SCRANTON – Madelyn Resciniti was running out of time, but she also had one very significant obstacle to overcome.
Down to the final event of her high school throwing career, the Wyoming Area senior and Division I Duquesne University commit, was still looking for her first District 2 gold medal and first appearance at the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Track and Field Championships.
Resciniti came through, with a little help from her support system.
Shaking off any confidence issues that may have resulted from finishing fourth in the discus after being the top seed, Resciniti had not only the winning shot put, but the best three efforts in the event Thursday night to claim the Class 3A gold medal at Scranton Memorial Stadium.
“I have great coaches and great parents and a great support system that can stop it before those kind of thoughts even get in my head,” she said.
Resciniti was seeded first in both events. She threw the discus 107 feet, one foot out of third place and 2 ½ feet out of second.
That put the concentration on the shot put where Resciniti had competed against two-time state champion and state record-holder Payden Montana from Berwick the past two seasons. Montana prevented Resciniti from winning and going to states during her silver-medal performance as a sophomore. Last year, Resciniti finished third, coming up seven inches short of qualifying by meeting or exceeding the state standard.
Resciniti took the lead on the second of her six shot put attempts. She had a winning distance of 36-6 and surpassed 35 feet three times.
“I definitely could have done better,” Resciniti said, “but it’s tough in a meet like this. It’s the last event of the day and, for someone like me who does two throwing events very competitively, it’s very tiring, especially doing six throws; we only do three in the regular season.”
While she had hoped to improve on her winning distance, Resciniti will only have one event to worry about next weekend as she tries to go farther.
“It gives me something to strive for when we go to states,” she said.
Resciniti led the way for Wyoming Area, which scored 27 team points to finish 12th out of 19 teams, by producing two of the team’s top three finishes.
Valerie Gerchak matched her fourth-place finish. Gerchak was fourth in the triple jump and eighth in the long jump.
Toni Menichello was sixth in the javelin, Adreanna Cunningham was seventh in the 100 and the 3200 relay team finished eighth.
Julie Bonsavage, Olivia Kwiatkowski, Amelia Golden and Aubriana Marranca made up the relay team.
CLASS 3A BOYS
Dominic DeLuca threw the javelin 167-10 to finish fourth and lead the Warriors.
Vincenzo Scott-Diluzio added a sixth-place finish in the 200 and Jevani Sancho was seventh in the 100.
Wyoming Area finished tied for 17th in the 19-team field with Pittston Area.
After being a stronger invitational and championship meet team than dual meet team in recent seasons because of their individual championship contenders, the Warriors evolved in a stronger dual meet team this season with balance across many different types of events. That produced a Wyoming Valley Conference Division 2 championship.
With much of the regular-season championship coming as a result of young athletes, the Warriors have the likelihood of becoming better in large meets again in the seasons ahead.
