Tired of ads? Subscribers enjoy a distraction-free reading experience.
Click here to subscribe today or Login.

Molly DeMarzo’s introduction to cross country running came in the Miami area on manicured courses, free from the rolling hills that mark the sport in Pennsylvania.

Weather conditions, and thus the footing on the courses, obviously were different as well.

Upon her arrival at Crestwood, DeMarzo enjoyed a highly successful junior high season as an eighth grader, but she still had not been introduced to consistently competing at the varsity distance of 3.1 miles (five kilometers).

DeMarzo conquered all in an incredible debut season.

The freshman went unbeaten within the confines of District 2 — winning the prestigious Cliff Robbins Invitational at the start, the district Class 2A championships at the end and every Wyoming Valley Conference competition, cluster meets and overall championship meet, in between.

DeMarzo capped it with a state medal, running away with honors as the Times Leader Girls Cross Country Runner of the Year.

An unbeaten eighth-grade season meant that DeMarzo and those around her knew there was no sense in exercising the option to continue competing in junior high. It would not have been fair to the competition and would not have been best for her development as a runner.

DeMarzo said, however, she had no expectations of the level of success she immediately found in high school.

As the year progressed, she became aware of a perfect mark locally, raising the significance of each race. Every time DeMarzo started a race this season, including her 17th-place state finish in Hershey, she was the fastest girl in the entire WVC.

The Cliff Robbins victory at Letterkenny Field to open the season quickly changed expectations.

“I think it was kind of eye-opening for everyone because before that no one knew who I was,” DeMarzo said. “After that, it was like, ‘We’ve got to watch out for her.’

“But it was also good for me because it showed me I could push myself to go on a higher level than just junior high and that I can work as hard as the other people can for it. I just continued to work hard through the season.”

The only time a District 2 runner finished ahead of DeMarzo was when Scranton Prep’s Mia Bellucci beat her at the PIAA Foundation Meet, a warm-up for the state championships on the Hershey Parkview Course. DeMarzo, however, went 3-for-4 against Bellucci, who had entered the season as the defending district champion.

DeMarzo learned other parts of the sport beyond the training dedication needed and how to pace herself in a race.

In a particularly wet and harsh Northeastern Pennsylvania cross country season, she dealt with the mud and elements as well as or better than her more-seasoned opponents.

“When I ran cross country in Florida, it was pretty much all man-made courses with no hills or anything like that,” DeMarzo said. “It was never really muddy and it definitely wasn’t cold.

“Up here, (the 2017) cross country season, there were some days that were muddy, but definitely nothing as bad as it was this year.”

The course conditions made steering clear of packs of runners and avoiding running behind others who were chewing up the course more important than ever.

DeMarzo possessed both the ability to get to the front early with speed and the endurance to stretch her leads from there.

That also avoided another potential issue.

Even in the low-body fat world of cross country, DeMarzo is tiny, usually the smallest girl on the course, making staying out of the packs, where bumping and jostling can occur, important for the 4-foot-10, 86-pounder who celebrated her 14th birthday early in the season.

“You had to get out,” DeMarzo said. “I never wanted to be toward the back because when everyone’s trampling through the mud, it’s only going to get worse.

“You want to be one of the first to go through it. … There can be a lot of pushing and shoving, so throughout the course, I would just try to stay on the outside, not go the longer way around, but stay away from anything that might have slowed me down or impacted me.”

DeMarzo’s school in Florida did not have cross country, so she ran in meets unattached while training with Beast Mode Running under coach Nathan Brown. Her parents, graduates of Riverside High School in Taylor, returned to Pennsylvania, opening the chance for DeMarzo to run on a school team.

Molly, who also ran junior high track for Crestwood last spring, is the daughter of David and Amy DeMarzo of Mountain Top. Amy (Maher) was a state track medalist at Riverside.

GIRLS CROSS COUNTRY ALL-STARS

FIRST TEAM

Katie Balay, Hazleton Area, Junior

Balay moves up after being a second-team Times Leader all-star last season. She helped Hazleton Area go 16-2 to finish third in the Wyoming Valley Conference. Balay qualified for the state meet in Class 3A by finishing fourth in the District 2-4 Subregional, leading a second-place team finish. She was also 10th in the WVC Coaches Meet.

Megan Borton, Dallas, Junior

Borton is the only three-time, first-teamer among this season’s selections. Borton helped Dallas go 17-1 in the Wyoming Valley Conference season. She was third in the WVC Coaches Meet and medaled with a 20th-place finish in District 2 Class 2A. Borton was 11th at the Cliff Robbins Invitational.

Madison Brdaric, Lake-Lehman, Senior

While doubling up as a second-team, all-star on the school’s division championship soccer team, Brdaric also was a big part of a 14-4 Wyoming Valley Conference finish in cross country. She placed 10th in District 2 Class 2A to qualify for the state championships. Brdaric opened the season by taking third at the Cliff Robbins Invitational.

Madison Dewees, Holy Redeemer, Sophomore

Dewees contributed to Holy Redeemer’s 18-0 Wyoming Valley Conference championship season. She placed eighth in both the WVC Coaches Meet and was 15th in the District 2 Class 2A championships. Dewees then turned in a strong performance in Hershey where she was the WVC’s fourth-fastest finisher in 21:32 while placing 64th out of 214.

Kaitlyn Hodakowski, Dallas, Sophomore

Hodakowski led Dallas to a 17-1 record as the second-place team in the Wyoming Valley Conference while repeating her status as a first-team all-star. She placed fourth in the WVC Coaches Meet and eighth in District 2 Class 2A. She earned a return trip to the state meet where, as a freshman, she was the WVC’s top finisher last season. This time, she was the conference’s fourth-fastest girl in Hershey.

Cameron Marcinkowski, Holy Redeemer, Junior

Marcinkowski was one of the leaders of an unbeaten Wyoming Valley Conference championship for Holy Redeemer. She also placed fifth in the WVC Coaches Meet and qualified for the state meet by placing 11th in the District 2 Class 2A championships. Marcinkowski opened the season with a seventh-place finish at the Cliff Robbins Invitational.

Abby Paczewski, Lake-Lehman, Junior

Paczewski finished second in the Ed Narkiewicz Wyoming Valley Conference Coaches Meet and was also the WVC’s second-fastest finisher at both the District 2 and state championships. The repeat first-team all-star helped Lake-Lehman go 14-4 in the conference. She placed fifth in the district Class 2A race. Paczewski was a first-team Times Leader all-star in two fall sports, excelling in cross country at the same time she was an all-star performer on a division championship soccer squad.

SECOND TEAM

Anna Capaci, Holy Redeemer, Sophomore

Chelsea Flaherty, Holy Redeemer, Freshman

Emma Fortune, Coughlin, Senior

Aubrianna Marranca, Wyoming Area, Junior

Mackenzie Milot, Wyoming Area, Junior

Sarah Myers, Hazleton Area, Senior

Nicole Zambetti, Pittston Area, Junior

Crestwood’s Molly DeMarzo (277) finished 17th at the PIAA championships this fall, leading all WVC runners.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/web1_IMG_1702.jpg.optimal.jpgCrestwood’s Molly DeMarzo (277) finished 17th at the PIAA championships this fall, leading all WVC runners. Tom Robinson file photo | For Times Leader

A Florida transplant, Crestwood’s Molly DeMarzo quickly adjusted to the climate and courses of Pennsylvania to lead the pack in the Wyoming Valley Conference.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/web1_web-crop.jpg.optimal.jpgA Florida transplant, Crestwood’s Molly DeMarzo quickly adjusted to the climate and courses of Pennsylvania to lead the pack in the Wyoming Valley Conference. Sean McKeag file photo | For Times Leader

By Tom Robinson

For Times Leader