BY SCOTT WALSH, Times-Shamrock Writer
Elk Lake’s Luke Jones crosses the finish line to take first place overall in the District II Class AA championship in Dimock on Wednesday. He finished with a time of 16:45. STAFF PHOTO/KEVIN WOODRUFF
This time, Luke Jones could celebrate.
At last year’s District 2 Cross Country Championships, Jones won the Class AA boys race. However, he could not savor the victory because his teammate Mike Bedell had collapsed yards from the finish line and had to be taken away by ambulance.
“All my thoughts were on him. He was more important than the win,” Jones said. “He was one of my teammates, one of my best friends. I couldn’t bear to see him go down like that.”
There was no such scary moment this year. Jones methodically made his way around the 3.1-mile course and repeated as Class AA boys champ Wednesday atElkLakeHigh School.
The Elk Lake junior won in 16 minutes, 45 seconds. That was 20 seconds ahead of Holy Cross junior Rico Galassi, who ran17:05.
Holy Redeemer had the next three runners cross the finish line and placed five in the top 10 to capture the team title with 31 points.
Blue Ridge’s TJ Loomis, Ethan Mansfield and Mike Robbs cluster together at the finish line of Wednesday’s District II Class AA championship held at Elk Lake. STAFF PHOTO/KEVIN WOODRUFF
Blue Ridge, with five runners in the top 22, finished second with 85 points to earn the district’s other team berth to the PIAA Championships in Hershey on Nov. 5.
Because of what happened to Bedell last year, Jones admitted he was “a little nervous” heading into Wednesday’s meet.
“This race didn’t treat us very well last year,” he said. “I was just hoping for the best this year.”
For the first mile, Galassi actually led Jones, which he called “kind of an achievement on my part.” But shortly after the one-mile mark, Jones passed Galassi for the lead and never looked back.
“After what happened last year, I’m tickled for him,”Elk Lake coach Will Squier said of Jones. “He’s earned it. He’s worked hard. He’s relentless when he races.”
JAKE HINKLEY
Jake Hinkley finished sixth in18:01to lead Blue Ridge. After Teejay Loomis (16th), Mike Robbs (20th), Chris Carelson (21st) and Ethan Mansfield (22nd) crossed the finish line, the Raiders had earned a trip to Hershey.
“This feels amazing,” said Hinkley, who qualified for the state meet last year as an individual. “All the coaches I talked to said that going as a team is 10 times better than going as an individual. We’re like a family.
It’s important to the seniors, too.”
Susquehanna’s Brandon Soden was the top Saber finisher in 24th place at18:46, while the secondElkLakefinisher to cross time finish was Eddie Cumens in 26th place at18:50.
Montrose’s top runner was Thomas Lewis in 40th place at 19:32, while Mountain View’s top runner was Ridge Bernosky in 94th and ForestCity’s first to cross the finish was Jessie Korty in 127th at 24:56.
MIKE ROBBS
BOYS AA RACE
Team Scores: 1-Holy Redeemer (HR) 31; 2-Blue Ridge (BR) 85; 3-Holy Cross (HC) 96; 4-Mid Valley (MV) 157; 5-Lackawanna Trail (LT) 167; 6-Lakeland (LAK) 169; 7-Elk Lake (EL) 172; 8-Dunmore (DUN) 180; 9-Northwest (NW) 262; 10-Lake-Lehman (LL) 266; 11-Montrose (MON) 291; 12-Hanover Area (HAN) 324; 13-Susquehanna Community (SUS) 382; 14-Wyoming Seminary (SEM) 401; 15-MMI Prep (MMI) 415; 16-Riverside (RIV) 430; 17-Western Wayne (WW) 448; 18-E.L. Meyers (MEY) 504.
1-Luke Jones (EL),16:45
2-Rico Galassi (HC),17:05
3- Michell Ford (HR),17:25
4- Vinay Murthy (HR),17:37
5-Frazee Sutphen (HR),17:55
TJ LOOMIS
6-Jake Hinkley (BR),18:01
7-Jacob Bevan (LL),18:01
8-Brandon Murray (DUN),18:07
9-Mike Ambrulavage (HR) 18:09
10-Patrick Condo (HR),18:11
16-TeeJay Loomis (BR),18:21
20-Michael Robbs (BR),18:35
21-Chris Carlsen (BR),18:36
22-Ethan Mansfield (BR),18:36
24-Brandon Soden (SUS),18:46
26-Eddie Cumens (EL),18:50
BRANDON SODEN
36-Will Bennett (EL),19:18
40-Thomas Lewis (MON),19:32
50-George Ward (BR),19:46
53-Will Ferrill (MON),19:50
56-Jason Vermeulen (EL),19:56
59-ChrisArnold(MON),19:59
60-Matt Horvath (EL),20:02
64-Justin Acone (SUS),20:07
66-Mason Maye (EL),20:15
67-Patrick Cramer (BR),20:18
70-Cooper Cole (EL),20:28
RIDGE BERNOSKY
75-Ethan Stankiewicz (MON),20:32
81-Chris Hollenbeck (MON),20:42
87-Brandon Deakin (SUS),20:55
94-Ridge Bernosky (MtV),21:09
102-Nick Acosta (SUS),21:31
104-Jared Winn (MON),21:55
116-TimPreston(MON),22:49
127-Jessie Korty (FC), 24:56
128-Brad Sherman (SUS), 25:14
129-Josh Korty (FC), 25:53
130-Zack Reynolds (FC), 25:58
134-Zach Stanford (SUS), 27:39
137-Nate Spearon (MtV), 29:29
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