SCRANTON – Winning four District 2 Track and Field Championships gold medals is a special accomplishment reserved for a select few.
Wyoming Area’s Madelyn Keating was one of just two to accomplish that feat this year – joining two-event defending state champion Tatum Norris from Susquehanna – and she did it on arguably the most difficult path possible.
Keating won her four gold medals in the longest races, the 3200-, 1600- and 800-meter runs and by running the anchor leg of the 3200 relay in Class 3A Monday and Tuesday at Memorial Stadium.
The Mississippi State-bound middle-distance and distance runner accomplished the feat with two gold medals each day. She won the two 3200 races Monday when she was the only athlete to end the first day with two golds.
With the Lady Warriors competing in Class 3A this season, Keating will not try to duplicate that workload on the state level. She scratched from the 3200 to concentrate on the other three races at Shippensburg University Friday and Saturday.
“I’m scratching the 3200,” Keating said. “I’m going to be doing the mile (1600) on Day One, the 4 by 8 and then the 800 on Day Two.”
Keating both wants to take her best personal shot in the 800-meter run and try to help the school’s relay team, which came within a second of a state medal last season.
“I want to be able to save my energy for the 4×8 and the 800 because based on my days from the last couple weeks, I can really do something in the shorter distances.”
Keating takes pride in having completed something most of the best distance running do not even try on the district level.
“Especially that the four golds are the distance races,” Keating said. “I’ve seen so many people the last couple years do get three races or two races, but fumble on the fourth one. Even I did that last year on the fourth one.”
Keating took three gold medals a year ago, but could not get the fourth in the 800.
This time she finished in 2:17.62, 2.32 seconds ahead of teammate and relay partner Ella McKernan.
They combined with Taylor Gashi to lead Wyoming Area to third in the team standings behind two other unbeaten division champions, Abington Heights and Dallas from Division 1s of the Lackawanna Track Conference and Wyoming Valley Conference.
Hannah Stoss and Nina Angeli joined McKernan and Keating, who rallied the team over the last half of the race, to form the winning relay in the first medal event of the two-day meet.
Gashi qualified to compete in Shippensburg by surpassing the state qualifying standard while placing second in the triple jump.
Only three, non-winners met state standards to reach Shippensburg. One of them was Madison Hedglin, the top seed from Dallas, who made it easily despite finishing more than three seconds behind Keating in the 3200.
The top eight in each event earned points and the top six received medals.
Bianca Pizano was second in the javelin and sixth in the long jump.
Stoss was eighth in the 800.
Wyoming Area was fifth in the closing 1600 relay.
