First Posted: 5/13/2015
SCRANTON – The seeding times say that Jonathan Galaydick pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the District 2 Class AAA Track and Field Championships.
But, the Abington Heights senior went in believing in his chances in the 300-meter hurdles even though he was seeded third, more than four seconds behind Wyoming Valley West’s JerMichael Bunch.
Galaydick turned in his season-best effort and edged Bunch by five-hundredths of a second to give Abington Heights its only gold medal during Tuesday’s District 2 Class AAA Track and Field Championships.
“I came in with really high expectations,” Galaydick said. “I wanted to be able to go below 40 seconds while winning districts.
“Even with a low 40 and (a personal best), it’s a great thing to get.”
Despite finishing into headwind that was gusting well over 20 miles per hour, Galaydick finished in 40.34 seconds.
“I saw JerMichael’s seed time,” Galaydick said. “ … I was trying to base things on beating him throughout the race.
“When I saw going into the first corner that I was ahead of him already, that really boosted my confidence. He caught up with me in the last 100, but I knew I just had to get over that if I wanted to run a great time and run a great race.”
Scranton Prep got a javelin title from Nick Solfanelli and a relay win in the 3200 on the way to finishing second in the boys team standings.
The Abington Heights girls qualified twin sisters Alyssa and Abigail McMinn for the May 22-23 state championships at Shippensburg University by meeting state qualifying standards in the discus and the 100 hurdles to lead a fourth-place finish in a tight team race.
The Scranton Prep girls got two wins from jumper Elizabeth Pattera and qualified Erin Feeney for the state meet in the 3200.
All district champions, along with a select few others who met state standards, advanced to the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Championships. The top six in each event earned medals and the top eight scored points.
Abington Heights scored points in 13 of 18 girls events and had the team lead at times during the day.
Dallas won with 74 points, Pittston Area had 71, Wyoming Area 70 and Abington Heights 69. All four had a chance of finishing first going into the last event.
Abigail McMinn had made it to Shippensburg before. Alyssa joined her in her final chance with a discus throw of 123-3, exceeding the state standard of 118 feet.
“I was looking at the line that was at 120 and I saw it go over,” Alyssa McMinn said. “It was real exciting.”
Alyssa McMinn, who also placed third in the shot put, hit the qualifying standard on her third attempt after Lake-Lehman’s Emily Johns had already unleashed her record-setting throw and eventual third-place finisher Jessica Slagus from North Pocono had already exceeded the standard.
Abigail McMinn was the top qualifier and led most of the way in the 100 hurdles finals before losing by one-tenth of a second to Coughlin’s Tamar Bourdeau. Still, her time of 15.56 into the wind bettered the standard of 15.65.
After running a 15.55 in better conditions at last year’s district meet, Abigail McMinn finished 18th out of 33 at the state championships.
Abigail McMinn was the top Abington Heights point-scorer at the meet, adding a fourth in the triple jump and a fifth in the long jump.
The 3200 relay team of Tiana Yarns, Annie Wesolowski, Carly Danoski and Katie Dammer finished second while the 400 and 1600 relay teams took fifth.
Dammer, a freshman, also placed third in the 1600.
Allyson Derry was fourth in the 100, sixth in the triple jump and anchored the fifth-place 400 relay.
Alex Scheuermann was fifth in the 3200 and eighth in the 1600.
Ally Christman was seventh in the 200 and ran on the two fifth-place relays.
Danoski was eighth in the 800 and part of the 1600 relay in addition to the runner-up 3200 relay team.
Pattera produced more than half of Scranton Prep’s team points while winning the long jump in 17-0 ½ and the triple jump in 37-8.
The Classics were ninth of 19 teams with 36 points.
Feeney traded the lead throughout the second half of the 3200 with state cross country champion Ally Rome of Dallas before Rome rallied to win by 43-hundredths of a second. Feeney took second in 11:00.94, beating the state standard by more than 12 seconds in the best race of the night.
Mary Lundin was fifth in the 800 and anchored the seventh-place 1600 relay
Kaitlin McGrath was seventh in the triple jump.
The Scranton Prep boys edged Scranton, 68 ½-68 1/3, for second place behind Western Wayne’s winning total of 82.
Despite missing much of the regular season, Solfanelli repeated as javelin champion with a throw of 188-4.
Ryan Burke, Kyle Perry, Ben Evans and Anthony Nardone won the 3200 relay in 8:19.47.
Evans was also second in the 3200 while Perry was third in the 1600 and fourth in the 3200.
Timmy Rose finished third in the long jump, fourth in the 200 and fifth in the 100.
Other Scranton Prep place-winners were: third, 1600 relay; Brandon Striefsky, tied fifth, high jump; Alex Karam, sixth, 400; Tristen Shoemaker, eighth, 400; and Anthony Nardone, eighth, 400.
The Abington Heights boys finished ninth with 38 points.
Galaydick added a seventh in the 110 high hurdles to his 300 hurdles win.
Jake Henzes was second in the 200 and third in the 100.
Other Abington Heights place-winners were: Matthew Barrett, fifth, 800; Nathan Langan, fifth, javelin; Anthony Kimble, sixth, discus; and eighth, 1600 relay.
The Lackawanna Trail boys finished 18th in Monday’s Class AA Championships.
Matt Farrell led the way, finishing third in the 110 hurdles. Freshman Matt Kinback was fourth in the high jump and the 400 relay team placed seventh.
The Lackawanna Trail girls did not have a finisher in the top 10 in any event.