DISTRICT 2 CROSS COUNTRY: New faces, familiar ones highlight championship meet

MESHOPPEN — Dave Marsico clutched several Hershey bars in his hand.Although Chocolatetown no longer is the site of the PIAA Cross Country Championships, that didn’t matter to the Old Forge girls coach. His team is going to states for the first time in program history.The Lady Devils withstood the 1-2 finish of Holy Redeemer’s Gianna Altavilla and Leah Smith to edge the Lady Royals in the team standings, 65-69, and capture their first district title at the District 2 Cross Country Championships on an ideal fall Wednesday at the Wyoming County Fairgrounds.“This means a lot,” Marsico said. “It’s been 12 years since Old Forge cross country came back. The numbers have grown, the team seems like it’s getting stronger and stronger. The girls have definitely worked hard in the spring and throughout the summer. They definitely worked together as a team. But I did not expect this today. It’s fantastic. I’m very happy, very proud.“I got Hershey bars even though we know it’s not Hershey. We’ll stop there on the way home (from states next week).”Altavilla, a sophomore who is running cross country for the first time, covered the course in 20 minutes, 26.9 seconds. Teammate Smith, also a sophomore, was next in 20:37.7.Elena Bialkowski was Old Forge’s first finisher in sixth in 20:56.3. Brynn Negvesky was next in eighth place in 21:05.4. Cali Talarico was 14th in 21:56.4 and Sola Talarico was 20th in 22;50.2. When Sophia Corradino crossed in 26th place in 22:50.2, the Lady Devils had their first district title. The program was re-established in 2015.Last year, Bialkowski and Cali Talarico were the first two Old Forge girls runners to qualify for states. Now, the whole team is going.“This is huge for us,” Bialkowski said. “It’s my senior year. Everyone said, ‘Oh, maybe we’ll go as a team.’ To make it as an individual last year and go from that to this, it’s crazy. I had so much fun last year even though it was just me and my friend Cali running it. It’s going to be so much more exciting to be able to do it with the whole group.”Old Forge was one of several new faces earn their way to the state meet Nov. 7 at Big Spring High School in Newville. The top two teams and 10 individuals in Class 1A and 2A qualified, as did the championship team and five individuals in Class 3A.Scranton Prep freshman Vella Byrne won the Class 2A girls individual title in 19:06.7 and fellow frosh Aileana Connor placed third in 19:26.9 to help the Classics finish second in the team standings to Crestwood, 60-76. Top finisher for the Lady Comets was Adrienne Shebelock in fourth in 19:32.5.“I got out as fast as I could. I didn’t want to get held up because it gets really narrow,” Byrne said. “I was leading the whole race. I just felt good, my mental state was great. I really pushed the hills and recovered fast. I pushed the hill at the finish the hardest.“Before the season started, I didn’t know how far I could go. But this week coming into districts, I had a lot of faith in myself on winning.”There were the usual suspects, too.Abington Heights girls captured their fifth straight Class 3A team title and 11th district title in the last 12 years with 38 points. The Lady Comets had four of the first nine finishers, led by Marley Gilboy in second in 19:47.4. Grace Holderith of Delaware Valley won the Class 3A girls individual crown in 18:56.4.“I knew I would be pretty much running alone. Grace is amazing runner and deserved to win,” Gilboy said. “I just kept thinking about my teammates, even when it gets hard. I just powered up the hills, thinking about going to states and running my last year with them.“I’ve been lucky enough to have (district titles) all four years, from freshman year to senior year. We were able to hold up the legacy and keep it up. We have a great team, always work together. It feels really exciting. Coach (Frank) Passetti is really excited to bring both the girls and guys to states this year.”Jacob Borrelli of Mid Valley took the Class 2A boys race in 15:57.4 and helped the Spartans win their third straight team title, 56-90, over Wallenpaupack. Chris Von Ahnen was 10th for Mid Valley in 17:04.3 and Reeve Owen 11th in 17:13.8. Chase Predmore was top finisher for the Buckhorns in 12th in 17:13.8.“I knew some guys were going to take it out hard, so I took it easy on the first stretch,” Borrelli said. “I just wanted to be there the first mile, then rip the next couple. Coming through the first mile, I was really surprised to see sub-five (minutes). I felt really comfortable. After that, I just went. It was a really fun race. Definitely tried not to kill the hills and exert my legs and focus on pushing the straights and downhills.“The main goal for me was to win, but we really wanted to win as a team this year and get the three-peat. We got the job done today. So happy about that.”Elk Lake’s Parker Upright won the Class 1A boys title in 16:32.8, while the 2-3 finish of Jack Davies (16:35.3) and Marco Nardone (16:39.1) enabled Lackawanna League champion Riverside to take the team title, 40-100, over Holy Cross. Thomas Gavin led the way for the Crusaders in sixth place in 17:06.8, while Elias Stabinski was 14th in 17:37.4.West Scranton’s Seamus Wallace repeated as Class 3A individual champion in 16:24.3, while Abington Heights had seven of the top 15 finishers to earn the team title with 37 points. Joseph Grad was second in 17:02.3 to lead the Comets.“I came in a little nervous, but the second the gun went off, those nerves went away and the work I put in pays off,” Wallace said. “The first half-mile, I felt them (the other runners) push off a little bit and from there it was just me and myself and the finish line ahead of me.“Repeating means a lot. This is what I look forward to every single season. Big race, great competitors. Joe Grad ran amazing, props to him for second place. But now the goal is states. District is a big goal, but now states is the biggest.”It was another successful day for the Lackawanna League. Of the 10 team and 50 individual state berths in District 2, the Lackawanna League grabbed eight team and 30 individual. The Wyoming Valley Conference had two team and 20 individual.In Class 1A girls, Elk Lake had two individual qualifiers in Kendyl Weisgold, last year’s Class 1A champion, and Madison Kerr, who placed 13th and 14th respectively. Other qualifiers were Livvy O’Brien, Dunmore (3rd); Angelina Cours, Lackawanna Trail (4th); Celia Ludka, Wyoming Seminary (5th); Audrey Anderson, Mountain View (7th); Josey Kelly, Susquehanna (9th); Gemma Bistran, Holy Cross (10th); Anna Zaroda, MMI Prep (11th); and Trinity Lord, Blue Ridge (12th).Wallenpaupack had three individual qualifiers in Class 2A girls in June Brown (2nd), Kelcie Fillebrown (8th) and Alydia Olsommer (14th). Lake-Lehman had two qualifiers in Ava Jones (5th) and Betsy DiGiovanni (9th). Also qualifying were Abby Kilker of Honesdale (6th), Kaitlyn Kloss from Western Wayne (7th), Matilda Serrano of Nanticoke (10th), Lakeland’s Rylin Wech (12th) and Wyoming Area’s Isabella Costa (16th).Besides Holderith, individual qualifiers in Class 3A were Alexa Prushinski from Wilkes-Barre Area (3rd), Meg Bartlebaugh of Scranton (4th) and North Pocono’s Evolette Reinard (6th) and Megan O’Donnell (8th).Holy Redeemer had three individual state qualifiers in Class 1A boys in Caden Moreck (7th), Frank Pacelli (10th) and Tommy Elick (16th). Parker Upright will be accompanied by his brother Trevor (13th) at states. Lackawanna Trail also is sending two runners in Chase Litwin (4th) and Timothy McNamara (17th). Evan Beamer of Susquehanna (5th), Blue Ridge’s Paxton Pingarelli (9th) and Jahliel LaRoche from Dunmore (11th) also qualified.Lake-Lehman had two individual state qualifiers in Class 2A boys in Bodhi Cronin (2nd) and Finn Cronin (13th). Lakeland also had two qualifiers in Henry Decker (4th) and Kyle Lorenzetti (8th), as did Montrose with Jamison Myers (9th) and Malachi Baier (14th). Other qualifiers were Chase Comiskey from Dallas (3rd), Daniel Houssock of Nanticoke (5th), Rowan Dietrich of Crestwood (6th) and Berwick’s Myles DiPippa (7th).Hazleton Area’s Gavin Adams (3rd) and Damian Vargas (7th) both qualified individually in Class 3A boys. So did Ben Delgado from Wilkes-Barre Area (4th) and Jameson Radle of Pittston Area (5th).