the 800 and two each in the high jump, discus and 200. The top eight in each event scored points and the top six earned medals.
Maggie Coleman, Kaylyn Elliott, Emma Horsley and Marygrace Sabatini teamed to win the 1600 relay by more than six seconds.
The Comets scored 24 points in relays with the 1600 win, a second in the 3200 and a third in the 400.
“I think our runners are all pretty well-rounded and we mesh together well as a team,” said Sabatini, who was part of each relay. “We practice our handoffs every practice.”
Coleman also ran on the 400 relay while Horsley also ran on the 3200.
Lilia Calvert and Alea Dorunda completed the 400 lineup while Reese Morgan and Maia Arcangelo were the others on the 3200 relay.
Sabatini was one of three runners to place in the 800. Morgan was third, Sabatini was fourth and Horsley was sixth.
Calvert placed second in the 400 and was fifth in the 200 where Coleman took second.
Zalewski added a third in the high jump to her javelin win. Teammate Emily Dennis took seventh.
Tomara Seid was third in the triple jump and fifth in the pole vault.
Gianna Julian placed third and Gineva Reese fourth in the discus. Reese was also eighth in the shot put.
Anna Pucilowski placed sixth at 3200 meters and seventh at 1600.
Julia Schuster was eighth in the 300 hurdles.
The District 2 championship followed up Class 3A titles in the Robert Spagna Lackawanna Track Conference Championships and the Jordan Relays. The team was also unbeaten in duals.
