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Valley View goes 1-2-3 in cross country

By Tom Robinson
Scranton Edition sports correspondent

MOUNT COBB -- Valley View sophomore Aaron Wilkinson won the District 2 Class AA boys' cross country championship by completing the 3.1-mile course at the Scranton Municipal Golf Course in 17:16 Friday.

Wilkinson was followed to the finish line by teammates Jordan Siddons and Jake Kanavy.

"It's amazing," Valley View coach Jacki Porosky said. "Cross country at Valley View has come a long way."

The impressive 1-2-3 finish was not enough, however, as potential state contenders Holy Redeemer and Elk Lake took the two state team berths in Class AA.

Holy Redeemer edged the defending state champion Warriors, 45-49, for the team title.

The Holy Redeemer girls also won, taking the Class AAA championship with the help of a 1-2 finish by freshmen Racel Sowinski and Marissa Durako.

Tunkhannock's Reece Ayers won the Class AAA boys' race in 16:44 to lead the Tigers to the team championship.

Elk Lake ran away with the Class AA team title by getting all seven runers into the top 20 while Blue Ridge's Allison Hall was repeating as individual champion.

The winners and other top finishers advance to the November 7 state championships in Hershey. In Class AAA, the top team and five best individuals from other teams advance from each race. In Class AA, the top two teams and 10 best other individuals advance.

The Lackawanna League and Wyoming Valley Conference each have three teams advancing.

Elk Lake matched Holy Redeemer's accomplishment of sending both teams.

The Holy Cross girls are going to Hershey after their second-place finish in Class AA.

Lackawanna League runners claimed 22 of the 30 individual spots at the state meet.

Those qualifiers are:

Class AAA boys: Victor Costello of North Pocono, Sam Kuchwara of Scranton Prep.

Class AA boys: Wilkinson, Siddons and Kanavy of Valley View; Teddy Evans of Mid Valley; Andrew Nelson, Shane Holcomb, Mike Pastore and Joe Martonik of Holy Cross; and Justin Clarke of Lackawanna Trail.

Class AAA girls: Summer Hill and Erin Craig of Honesdale and Taylor Maxson and Kali Foy of Wallenpaupack.

Class AA girls: Allison Hall and Vikki Hartt of Blue Ridge; Chandler Karoscik of Valley View, Keirnan Dougherty of Lackawanna Trail; Shauna McGraw of Lakeland; Abigail Carmody of Western Wayne; and Kelly Purdy of Mountain View.

For more details on this event, see today's Times Leader and next week's Scranton Edition of the Times Leader.