Michael Branley and Aubriana Marranca finished fourth and fifth in the varsity races and Ella McKernan was second in junior high girls to lead a strong Wyoming Area showing in Thursday’s Ed Narkiewicz Wyoming Valley Conference Cross Country Coaches Championship Meet at the Wyoming County Fairgrounds in Mehoopany.
Varsity teams completed their pursuit of conference honors while also getting championship meet preparation prior to the District 2 Meet Wednesday at Lakeland High School.
The conference championship represented the completion of the junior high season.
Branley and Marranca, both juniors, made major strides from a year ago. Branley, who was 19th last season, completed the 3.1-mile course in 17:22. Marranca improved by nine places and 87 seconds to finish in 20:38.
McKernan, a seventh-grader, completed the 1.8-mile junior high course in 13:14, just four seconds off the winning pace set by Crestwood’s Ella Novelli.
Branley led the Wyoming Area boys to a fourth-place finish out of 15 teams in the conference meet and also completed a tie for fourth place out of 17 teams in the regular-season standings.
A total of nine dual meets, including three involving Wyoming Area, were made up from regular-season postponements by scoring teams head-to-head on their conference meet performances.
Hazleton Area won the team title, 59-82, over Holy Redeemer and also won three dual meets to finish first in the team standings.
Lake-Lehman edged Wyoming Area, 108-117, for third place in the conference meet.
The top 25 finishers earned individual medals.
Kyle Emsley and Jacob Katulka were 12th and 16th for Wyoming Area.
David Bulford from Pittston Area was 25th.
The Patriots finished 11th in the meet.
Wyoming Area beat Crestwood, 25-30, while losing to Hazleton Area, 22-36, and picking up a forfeit from MMI Prep in dual meets.
The final regular-season standings were: Hazleton Area 15-1, Holy Redeemer 15-1, Lake-Lehman 14-2, Wyoming Area 13-3, Crestwood 13-3, Dallas 11-5, Wyoming Valley West 10-6, Hanover Area 9-7, Wyoming Seminary 6-10, Pittston Area 6-10, Berwick 6-10, Northwest 6-10, Tunkhannock 5-11, Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech 2-13, Wilkes-Barre Area 1-13, MMI Prep 0-14, Nanticoke 0-14.
Pittston Area was seventh out of 11 teams in the varsity girls conference meet scoring.
Nicole Zambetti led Pittston Area, earning a 15th-place medal.
Wyoming Area did not enter a full team, which meant it also forfeited its final three dual meets.
The final WVC regular-season standings were: Holy Redeemer 16-0, Hazleton Area 15-1, Crestwood 14-2, Lake-Lehman 12-4, Hanover Area 12-4, MMI Prep 11-5, Tunkhannock 10-6, Dallas 8-8, Pittston Area 8-8, MMI Prep 6-10, Berwick 5-10, Wyoming Area 5-11, Wyoming Seminary 5-11, Northwest 5-11, Wilkes-Barre Area 0-13, Nanticoke 0-14, Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech 0-14.
Wyoming Area finished sixth in the team standings in both junior high races – out of 12 teams in boys and 10 in girls.
Pittston Area was 10th in boys and did not run a full girls team.
The top 35 in each junior high race received medals.
Wyoming Area had two of the top eight girls, with Jules Gonzales joining McKernan. Pittston Area’s Molly Fetchko was one spot behind Gonzales in ninth.
Preston Klem had the best Pittston Area finish of the day. The eighth-grader was third in boys with a time of 12:02.
Wyoming Area’s Roger Orlandini, Brady Kearns and Jake Shepulski placed 13th, 23rd and 28th.
