Athletes from the Lackawanna Track Conference continued to have outstanding performances at weekend invitational meets this spring as the Abington Heights girls team and the Riverside boys team captured championships at the Wyalusing Lasagna event Friday.
There were several individual-event winners, and performers set school records while also moving up the state rankings compiled by pa.milesplit.com. Track and field athletes can only be ranked in the state using sanctioned, fully automatic timing.
In the girls’ meet, Abington Heights, the LTC Division I champion, scored 112 points to run away with the team title. Montrose, the winner of the LTC Division IV crown, finished second with 82 points, and Lakeland, the LTC Division III winner, was third, tied with Athens, a District 4 team, with 55 points.
Riverside earned 79 points to finish ahead of Dallas, a Wyoming Valley Conference power, which had 75 points. Elk Lake, the LTC Division IV champion, was third with 67 points, and Montrose was fourth with 51 points.
Elk Lake senior Kendel Jones raced to gold medals in the 1,600-meter run and the 3,200 in highly competitive races that landed him a pair of state rankings.
Jones, last season’s Times-Tribune Boys Track and Field Performer of the Year, clocked in at 4 minutes, 13.77 seconds. He finished ahead of Northwest Area’s Michael Fritz (4:18.35). Elk Lake teammate Cody Adams was third in 4:22.60, with West Scranton’s Seamus Wallace (4:27.43) and Lackawanna Trail’s Avery Ronchi (4:27.93) setting school records in their sixth- and seventh-place finishes. Lakeland’s Henry Decker was sixth in 4:28.23.
“I thought it was a really good night; the weather was great, and I knew that I had competition in the mile (1,600),” Jones said. “I knew Michael and Cody would be right there. Going into the race, I was hoping to have a good drop in time because of that competition.”
With his time of 4:13.77, Jones broke his school record of 4:18.39 and is the second-fastest 1,600 time run in LTC history. Only Wallenpaupack’s Tyler Wirth has run faster, with his school record of 4:09.42 set in 2019. It is also the fastest time run among Class 2A runners in the state this season. Regina Luminis Academy’s Gabe Simkiss is second with a 4:14.60, and Fritz is third. Adams is also in the top eight at No. 7.
In the 3,200, Jones held off Adams with a winning time of 9:32.50. Adams finished second in 9:35.51. Riverside’s Mikey Schimefenig, who set a school record in the 1,600 (4:31.56), was fourth (9:39.23), Ronchi was fifth (9:41.17), Wallace finished sixth, shattering his school record with a 9:41.37, and Decker finished eighth (9:44.51).
Jones ended his night helping the 1,600 relay team that included Adams, Trevor Upright and Brent Drost to a win in 3:28.56. That team is ranked fifth in the state with its time of 3:28.07 from the Godek Invitational.
“I feel good,” Jones said. “I have to keep doing my workouts and recovering. I have to trust the process and do the little things like going to bed early and being smart. We have been racing a lot lately, so we are hoping to get a few good workouts in to prepare for districts and states.”
Abington Heights girls had two individual champions and won two relays en route to the team title.
Anna Pucilowski won the 1,600 (5:07.30), coming across ahead of Elk Lake sophomore Kendyl Weisgold (5:09.16).
Weisgold moved up to No. 5 on the Class 2A state ranking list for the 1,600. She also won the 800 in 2:18.42, which is ranked seventh. Montrose’s Avery Kerr set a school record with her second-place finish in the 800 in 2:20.42.
“It was a really good night,” Weisgold said. “There was a lot of good competition and great girls to run against. I was honestly just trying to get through the race. I wasn’t expecting that time (in the 800) coming out of the mile. Avery was there and really pushed me to reach the time I wanted. It was a really good race.”
Pucilowski also joined Giada Lovecchio, Marley Gilboy and Addyson Mummert for a win in the 3,200 relay (9:48.35). Kiana Seid won the pole vault with a height of 11-3, and the 400 relay team of Elsianna Phillips, Bergan Price, Aliya Lucarelli and Julia Schuster won in 50.84 to lead the Lady Comets.
Riverside’s 3,200 relay team of Schimelfenig, Michael Connor, Andrew Connor and Jack Davies won in 8:17.52, and junior Carmelo Barnett captured the 110 hurdles (15.06) for the Vikings in their team championship effort.
At the Lasagna Invitational, Montrose junior Sadie Jones won the long (17-3.5) and triple (36-11.5) jumps.
Lakeland’s Kaylyn Davis won the 100 hurdles (15.64) and the 300 hurdles (46.42). The Slippery Rock commit is ranked seventh in the state for the 300 hurdles in Class 2A.
Bria Hill added a win in the 400 (58.79) for Lakeland.