SCRANTON — Timothy Leonard did more than run the fastest 100-meter dash ever by a Class 3A boy in the District 2 Track and Field Championships.
When the Wilkes-Barre Area junior won the title last week at Scranton Memorial Stadium, his time of 10.60 seconds was the fastest in Pennsylvania in any district championship meet, Class 3A or Class 2A, this year.
As a result, Leonard was established as the top seed in Class 3A boys Sunday when the PIAA released its performance lists, which ranked competitors for Friday and Saturday’s state championship meet at Shippensburg University.
Leonard leads the 29 sprinters in the event. He is ranked just in front of Clearfield senior Brady Collins, who won the District 9 title in 10.64.
“I came out of the blocks kind of slow, but found a way to pick it up and take the win,” Leonard said after breaking the 30-year-old meet record set by Pittston Area’s John Dessoye on his way to a state title.
Leonard is among several Wyoming Valley Conference athletes who will contend for medals at the PIAA Championships.
The top eight in each event earn medals and score points for their teams.
State meet seeding is based strictly on times or distances from district championships.
The Dallas girls, who dominated District 2 on the way to the Class 3A team title, shape up as the top WVC team threat in Shippensburg.
Julia Natitus goes in second in the 300 hurdles and tied for fourth in the 100 hurdles while Madison Hedglin is fifth in the 3200.
Natitus won the district in 43.00 seconds, just one-quarter second behind the top seed, Spring Grove’s Ella Bahn.
Nanticoke’s Nevaeh Baran is also a threat for two Class 3A girls state medals, based on seeds. She is tied for second in the triple jump with Palmerton’s Nataly Walters with 40-4 and is seventh in the long jump.
Michael Fritz from Northwest, the only WVC team that competes in District 4 rather than District 2, is fourth in Class 2A in the 3200.
Lake-Lehman sophomore Finn Cronin is seventh in the 800 where his time is within two seconds of the top seed and all six who come in ahead of him are seniors. He is also part of a 3200 relay team that is seeded ninth, 58-hundredths of a second out of sixth.
In Class 3A boys, Hazleton Area’s Kevin Lucas is eighth in the triple jump; Hunter Pitcavage from Dallas is ninth in the javelin and Hazleton Area’s Darren Seiwell is part of a seven-way tie for the ninth-best height in the pole vault.
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