May 30—SHIPPENSBURG — There were close calls, but on a gloomy, cold and rainy day, athletes from the Lackawanna Track Conference fell short of earning any medals at the PIAA Class 3A Track and Field Championships.
North Pocono senior Chris Kryeski nearly grabbed a spot on the medal stand in the discus with a mark of 162 feet, 5 inches to finish in ninth place at Shippensburg University. The top eight finishers in each event win medals.
“It’s a little heartbreaking,” Kryeski, a senior, said. “We faced adversity at districts and we were able to overcome that. I know I could have done better. At practice leading up to states, I was in some pretty good distances and I tried to replicate that, but it wasn’t clicking today.”
Hazleton Area’s Abbey Hengst won a gold medal in the javelin with a distance of 135-6 to highlight the day for District 2 competitors. Tunkhannock’s Matthew Prebola won a silver in the boys javelin with a mark of 195-5, while Berwick’s Renny Murphy won a bronze in the javelin at 131-11, Berwick’s Allie Melchiorre won an eighth-place medal in the javelin, Berwick’s Taylor Woodeshick won a fifth-place medal and Hanover Area’s Isabella Popson won an eighth-place medal, both in the high jump.
Kryeski, who won the District 2 Class 3A gold medal as a sophomore and lost last season because of the coronavirus pandemic, had a series of throws that included two better than 160 feet.
He entered the competition with a mark of 169-4 that earned him a silver to Wyoming Valley West’s Cole Gorham, who also competed at the state meet and finished 12th with a mark of 157-7.
Hempfield’s Dan Norris won the discus at 195-10.
“I am happy with my career,” said Kryeski, who is going to play football at Lycoming in the fall. “I can look back on it all fondly.”
North Pocono’s 3,200-meter relay team of Owen Foytack, Aiden Horne, Caleb Kenyon and Colin Kravitz set a school record with a time of 8 minutes, 4.93 seconds and finished 10th overall. Lewisburg won the gold at 7:53.93.
The Trojans won their preliminary heat and improved on their district-winning time of 8:13.39.
“Setting the school record was the main goal going into it and we nearly won a medal,” said Foytack, who will continue his career at King’s College. “I am happy to go out in my senior year on a high note. We had a special group, we talked about it all season.”
In addition to being part of the school-record team, Kenyon finished 12th in the 3,200 with a time of 9:27.34 and was 25th in the 1,600 at 4:38.76. Kravitz finished 12th in the 200 with a time of 22.32 and 19th in the 400 at 51.37.
Delaware Valley senior Taliyah Booker, the Purdue commit and District 2 record holder who entered the 400 as the second seed, led for 390 meters. However, her body locked up and she tumbled ahead of the finish line. Neshaminy’s Sanaa Hebron won the gold in 56.36.
“It is tough,” Delaware Valley coach Nick Quaglia said. “You get that huge swing of emotions as she is coming down the home stretch in the lead. But, anything can happen in athletics. She fought. We feel bad for her and we are just trying to lift her spirits. She knows there are a lot bigger things ahead.
“This is going to sting, but she will get past it and move on and think about all that is in front of her at Purdue.”
Contact the writer: jbfawcett@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9125; @sportsTT on Twitter