SCRANTON – Calista Marzolino and Hannah Hughes each earned two gold medals May 7 while helping Abington Heights claim the Class 3A girls title of the 15th annual Robert Spagna Lackawanna Track Conference Championships.

The Lady Comets piled up 124 points, scoring in all but one of the 18 events, to easily run away with its seventh straight team title and 11th in the last 13 years. Wallenpaupack edged Delaware Valley, 88-85 1/2, for second place.

“We obviously take this meet very seriously and we train a lot for it,” Hughes said, “but we kind of look at it as a dress rehearsal for districts to see what we’re capable of and what we need to work on.”

Marzolino won two events and finished second in two others.

Hughes won her only individual event and was part of relay teams that finished first and third.

“I’m very happy with my team performance and my individual performance,” Hughes said. “I couldn’t ask for much more.”

Marzolino and Hughes each came up with a gold-medal producing performance by the narrowest of margins.

In the long jump, Marzolino won on a tiebreaker, only after forcing the tie on the last of her six attempts.

“At first I thought I broke,” Marzolino said. “Then, the official almost measured it from the wrong mark. But, once she measured it, I knew.”

By jumping 17-2 ¼ inches, Marzolino matched Wallenpaupack’s Anna Ioppolo. Marzolino, who has had ties before, was aware that the second-best jump would decide it and she had also exceeded 17 feet on an earlier jump, beating Ioppolo’s 16-10 ½ by 2 ¼ inches.

Hughes won the 800-meter run by 12-hundredths of a second over Western Wayne’s Annie Skirpan in 2:22.55.

Marzolino also won the high jump by clearing 5-2. She was second in both the 100 and 300 hurdles.

“I still have room for improvement, but I have another week to get there,” Marzolino said.

Allison Dammer, Elysa Simakaski and anchor Gianna Sabatini were also part of the 3200 relay team that won in 9:57:49.

Sabatini finished second in the 400 and joined Hughes, Dani Beamish and Anna Marchetta on the third-place 1600 relay team.

Abigail Marion and Danielle Heine each had a third- and a fifth-place finish.

Marion was third in the 3200 and fifth in the 1600. Modupe Osuntokun also placed in both events, finishing seventh in the 3200 and eighth in the 1600.

Heine was third in the pole vault and fifth in the long jump. Rachel Klein was two positions behind her in the pole vault.

Beamish, Ellie Smith, Megan Malone and Mariel Curra were third in the 400 relay.

Simakaski, in the 800, and Adele Hollander, in the shot put, placed fourth.

Marchetta took fifth in the 300 hurdles.

Beamish was seventh in both the 100 and 200.

Megan Healey (javelin), Isabella Allen (pole vault) and Curra (high jump) placed eighth.

CLASS 3A BOYS

Antonio Maletta swept the hurdles races while leading Abington Heights to a second-place finish in the standings.

Maletta won the 110 high hurdles in 14.69 seconds and the 300 hurdles in 39.19. He was also part of a fifth-place 1600 relay.

Wallenpaupack won the team title with 113 points. Abington Heights was second with 65 1/3.

Conor Kryeski, Tyler Petty, Noah Bolus and Ethan Mattox were second in the 3200 relay.

Ryan Flynn was third in the discus and seventh in the shot put. Shervin Mokhtari was third in the 300 hurdles.

Nick Klapatch took fourth in the pole vault.

Stephen Haggerty was fourth in the 1600 and fifth in the 3200.

Luke Abdalla, Damon Martin, Mokhtari and Maletta finished fifth in the 1600 relay.

Jim Lefchak was sixth in the high jump while Josh Prezkop tied for eighth.

Conor Kryeski was seventh in the 800.

CLASS 2A

Alec Jones placed seventh in the triple jump and Luke Walker was eighth in the javelin to account for all of Lackawanna Trail’s points.

The Lady Lions did not have anyone finish in the top eight of an event necessary to score points.

Hughes
https://www.theabingtonjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/web1_Spigna1.jpg.optimal.jpgHughes Submitted photo

The Abington Heights girls repeated as Class 3A champions at the Robert Spagna Lackawanna Track Conference Championship Meet.
https://www.theabingtonjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/web1_Spigna2.jpg.optimal.jpgThe Abington Heights girls repeated as Class 3A champions at the Robert Spagna Lackawanna Track Conference Championship Meet. Submitted photo

By Tom Robinson

For Abington Journal

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