Lackawanna Trail’s Brayden Clarke (403) held second place throughout the District 2 Class A boys race, finishing behind only Elk Lake’s Kendel Jones (leading, at left).
MESHOPPEN – The goal was so lofty, perhaps even outrageous, that it was kept confined to a small circle close to the Abington Heights girls cross country team.
The Comets entered the Class 3A of the District 2 Cross Country Championships at the Wyoming County Fairgrounds Oct. 25 looking to get an individual district medal for every team runner in addition to a team title and the state meet berth that would go with that championship.
To do so, Abington Heights needed to place seven runners in the top 10.
The Comets did even better, with a 1-2-3 finish by Emma Horsley, Anna Pucilowski and Hailey Hirtz leading the way for the Comets to get seven runners in the top nine.
“The way I put it was I almost felt like we were being greedy by making that a goal,” Abington Heights coach Frank Passetti said. “ … There’s a part where you know when you win, you are in a crosshairs.
“I like to win as much as the next guy. That was our goal. We weren’t going to apologize for it.”
Ater four straight close team races needed a little time to be sorted out, the Abington Heights girls kept things simple for the last of the day’s six races.
The Comets posted a team score of 18, where 15 is perfect for taking first through fifth. Their margin of victory, 18-69 over second-place Hazleton Area, was as big as the first five races combined.
Horsley finished strong, completing the 3.1-mile course in 19:38.7, to beat teammate and defending champion Pucilowski by 3.4 seconds.
“Emma’s an 800-meter runner,” Passetti said. “She’s a sprinter. If she’s within range, she’s going to be very hard to hold off.”
Hirtz gave Abington Heights the only three finishers under 20 minutes.
Reese Morgan was fifth, despite battling an illness, then Morgan Kresge, Marley Gilboy and Kiera Crowell finished in succession between seventh and ninth place.
If it had been a double meet sending Abington Heights against every other Class 3A team in the district combined, they would have still routed the competition, 18-43.
“The depth is definitely a bonus,” Passetti said. “I’ve never had a team with seven girls who were that fast.”
Class 2A boys
Scranton Prep won the title in the first race of the day, beating out Wyoming Valley Conference champion Crestwood, 73-102.
The top 20 finishers earned medals in the day’s largest race with more than 100 runners.
Gavin Gallagher (ninth), Colin Comerford (10th), Vincent O’Malley (13th) and Ryan Flaim (18th) earned medals for the Cavaliers in the race, which was won by Riverside’s Daniel Danilovitz.
Class 2A girls
WVC rivals Crestwood and Dallas, with their entire lineups back from state top 10 finishes a year ago, battled for the title and took the two state team berths.
Crestwood won, 49-52.
Scranton Prep was seventh out of 12 teams with 208 points.
Class A boys
Lackawanna Trail’s Brayden Clarke finished second to repeat champion Kendel Jones from Elk Lake.
Montrose edged Elk Lake for the team title, 59-75.
Clarke was among 10 individual qualifiers to run at the Hershey Parkview Course during the Nov. 4 Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Championships.
The Lions finished fifth of 10 teams with 141 points.
Lackawanna Trail’s Avery Ronchi medaled by finishing ninth.
Class A girls
Carissa Flynn from Mountain View won and helped the Eagles grab the second available state berth from the race.
Elk Lake won the title over Mountain View, 89-92.
Lackawanna Trail did not have enough runners for a team score and did not have a medalist.
Class 3A boys
Scranton’s Brian McCormack repeated as champion with a course record time of 15:50.9, but Hazleton Area beat Scranton on a sixth-runner tiebreaker after both teams scored 67 points, one ahead of Delaware Valley.
Abington Heights was fourth of eight teams, but just 12 out of first with 79 points.
Sean Rooney medaled for the Comets by finishing ninth.
