Sometimes you can't even be snarky.
Remember "This Is It", that Kenny Loggins-Michael McDonald sappy concoction from the 1980s that earned Loggins a Grammy Award (no wonder people make fun of the Grammys)?
Well, I was going to lead off this preview of Saturday's District 4 track and field championships by saying that sometimes the perfect metaphor can come from the lowliest sources, and that "This Is It" is the perfect metaphor for the district championships, in that athletes have to perform at this meet if they want to go to the state meet. Nothing else they've done all season will matter.
Then I did a little research on Mr. Loggins, who never should have left Mr. Messina, and found out the song was written in honor of Loggins' dying father.
Well, don't I just feel like dog doo.
Too bad, though. The song is still painful to listen to, yet still apt to describe the atmosphere for Saturday's meet at Susquehanna University which, for the second straight year, will include both Class AA and Class AAA meets.
Southern Columbia's boys will try to defend the AA team title they won last season, with Mount Carmel taking second. Shamokin senior Matt Gass, who has been fine-tuning his way through minor injuries this season, will attempt to repeat his spectacular performance in the AAA meet last season, when he won the 400, the 800, ran on the Indians' winning 1600-meter relay team and and would have picked up a fourth gold medal had not teammate Zach Santey hit the wall on the anchor leg of the 3200-meter relay.
Only returning champs
Gass and Southern Columbia's Luke Rarig, who won the AA long jump title as a freshman last season, are the only returning champions from area schools but there are also other area athletes highly seeded for this year's event.
Gass is the top seed in the AAA 400 with a time of 50.34 seconds, and Mount Carmel's Eric Joraskie is seeded first in both the AA shot put (50-11½) and discus (160-4).
Other area top seeds are Shamokin freshman Sofia Pearson (AAA girls 100, 12.70), Mount Carmel's Dondre Glasper (AA boys 400, 50.60), Mount Carmel boys 400 relay (44.00) and Mount Carmel's Rob Varano (AA pole vault, 13-6).
Gass and Rarig each are seeded second in events they won last season. Gass is seeded behind his rival Herb Stelly of Williamsport in the AAA boys 800 and Rarig is seeded second to Montgomery's Dillan Boore in the long jump.
Another Shamokin freshman, Chris Petraskie, is seeded second in the AAA boys high jump (6-0). Other area second seeds are Mount Carmel's Ali Varano (AA girls 100, 12.70), Southern Columbia's Joe Kleman (AA boys 200, 23.05) and Cody Pavlick (discus, 148-6) and Mount Carmel's boys 1600-meter relay team (3:28.00).
Rarig and Ali Varano also grabbed third seeds in other events. Rarig is seeded third in the AA 110-meter high hurdles (15.00) and Varano in the girls AA 300-meter hurdles (47.30), an event she has just started running a couple of weeks ago, and the 400 (1:00.55).
In both athletes' cases, they may drop an individual event to concentrate on relays. Rarig is part of Southern's 400 relay team, which is also seeded third (44,64) and their 1600 team, and Varano has run on all of Mount Carmel's relays at one time or another.
Other third seeds include Shamokins' Zach Moyer (AAA high jump, 5-10), Shamokin's boys 1600 (3:32.23) and 3200 (8:22.06) relay teams and Southern's AA boys 3200 relay team (8:14.43).
Other area athletes seeded in the top eight are, by seeds:
* Fourth - Kleman, AA boys 100; Rarig, AA boys 300 hurdles (which he will probably drop); Mount Carmel's Elijah Duran (AA long and triple jumps) and Ray Heromin (AA javelin).
* Fifth - Southern Columbia's Bailey Bzdak (AA girls long jump); Shamokin's Alaina Petrovich, a 2011 champion (AAA girls high jump); Mount Carmel's Rob Varano (AA javelin); and Shamokin's girls 3200 relay and Shamokin's boys 400 relay.
* Sixth - Mount Carmel's Lauren Hause (AA 1600), Christian Kelly (AA boys 100), Nate Bartos (AA 3200), Treyvon White (boys AA 300 hurdles) and Mount Carmel's boys 3200 relay; Southern Columbia's Teanna Shutt (AA pole vault) and Andrew Steely (AA 800 and 1600); Shamokin's Brandi Segura (AAA javelin), Josh Scheuren (AAA 3200) and the Indian girls 1600 relay team.
* Seventh - Southern's Gabriella Delbo (400), Shutt (girls 3200), and Josh Tripp (AA shot put); Mount Carmel's Amber Kogut (AA shot put), Rob Varano (AA high jump), Dominic Farronato (AA discus) and girls 3200 relay; and Shamokin's Santey (boys 300 hurdles) and Christian Duganitz (AAA shot put), as well as the Indian girls 400 relay.
* Eighth - Mount Carmel's Hause (AA girls 3200), Rachel Shultz (400) and Justin Skavery (1600); Southern Columbia's Trent Donlan (shot put).
Other returning champs
There are a number of other defending champions from around the distict, led by Central Columbia's Ellen Shepard, who was a triple winner in 2012, taking the AA 100 and 200, and anchoring Central's winning 400-meter relay team; and Williamsport's Jaid Harsch, who doubled in AAA girls hurdles. To continue with Shepard, she was seventh in the 100 and sixth in the 200 at states. To say she's flown by her competition this year may not do justice to the blistering pace with which she attacks each race.
Also of note are Northeast Bradford's wondrous boys distance runners Colton Snyder, Curt Jewett and Sam Williams, who swept the AA 800, 1600 and 3200) last year at Athens.
Other returning champions are, by class:
* Girls AA - Wyalusing's Erika Huffman (800), Troy's Casey Norton (3200), Montoursville's Teri Stoner (100 hurdles) and Montgomery's Alyssa Hitesman (shot put).
* Girls AAA - Danville's 3200-meter relay team, Jersey Shore's Brook Rozenberg (high jump) and Selinsgrove's Jessica Gill (pole vault).
* Boys AAA - Williamsport's Chet Schwoyer (1600 and 3200). Selinsgrove's Billy Parks (shot put) and Willliamsport's 400 and 3200-meter relay teams.