SCRANTON – In order to jump higher, Paul Moska found he needed to run faster.
A minor adjustment in his approach helped the senior clear 6-5 Tuesday and emerge from the District 2 Class 3A Track and Field Championships as Pittston Area’s only gold medalist.
“I just tried moving back a little more so I could get more speed into it,” Moska said.
Once he made 6-5, the state qualifying standard, Moska was assured a spot in the May 26-27 Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Championships at Shippensburg University, but to him, that was the secondary goal.
“I kind of wanted the gold medal,” said Moska, who earned a silver in 2016 with a jump of 6-3.
By making 6-5 on his second attempt, Moska wound up with gold.
Delaware Valley’s Shane Acoveno also made 6-5, but needed three tries to do so, ultimately giving Moska the tie-breaker advantage when both missed three times at 6-7.
Scranton’s Ky’Ron Harbin, the long jump and triple jump champion, came in as the top seed after posting a 6-8 in the regular season.
Moska preserved energy before entering the competition at 5-11, after 15 of 25 entrants had already been eliminated. He made 5-11, 6-1 and 6-3 on the first try so his winning jump was just his fifth attempt of the competition.
Harbin was the only one to enter after Moska, joining in at 6-1. He made that height and 6-3, but never cleared another and had to settle for third.
“I saw he got 6-8 before, but I didn’t want to let that discourage me,” Moska said. “I just wanted to do my best.”
Moska matched his career-best with the winning effort, which made him one of three Pittston Area athletes to qualify for Shippensburg.
The others are two girls who are veterans of the state meet.
Abby Norwillo, in the pole vault, and Taryn Ashby, in the javelin, qualified by meeting the lofty state standards while finishing second.
Both were again caught up in the most competitive events among Class 3A girls in District 2.
Each improved from a year ago to move up among those ranks.
Norwillo was third in the district and fifth in the state last year. The junior’s height of 12-0 this year is a foot higher than last year’s district effort and matches the height she cleared while earning a state medal in 2016.
Ashby was fourth in the district last year and came up one position short of a state medal in ninth. Her throw of 138-10 Tuesday was 14-9 better than last year’s district effort and 7-8 beyond her 2016 state performance.
Both Pittston Area teams finished in the top half of the standings out of 19 teams.
The Lady Patriots were seventh with 42 ½ points. Abington Heights beat out Wyoming Area, 115-65, for first place.
The Patriots were ninth with 34 points. Scranton outscored Coughlin, 110-63, for the title.
Norwillo earned a second district medal while Ashby scored in a second event.
Only the champions of events are guaranteed state berths. The top six receive medals and the top eight score.
Norwillo’s second-place long jump of 17-1 ¾ was just 1 ¼ inches short of making it to the state meet in another event.
Ashby was eighth in the shot put. Her sister, Ashton, tied for fifth in the high jump at 4-11.
The Lady Patriots placed in all three relays, taking fifth in the 3200 and seventh in both the 400 and 1600.
Nicole Zambetti was the top performer on the track as a sixth-place finisher in the 1600 while contributing to the 3200 and 1600 relays.
Charity McLeod was eighth in the 400 and was on both relays with Zambetti.
Mia Barbieri and Jenna Smith were part of both seventh-place relays.
Jada Sharp and Mary Silinskie completed the 3200 relay lineup while Anjelica Singer and Jessica Tighe were the others on the 400 relay.
Pittston Area boys placed third in the 3200 relay when the team of Tony Molinaro, Matt Havrilla, Joey Fisher and Hunter Kraklio ran a time of 8:30.97.
Kraklio was also on the sixth-place 1600 relay and finished seventh in the 800.
Walter Coles placed fourth in the javelin with a throw of 165-10.
Patrick Mitchell was fifth while Jacob Rutkowski was seventh in the shot put.
Naseem Guillaume, in the 110 high hurdles, and Nick Barbieri, in the 300 hurdles, were each eighth in an individual event as well as being on the sixth-place 1600 relay.
Jimmy Pliska completed the 1600 relay lineup.
