Pusateri
Mark Dunckle has earned honors for his mix of academics and athletics.
The Lackawanna Trail senior intends to continue that combination at Bucknell University where he plans to play National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I football as a walk-on for the Patriot League team.
Dunckle is among the recent selections for Lackawanna Interscholastic Athletic Association Scholar-Athlete Awards.
The LIAA recognizes one male and one female athlete at each member school and ultimately awards a scholarship to an overall award winner from the conference.
Lackawanna Trail’s honorees are Dunckle and Tori James. Michael Pusateri and Erin Albright are the Abington Heights selections.
Dunckle was a two-way starter in the line, helping the Lions to a pair of District 2 championships and trips to the 2018 Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association state Class A football championship game and the 2019 state Class A semifinal.
In addition to many honors on the football field, Dunckle was a district medalist in both track and field and wrestling.
Dunckle earned all-state honors in football along with the Hookey Reap Award as the top defensive lineman in Lackawanna County as a senior. He was a three-year lettermen had also earned Lackawanna Football Conference all-star recognition as a junior and was a team captain as a senior.
Wrestling for the first time as a senior, Dunckle contributed to another championship team and advanced to the District 2 finals as a heavyweight, finishing second in Class 2A.
Dunckle was a three-time letterman in track and field where he earned a sixth-place district medal in the shot put as a junior.
The National Honor Society member plans to study chemical engineering at Bucknell.
James was an all-star distance runner at Lackawanna Trail where she started out in cross country and track and field in junior high and was one of the varsity team leaders from the time she was a freshman.
During her career, she received team Most Valuable Player, Most Improved and Coaches Awards at Lackawanna Trail in the two sports, along with serving as team captain.
James, a National Honor Society and Spanish National Honor Society member, plans to attend Indiana University of Pennsylvania and study nursing.
Pusateri was a captain, all-star and recipient of multiple team awards in football at Abington Heights where he also played basketball and baseball along with participating in track and field.
In football, Pusateri was four-year team member and three-time letterman. He was named Team MVP and Team Defensive Player of the Year along with receiving the Team Player Award and setting the Abington Heights Football Combine bench press record.
Pusateri also was in the basketball program for three years as a member of the 2018 state championship team, a reserve on the 2019 District 2 Class 5A champion and a letterman on the 2020 team that won a third straight Lackawanna League Division 1 title.
During the spring, Pusateri spent two seasons with the baseball team and one in track and field.
Pusateri plans to pursue a doctorate in physical therapy and play football at Ithaca College or Temple University. He was in the National Honor Society and was a member of the transition team at Abington Heights.
Albright’s plans to play basketball while studying biology on a pre-med track were reported previously in the Journal.
A four-year starter in field hockey, Albright was a four-year varsity player and three-year starter and team rebounding leader in basketball. After participating in track and field as a freshman, she took up lacrosse as a sophomore, becoming a starter before her first season ended and starting throughout her junior season.
Albright, an honorable mention all-star selection in both lacrosse and basketball, was a two-year captain in basketball and was serving as captain for lacrosse when the season wound up being canceled without a game being played, because of the coronavirus.
In addition to her athletic pursuits, Albright was active in the National Honor Society, SADD, Period Club, Russian Club and Peer Tutoring Corp. She was vice president of the German Club and a volunteer for Allied Services Hospice.
