First Posted: 5/1/2015
SCRANTON — The Pittston Area girls had already won the Lasagna Invitational, a 22-team competition that included all 18 events, just six days earlier.
Winning the 60th Jordan Relays, however, was still a priority for the Patriots.
Samantha Mayers had to reach high above her head to demonstrate just where defending their title was on the list of accomplishments for an unbeaten team.
Minutes earlier the Patriots had shown just how important.
Allie Barber, Liz Waleski, Mayers and Madison Mimnaugh combined to run the fastest 1600-meter relay in school history, rallying the Patriots from behind in the team standings for a 43-42 victory over second-place Abington Heights.
Jordan Relays
Allie Barber completed a standout performance that included being part of two first-place and a second-place relay team when she took the lead in the first 400-meter leg of the final event.
Liz Waleski, Samantha Mayers and Madison Mimnaugh gradually expanded that lead for a school record time of 4:07.1 in the 1600 relay, giving Pittston Area its third straight team championship.
Abington Heights had taken a four-point lead during the fifth of the six events that make up the Jordan Relays.
Olivia Giambra came down to the track to tell her teammates just how much they needed a win in the final event.
“She said, ‘It’s close, you’ve got to win this,’” Mayers said. “Jordans is way up there. It’s been around so long. We won the last two years.
“We have a good team. I felt confident we could do it again.”
The Patriots will be back at Scranton Memorial Stadium May 12 to try to defend their PIAA District 2 Class AAA Championship. In the meantime, they have Tuesday’s battle of unbeatens at Dallas to decide the Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1 title. They head into that meet with the momentum created by a clutch performance in Thursday’s win.
Pittston Area started the night with two second-place finishes and a first to open a lead before Abington Heights, the nine-time Lackawanna Track Conference Division 1 champion, rallied.
Waleski, Mayers, Mimnaugh and Jamie Chisdock were each on a first- and second-place relay. Tara Johnson and Olivia Giambra joined Chisdock and Barber on the winning 1200 sprint medley.
Jessica Tighe, Sydney Williams and Kirsten Durling were on second-place relay teams.
The Patriots added points by finishing fifth in the 1600 sprint medley and sixth in the 4 x 800 relay.
Chisdock, Tighe, Durling and Arianna Boccardi ran the 1600 sprint medley. Mimnaugh, Johnson, Waleski and Mayers ran the 4 x 800.
The Pittston Area boys finished seventh in the Class AAA standings with 20 points.
Ryan Lombardo, Hunter Kraklio, John Plishka and Josh John finished third in the 4 x 400 relay.
Lasagna Invitational
The Pittston Area girls won the team title at the Lasagna Invitational April 24 in Wyalusing.
The Patriots scored 94.5 points to win the championship by 21.5 points over Athens. Scranton Prep was third in the 22-team field with 66 points.
Abby Norwillo matched her school record in the pole vault at 9-6 while winning the pole vault and the 3200 relay team also finished first to lead the championship effort.
Samantha Mayers finished second in the 800 in addition to being part of the winning relay. Tara Johnson was on that team and took fourth in the 3200 relay. They were also both part of the fourth-place 1600 relay team.
Arianna Boccardi led off and Madison Mimnaugh anchored the 3200 relay win.
Allie Barber and Kirsten Durling ran the first two legs of the 1600 relay.
Olivia Giambra took second in the triple jump and third in the long jump while Mia Cain was third in the high jump.
Scranton Prep’s Madison Ashby, a Jenkins Township resident, was fourth in the javelin while Pittston Area’s Allison Parrent and Marley O’Brien were fifth and sixth.
Iana Davis added a sixth place in the shot put.
The Pittston Area boys finished 12th with 27 points.
Colin Tracy led the way, placing third in the 300 hurdles and fourth in the 110 high hurdles.
Angelo Aita, Michael Barney, Naseem Guillaume and Josh John formed the third-place 400 relay team.
Pittston Area girls 124, Berwick 26
Sydney Williams and Abby Norwillo set school records Tuesday when Pittston Area set up its Division 1 title showdown by remaining unbeaten with a 124-26 rout of Berwick.
Williams won the 100-meter hurdles in 15.8 seconds. Norwillo raised her pole vault record to 9-9.
Olivia Giambra won the long jump and triple jump.
Pittston Area boys 81, Berwick 69
Colin Tracy won both hurdles races Tuesday to lead Pittston Area to an 81-69 Division 1 boys victory over Berwick.
Wyoming Area boys 109, GAR 41
Wyoming Area dominated the hurdles and the throws Monday while clinching at least a tie for the Wyoming Valley Conference Division 2 title in a 109-41 romp over GAR.
Ethan Crake won both hurdles to help the Warriors outscore the Grenadiers, 15-3. Cade Bekanich was first in the shot put and second in the discus to help Wyoming Area to a 23-4 scoring advantage in the throws.
The Warriors (6-0) can clinch the title outright Tuesday at Lake-Lehman.
Joe Buczynski won the 800-meter run and was on two winning relays.
Wyoming Area 127, GAR 21
Bree Bednarski won three events and ran on a winning relay team Tuesday to help the Wyoming Area girls set up a showdown for the WVC Division 2 title by pounding GAR, 127-21.
Bednarski won the 100, 200 and javelin and was part of the 400 relay team.
The Warriors are at Lake-Lehman Monday to decide the division title.
Shelby Stackhouse won the 100 hurdles, 300 hurdles and pole vault.
