Trojan relays earn five D-11 gold medals | Lehigh Valley Press (2024)

Published June 02. 2024 03:22PM

by Mike Haines<br>mhaines@tnonline.com

Six individual gold medalists was an impressive showing for the Parkland track and field teams at last week’s District 11 Championship meet. Even more impressive were the Trojan relay teams. Parkland won five of six Class 3A relay races at districts and took second place in the other last week at Blue Mountain High School. Parkland went unbeaten in the regular season and dominated the league meet. The teams carried that momentum right into the district meet. The 4x800 relay teams got things started with gold medals on the first day of the meet last Tuesday. The Trojan girls 4x800 team of Lana Hurwitz, Madi Seed, Addison Shevlin and Lucy Tobia ran a time of 9:26.73 to take first place. “I love the relay,” said Hurwitz. “I’m really excited to see what we can do at states. I think our ceiling is a lot higher than what we’ve been running.” Parkland is seeded ninth for the event in this weekend’s state championship meet. The Trojans had a lot of success individually, but the relays were where the team really shined at districts. “I love relays,” said Shevlin. “I like team stuff. For us to be able to rely on each other and perform strongly for each other is an amazing environment to be in.” The PHS boys 4x800 team of Tyler Rothrock, Jake Barnes, Paul Abeln and Colin McGuigan posted a winning time of 8:02.06 to take first place. The team will head to states as the 23rd seed. Parkland’s girls 4x100 relay got the second day of the meet rolling when it ran a 48.45 for first place with the team of Kaley Seide, Cierra Valley, Ana Gbur and Dhaniya Miner. “It feels awesome” said Valley of winning gold. “We all had the hope of getting gold. We’ve all practiced to get this spot. We’re all excited and happy it worked out.” The team got off to a solid start and made clean handoffs to run one of its best races of the season. “I think it was a mix of everything,” said Gbur. “We’ve been working hard and putting everything together. I think we executed that very well today.” Seide, who also picked up two individual silver medals at districts, ran the anchor leg of the race. “I feel like we did better this time because everyone is way more motivated because it’s districts,” said Seide. The foursome is seeded sixth for the state meet and has a goal of earning a medal this weekend at Shippensburg’s Seth Grove Stadium. The group also has a bright future as none of the members of the 4x100 relay team are seniors. Parkland capped the meet by winning the final event, the 4x400 relay. The girls 4x400 team of Tobia, Valley, Shevlin and Hurwitz crossed the finish line in 3:57.39 to win the event. The team is seeded 11th for the state meet. Not to be outdone, Parkland’s boys 4x400 team also took first place. The foursome of Alex Kelchner, Rothrock, Nate Janukowicz and Andrew Beers ran the race in 3:20.62 and is seeded 9th for the state meet. Beers also earned a pair of gold medals in individual events. He ran the 110-meter hurdles in 14.21 for first place and completed the 300 hurdles in 37.38 for the gold medal. He is seeded fifth in the state in the 110 and second in 300. Three other Trojan boys brought home gold medals at districts. Janukowicz took first place in the 200-meter dash by holding off a late charge from Blue Mountain’s Cole Swick. Janukowicz finished in 21.75. Swick’s late kick got him across the finish line in 21.80 as he was gaining ground over the final 50 meters. “I had no idea he was right behind me,” said Janukowicz. “I saw when I crossed the finish line he was right next to me. I had no idea he was that close. “I’m so excited. This has been a longtime goal of mine. Coming into the season it was my goal to go to states in a solo event. I’m so happy about that.” Julius Reyes took first place in discus at districts. Just like Janukowicz, Reyes followed his league-title performance with a win at districts. He did it with a career best throw of 160 feet. That heave not only won him a league title, it also broke a team record set by Tony Lewis back in 1985. “It feels great after all the work I’ve put in for discus,” said Reyes. “I’ve been trying to reach that goal since freshman year. It’s nice to finally get it and I have another meet to go and possibly push farther than that.” Reyes is seeded 12th for states. Ethan Willard was pleased after winning the first individual postseason title of his career at the league meet. He enjoyed it so much he repeated the feat at districts, taking first place in the 3,200-meter run. He ran the race in 9:50.18 and came back the next day to take fourth place in the 1,600 in 4:23.02. Hurwitz earned the only individual gold medal for Parkland’s girls team. She won the 800-meter run in 2:19.0. While her preferred strategy is to sit in second place and take the lead in the last 100 meters, last week’s race unfolded differently. When Hurwitz felt runners encroaching behind her, she made an early move and held on for the win by almost half a second over Nazareth’s Kylie Karavitch (2:20.57). “I started kicking at 200, which is earlier than I like but I was strong enough to do it,” said Hurwitz. “I just wanted to kick it home hard.” Parkland also had several second-place finishers at districts, where the top two finishers in each event earn an automatic bid to the state meet. The Trojan boys 4x100 relay took second place in an event that saw five teams meet the state qualifying standard. The Trojan foursome of Naquan Thomason, Josh Pulver, Janukowicz and Beers ran the district race in 42.39 and are seeded eighth for the state meet. Seide earned a pair of silver medals to go along with her relay gold. She took second place in the 100-meter dash in 12.45 and finished second in the 200 in 24.94. She will run in the 200 at states as the ninth seed. Paul Abeln took second place in the 1,600-meter run to earn a trip to states with a time of 4:20.89. Colin McGuigan finished second in the 3,200 in 9:53.97. Tobia took third place in the 400-meter run but met the state qualifying time by running the race in 58.10. She will be the 17th seed in the event at states. Also earning district medals, which went to the top four finishers in each event, were Rothrock (4th in 800, 1:58.22) and Shevlin (4th in 800, 2:21.93). Valley will also compete at states in the 100-meter dash. She finished sixth at districts, but the top six finishers all ran a fast enough time to qualify for the state meet. The state meet is held annually on the Friday and Saturday of Memorial Day weekend at Shippensburg University’s Seth Grove Stadium.

PRESS PHOTO BY MIKE HAINES Parkland's 4x100 girls relay team was one of five Trojan relays to earn gold medals at districts. Members of the team are Cierra Valley, Dhaniya Miner, Ana Gbur and Cierra Valley.