SCRANTON – One Lake-Lehman girls relay team lived up to expectations.
Another exceeded them.
As a result, the Lady Knights left the District 2 Class 2A Track and Field Championships with four first-place finishes, including two in the relays.
Lake-Lehman, which earned state medals in the event the last two years, won its fourth straight district 3200-meter relay title. The 400 relay team pulled the surprise, winning the title for the first time in school history despite coming in as just the sixth seed.
“We thought, ‘alright, we’ll get on the medal podium’, but to win it, ‘no’,” Lake-Lehman coach John Sobocinski said when asked about expectations for the 400. “After two legs, we had a pretty good lead and, I thought, if we can just make the (second) and (third) exchanges, we have a chance.”
Abby Paczewski led the way for Lake-Lehman.
The only holdover from last year’s state relay medal-winning lineup, Paczewski’s strong anchor leg in the 3200 relay gave Lake-Lehman the first title decided at the meet. She later won the 1600 and finished third in the 3200.
“I knew I had to do it for my team,” Paczewski said. “We wanted to win. I wanted to get all the other girls a trip to states.”
They aren’t the only ones going.
Sarah Salus repeated her title in the javelin.
Like Paczewski, Mihalko made it to the state meet in an individual event as well as a relay.
Mihalko made it placing second with a triple jump of 36-0.
The top two in each event qualified for Friday and Saturday’s Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Championships at Shippensburg University.
Mihalko, also like Paczewski, anchored the relay win. Senior Kitt Patla led off, before sophomores Gabby Shonis, Keera Naughle and Mihalko did the rest.
“There were four ladies out there on some of those teams that are faster than our four girls, but the handoffs did it,” Sobocinski said. “The chemistry with that group is phenomenal.
“They’ve been working hard all year and they finally put it together.”
They finished in 51.85, one-hundredth of a second off the 10-year-old school record.
The surprise win in the 400 relay helped Lake-Lehman briefly move into the lead in the team standings before slipping back to third.
Holy Redeemer finished strong to move past Western Wayne, 125-103 ½, for the team title. Lake-Lehman had 83 ½ points, 15 ahead of fourth-place Northwest.
Salus repeated her javelin title with a throw of 115-7, 6-9 better than the runner-up.
“It’s better than what I’ve been throwing, so that’s good,” Salus said, “but I hope to throw better at states.”
Lake-Lehman trailed in the 3200 relay from late in the first leg until after Paczewski took the baton for the last two laps.
Paczewski said she did not intentionally change her normal 800-meter pace, just because she was behind, but she ran the fastest lap of any of the 40 relay participants and put together a 2:22.235 final leg that would have better than the meet’s winning time in the individual 800.
“I think it’s easier for me to run because I like to catch up to someone,” she said. “Maybe I do run it harder, but I have no idea.”
Paczewski won the 1600 in 5:17.94, again coming from behind in the final lap, running a 1:14.85 split, and still had enough left to place third in the 3200 in her last race of the day.
“I’m happy with that,” she said of the last race. “I wasn’t expecting anything more.”
Mihalko and Dabsheh also finished fourth in the 1600 relay.
Dabsheh added a fourth in the 800 and Macenzi Barker tied for fourth in the high jump.
Lizzy Blaski, in the 300 hurdles, and Jessica Salus, in the triple jump, each placed fifth. Blaski was also seventh in the 100 hurdles.
Brdaric was sixth in the 1600.
The top six in each event earned medals. The top eight scored points for their team.
Morgan Patla, in the 400, and Casey Dale, in the shot put, were eighth. Patla was also on the fourth-place 1600 relay team, along with Alexa Karlowicz.
CLASS 2A BOYS
Two runners from Dallas, who attend private schools, qualified for the state meet.
Lukas Volpetti was part of the district championship 3200-meter relay team at Holy Redeemer, running the second leg in 2:06.08 to help the team finish in 8:21.53.
Volpetti also placed third in the 1600 and eighth in the 800.
Scranton Prep’s Stephen Postupak finished fourth in the 1600, but will compete in the state meet.
Andrew Healey from Holy Cross, one of the district’s two 1600 qualifiers, withdrew from the event to concentrate on the 3200 at Shippensburg.
Volpetti was offered the district’s second spot as an alternate, but he passed on it to concentrate on the relay. That left an opening for the fourth-place Postupak.
Postupak previously reached state competition in cross country where he helped Dallas win a state title, then made a return trip to Hershey with Scranton Prep last fall.
Postupak was also part of Scranton Prep’s fifth-place 1600 relay.
Lake-Lehman finished 11th in the team standings with 26 ½ points.
Lakeland edged Mid Valley for the team title, 95-90.
Daymond Kovaly, in the 300 hurdles, and the 3200 relay team of Casey Weaver, Ibe Dabsheh, Chandler Longstreth and Nathan Salus finished fourth to lead the Black Knights.
Floyd McRoy finished fifth in the 110 high hurdles and as part of the 400 relay with Matt Sczyrek, Casey Kaminski and Conor O’Brien.
Nathan Salus was sixth in the 800.
Kaminski tied for sixth in the high jump.
All three Lake-Lehman relay teams placed.
Dabsheh, McRoy, Salus and O’Brien were sixth in the 1600 relay.
