HAZLE TWP. – Jalen Moore and Preston Klem ran to gold medals Monday as Pittston Area put together a strong, fourth-place showing in the boys standings in Monday’s second annual Wyoming Valley Conference Track and Field Championships.
Moore had a big day all-around, including a win in the 400-meter dash.
Klem won the 800-meter run.
Host Hazleton Area ran away with the team title with 115 ½ points.
Pittston Area scored 74½ points, leaving the Patriots just a half-point behind third-place Berwick and four points behind second-place Crestwood. Wyoming Area was seventh in the 14-team field with 51½ points.
The Patriots won just one regular-season meet, going 1-5 in Division 1 dual meets during the WVC schedule, but their high-end talent made them a stronger team for invitational and large-meet scoring because of the handful of athletes capable of competing for titles.
Moore led that group. He won the 400, finished second in the 200, took third in the 100 and led off the second-place team in the 1600 relay.
The 400, Moore believes, is his best event and he has plenty of reason to think that way after winning in 50.39 seconds.
“This is my first-ever gold in the 400,” said Moore, who ran 50.88 last year, but finished second to Holy Redeemer’s Jacob Hunter. “I’ve had a couple of silvers, but this was really exciting.
“Coming off the turn, it was like, ‘it’s time to strike and go’. I’m really happy with today.”
Through training, Klem believes if he can hit 200 meters in 22 or 21 seconds, he has a shot at getting to 50 seconds or even below.
“When I come out of the blocks, I want to relax,” Moore said. “I saw Hazleton (Owen Pollack) was going really hard, but I want to strike hard after 200 meters and not stop.”
Moore did just that, passing Pollack about 20 meters later and enjoying the feeling of no longer being able to see any of his competition as he eyed the finish line.
Klem won the 800, anchored the second-place, 1600 relay team and was part of the third-place finish in the 3200 relay.
Both Franklin Ritz from Hazleton Area and Klem broke the two-minute mark in the 800 by running the only two 400-meter splits under a minute of anyone in the field.
Just like for Moore, the 200-meter mark was a key point in Klem’s victory.
“At that point, it turned into a 200-meter dash and I finished it,” Klem said. “He was a little ahead of me for almost the entire race.”
That is the approach Klem tries to take.
“That’s pretty much how I run,” he said after running the second lap in 57.11 for a 1:58.31 finish. “I’m trying to run smart and put myself in the best position to win.
“Against Franklin, I knew I had my work cut out for me.”
Teammate Caden Boettger, another member of the silver medalist relay foursome, was third for Pittston Area in the 800.
Lucas LoPresto and Gage Leffler gave the Patriots two other bronze medalists.
LoPresto was third in the triple jump, fifth in the javelin and tied for eighth in the long jump.
Leffler was third in the 110 hurdles.
Brady Tucker placed seventh in the 800 and Jakob Mead eighth in the 3200.
The Patriots added a sixth-place finish in the 400 relay to the second in the 1600 and third in the 3200.
Franklin Garcia was the other runner on the second-place relay.
Wyoming Area was led by a 2-3 finish from Josh Mruk and John Turner in the shot put.
Luke Kopetchny was second in the triple jump and tied for eighth in the long jump.
Nicholas Scalzo, in the pole vault, and Aaron Crossley, in the 100, were the other bronze medalists for the Warriors.
Yusupha Njie placed fourth in the 300 hurdles; Austin Muniz fifth in the pole vault; Ben Gravine sixth in the long jump; and Gabe Speece eighth in the 100.
JORDAN RELAYS
SCRANTON – Pittston Area finished fourth out of 10 teams in the Class 3A boys division of the 68th annual Jordan Relays May 2 at Scranton Memorial Stadium.
The boys Patriots placed second in both the 1200 Sprint Medley Relay and the 4×800 relay.
Jalen Moore, Lucas Lopresto, Oscar Ciriaco and Gage Leffler formed the 1200 Sprint Medley Relay. Moore and Leffler ran opening 400-meter legs. Lopresto and Ciriaco ran 200s.
Preston Klem, Caden Boettger, Franklin Garcia and Tucker ran the 4×800.
Pittston Area was also third in the Distance Medley Relay with Boettger running the 800, Tucker and Garcia running 400s and Klem finishing with the 1600.
The Patriots were fourth in the 4×400.
Hazleton Area boys 91, Pittston Area 45
Hazleton Area completed an unbeaten run through Division 1 with an April 30 win at Pittston Area.
Jalen Moore won the 100 and 200 for the Patriots.