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SCRANTON — During the half-hour drive to Scranton, Raheem Twyman couldn’t help wondering how his cranky hip would hold up.
He turned it into no worries at all.
Twyman tore through the 110 and 300 meter hurdles, winning gold medals in both Tuesday while leading Meyers to a third-place team finish in the District 2 Class 2A boys track and field championships at Scranton Memorial Stadium.
“It feels good,” said Twyman, a Mohawks senior who defended his district 300 hurdles championship from a year ago and at long last attained the double-gold in districts he’s spent his whole career gunning to get. “It’s like, finally. All the work and all those practices under the hot sun, I did it for a reason.”
His hip injury gave him no reason to fret.
Despite being inactive on the track since tweaking his a hip flexor muscle more than two weeks ago, Twyman easily captured the 110 hurles in a time of 14.91. Then he geared up for the 300 hurdles, where won with a time of 39.80.
“I’m not going to lie, I was a little nervous coming into it,” Twyman said. “But once I laced up my track spikes, it was just like any other run. It (the hip) is not really pain, just a discomfort feeling. It doesn’t bother me.”
It wasn’t all golden.
GAR’s two-time state sprint medalist Anthony Maurent, bothered by a hamstring strain for the past few weeks, limped to a 19th-place finish in the preliminary run of the 100 dash and didn’t make the finals.
A good number of competitors from the Wyoming Valley Conference did.
Lake-Lehman’s Syracuse-bound senior distance star Dominic Hockenbury broke the District 2 Class 2A record in the 3,200 by running a 9:13.79, erasing the old mark of 9:15.78 set by Rico Galassi of Holy Cross in 2013.
“It feels good to get it,” said Hockenbury, who has been trying to chase down a new district mark since last season. “It really meant a lot to me, knowing I had the potential to do it.”
Hockenbury leaves as a three-time District 2 champ, and will shoot for his third consecutive Class 2A state championship in the 3,200 next weekend in Shippensburg.
“I think I could have run faster,” Hockenbury said. “Right now, I feel I’m in shape to run under nine minutes. It’s just running the right race and getting everything together.”
A few other competitors from the WVC put together strong district performances.
Hanover Area rode a superior showing in field events straight into a second-place finish, winding up with 87 points to edge the 86 of third-place Meyers and land behind District 2 champion Lakeland’s 110 points.
Hawkeyes standout jumper Brandon Chafin won the long jump by hitting 22-09, then took another gold in the triple jump with a distance of 43 feet.
And his Hanover Area teammate Nick Minnich, a senior and track rookie more known for his feats on a basketball court, won a gold medal when he cleared 6-2 in the high jump during his first district track meet.
“When I first started, it seemed like a long-shot,” Minnich said of finishing at the top of the district. “But then throughout the season, I started to realize I could be going after it. It took a lot of hard work. I think when I was about in ninth grade, I bought a leg workout plan for about $50. I tried that out and I started dunking.
“So I credit that early workout.”
Northwest’s Tanner Kennedy can credit sheer speed.
He also took home two gold medals, winning the 100 in 11.34 seconds to edge Hanover Area’s Muhammad Chesson by six-hundredths of a second, then won the 200 dash in 22.65 to best Chesson again.
And as an added treat, Northwest was named the winner of this season’s District 2 Officials’ Sportsmanship Award.
“We know we have a bunch of really good kids,” Northwest coach Todd Culver said. “They’re very sportsman-like, have been for a long time. It means a lot, coming from our officials and our league. I care about winning. But winning a sportsmanship award like this means as much as anything.”
Winning twice in district hurdles events meant the world to Twyman.
After winning the 110 race by more than four-tenths of a second, Twyman overcame at least two run-ins with hurdles while holding off Lakeland’s Garth Estadt in the 300 run. That left Twyman a little shy of his goal — breaking former the District 2 record held by former Meyers star Qadry Ismail — but it did allow Twyman to leave the district with a double gold.
“I kind of hit a couple hurdles,” Twyman said. “That kind of slowed by flow a little bit. I could have given a little more towards the end, but with my hip, I didn’t want to do anything that would hold me back from states.”
1. Lakeland (Lak) 110; 2. Hanover Area (Han) 87; 3. Meyers (Mey) 86; 4. Northwest (NW) 46; 5. Carbondale (Carb) 44; 6. Holy Cross (HC) 40; 7. Montrose (Mon) 39; 8. Riverside (River) 37; 9. Dunmore (Dun) 36; 10. Elk Lake (Elk) 33; 11. Lake-Lehman (LL) 31; 11. Mid Valley (Mid) 31; 13. Lackawanna Trail (LT) 28; 14. Holy Redeemer (HR) 22; 15. Mountain View (Mt.V) 14; 16. Blue Ridge (BR) 12; 17. Nanticoke Area (Nan) 6
Top 2 finishers and SQS qualify for states
3,200 relay — 1. Lak (Tyler Paulino, Nick Setta, Mike Arzie, Collin Cooper) 8:16.99; 2. Mey (Simran Magnat, Rudy Rivera, Josh Schiowitz, Tim Snyder) 8:21.54; 3. HC (Nate Skrutski, Brian Sokol, Jake McGovern, Billy Legg) 8:35.11; 4. HR (Chris Holmes, Lucas Volpetti, Nick Brown, Dominic Capaci) 8:48.49; 5. NW (Wyatt Morris, Jeff Klock, Steven Galllopo, Isaac Whitenight) 8:56.12; 6. Han (Stephen Dule, Jared Fulginiti, Joshua Jacobino, Vinnie Matthews) 9:10.48; 7. Nan (Nick Placek, Earl Manangan, Ben Sersen, Trevor Grohowski) 9:16.34; 8. Dun (Anthony Behler, Nathan FAngio, Dan Lopatka, Matt Murray) 9:38.71. 110 hurdles — 1. Mey, Raheem Twyman 14.91; 2. Carb, Marcos Ortiz 15.33; 3. Lak, Caleb Morgan 15.49; 4. HC, Matt Marsh 15.70; 5. Mey, Nazir Dunell 16.18; 6. Mey, Jannsen Wilborn 16.19; 7. Mt.V, Tom Ord 16.36; 8. Mon, Cody Iverson. 100 — 1. NW, Tanner Kennedy 11.34; 2. Han, Muhammad Chesson 11.40; 3. BR, Hunter Conklin 11.44; 4. LL, Nick Eury 11.49; 5. Lak, Cyril Babcanec 11.51; 6. River, Mikkell Green 11.54; 7. Mid, Thomas Egnotovich 11.67; 8. LT, Anthony Berrios 11.72. 1,600 — 1. Dun, Matt Murray 4:30.30; 2. Mon, Zach Mead 4:37.11; 3. LT, Matt Kinback 4:37.13; 4. HC, Jake McGovern 4:40; 5. LL, Chris Sabol 4:41.66; 6. Mt.V, Jeff Virbitsky 4:43.96; 7. HR, Lucas Volpetti 4:44.63; 8. Mon, Brandon Curley 4:45.10. 400 — 1. Lak, Cyril Babcanec 50.14; 2. River, Will Davies 50.45; 3. Lak, Collin Cooper 50.81; 4. Elk, Cody Oswald 50.86; 5. Mey, Tim Snyder 52.24; 6. HC, Kevan Bailey 53.62; 7. LT, Matt Bergey 53.81; 8. NW, Isaac Whitenight 54.13. 400 relay — 1. LL (Tyler Billotti, Trey Borger, Nick Eury, Zach Oulajahadamed) 44.90; 2. Mid (Thomas Egnotovich, Nick Pieshefski, Austin Mizerak, Colin Munley) 45.05; 3. Lak (Tyler Paulino, Joe Pidgeon, Tyler Schwartstrauber, Matthew Pidgeon) 46.24; 4. River (Will Davies, Mikkell Green, Casey Holman, Chris Salas) 46.34; 5. Carb (Jason Jablonowski, Shawn Balinas, Kevin Bebla, Marcos Ortiz) 46.84; 6. LT (John Maier, Dakota Moyle, Matt Bergey, Anthony Berrios) 48.39; 7. Nan (Matthew Engle, Carmelo Pioquinto, John Shoemaker, Matthew Wruibel) 48.40; 8. Mt.V (Jarrett Bartlett, Joshua Johnson, Kyle Kraft, David Shea) 49.08. 300 hurdles — 1. Mey, Raheem Twyman 39.80; 2. Lak, Garth Estadt 40.13; 3. Lak, Caleb Morgan 40.96; 4. HR, Dylan Weybrecht 41.94; 5. Carb, Chance Olsewski 42.67; 6. Elk, Hunter Watkins 42.98; 7. Mey, Jannsen Wilborn 43.18; 8. Lak, Logan Bednash 43.83. 800 — 1. Dun, Matt Murray 1:59.42; 2. Lak, Collin Cooper 2:01.26; 3. Elk, Hunter Bedell 2:02.27; 4. Mey, Rudy Rivera 2:05.39; 5. LT, Matt Kinback 2:054.98; 6. HR, Dominic Capaci 2:06.26; 7. Lak, Tyler Paulino 2:08.11; 8. HR, Jonathan Weybrecht 2:09.18. 200 — 1. NW, Tanner Kennedy 22.65; 2. Han, Muhammad Chesson 22.96; 3. Lak, Cyril Babcanec 23.0; 4. Mid, Thomas Egnotovich 23.33; 5. BR, Hunter Conklin 23.39; 6. River, Mikkell Green 23.48; 7. LT, Anthony Berrios 23.58; 8. Dun, Kyle Lasner 24.18. 3,200 — 1. LL, Dominic Hockenbury, x-9:13.79; 2. Mon, Owen Brewer 10:05.36; 3. Lak, Mike Arzie 10:16.06; 4. HC, Nate Skrutski 10:30.01; 5. HRm, Aaron Hoda 10:34.61; 6. Mey, Carson Kosloski 10:38.19; 7. Nan, Trevor Grohowski 10:41.12; 8. HR, Connor Stevens 10:47.84. 1,600 relay — 1. Lak (Collin Cooper, Garth Estadt, Matthew Pidgeon, Cyril Babcanec) 3:27.69; 2. River (Will Davies, Mikkell Green, Casey Holman, Chris Salas) 2:37.80; 3. NW (Eric Albertson, Isaac Whitenight, Jebb Klock, Tanner Kennedy) 2:42.56; 4. Elk (Hunter Bedell, Cody Oswald, Seth Tewksbury, Hunter Watkins) 3:34.53; 5. Mey (Jannsen Wilborn, Raheem Twyman, Mark Robinson, Rudy Rivera) 3:35.24; 6. Han (Brandon Bruckner, Brandon Chafin, Muhammad Chesson, Joshua Jacobino) 2:42.74; 7. Mon (Mike Henry, Brennan Gilhool, Zach Mead, Mike Stewart) 3:36.68; 8. HC (Kevan Bailey, Josh Charles, Jake McGovern, Billy Legg) 3:40.96.
High jump — 1. Han, Nick Minnich 6-02; 2. LT, Matt Kinback 6-0; 3. Lak, Garth Estadt 6-0; 4. Mon, Colin Mondi 5-10; 5. Seth Tewksbury 5-10; 6. HC, Matt Nelson 5-10; 7. LT, Matt Bergey 5-08; 8. Han, Brandon Chafin 5-08. Pole vault — 1. NW, Ben Krouse 13=-0; 2. Mt.V, Joe Nally 13-0; 3. HC, Matt Marsh 13-0; 4. Han, Chris Randall 11-06; 5. Mid, Nick Pleshefski 11-06; 6. Mon, Colin Mondi and BR, Aaron Cook and LL, Joey Chaga 10-06. Long jump — 1. Han, Brandon Chafin 22-09.75; 2. Mey, Mark Robinson 21-07.50; 3. Mon, Mike Stewart 21-00.75; 4. Mey, Je’Vond McClair 21-10.25; 5. Lak, Garth Estadt 20-07.25; 6. HC, Matt Nelson 19-09.75; 7. Carb, Ian Bailey 19-05.50; 8. Han, Brandon Bruckner 19-04.50. Triple jump — 1. Han, Brandon Chafin 43-0; 2. Han, Muhammad Chesson 42-01; 3. Han, Brandon Bruckner 41-02; 4. NW, Tanner Kennedy 41-01.25; 5. Carb, Jason Jablonowski 40-06; 6. Mey, Je’Vond McClair 40-05.75; 7. Mey, Najese Hood 40-02.25; 8. Mey, Mark Robinson 39-09.50. Shot put — 1. River, Donald Clark 44-06.50; 2. Mid, Tom Malandri 44-06.50; 3. Han, John Sheridan 44-03.50; 4. Carb, Nathan Houman 42-04; 5. Mid, Matt Stankiewicz 41-0; 6. Dun, Colin Sohns 41-0; 7. Mon, Devin Nash 40-02; 8. HR, Cameron Brennan 39-03. Discus — 1. Carb, Nathan Houman 146-0; 2. Mey, Carlo Telesco 140-06; 3. Han, John Sheridan 135-0; 4. Lak, Stephen Liuzzo 134-09; 5. Mon, Colin Mondi 133-08; 6. Dun, Cory Frick 129-01; 7. Lak, Wes Strong 124-06; 8. Carb, Kevin Kelly 120-03. Javelin — 1. Elk, Hunter Watkins 198-0; 2. Dun, Gavin Darcy 181-04; 3. Carb, Jason Jablonowski 164-09; 4. Mey, Josh Schiowitz 157-08; 5. Lak, Seth Dippel 145-05; 6. HC, J.J. Montefour 144-05; 7. Han, Keith Eichler 137-06; 8. Mey, Willie Wallace 134-04.
