Sports

DISTRICT 2 CROSS COUNTRY

By Tom Robinson
Go Lackawanna sports correspondent

MOUNT COBB – Elk Lake is the defending state Class 2A boys cross country champions.

The Warriors, however, still have not found a way to beat Holy Redeemer in the District 2 championships at Scranton Municipal Golf Course.

Holy Redeemer used a team-wide surge over the final mile of the course to repeat its district championship victory over Elk Lake in the battle of potential state contenders Friday.

The victory was part of a team sweep for the school. Holy Redeemer also won the Class 3A girls championship – the school has a larger girls enrollment – with the help of an individual 1-2 finish by freshmen Rachel Sowinski and Marissa Durako.

As the boys race approached the two-mile point on the 3.1-mile course, Elk Lake had each of its first three runners positioned one spot in front of a Holy Redeemer runner and its next two with a slightly larger advantage. Had the race ended there, the Royals would have been eight points out of first place.

Dave Levandoski led the way as Holy Redeemer changed that outlook late in the race for a 45-49 victory.

“We just wanted to take it easy on the first lap,” said Levandoski, who moved from seventh to fourth during the second half of the second circuit around the course. “When we hit the two-mile mark, we really kicked it in.”

Freshman Mitch Ford held on for sixth place. Timmy Lambert and A.J. Limongelli overtook Elk Lake runners to finish eighth and 12th. Rex Sheikh locked up the win by closing the gap on Elk Lake’s fifth-place runner, finishing just one spot back in 15th.

“As a team, we usually go out a little faster,” Ford said. “We all got crowded at the beginning of the race, so we needed to pick it up later.”

As they ran, the Holy Redeemer runners kept their eyes on the position of Elk Lake’s team.

Valley View provided some confusion, however, with a sweep of the top three spots by Aaron Wilkinson, Jordan Siddons and Jake Kanavy. In a dual meet, a top-three finish is a guaranteed victory, but scoring in a multi-team meet is different and Valley View was not able to get its next two runners in fast enough and had to settle for third place as a team, with 66 points.

Sowinski continued an impressive first season running cross country after playing field hockey in junior high. Durako is also new to the sport after competing in just part of one season in junior high.

“No one expected us,” Sowinski said. “We’re unknown.”

Not any more.

Sowinski led throughout and well before the halfway point only her teammate was in striking distance in what turned out to be a 13-second victory in 20:03.

“I sprinted out of there,” Sowinski said of her start. “At first, I thought it was too quick and I could run out of energy.”

Sowinski showed her potential by winning the league meet where Durako battled with cramps and finished sixth.

“I knew it would be a tough race,” said Durako, who admitted that she was a little surprised with her finish. “We were competing with a lot of people we had not seen before.”

Behind Sowinski and Durako, the race got tight.

Holy Redeemer and Honesdale each scored 71 points, counting the place finish of their top five runners. The Royals won the title on a tiebreaker because their sixth runner, Aly Popson, finished 40th, four spots ahead of Honesdale’s sixth runner.