Jack Zardecki and Samantha Mazula were already well-established among the best athletes in the state in their respective sports.
By maintaining that level of excellence through their senior seasons, the two Dallas senior athletes earned selections by the Times Leader as the top athletes in the Wyoming Valley Conference in those sports.
Back Mountain athletes were prominent when the daily newspaper began announcing its fall season award winners and all-stars this week.
Zardecki was named Boys Cross Country Runner of the Year Thursday when Lake-Lehman’s John Sobocinski was named Cross Country Coach of the Year for his combined efforts with the school’s boys and girls programs.
Mazula’s selection as Girls Soccer Player of the Year was announced Friday.
Zardecki earned his third straight state Class 2A cross country individual medal along with a District 2 gold medal. He also won the season-opening Cliff Robbins Invitational before going unbeaten in both the Wyoming Valley Conference regular season and its conference coaches meet where he repeated as champion.
The District 2 individual title was a first for Zardecki.
“I lost it last year by (six) seconds,” said Zardecki, who led Dallas to a sweep of conference, district and state titles in the 2015 and 2016 seasons before the Mountaineers repeated those titles on the way to a fourth-place finish this season. “I was just kind of hungry to come back and show that I was a district champion.”
Mazula, the center midfielder for Dallas in its sweep of WVC Division 1 and District 2 Class 3A titles, earned all-state recognition for the second straight season. She overcame a hip injury that cut short her junior track and field season to score 12 goals and assist on 15 more.
“Not only on the field, but off the field, she was a very important presence on this team,” first-year Dallas coach Nikki Pekarski said.
Sobocinski coached the Lake-Lehman girls team into a season-ending shot at the WVC title and a final 17-1 record while leading the conference’s most improved boys team with a move up from 7-11 to 13-5.
Lake-Lehman sophomore Abby Paczewski was recognized in two sports as a first-team cross country all-star and second-team soccer selection.
BOYS CROSS COUNTRY
Junior Mitchell Rome made the first team for the third straight year while senior Josh Wyandt made it for the second straight for their roles on Dallas’ championship repeats.
Seniors Adam Borton and Josh Jarden were named to the second team.
GIRLS SOCCER
Lake-Lehman senior forward Mackenzie Love followed up her 2016 Player of the Year performance with 11 hat tricks and 50 goals this season while earning first-team recognition to go along with her repeat all-state selection.
Amanda Ayers, another Lake-Lehman senior forward, and Dallas senior goalie Rachel Nelligan also made the first team.
The second team included Alison Francis, Hollie Holthaus and Emma Sweitzer from Dallas and Emma Stroud and Paczewski from Lake-Lehman.
GIRLS CROSS COUNTRY
Back Mountain runners accounted for five of the top seven spots on the team.
Lake-Lehman seniors Jade Fry and Jace Garnick moved up from second-team status and were joined on the team by sophomore Abby Paczewski.
Sophomore Megan Borton, who made the first team as a freshman, and freshman Kaitlyn Hodakowski were first-team selections and four teammates made the second team for their roles in an unbeaten WVC championship season.
Seniors Abby Zolner and Rebecca Balara and sophomores Madison Baloga and Emily Finnegan were the second-team picks.
GIRLS VOLLEYBALL
Dallas senior Caitlyn Pike was a first-team Times Leader all-star.
Pike finished second in the Wyoming Valley Conference in assists with 362 while leading Dallas in service points with 167.
Dallas (12-5) also placed Gianna Musto on the second team.
