By Kevin Carroll [email protected]

The 100 Hurdles preliminary Class 3A heat was won by Julia Natitus of Dallas. Fred Adams | For Times Leader

The 100 Hurdles preliminary Class 3A heat was won by Julia Natitus of Dallas.

Fred Adams | For Times Leader

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<p>Emmy Savakinas of Pittston Area competes in the Triple Jump Class 3A final.</p> <p>Fred Adams | For Times Leader</p>

Emmy Savakinas of Pittston Area competes in the Triple Jump Class 3A final.

Fred Adams | For Times Leader
<p>The 300 Hurdles Class 3A final as won by Julie Natitus of Dallas and she reacted to her win after she crossed the finish line.</p> <p>Fred Adams | For Times Leader</p>

The 300 Hurdles Class 3A final as won by Julie Natitus of Dallas and she reacted to her win after she crossed the finish line.

Fred Adams | For Times Leader
<p>Wyoming Area’s Ella McKernan crosses the finish line second behind the winning Abington Heights team in the Class 3A 3200 Relay final.</p> <p>Fred Adams | For Times Leader</p>

Wyoming Area’s Ella McKernan crosses the finish line second behind the winning Abington Heights team in the Class 3A 3200 Relay final.

Fred Adams | For Times Leader
<p>Lake Lehman’s Ava Jones crosses the finish line winning the 3200 relay in the Class 2A final.</p> <p>Fred Adams | For Times Leader</p>

Lake Lehman’s Ava Jones crosses the finish line winning the 3200 relay in the Class 2A final.

Fred Adams | For Times Leader
<p>Lake Lehman’s Ava Jones takes off after receiving the baton from Kinley Purdy on the anchor leg of the 3200 relay in the Class 2A final.</p> <p>Fred Adams | For Times Leader</p>

Lake Lehman’s Ava Jones takes off after receiving the baton from Kinley Purdy on the anchor leg of the 3200 relay in the Class 2A final.

Fred Adams | For Times Leader

SCRANTON — The District 2 Track and Field Championships may run through Scranton Memorial Stadium, but the opening day of the girls’ competition had a distinct Back Mountain feel to it.

Dallas won three gold medals and took the team lead over Abington Heights in the Class 3A field, while the Lake-Lehman girls won two events and are positioned in second place in the Class 2A competition heading into the final day of action on Tuesday.

The Mountaineers, looking to defend their team title in Class 3A, grabbed a slight 43-39.3 edge over Abington Heights with several runners slated to hit the track Tuesday.

In Class 2A, defending champ Lakeland holds the team lead with 60.5 points. Lake-Lehman has 41.5 points, the only Wyoming Valley Conference team in the 2A girls field within striking distance of the top spot and the only WVC team to win Class 2A girls gold.

In fact, the Black Knights wasted no time putting a gold medal on the board: the first track final of the championships, the 3200 relay, was all Lake-Lehman from start to finish.

The Lehman relay team of Cameron Janick, Alana Palmaioli, Kinley Purdy and Ava Jones crushed the competition, winning the gold with a time of 9:50.58 — nearly 50 seconds ahead of second place.

“After the first leg, we didn’t expect to be that ahead…we knew after that we had a great shot,” Palmaioli said. “I’ve wanted to go to states for so long, I’m so happy.”

Those four Black Knights had one more teammate join them in the winner’s circle, as long jumper Sophia Lenza held off some tough competition to take first place.

Her championship-winning jump, landing at 16 feet, eight inches, just edged out Riverside’s Grace Barbuti and Lakeland’s Bria Hill.

“I just had a positive mindset throughout the whole day,” Lenza said. “I was just talking walks, warming up and making sure everything else was perfect.”

In Class 3A, Dallas got on the board right away with Morgan Langdon’s gold medal in the shot put. The Mountaineers would hang around the top of the team pack until a pair of wins in the final two events of the day helped them pull ahead.

First, in the 300 hurdles, Julia Natitus cruised to a gold medal in 43 seconds flat, three seconds clear of the field. Wyoming Area’s Ella McKernan took second place in 46.10 seconds, but her time was still good enough to meet the state qualifying standard and earn McKernan a place in the state championships.

Natitus will be busy on Tuesday as well, clocking the fastest time in Monday’s 100 hurdles prelims to advance to Tuesday’s finals. She’ll also run a leg on Dallas’s 1600 relay team Tuesday.

In Monday’s finale, Madison Hedglin held off a strong push from Crestwood’s Katie Kozich and Abington Heights’ Anna Pucilowski to win the gold.

With about three laps to go, Hedglin made her move to separate from the group and ended up winning by over 11 seconds.

“Having them on my back was hard, I just got in my head and said that I could do anything,” Hedglin said. “It gave me the motivation to keep pushing.”

Both Kozich and Pucilowski will be joining Hedglin at states with times good enough to meet the qualifying standard.

Elsewhere in the WVC, Nanticoke Area’s Nevaeh Baran won the gold medal in the Class 3A girls triple jump, landing nearly two feet clear of second place to punch her ticket to states.

One of the strongest overall fields of the afternoon, four total jumpers qualified for states in the triple jump — three from the WVC. Besides Baran, Wyoming Area’s Taylor Gashi placed third and Hazleton Area’s Sophia Shults took fourth, but both cleared enough distance to advance.

District 2 Class 2A Girls Track and Field Championships

* — qualified for states based on time

Team Standings — 1. Lakeland (LAK) 60.5, 2. Lake-Lehman (LL) 41.5, 3. Western Wayne (WW) 32.5, 4. Mid Valley (MV) 28, 5. Elk Lake (ELK) 26, 6. Montrose (MON) 25.5, 7. Holy Cross (HC) 13.5, T8. Riverside (RIV) 13, T8. Holy Redeemer (HR) 13, 10. Dunmore (DUN) 12.5, 11. Susquehanna (SUSQ) 3, T12. Blue Ridge (BR) 2, T12. Lackawanna Trail (LT) 2.

3200 Relay — 1. Lake-Lehman (Cameron Janick, Alana Palmaioli, Kinley Purdy, Ava Jones) 9:50.58, Elk Lake 10:37.92, 3. Mid Valley 10:42.97, 4. Holy Redeemer 10:45.45, 5. Holy Cross 10:45.90, 7. Lakeland 11:07.85, 8. Riverside 11:16.27.

300 Hurdles — 1. Natalie Talluto (MV) 45.49, 2. Kaylyn Davis (LAK) 47.06*, 3. Kyra Chepolis (HR) 48.70, 4. Gabriella Martini (LAK) 50.42, 5. Molly Weller (MON) 50.91, 6. Makenzie Chearney (WW) 51.23, 7. Sarah Gorham (BR) 52.10, 8. Shelby Hartland (HC) 53.98.

3200 Run — 1. Annika Von Ahren 11:43.21, 2. Emily Black (LAK) 11:58.11, 3. Kendyl Weisgold (ELK) 12:15.29, 4. Alana Palmaioli (LL) 12:24.72, 5. Addison Stephens (MON) 13:07.18, 6. Gemma Bistran (HC) 13:13.43, 7. Emma Shaw (LT) 13:28.98, 8. Abby McGowan (HR) 13:43.30.

Discus — 1. Gianna Tewksbury (ELK) 124-1, 2. Sadie Booths (WW) 108-6, 3. Erin Tillotson (MON) 99-8, 4. Anna Tillotson (MON) 94-8, 5. Sloane Dougherty (LL) 93-0, 6. June McGee (MON) 88-7, 7. Gianna Miranda (ELK) 87-0, 8. Allison Kohut (LAK) 85-10.

High Jump — 1. Naomi Rude (LAK) 5-0, 2. Lizzie Mendola (DUN) 4-8, 3. Julie Grier (LAK) 4. Michelle Nidoh (DUN) 4-6, 4. Kathryn Morgan (LL) 4-6, 6. Skyla McGuire (WW) 4-6, 6. Anneliese Pepson (LAK) 4-6, 8. Kirsten Eschbach (MON) 4-6.

Javelin — 1. Kaylyn Davis (LAK) 128-1, 2. Delcia Biscotto (LL) 110-2, 3. Madison Stiffler (WW) 107-9, 4. Sadie Booths (WW) 97-3, 5. Natalia Archangeli (HC) 94-4, 6. Avery Diaz (MON) 90-9, 7. Arianna McPherson (MV) 89-3, 8. Meredith Walting (HR) 85-5.

Long Jump — 1. Sophia Lenza (LL) 16-8, 2. Grace Barbuti (RIV) 16-7, 3. Bria Hill (LAK) 16-6, 4. Olivia Haines (WW) 16-2, 5. Braelyn Reed (RIV) 15-11.75, 6. Bailee Norris (SUS) 15-11.75, 7. Rileigh Johnson (LAK) 15-5.5, 8. Shelby Hartland (HC) 15-2.

District 2 Class 3A Girls Track and Field Championships

Team Standings — 1. Dallas (DAL) 43, 2. Abington Heights (AH) 39.3, 3. Delaware Valley (DV) 28, 4. Wyoming Area (WA) 26, 5. Crestwood (CRE) 21.3, 6. Hazleton Area (HAZ) 18.3, 7. North Pocono (NP) 11, T8. Wallenpaupack (WAL) 10, T8. Nanticoke Area (NAN) 10, T10. Scranton (SCR) 6, T10. Tunkhannock (TUN) 6, T10. Honesdale (HON) 6, T13. Valley View (VV) 4, T13. Pittston Area (PA) 4, 15. Berwick (BER) 1.

3200 Relay — 1. Abington Heights (Erin Bartell, Anna Pucilowski, Reese Morgan, Marguerite Coleman) 9:29.45, 2. Wyoming Area 9:36.57, 3. Crestwood 9:52.65, 4. Wallenpaupack 10:08.44, 5. Valley View 10:13.17, 6. Honesdale 10:15.15, 7. Hazleton Area 10:15.92, 8. Berwick 10:25.51.

300 Hurdles — 1. Julia Natitus (DAL) 43.00, 2. Ella McKernan (WA) 46.10*, 3. Eyinah Smith (SCR) 4. Ella Smith (WAL) 47.19, 5. Jenesa Sancho (WA) 47.83, 6. Kaitlyn Keller (DAL) 47.83, 7. Melina Gregory (HAZ) 49.25,8. Emmy Savakinas (PA) 49.57.

3200 Run — 1. Madison Hedglin (DAL) 10:44.58, 2. Katie Kozich (CRE) 10:55.93*, 3. Anna Pucilowski (AH) 10:58.62*, 4. Sarah Williams (DAL) 11:22.95, 5. Kaelyn Barker (CRE) 11:26.49, 6. Milana Daiute (HAZ) 11:28.84, 7. Marley Gilboy (AH) 11:49.12, 8. Isabella Dessoye (PA) 11:56.09.

Pole Vault — 1. Liliana Coe (DV) 12-0, 2. Tomara Seid (AH) 12-0, 3. Mariah Wolff (NP) 10-0, 3. Jayden Mucha (NP) 10-0, 5. Kiana Seid (AH) 10-0, 6. Evelyn Kruczek (CRE) 9-6, 7. Elinor Schardien (PA) 9-6, 8. Alexis Reimold (HAZ) 8-6.

Shot Put — 1. Morgan Langdon (DAL) 38-0, 2. Rainna Carr (DV) 36-8.75, 3. Lourianna Alston (TUN) 34-10.5, 4. Caterina Catizone (DV) 33-2.5, 5. Annie Darr (HAZ) 32-3, 6. Jada Mason (DAL) 31-11, 7. Juleisy Tejada (HAZ) 31-7.75, 8. Xiomara Rosario (DV) 30-6.

Triple Jump — 1. Nevaeh Baran (NAN) 40-4, 2. Tomara Seid (AH) 38-8.5*, 3. Taylor Gashi (WA) 37-5*, 4. Sophia Shults (HAZ) 36-10*, 5. Liliana Coe (DV) 36-5, 6. Erin Meagher (HON) 36-4, 7. Brynlee Tabor (DAL) 35-11, 8. Kiana Seid (AH) 35-8.75