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HS TRACK AND FIELD: LTC athletes shattered school records at Spagna meet in tune up for districts

joby fawcett, the times-tribune, scranton, pa.
·5 min read

May 13—The Robert Spagna Championship meet brought out the best in Lackawanna Track Conference athletes.

Thirteen school records were either broken or tied at the annual event held Tuesday at Scranton Veterans Memorial Stadium. The unique meet conducts events where competitors from Class 3A schools go head-to-head against those from Class 2A programs.

Honesdale sprinter Rachael Collins broke a school record while finishing second to defending PIAA Class 2A champion Tatum Norris of Susquehanna. Collins won a silver medal in the 100 with a time of 12.60 seconds to break a tie for the mark she shared with Janna Wilson.

Collins won a gold medal in the 400 in a season-best time of 58.78 and a silver in the 200 in 25.73, which is just short of the school record of 25.53 set in 2021.

With her performance, the senior, who is headed to Monmouth University, is ranked No. 1 in District 2 Class 3A for all three events, according to pa.milesplit.com.

Elk Lake's Sydney Upright broke a long-standing record in the triple jump. Her effort of 34-0 1/4 that earned her a bronze medal at the Spagna meet broke the record of 33-11 1/4 set in 1995 by Helena Wooden.

In addition to Collins and Upright, Riverside's Braelyn Reed broke the school record in the 100 during the preliminary races. She ran a 12.67 to beat the mark of 12.80 set last season by Paige Olanovich.

Western Wayne's Paige Lee broke her school record with a throw of 114 feet, 11 inches that won a silver at the Spagna meet; Mid Valley's Mae Kaufman beat her record in the 400 with a time of 1:01.03; and North Pocono's Emily Franklin beat her school record in the 3,200 that she set in the final regular-season meet with a silver-medal winning time of 11:20.91.

Delaware Valley's Liliana Coe tied the school record with a clearing of 9-0 in the pole vault. Erica Zaleck (2002), Ariel Christ (2006), and Kelsey Kimble (2009) also cleared 9-0 in their careers with the Lady Warriors.

In the boys meet, West Scranton's Colin Manley and Riverside's Nathan Oliphant set school records in their battle between District 2 champions in the 110 hurdles.

Manley, last season's District 2 Class 3A champion, won the Spagna title with a time of 14.66. That broke the school record of 15.04 set in 2002 by Evan Prall. It is also the sixth-best school record in LTC history.

Oliphant, a two-time PIAA Class 2A qualifier, finished second in 14.88 to break his school record of 14.94 set earlier this season.

Honesdale's Jeffry Delgado-Santos set a school record in the 300 hurdles with a time of 40.71. He broke the mark of 41.44 set in 2010 by Andrew Branning.

Drew Smith broke his Holy Cross school record in the javelin with a distance of 153-6.

Delaware Valley's Armand Ruest tied the record of 11.00 in the 100, which earned him a silver medal at the Spagna meet. Ruest tied Alex St. John (2009) and Kareem Payne (2014).

District 2 championships

For the second straight year, the District 2 Championships will be held over two days at Scranton Veterans Memorial Stadium.

On Monday, finals are scheduled in the girls and boys Class 3A and Class 2A 3,200 relays at 3:30 p.m. The 300 hurdles finals are set for 6:20 p.m., and the finals in the 3,200 are scheduled for 6:50 p.m. The 300 hurdles finals are set for 6:20 p.m., and the finals in the 3.200 are scheduled for 6:50. All other races on the track will be preliminary heats to qualify for Tuesday's finals.

There are finals in the field events Monday. There is a 3 p.m. session and a 5 p.m. session.

Tuesday's events are all finals and start at 3 p.m.

Tickets for the event can be purchased at piaad2.org by clicking on the "Get District 2 Championship Tickets Here" button and following the prompts.

Tickets are available for the Monday and Tuesday sessions. You must purchase a separate ticket for each day.

State championships

The PIAA Track and Field Championships are May 26 and 27 at Seth Grove Stadium at Shippensburg University.

All District 2 champions in their particular event automatically qualify for the state meet. Any athlete who meets or exceeds the state qualifying standard also advances to the state championship meet.

Last season, Norris won gold medals in the 100 and 200 and a silver medal in the pole vault to score all 28 points as Susquehanna won the girls Class 2A team championship.

LIAA senior meet

The second annual Lackawanna League Track and Field Coaches Association (LLTFCA) Senior All-Star meet is scheduled for June 5 at Abington Heights High School.

The meet will start at 5 p.m. and has a rain date of June 6. Teams will be made up of City and County teams and the meet will run in a dual meet format.

Contact the writer:

jbfawcett@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9125;

@sportsTT on Twitter