District XC titles go to Korty, Jones, Lady Meteors

The weather wasn’t the only brilliant thing at District II Class A cross country championships as local runners took two individual championships and two team championships to send 22 runners to this weekend’s PIAA State Championships in Hershey.

Girls’ Cross Country

Kate Korty did what she has done most of the season – get out fast and maintain the lead in capturing the Girls’ Class A title.

The Forest City sophomore finished in a time of 19:55.1 and besting the field by nearly 44 seconds to earn her second trip to Chocolate Town.

Montrose Area’s Mary Pichette continued her strong finish to the season, placing third to lead Montrose to the team title. The Lady Meteors put all five of their runners in the top 13 and won decisively with 28 points – 34 less than second place Lakeland.

Following Pichette were Stephanie Summerville (5^th) and Paige Brewer (6^th) Avery Kerr (8^th) and Daegan Giannone (13^th). The win qualifies the Montrose team for the PIAA championships and allows all five runners to compete as individuals as well.

Mountain View finished third in the team standings and qualified three runners for the trip to Hershey.

Carissa Flynn placed fourth overall and will make her third straight trip to the PIAA championships. She will be joined by teammates Corinne Flynn who finished 11^th in her first varsity District II race and senior GG Larkin who crossed the line in 16^th place to claim one of the final individual spots.

Adia Tompkins was 27^th and Alex Kozloski, 38^th, to account for the Lady Eagles 81 points. Kaylee Hamilton also ran for Mountain View and finished 55^th.

 Elk Lake finished fourth with 116 points led Makenzie Strohl and Sydney Upright who placed 14^th and 15^th to qualify for states. They were joined by Molly McGlynn (28^th), Hannah Howell (36^th), and Caitlyn Wagner (42^nd). Gina Warnero also ran for the Lady Warriors coming in 59^th.

Blue Ridge placed eighth in the final standings led by Madeline Naylor who finished 18^th and snared the final individual state qualifying spot. Delaney Tench was 32 seconds behind Naylor to capture 23rd place, while Olivia Phillips 43^rd, Addison Welch 47^th, and Dariyn Parks 52^nd accounted for the Lady Raider points.

Susquehanna finished ninth as Julianna Bradley paced the Lady Sabers with a 29^th place finish followed by Paytyn Sellitto (33^rd), Olivia Orner (44^th), Jaydin Orner (50^th) and Sarah Day (56^th).

Forest City only had four runners and couldn’t compete for the team championship but Korty was joined by fellow sophomores Laura Nebzydoski at 22^nd place and Mea Mott and Emily Frisbie who finished at 60 and 61, respectively.

Boys’ District Race

Kendel Jones was able to repeat what he did a couple weeks prior and etched his name to the family legacy to capture the Class A boys’ race and lead Elk Lake to the team title.

The freshman sensation captured the race in a time of 17:03.3 and joined his brother Luke and sister Krista as District Champions.

Jones finished 15 seconds ahead of Montrose’s Nate Sinkovich who took the silver medal for the second year in a row. The pair has run neck-and-neck all season running in the same Lackawanna League cluster.

Senior Dylan Way placed fourth to aid the Elk Lake cause and was followed by Cody Adams in the top ten at seventh. Whalen Kinney and John Heitsman finished 22^nd and 23^rd to account for the Warrior point total of 51 which was 17 ahead of second place Holy Cross. Quinn Grosvenor also ran for Elk Lake, finishing 55^th.

Montrose finished third in the team standings buoyed by Sinkovich and top 10 finishes from Lorenzo Christian (5^th) and Andrew Chidester (9^th),. Zander Henry finished 44^th and CJ McGee was 51^st to account for Montrose’s 101 points. Christian’s 5th-place finish qualified him to attend Hershey this weekend.

The final local spot for the PIAA championships was earned by Blue Ridge’s Max Ksenich. The sophomore finished eighth, edging Chidester by four seconds for the last of the five open spots.

The Raiders were unable to compete in the team championships due to injury limiting to four finishers. Duncan Geyer joined Ksenich on the medal stand earning 13^th place, while Bryce Conklin and Ryan Stallings placed 37^th and 52^nd.

Susquehanna finished fourth overall led by JT Burke who snared the last medal coming in 15^th and followed by Maxx Kelly who placed 19^th, Matt Schell and Matt Mattis who were 27^th and 28^th and Memphis Collins who crossed ten seconds later for 30^th. Jack Jones and Brice Woodruff were 39^th and 54^th for the young Sabers who will only lose Collins next season.

Mountain View finished seventh when Rory Shea captured 21^st in his best finish of the season followed by Michael Beach (26^th) and Sean Larkin (29^th), Seth Wallace (34^th) and Aiden Beavers (36^th) for the Eagle points. Junior Ordie Price was 40^th and Richter Masters was 49^th for a Mountain View team that should return all seven runners next season.

Forest City’s John Conlogue was 18^th to highlight the four Forester runners. Elijah Ferrarra and Caelum Cahoon were 53^rd and 54^th and Richard Matthews came in 61^st.