SCRANTON – As fate would have it, after setting school records regularly at West Scranton, Seamus Wallace woke up a day before the biggest track and field meet of his career with a sore back.
It didn’t slow him down.
Putting his soreness in the back of his mind, Wallace seized the early lead and powered his way to a gold medal on his home track and Scranton Veterans Memorial Stadium. The sophomore added a District 2 gold medal in the 3,200-meter race to his Class 3A cross country title from the fall.
His effort made him the lone Lackawanna Track Conference boy to win an individual event at the District 2 Class 3A Track and Field Championship on Monday afternoon.
“It was great,” Wallace said. “I was just glad to compete. I pulled my back (Sunday). I couldn’t even warm up. I was just going to feel out the first 100 meters, and I don’t know if it was adrenaline or getting caught up in the moment, and I went after it.
“It was a great race with great competition. I am really happy for everyone who medaled, and everyone who didn’t also ran great.”
Wallenpaupack’s team of Orson Whitehouse, Jordan Bermudez, Dawid Mrowka, and Aiden Janowicz earned the first gold of the meet, winning the 3,200-meter relay in 8:06.04.
“I definitely worked all winter, all spring for this,” Jordan Bermudez said. “Our coaches talked about this 4-by-800 for a while. I knew that we had some really strong attributes. I am just kind of out of my head. It was a great experience, and running against all of this great competition has been wonderful.”
In the girls’ meet, Abington Heights had a pair of champions.
Kiana Seid passed on the first two heights of 8 feet, 6 inches, and 9-0, before clearing 9-6, 10-0, 10-6, and 11-0 on her first attempts. When she went out at 11-6, she won the competition.
“I was really nervous going into the meet because it was districts and we were trying to state-qualify,” Seid said. “I knew it was really going to be close. There were good pole vaulters out here. I just concentrated on making my heights on my first attempts. It wasn’t a PR (personal record), but it felt really good to win and qualify for states.”
Distance runner extraordinaire, Anna Pucilowski, grabbed the first gold medal in the event of her career. She held off Delaware Valley’s Grace Holderith to win in 10:45.65. Holderith, who joins Pucilowski at the state meet, as a qualifier on time.
“I am so happy,” Pucilowski said. “I went out there wanting to meet the state qualifying time, even if I didn’t win. I knew it was going to be a good race, and I was excited for that.”