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SCRANTON — Sprinters and throwers led the way for the Wyoming Valley Conference Thursday in the District 2 Class 3A Track and Field Championships at Scranton Memorial Stadium.

Wyoming Area shot putter Madelyn Resciniti, Hazleton Area javelin thrower Abbey Hengst and the Pittston Area 400-meter relay team accounted for the conference’s three gold medals.

Of the seven qualifiers for the May 24-25 PIAA Championships at Shippensburg University, three are in the throws, three are in the sprints and another is in the jumps.

Pittston Area freshman Jakiya Kroon was the only two-event state qualifier from the WVC, anchoring the relay win and meeting the state qualifying standard in the 100.

Alondra Church from Dallas in the 200, Renny Murphy from Dallas in the javelin and Le’June Berry from Coughlin in the high jump were the others who made the state meet without winning their events by meeting or exceeding the state standards.

Resciniti, a Duquesne University-bound scholarship thrower, won her first district gold medal in her final chance.

Seeded first in both the discus and shot put, Resciniti settled for fourth in the discus with a throw of 107 feet.

“I definitely saw them equally and thought that maybe I could have pulled off a title in both,” Resciniti said.

As she headed into the shot put competition, her high school career had consisted of a silver and bronze in the shot put and two fourth-place finishes in the discus.

Resciniti acknowledged that she was capable of letting that result get to her, but she had help preventing that outcome.

“I have great coaches and great parents and a great support system that can stop it before those kind of thoughts even get in my head,” she said.

Resciniti produced her winning distance of 36-6 on her second attempt and wound up with three attempts longer than the best produced by anyone else in the field. She said the challenges of facing six attempts in two events – throwers only do three attempts in regular-season duals – made it difficult to approach her career-bests in the event.

She did, however, come up with a career-best place finish and a trip to the state championships where she will complete her high school career.

Hengst struck gold in her first try.

The Hazleton Area freshman had a winning throw of 134-10, leading a 1-2-3 finish by the WVC.

Murphy, a sophomore, surpassed the state standard with her 125-10 and her freshman teammate, Allie Melchiorre finished third.

Hengst had a slim lead, then extended it on her fifth attempt.

In doing so, she made it three straight titles for Hazleton Area in the event. Kayla Merkel set the meet record of 147-1 two years ago, then Paige Bonin won last year as a senior.

Jenna Smith, Olivia Norwillo and Katelyn Wesp kept Pittston Area in contention in the 400 relay and Kroon surged into the lead on the anchor leg for the win in 49.92.

“I came it was up to me to win,” Kroon said.

Kroon met the state standard in the 100 while finishing third in 12.50. She also anchored the fourth-place 1600 relay team and finished eighth in the 200. She trailed Scranton’s Kyanhi Harbin and Delaware Valley’s Taliyah Booker in the 100.

Harbin rallied past Church at the end of the 200, but Church still advanced with her time of 25.66, just six-hundredths behind Harbin.

Berry’s 5-3 high jump was second to Calista Marzolino from team champion Abington Heights, but enough to reach the state meet.

Abington Heights, Wallenpaupack and Delaware Valley finished 1-2-3.

Dallas, the WVC Division 1 champion, was the only conference team in the top five, finishing three points behind Delaware Valley in fourth place.

RESULTS

Team Scoring – 1, Abington Heights (AH) 108.83; 2, Wallenpaupack (Wall) 74; 3, Delaware Valley (DV) 55; 4, Dallas (Dal) 52; 5, Scranton Prep (SP) 49; 6, Berwick (Ber) 48 ½; 7, Scranton (Scr) 47.5; 8, Pittston Area (PA) 46; 9, Hazleton Area (Haz) 35; 10, North Pocono (NP) 29; 11, Coughlin (Cou) 27.5; 12, Wyoming Area (WA) 27; T13, Valley View (VV) 24; T13, Tunkhannock (Tunk) 24; 15, Nanticoke (Nant) 21, 16, West Scranton (WScr) 16; 17, Wyoming Valley West (WVW) 9.33; 18, Crestwood (Cr) 4; 19, Honesdale (Hones) 3.33.

3200 Relay – 1, Abington Heights (Allison Dammer, Elyse Simakaski, Gianna Sabatini, Hannah Hughes) 9:48.62; 2, Wallenpaupack 10:09.69; 3, Scranton Prep 10:16.61; 4, Valley View 10:23.95; 5, Coughlin 10:26.48; 6, Hazleton Area 10:30.95; 7, Honesdale 10:44.83; 8, Wyoming Area 11:01.70.

Javelin – 1, Abbey Hengst (Haz) 134-10; *2, Renny Murphy (Ber) 125-10; 3, Allie Melchiorre (Ber) 112-5; 4, Ashleigh Gutowski (NP) 111-7; 5, Abby Cullen (Nant) 111-6; 6, Toni Menichello (WA) 110-9; 7, Leah Zambetti (PA) 106-2; 8, Emily Farrell (Dal) 106-0.

Triple jump – 1, Anastasia Ioppolo (Wall) 36-7; 2, Amiah Lukowski (Nant) 36-5; 3, Calista Marzolino (AH) 36-0 ¼; 4, Valerie Gerchak (WA) 35-8 ¾; 5, Brooke Acoveno (DV) 35-7; 6, Jessica Shaver (WVW) 35-0 ¾; 7, Brenna Klaproth (SP) 34-5; 8, Lauren Festa (Haz) 34-1.

Pole vault – 1, Danielle Heine (AH) 11-6; 2, Victoria Atkinson (SP) 11-0; 3, Isabella Colyer (Haz) 9-6; 4, Emily Farrell (Dal) 9-6; 5, Amber Koshinski (Ber) 9-0; 6, Jennifer Simrell (SP) 8-6; T7, Calli Ogurkis (Dal) 8-6; T7, Dani McGrane (Cou) 8-6.

100 hurdles – 1, Calista Marzolino (AH) 15.35; 2, Lexi Nevel (Ber) 16.42; 3, Taliyah Smith (Scr) 16.67; 4, Brenna Klaproth (SP) 17.06; 5, Isabella Colyer (Haz) 17.06; 6, Mariel Curra (AH) 17.19; 7, Savannah Bailey (DV) 17.68.

100 – 1, Kyahni Harbin (Scr) 12.20; *2, Taliyah Booker (DV) 12.39; *3, Jakiya Kroon (PA) 12.50; 4, Jessica Cervenak (Tunk) 12.52; 5, Amiah Lukowski (Nant) 12.63; 6, Keeana Dicette (DV) 12.68; 7, Adreanna Cunningham (WA) 12.81; 8, Jillian Buchman (Haz) 12.94.

1600 – 1, Brianna Zipay (VV) 5:18.04; 2, Alana Kravitz (NP) 5:24.78; 3, Laina Bogusta (DV) 5:28.81; 4, Megan Borton (Dal) 5:29.83; 5, Camilla Rinaldi (SP) 5:35.66; 6, Emily Hopkins (Scr) 5:37.29; 7, Adiya Golden (SP) 5:39.22; 8, Mackenzie LaMorte (Hon) 5:39.24.

Discus – 1, Liz Desmet (Wall) 115-5; 2, Rebecca Avery (Tunk) 109-5; 3, Makayla Force (Ber) 108-0; 4, Madelyn Resciniti (WA) 107-0; 5, Shannon O’Donnell (Dal) 103-8; 6, Madison Kier (Wall) 102-8; 7, Sarah Krokos (Dal) 100-10; 8, Allie Melchiorre (Berw) 100-8.

High jump – 1, Calista Marzolino (AH) 5-5; *2, Le’June Berry (Cou) 5-3; 3, Taylor Woodeschick (Ber) 5-1; 4, Avery McNulty (SP) 5-1; 5, Brooke Acoveno (DV) 5-1; T6, Olivia Maniskas (Dal) 4-11; T6, Taliyah Smith (Scr) 4-11; T8, Aubrey Boyd (WVW) 4-9; T8, Anna Scoblick (AH) 4-9.

400 – 1, Mackenzie Turner (Wall) 57.51; *2, Taliyah Booker (DV) 57.63; 3, Jillian Buchman (Haz) 1:00.71; 4, Lila Gaughan (NP) 1:01.30: 5, Ava Buttner (SP) 1:01.32; 6, Keyla Lantigua (WS) 1:01.76; 7, Sydney Lloyd (Ber) 1:02.47; 8, Jenna Reich (DV) 1:03.25.

300 hurdles – 1, Anastasia Ioppolo (Wall) 47.14; 2, Esabella Mendola (Cou) 48.52; 3, Giavanna Innamorati (PA) 48.62; T4, Lexi Nevel (Ber) 49.24; T4, Anna Scoblick (AH) 49.24; 6, Anna Marchetta (AH) 49.49; 7, Taliyah Smith (Scr) 50.49; 8, Abigail Liebson (DV) 50.68.

800 – 1, Gianna Sabatini (AH) 2:17.58; 2, Nicole Zambetti (PA) 2:19.26; 3, Jillian Bonczewski (WVW) 2:23.81; 4, Brianna Zipay (VV) 2:24.22; 5, Hannah Hughes (AH) 2:25.01; 6, Alexis Sickler (DV) 2:25.23; 7, Elysa Simakaski (AH) 2:26.89; 8, Charisse Mulherin (VV) 2:28.97.

200 – 1, Kyanhi Harbin (Scr) 25.60; 2, Alondra Church (Dal) 25.66; 3, Jessica Cervenak (Tunk) 26.49; 4, Olivia Norwillo (PA) 26.81; 5, Alison Francis (Dal) 27.01; 6, Jillian Buchman (Haz) 27.10; 7, Ava Angeloni (VV) 27.14; 8, Jakiya Kroon (PA) 27.24.

400 relay – 1, Pittston Area (Jenna Smith, Olivia Norwillo, Katelyn Wesp, Jakiya Kroon) 49.92; 2, Dallas 50.16; 3, Scranton 50.16; 4, Abington Heights 51.85; 5, West Scranton 52.09; 6, Wallenpaupack 52.20; 7, Coughlin 52.27; 8, Valley View 52.85.

Long jump – 1, Anastasia Ioppolo (Wall) 18-2 ½; 2, Calista Marzolino (AH) 17-7 ½; 3, Lila Gaughan (NP) 17-5 ¾; 4, Danielle Heine (AH) 17-5 ¾; 5, Amiah Lukowski (AH) 17-5 ¾; 6, Lauren Lopresto (PA) 16-6 ½; 7, Brooke Acoveno (DV) 16-3; 8, Valerie Gerchak (WA) 16-0.

Shot put – 1, Madelyn Resciniti (WA) 36-6; 2, Felicity Martin (Scr) 34-10; 3, Tania Grissom (WS) 34-9; 4, Rebecca Avery (Tunk) 33-1; 5, Adele Hollander (AH) 33-0; 6, Dia Cruz (Ber) 32-10; 7, Yansel Perez (Cou) 32-10; 8, Jasmine Johnson (DV) 31-11.

3200 – 1, Mia Bellucci (SP) 11:17.22; 2, Laina Bogusta (DV) 11:56.04; 3, Abigail Marion (AH) 11:58.66; 4, Alana Kravitz (NP) 12:02.88; 5, Molly DeMarzo (Cr) 12:02.89; 6, Kaitlyn Hodakowski (Dal) 12:09.22; 7, Modupe Osuntokun (AH) 12:20.82; 8, Sarah Myers (Haz) 12:22.53.

1600 relay – 1, Wallenpaupack (Rylee Arenson, Anna Ioppolo, Madison Nakielny, Mackenzie Turner) 4:03.99; 2, Dallas 4:04.48; 3, Abington Heights 4:07.48; 4, Pittston Area 4:10.09; 5, Delaware Valley 4:11.15; 6, West Scranton 4:17.90; 7, Coughlin 4:19.20; 8, Nanticoke 4:21.27.

*-Indicates qualified for state meet by meeting qualifying standard.

Wyoming Area’s Madelyn Resciniti throws during the girls shot put to victory in the District 2 Class 3A track and field championships at Scranton Memorial Stadium on Thursday.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/web1_TTL051719D2Track3Agirls_1.jpg.optimal.jpgWyoming Area’s Madelyn Resciniti throws during the girls shot put to victory in the District 2 Class 3A track and field championships at Scranton Memorial Stadium on Thursday. Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader

Dallas’ Bella Hill takes off from the blocks in the girls 400 relay at the District 2 Class 3A track and field championships at Scranton Memorial Stadium on Thursday.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/web1_TTL051719D2Track3Agirls_3.jpg.optimal.jpgDallas’ Bella Hill takes off from the blocks in the girls 400 relay at the District 2 Class 3A track and field championships at Scranton Memorial Stadium on Thursday. Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader

Pittston Area’s Jakiya Kroon, right, anchors the girls 400 relay to win gold ahead of Dallas’ Alondra Church in the District 2 Class 3A track and field championships at Scranton Memorial Stadium on Thursday.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/web1_TTL051719D2Track3Agirls_2.jpg.optimal.jpgPittston Area’s Jakiya Kroon, right, anchors the girls 400 relay to win gold ahead of Dallas’ Alondra Church in the District 2 Class 3A track and field championships at Scranton Memorial Stadium on Thursday. Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader

By Tom Robinson

For Times Leader