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SCRANTON – Coughlin’s Franco Balbuena appeared to be done for after three laps. Trailing heading into the final lap of the 1,600 run, the senior distance runner had six runners and a sizeable margin separating him from a gold medal.

Balbuena surpassed them one by one. He quickly stole the crowd’s attention away from a record-breaking girls jump towards a speedy red jersey making an improbable comeback to a photo finish.

His 1,600 run championship was icing on the cake in Coughlin’s District 2 Boys Track & Field championships Monday. Unfavored to take the team title, Coughlin won the district championship by a convincing margin – second-place Scranton trailed by 33 points to the Crusaders’ 97.

It marks Coughlin’s first district crown since 2012 and its third since 1950.

“We really had a nice team, and our depth really helped,” Coughlin coach Paul McGrane said. “We have a fun team. It’s been a great team to coach.”

Balbuena outraced Tyler Wirth down the stretch to win by 16-hundreths of a second. He finished with a time of 4:29.35.

“My coach gave me the new idea to start pacing myself,” Balbuena said. “He told me to do every lap for about 67 seconds. And, for the last lap, if I am behind or ahead to do whatever I can to get ahead.”

Balbuena admitted he had “doubts in that race.” He came into the meet seeded fourth and trailing North Pocono’s Matt Kravitz’s seed time by 19 seconds.

“(Wirth) gave him everything he could down the stretch,” McGrane said. “That’s what track is all about. It’s a battle.”

The Wyoming Valley Conference won eight district golds – six individual and two relays – at the meet.

Coughlin’s 400 relay team of Mike Brown, Cole Horan, Vincent Todd and Nick Carman will head to states following a winning 43.5-second performance. Jacob Khalife will join Balbuena and the relay team in Shippensburg with a state-qualifying distance of 155 feet in the discus for second place.

“I was really happy about it,” Khalife said. “It was a little shaky at first but on the final throw I was able to get one out there and get some distance.”

Dallas’ Uzoije Ukattah was the WVC’s lone multi-event winner by taking both of the sprints. He won the 100 dash in 10.89 seconds. After a long break, a gassed Ukattah held on for a 22.74-second winning time.

“My coach told me to just get into the finals, and I ended up running the quickest qualifying time,” Ukattah said, of the 100 dash. “From there, it was a lock – my confidence was up. I just believed that no one could beat me.”

Wyoming Valley West won a pair of district titles. Ray Richard showed heroics with a come-from-behind anchor run in the 1,600 relay to lead Mitchell Forgash, Matt Bobkowski and Jamie Webb to a 3:23.47 win. Richard was victorious with a commanding 49.02 second gold medal in the 400 dash.

Hazleton Area’s Matthew Houser won the 300 hurdles by eight-tenths of a second with a 40.39-second run.

“I knew I was top seed but I didn’t think about it,” he said. “I was nervous but I was talking to one of the guys, (Pittston Area’s) Colin Tracy, about sticking together to get under 40 (seconds). It was a really good race. If I didn’t have these other guys, I would not be able to do it.”

In the pole vault, Berwick’s Robbie Harter cleared 14 feet for a personal record to earn first place and punch a ticket to states.

***

District 2 Class 3A Boys

Track & Field Championships

at Scranton Memorial Stadium

Standings – 1. Coughlin (COU) 97, 2. Scranton (SCR) 64, 3. Wallenpaupack (WAL) 56, 4. North Pocono (NP) 54, 5. Western Wayne (WW) 53, 6. Dallas (DAL) 49, 7. Hazleton Area (HAZ) 47.5, 8. Wyoming Valley West (WVW) 46, 9. Valley View (VV) 35.5, 10. Abington Heights (AH) 28, 11. Wyoming Area (WA) 25, 12. Pittston Area (PA) 24.5, 13. Berwick (BER) 24, 13. Scranton Prep (SP) 24, 15. West Scranton (WS) 23.5, 16. Delaware Valley (DV) 23, 17. Crestwood (CRE) 12, 18. Honesdale (HON) 8, 18. Tunkhannock (TUN) 8

3,200 Relay – 1. NP (Randy Bocan, David Haines, Zachary Davis, Matt Kravitz) 8:19.07; 2. AH (Jack Malone, Kyle Burke, Evan Phillips, Dan Uhranowsky) 8:23.46; 3. WAL (Eric Kolvek, Matt Vosburg, Jake Wacker, Tyler Wirth) 8:24.48; 4. BER (Nick Koch, Bao Le, Beau Blass, Trey Pruitt) 8:27.45; 5. SP (Austin Bolus, Michael Decarli, Tommy Doherty, Tristen Shoemaker) 8:30.57; 6. WW (Jacob Pasake, Dylan Kline, Kenny French, Ben Field) 8:33.92; 7. HAZ (Bryan Hernandez, Brendon Lohr, Justin Olander, Chris Scalleat) 8:44.36; 8. COU (Jake Brown, Mikey Koury, Jacob Allabaugh, Franco Balbuena) 8:55.21.

High Jump – 1. WAL Kyle McLaughlin 6-5, 2. PA Paul Moska 6-3, 3. DV Shane Acoveno 6-1, 4. HAZ Joe Grula 6-1, 5. WA Ryan Murphy 5-11, 6. PA Matt Ambrose 5-11, 6. WA Joe Buczynski 5-11, 8. VV Ethan Carey 5-9, 8. WS Colin Kelly 5-9.

110 Hurdles – 1. WW Alex Long 15.26, 2. PA Colin Tracy 15.43, 3. COU Ron Sepkowski 15.74, 4. WW Ryan Atcavage 15.93, 5. BER Spencer Hoffman 15.95, 6. COU Kevin Kozerski 16.01, 7. VV Tyler Grant 16.51. 8. PA Naseem Guillame 17.31.

Long Jump – 1. WS Dashawn Minnick 22-2.75, 2. WW Alex Long 22-1 (SQS), 3. WA Robert Acacio 20-7.5, 4. AH Bailey Harris 20-5.5, 5. SCR Nick Bastian 20-5.25, 6. TUN Erik Bennett 20-1.5, 7. COU Cole Horan 19-11.5, 8. VV Ethan Carey 19-11.

100 Dash – 1. DAL Uzoije Ukattah 10.89, 2. COU Vincent Todd 11.22, 3. COU Nick Carman 11.25, 4. VV Evan Carey 11.39, 5. SP David Horvath 11.4, 6. WS Allen Jones 11.42, 7. NP Tyler Musgrave 11.43, 8. VV Jake Osborne 11.64.

Discus – 1. NP Matt Slagus 184-1 (DR), 2. COU Jacob Khalife 155 (SQ), 3. WVW Tyler Wozniak 150-11, 4. HAZ Matt Sutton 149-3, 5. SP Garry Wrobleski 142-4, 6. TUN Lucas Kresge 141-2, 7. VV Jake Kraycer 136, 8. WVW Jacob Chalawich 135-6.

Javelin – 1. SCR Jacob Watts 174-2, 2. HON Clayton Hewett 172-9, 3. SP Lucas Stage 171-5, 4. WA Marc Minichello 170-2, 5. PA Walter Coles 160-1, 6. HAZ Joe Grula 153-4, 7. VV Jake Kraycer 149-11, 8. DV John Manganello 149-11.

1,600 Run – 1. COU Franco Balbuena 4:29.35, 2. WAL Tyler Wirth 4:29.51, 3. AH Kyle Burke 4:32.9, 4. DV Michael Bell 4:33.06, 5. VV Connor Duffy 4:34.71, 6. AH Dan Uhronowsky 4:37.47, 7. TUN Jacob Toczko 4:37.99, 8. DAL Josh Wyandt 4:39.24.

Pole Vault – 1. BER Robbie Harter 14, 2. WW Ryan Atcavage 13-6, 3. AH Colin Florey 12, 4. SCR Wes Myers 12, 5. HAZ Matthew Houser 11-6, 5. WA David Klaproth 11-6, 7. COU Khalid Credle 11-6, 8. COU Tommy Schwab 11.

Triple Jump – 1. WW Alex Long 44-7, 2. Dashawn Minnick 43-8, 3. WVW Trauman Clark 43-5, 4. COU Cole Haran 41-10.75, 5. CRE Jason Klusewitz 42-8.75, 6. SCR Akash Darjee 40-9, 7. CRE Ian Malia 40-6.25, 8. SCR Nick Bastian 40-2.75.

400 Dash – 1. WVW Ray Richard 49.02, 2. HAZ Michael Cusatis 50.69, 3. DAL Christian Roberts 50.85, 4. WAL Chad Vasey 50.86, 5. WAL Kyle McLaughlin 50.94, 6. WVW Mitch Forgash 51.36, 7. WS Colin Kelly 52.12, 8. DV Fox Wihlborg 52.59.

400 Relay – 1. COU (Mike Brown, Cole Horan, Vincent Todd, Nick Carman) 43.5; 2. VV (Ethan Carey, Evan Carey, Kyle Davies, Eric Ithavong) 43.91; 3. DAL (Brad Adams, Chandler Caruso, Nate Maransky, Jimmy Powell) 44.56; 4. SP (Michael Comerford, Jake Ryan, Kevin Holmes, Lucas Stage) 44.84; 5. WA (Donovan O’Boyle, Brian Miles, Michael Murphy, Ryan Murphy) 45.14; 6. WAL (Luke Cheslock, Josh Deleon, Evans Obeng, Josh Steinbrecher) 45.23; 7. SCR (Carlos Avevedo, Nick Bastian, Keyron Harbin, Ian Lewis) 45.43; 8. DV (Kyle Dillon, Eric Hernandez, Dylan Kelly, Darryn Ouk) 45.58.

300 Hurdles – 1. HAZ Matthew Houser 40.39, 2. COU Ron Sepkowski 41.12, 3. SCR Ron Sepkoski 41.12, 4. BER Spencer Hoffman 41.6, 5. COU Kevin Kozerski 41.95, 6. WW Alex Long 42.84, 7. VV Tyler Grant 42.85, 8. PA Naseem Guillaume 43.36.

Shot Put – 1. WVW Tyler Wozniak 52-5, 2. NP Matt Slagus 49-10, 3. COU Jacob Khalife 48-8, 4. DV Nick Haydu 48-6, 5. WAL Kenny Grady 47-9, 6. SCR Evan Jones 46-8.5, 7. SCR Greg Miller 46-3, 8. COU Colin Krokos 43-6.

200 Dash – 1. DAL Uzoije Ukattah 22.74, 2. COU Nick Carman 22.85, 3. SCR Carlos Acevedo 22.93, 4. VV Eric Inthavong 23, 5. COU Vincent Todd 23.38, 6. WAL Chad Vasey 23.45, 7. NP Matt Craig 23.46, 8. SP Kevin Holmes 28.29.

800 Run – 1. SCR Andrew Lopez 1:59.65, 2. HAZ Brendan Lohr 2:00.1, 3. CRE Jason Klusewitz 2:00.68, 4. DAL Jason Culp 2:01.29, 5. WAL Jake Wacker 2:02.37, 6. SCR Phillip Lopez 2:02.68, 7. COU Franco Balbuena 2:02.79, 8. WW Kenny French 2:03.6.

3,200 Run – 1. NP Matt Kravitz 9:19.38, 2. NP David Haines 9:41.37, 3. DAL Jack Zardecki 9:42.69, 4. WW Jacob Pasake 9:57.38, 5. DV Michael Bell 9:59.55, 6. SCR Nilang Suther 10:11.7, 7. HAZ Franklin Cunningham 10:11.7, 8. WAL Thomas Johnson 10:13.38.

1,600 Relay – WVW (Mitchell Forgash, Matt Bobkowski, Jamie Webb, Ray Richard) 3:23.47; 2. WAL (Ryan Ehrhardt, Michael Ingulli, Kyle McLaughlin, Chad Vasey) 3:25.69; 3. SCR (Akash Darjee, Rashawn Harris, Andrew Lopez, Phil Lopez) 3:31.25; 4. DAL (Adam Borton, Jason Culp, Nate Maransky, Christian Roberts) 3:33.03; 5. NP (Tyler Musgrave, Zach Davis, Mike McGee, Randy Bocan) 3:33.39; 6. VV (Ethan Carey, Kyle Davies, Tyler Grant, Eric Inthavong) 3:34.6; 7. COU (Ron Sepkoski, Vince Todd, Nick Carman, Franco Balbuena) 3:35.18; 8. HAZ (Mike Cusatis, Bryan Hernandez, Matt Houser, Brendon Lohr) 3:35.21.

Coughlin’s Nick Carman wins his preliminary heat in the District 2 Class 3A boys 100-meter dash at Scranton Memorial Stadium on Monday afternoon. Carman was part of the first-place 400 relay team (43.5) along with Mike Brown, Cole Horan, and Vincent Todd.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/web1_TTL051716TrkD2Boys_2.jpg.optimal.jpgCoughlin’s Nick Carman wins his preliminary heat in the District 2 Class 3A boys 100-meter dash at Scranton Memorial Stadium on Monday afternoon. Carman was part of the first-place 400 relay team (43.5) along with Mike Brown, Cole Horan, and Vincent Todd. Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader

Coughlin’s Ron Sepkoski clears a hurdle in his preliminary heat in the District 2 Class 3A boys 110-meter hurdles at Scranton Memorial Stadium on Monday afternoon.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/web1_TTL051716TrkD2Boys_1.jpg.optimal.jpgCoughlin’s Ron Sepkoski clears a hurdle in his preliminary heat in the District 2 Class 3A boys 110-meter hurdles at Scranton Memorial Stadium on Monday afternoon. Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader

Dallas’ Uzoije Ukattah, left, beats out West Scranton’s Allen Jones in a preliminary heat of the District 2 Class 3A boys 100-meter dash at Scranton Memorial Stadium on Monday afternoon. He won the 100 dash in 10.89 seconds.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/web1_TTL051716TrkD2Boys_3.jpg.optimal.jpgDallas’ Uzoije Ukattah, left, beats out West Scranton’s Allen Jones in a preliminary heat of the District 2 Class 3A boys 100-meter dash at Scranton Memorial Stadium on Monday afternoon. He won the 100 dash in 10.89 seconds. Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader

By Jay Monahan

For Times Leader

Reach Times Leader sports at 570-829-7143 or on Twitter @ TLSports

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Video Caption: Coughlin ices head coach Paul McGrane

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