AJ Sports

By Tom Robinson
Go Lackawanna sports correspondent

MOUNT COBB – The District 2 Class AA boys cross country championships developed into two amazing races.

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Assistant Coach Dan Demora, Justin Clarke (Varsity Boys AA 19th place), Keirnan Dougherty (Varsity Girls AA 4th place), Coach Keith Youtz of Lackawanna Trail.

Photos courtesy of Christy Clarke

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Abington Heights Taylor Ross.

Abington Journal/ Adam Roberts

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Valley View underclassmen Aaron Wilkinson, Jordan Siddons and Jake Kanavy took the front of a pack of 199 runners, separating from the rest of the field.

Behind them, two of the state’s top teams were fighting for virtually every other spot in the top 20, trying to decide the team championship.

Wilkinson, Siddons and Kanavy completed their one-two-three finish 15 seconds ahead of everyone else in the field. In a dual meet, the top three is a guarantee of a victory, but in multiple-team scoring, getting all five runners in takes on greater importance.

The top two teams and top 10 other individuals in Class AA as well as the winning team and five other individuals in each Class AAA race qualified for the state meet that is scheduled for Saturday morning, Nov. 7, at Parkview Cross Country Course in Hershey.

The Lackawanna League and Wyoming Valley Conference each have three teams in state competition, but the Lackawanna League took 22 of the 30 individual spots.

The Holy Cross girls advanced after finishing second behind Elk Lake in Class AA girls, 43-97.

Senior Abby Kearns, an individual qualifier a year ago, led the way by finishing fourth for Holy Cross. Sophomores Holly Earyes and Melissa Kearns finished 17th and 21st while Breanna Toolan was 22nd. When Bridget Flannery came across in 44th place, she clinched the state spot for the Crusaders over defending champion Scranton Prep, which had 113 points.

In addition to the Holy Cross girls, the three runners from Valley View and Costello, the other state qualifiers from Lackawanna County were: Sam Kuchwara of Scranton Prep in Class AAA boys; Teddy Evans of Mid Valley, Andrew Nelson, Shane Holcomb, Mike Pastore and Joe Martonik of Holy Cross and Justin Clarke of Lackawanna Trail in Class AA boys; Chandler Karoscik of Valley View, Keirnan Dougherty of Lackawanna Trail and Shauna McGraw of Lakeland in Class AA girls.

Freshman Keirnan Dougherty qualified for the state meet despite Lackawanna Trail not having the minimum five runners to count in the team scoring.

Dougherty was the fastest freshman in the 3.1-mile Class AA girls’ race, finishing fourth overall in 21:41.

The Class AA girls ran after three other races and a total of 557 runners had already made two loops around the course.

“The course was really tough and messed up,” Dougherty said.

Dougherty and Justin Clarke, a junior on the boys’ team, will represent Lackawanna Trail at the state meet.

“The two of us are really excited to be going to states,” Dougherty said.

Abington Heights’ Chris Vito finished 23 overall in the Class AAA Boys race with a time of 18:31:24. 22, Taylor Ross finished 22 overall in the Class AAA girls race for Abington Heights with a time of 22:04.