CHAPMAN LAKE – The Wyoming Area cross country program has gone a decade without sending a representative to the state championships in Hershey.
That changed with Wednesday’s results.
Michael Branley, Jacob Katulka and Aubriana Marranca all earned trips to the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Championships with their performances in the District 2 Meet at Lakeland High School.
“Going into it, we knew that it was a very real possibility, especially with how they were performing in the dual meets,” Wyoming Area coach Kristen Lombardo said before leading the runners through a practice Friday. “I think it was just a matter of going in there and executing their race strategies and not getting rattled on the big stage.
“We’re really thrilled. Wyoming Area as a program has not had a state qualifier in a while, so to have not one, but three going is really exciting for us.”
Josh Krall was the last Wyoming Area runner to make the state meet, qualifying in Class 3A, the large school half, when cross country was still a two-classification sport in 2009.
Branley, Katulka and Marranca all will be competing in Class 2A, the middle of the three classifications, Saturday on the Hershey Parkview Course.
Wyoming Area finished sixth out of 16 teams in the standings, beating out Holy Redeemer, which shared the best record in the Wyoming Valley Conference this season.
Lake-Lehman won the team title with 87 points. Mid Valley earned the second team berth in the state meet with 99.
The Warriors finished with 169, 15 better than seventh-place Holy Redeemer.
District 2’s Class 2A races qualified the top two teams and the 10 best individuals from other teams for the state meet.
Branley had the school’s best finish, placing fourth, completing the 3.1-mile course in 17:28.7.
Chris Hine from Holy Redeemer won the title. Gavin Ross from Abington Heights and Michael Novak from Mid Valley slipped past Branley with late surges.
“He’s comfortable going out with the lead pack,” Lombardo said. “Then, it’s just a matter of making his move when he wants to.
“Unfortunately, he did get passed at the end by a couple of guys we had not seen before, but overall I think he was pretty pleased with his performance.”
Katulka landed the ninth of the 10 available individual berths by placing 12th out of 116 runners in what was the day’s largest field. He ran a time of 17:57.3.
“Jacob surprised me the most,” Lombardo said. “Jake dug deep. He wanted it really bad.
“He stuck with a couple guys that he had been a little further back from earlier in the season.”
Katulka kept with Hanover Area brothers Joey and Stephen Rowley, who finished 10th and 11th, just seconds in front of him.
“I think that helped pull him to a higher place, possibly even a higher place that he was expecting,” Lombardo said. “I’m really impressed with the way he raced.”
Marranca was eighth out of 82 Class 2A girls. She easily qualified, placing fourth among the runners other than those from champion Holy Redeemer and runner-up Honesdale.
“She doesn’t run scared, ever,” Lombardo said. “We know that no matter who she is lined up against, she’s going to go out with them and try to stay with them as long as possible.”
Marranca ran third, behind early leader Abby Paczewski from Lake-Lehman and eventual repeat champion Molly DeMarzo from Crestwood, for most of the first mile before slipping behind Cameron Marcinkowski, the lead runner in Holy Redeemer’s championship effort.
“I think it works to her advantage,” Lombardo said of Marranca, who eventually settled for eighth place in 21:15.9. “It pulls her to a faster time. It also helps her mentally, knowing she’s up front. She’s definitely a frontrunner, so I wasn’t too surprised when I saw her take it out hard.
“The strategy then is to hang on and place as high as she could, so overall I think we were both pretty happy with her performance.”
Their finishes mean another week of cross country practice at Wyoming Area during a time in the season when the program is used to shutting down for the fall.
“Based on districts, we know that they’re in shape and we know they can race well,” Lombardo said. “ … It’s more a matter of making them feel comfortable with their training this week. We’re not going to change too much.”
Pittston Area completed in Class 3A in girls and Class 2A in boys.
Nicole Zambetti was again the top finisher for the Lady Patriots, taking 17th in the District 2-4 Class 3A Subregional. The team placed seventh out of eight.
Pittston Area was 13th in Class 2A boys. Nathan Ridgley led the team, finishing 38th.
The three Wyoming Area state qualifiers all earned medals for their efforts.
Old Forge also had a medalist with Lindsey Welsh finished 10th in Class A girls where the top 15 receive medals.
The top 20 earn medals in Class 2A because of the larger fields.
Wyoming Area did not enter enough girls to produce a team score.
