SCRANTON — D.J. Rogers, Hamza Mirza and Dylan Jaramillo were all part of silver- and bronze-medal winning relay teams May 12 and 13 to lead the Abington Heights boys in the District 2 Track and Field Championships at Memorial Stadium.
The Comets did not have any gold medalists or state qualifiers, but they showed their team strength by finishing second in the 400- and 3200-meter relays and third in the 1600 relay.
The 22 points earned in the relays helped Abington Heights finish fourth in the 18-team Class 3A field with 62 points. Wilkes-Barre Area pulled out an 86-84 win over Hazleton Area in the final event of the meet. The Comets were in a tight group that followed, placing two points behind third-place Wallenpaupack and four in front of the fifth-place tie between Crestwood and Wyoming Area.
“All three of our relays medaled,” Comets coach Frank Passetti said. “That’s something I really prioritize on our team because track is such an individual sport and the relays are your one opportunity to really focus on the team aspect of track. The fact that all of our relays were able to medal in the top three is certainly a highlight.”
Jaramillo, Hamza and Rogers were joined by Joseph Pivirotto for a third-place finish in the 1600 relay in 3:25.90 to pass Wyoming Area in the team standings in the final event.
The first points of the meet were earned in the 3200 relay where Mirza was joined by Liam Peoples, Joseph Grad and Jack Shoemaker to take second in 8:23.10.
Jaramillo led off and Rogers anchored a 400 team that also included William Regan and Lukas Ruane for a second-place finish in 44.18.
Rogers also had two individual bronze medals, finishing behind the Wilkes-Barre Area combination of record-setting 100-meter sprinter Timothy Leonard and Kevon Creech he ran the 100 in 10.97 and the 200 in 22.13.
Carter Plantz placed fourth in the shot put and fifth in the discus.
Timothy Fogley was fourth in the 3200. Shoemaker took fifth in both the 1600 and 3200.
Pivirotto, in the 400, and Mirza, in the 800, finished sixth.
Scranton Prep finished 13th with 21½ points.
Vincent O’Malley led the way for the Cavaliers by placing third in the 1600 in 4:30.86 and 800 in 2:03.33.
Anthony De Los Santos was sixth in the discus, Ryan Flaim eighth in the 1600 and Callahan Moore tied for eighth in the pole vault.
The Scranton Prep 3200 relay team was eighth.
Class 2A
Lackawanna Trail’s Avery Ronchi qualified for the May 23-24 Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Championships by exceeding the state qualifying standards in strong races won by Elk Lake’s Kendal Jones.
Ronchi was second in the 3200 in 9:37.23 and fifth in the 1600 in 4:29.32.
The Lions finished 13th with 15 points with the help of a sixth-place finish by Demetrius Douglas in the long jump.
Mid Valley beat out Dunmore 91¼-88 for the team title.
The top six finishers in each event earned medals and the top eight scored points.
Ronchi is seeded 11th out of 28 runners pursuing eight state medals May 24 at 9 a.m. at Shippensburg University. He is seeded 28th for the 1600 the day before.
