MOUNT CARMEL - Say two things for the annual Jerry Breslin Relays. They produced some exciting races and some very exciting team competitions.
Pottsville edged Selinsgrove by two points, 80-78, in the boys team competition, and Blue Mountain nipped the Crimson Tide by three, 83-80, in the girls competition on yet another blustery Friday night at the Silver Bowl.
How close were the team races? Third place in each competition was decided by a point, with Mount Carmel boys nipping Shikellamy 64-63, and Selinsgrove girls edging Mount Carmel, 69-68.
Pottsville's boys won the the shuttle hurdles in 49.48, nipping Selinsgrove by .29 in a microcosm of the team race. Runners for the Crimson Tide were Jimmy Harris, Robert Thompson, Cliff Newton and Anthony Kelly, and the Crimson Tide high jump tandem of Shavinski Thomas and Casey Guers won with a combined leap of 12 feet, 3 inches, with Guers going 6-5.
Mount Carmel had three wins and they were mostly hard-earned. The 3200-meter relay team of Dylan Lawrence, Justin Skavery, Chris Monahan and Mikael Hause was pushed hard by Shamokin for three legs before the veteran Hause outran Indian freshman Dan Delbaugh on the anchor leg to give the Red Tornadoes a season best of 8:21.67. Shamokin was second in 8:31.65.
Meyrick Lamb, Josh Maloney, Hause and
Monahan combined to win the sprint medley relay (two 200s, a 400 and 800) in 3:48.00, with Pottsville not far behind (3:53.03).
Lamb, Hause, Maloney and Lawrence then produced a winning time of 3:28.69 in the 1600 relay. North Schuylkill was 10 seconds back. Shamokin, which has been pushing the Red Tornadoes in this event as well, skipped it to take a team to the Penn Relays to race today.
Mount Carmel boys coach Mike Farronato acknowledged the good times but said, "I don't think we're in real good shape yet."
Selinsgrove boys also had three wins, all in the field. Mike Rodriguez had a long jump of 21-11½ to team with Abe Durant to win that event (40-5½), and Rodriguez and Dave Aurand teamed up for the triple jump title. Eric Eaton and Tyler Kerstetter won the discus (285-2) with Kerstetter throwing 160-3.
Shikellamy won the 400-meter relay and shot put.
North Schuylkill, Southern Columbia and Hazleton each had a boys win. North Schuylkill's team of Jordan Shinkus, Ethan Motsney, Jake Wallace and Brendan Shearn won the distance medley (800-400-1200-1600) in 11:05.42, 25 seconds ahead of Southern Columbia. Southern Columbia pole vaulters Brett Duell and Keith Day won that event at 23 feet, 6 inches, and Hazleton won the 800-meter relay in 1:31.10.
Blue Mountain's girls won four events to Selinsgrove's two to override the Seals' depth. The Eagles won two events, the 400 relay and shuttle hurdles, on the track. Carissa Lorimer and Emily Lado combined to win the discus at 200-4, and Brianna and Elizabeth Rauenzahn combined to win the long jump at 30-1.
Pottsville had three girls winners and Paige Stoner had a hand in all three. The 3200-meter relay team of Taylor Englert, Brianna Englert, Gabby Direnzo and Stoner won that race in 10:13.87, with Blue Mountain second. The distance medley team of the two Englerts, Haley Duncan and Stoner set a meet record of 13:24.76, and the sprint medley team of Alicia Smith, Sasha Thomas, Dunkel and Stoner won that race in 4:29.79, again with Blue Mountain second.
Mount Carmel had two wins. Heather Bolick and Gabrielle Engelke won the javelin (223-6) annd Megan Van Doren and Danielle Bernini won the high jump (10-0).
North Schuylkill's 1600-meter relay team of Kylie Fetterolf, Brittany Martin, Mimi Teter and Kaitlyn McSurdy won in 4:16.14, and Hazleton triple jumpers Justin James and Alyssa Stitch combined at 62-8½ to win that event by four inches.