Olivea Scalese continued a strong start to her junior season with a third-place personal finish to lead Pittston Area to a third-place team finisher in the varsity girls race of the Lackawanna County Commissioners Cross Country Invitational Sept. 7 at McDade Park in Scranton.
Scalese placed third and Isabella Dessoye was fifth in a field of 87 finishers to lead the Lady Patriots.
Valley View beat out Wallenpaupack, 40-58, for the team title. Pittston Area finished with 101 points, ahead of five other full teams in the race.
Lakeland’s Emily Black finished first in 19:34.9.
Scalese finished in 20:25.0, her best time in three years competing in the race.
“I was definitely upset last season, I’m happy to be back, doing a lot better and (setting personal records),” said Scalese, already a two-time state qualifier who fell just short of her second straight District 2 Class 3A medal last season when she was battling injury issues. “ … I really fought over the summer to make up for last year and make up for all the lost time.
“It was definitely upsetting. It was a mental battle getting through that, but with all the support of my team and my coaches, I’m where I am today.”
Dessoye posted a time of 20:51.4.
Hannah Stoss was seventh in 21:10.9 and Kierstyn Orlandini was 25th for Wyoming Area, which did not have enough girls entered for a team score.
Pittston Area’s Elinor Schardien was 38th.
WVC cluster meet
WILKES-BARRE — Bella Dessoye and Olivea Scalese finished 1-2 in a seven-team meet at Kirby Park Wednesday as Pittston Area picked up three wins to improve to 6-0 in the Wyoming Valley Conference.
Wyoming Area and Wilkes-Barre Area also went 3-0. All three teams swept Northwest, Berwick and Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech.
Dessoye finished in 19:53, 13 seconds ahead of Scalese and more than two minutes ahead of the rest of the field.
Wyoming Area’s Hannah Stoss and Kierstyn Orlandini were third and sixth. Abby Calarco from Berwick was fourth and Savannah Cronauer from Wyoming Valley West was fifth.
Pittston Area defeated Northwest (20-41), Berwick (18-45) and Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech (17-46). Wyoming Area topped Northwest (22-33), Berwick (19-36) and Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech (20-35).
Northwest and Columbia-Montour went 1-3 while Wyoming Valley West was 1-2 and Berwick 0-4.
Elinor Schardien was seventh, Olivia Pantucco 11th and Leah Drozginski 12th for Pittston Area.
Pittston Area had three more girls in the top 17.
“We’ve been working hard all summer,” Scalese said. “I’m really proud of all the girls. They’ve been putting in the effort. … We’ve been working hard and holding each other accountable.”
Wyoming Area’s third finisher was Addison Gaylord in 18th out of 27 runners.