Every cross country season of Mitchell Rome’s high school career continued all the way through the final day of competition in the state at the PIAA Championships in Hershey.
For his senior year, Rome took it a little further on the way to being named Times Leader Runner of the Year for the first time.
Rome wrapped up his high school career by earning all-Northeast honors with a 30th-place finish in the Foot Locker Cross Country Northeast Regional in Bronx, N.Y.
“I was very happy with Foot Locker,” Rome said. “My dream was to go top 10, but by getting 30th, I just made it into the All-Region category.
“I thought I ran a really good race. It’s a pretty tough course with the first two miles all uphill.”
By the time he was done, Rome had confirmed his status as one of Pennsylvania’s top scholastic distance runners, setting him up for last week’s commitment to continue his running and academic careers on the NCAA Division I level at the Naval Academy.
“I know it’s a challenge, but I think I’m attracted to that,” said Rome, who also finished second out of 82 runners at the Warrior Cross Country Classic 2-Mile race at West Chester Henderson between the PIAA Championships and the Foot Locker race.
After years of being surrounding by a championship team, Rome maintained his personal level of success while being the clear leader of another successful team, but one that lacked the experience to remain a state contender. Dallas went 16-2, losing the only two Wyoming Valley Conference duals of Rome’s high school career.
Rome was a second-team Pennsylvania Track and Field Coaches Association all-state selection for all classifications and was the fifth finisher from Pennsylvania at the Northeast Regional, which includes top high school runners from 10 states plus the District of Columbia.
The postseason finishes, which included titles in the Ed Narkiewicz Wyoming Valley Conference Coaches meet and the District 2 Class 2A Championships and a fourth-place state finish, showed that Rome had fulfilled his plans of being at his best as the season came to a conclusion. And, he still had something left for more cross country races before the start of track and field season where he is currently ranked seventh in the state in the indoor 3,000 meters.
After contributing to state team championships as a freshman and sophomore, Rome was the conference’s best state finisher in both his junior and senior seasons. He was a first-team Times Leader all-star every year of his high school career.
With the career at Navy on the horizon, Rome is ready to increase his distance.
High school cross country runners compete at 5 kilometers (3.1 miles). In college the distance is 8 kilometers.
During outdoor track and field in high school, the longest race is 3200 meters. Rome expects to move up to 5,000- and 10,000-meter runs in college.
“I’ve always thought the 10K would be a good distance for me,” Rome said. “Given the opportunity, I’ll keep going up in distance.”
Another challenge awaits.
Mitchell is the son of Craig and Amy Rome of Dallas.
FIRST-TEAM
Bobby Earley, Hazleton Area, Senior
Earley helped Hazleton Area finish second in the District 2-4 Class 3A Subregional and second in the Wyoming Valley Conference with a 17-1 record. He was the conference’s fourth-fastest finisher at the state meet in Hershey with a time of 18:01, less than a second behind teammate Zack Keiner.
Chris Hine, Holy Redeemer, Sophomore
Hine was a key contributor to Holy Redeemer’s Wyoming Valley Conference and District 2 Class 2A championships. He finished sixth in both the Ed Narkiewicz WVC meet and District 2 Class 2A.
Zack Keiner, Hazleton Area, Sophomore
Keiner helped Hazleton Area go 17-1 in the Wyoming Valley Conference, then finished fifth individually in the conference meet. He qualified for the state championships where he was the WVC’s third-fastest finisher, regardless of classification.
Peter Sayre, Tunkhannock, Senior
Sayre qualified for the state meet in Class 2A. He also finished ninth in the Wyoming Valley Conference meet.
George Strish, Holy Redeemer, Senior
Strish was a big part of Holy Redeemer’s undefeated Wyoming Valley Conference championship season. He finished fifth to help the team win the District 2 Class 2A championship.
Lukas Volpetti, Holy Redeemer, Senior
Volpetti set himself up for a chance to run distance for NCAA Division I Monmouth University with a big senior season. He was third in the Wyoming Valley Conference meet and fourth in District 2 Class 2A along with helping the Royals to championships in each after an unbeaten regular season.
Bryce Zapusek, Holy Redeemer, Senior
Zapusek earned his third straight first-team honor. He was his team’s lead runner for much of a season that produced multiple championships, including when he was second at the conference meet and second at the District 2 Class 2A championships. He earned a state medal by placing 24th in Class 2A in Hershey.
COACH OF THE YEAR
Nick Capaci, Holy Redeemer
Capaci’s first season as head coach saw him guide Holy Redeemer to unbeaten Wyoming Valley Conference championships on both the boys and girls side. The boys team also won a District 2 championship and finished fifth in the state in Class 2A. Capaci ran the program as a whole and entrusted assistant Dave Levandoski to handle much of the day-to-day training of a veteran boys lineup.
SECOND TEAM
Dominic Capaci, Holy Redeemer, Senior
Chandler Longstreth, Lake-Lehman, Sophomore
Will McCarroll, Lake-Lehman, Freshman
Tavian McKenna, Wyoming Valley West, Sophomore
Gabriel McKittrick, Hazleton Area, Junior
Nick Pikul, Holy Redeemer, Junior
Joey Rowley, Hanover Area, Junior
