NTL TRACK & FIELD: DOUBLE-WINNER BRONSON, BURGESS LEAD ATHENS GIRLS TO TEAM TITLE AT LASAGNA INVITE; ATHENS BOYS FINISH 10TH (21 PHOTOS) (2024-04-26)

Valley Sports Report
WYALUSING — Junior Sara Bronson was a double-winner, and sophomore Abby Burgess had four top-four finishes to lead the Athens girls to the team title here Friday at the annual Lasagna Track & Field Invite, while freshman Graham Wanck, and sophomore Brenden Comstock paced the Athens boys’ efforts.

“The girls had a really good meet tonight,” said Athens girls coach Mike Bronson. “We had great weather and the girls had a lot of great performances.

“The 3200-meter relay started the meet off with a great run, and it just kept going from there,” he noted. “Sara Bronson had a strong race to win the  3,200-meter run, Abby Burgess had really good runs to finish second in both the 100 and 200, Mya Thompson had a good night in the long and triple jump, and Emma Pernaselli had a great series of throws in the javelin.   

“Winning the meet for the girls was a nice surprise, we hadn’t talked about that at all,” added Bronson. “Our focus tonight was on their individual events. We still have some things to work on over the next couple of weeks, but I think the girls are in a good spot for right now.”

GIRLS
Athens won the team title with 98 points, well ahead of runner-up Holy Redeemer, and third-place Tunkhannock, which had 68 and 67 points, respectively.

Bronson won the 3,200-meter run in a time of 11:34.51, and sophomore Ava Hughes placed fourth in 12:19.4.

Bronson teamed with senior Thea Bentley, and sophomores Lizzie Gorsline and Hughes to win the 3,200-meter relay in a time of 10:04.73.

Bronson finished fourth in the 1,600-meter relay in a time of 5:23.45, while sophomore Ava Hughes was ninth in 5:40.69, and freshman Brielle Mayo was 20th in 6:09.1.

Burgess finished second in the 100-meter dash in 12.81 seconds, while junior Gretchen Schmieg was 20th in 14.08 seconds, and senior Abbie Panek was 21st in 14.09 seconds.

Burgess was also second in the 200-meter dash in a time of 26.32 seconds, and senior Emily Henderson was 20th in 29.0 seconds.

Burgess teamed with Gorsline, Bentley, and and junior Addy Wheeler to finish third in the 1,600-meter relay in a time of 4:22.33.

Burgess finished fourth in the 400-meter dash in a time of 1:00.46, and freshman Delanie Patton was 26th in 1:10.57.

Henderson finished second in the 100-meter hurdles in a time of 17.69 seconds, while Wheeler was 17th in 19.65 seconds, and Gorsline was 20th in 19.95 seconds.

Senior Emma Pernaselli finished second in the javelin with a throw of 101-feet. Pernaselli placed fourth in the shot put with a heave of 30-feet, 7-inches, and freshman Abby Wagner was 23rd at 23-feet, 7 1/2-inches. Pernaselli finished sixth in the discus with a toss of 95-feet, 7-inches.

Senior Mya Thompson placed third in the long jump with a leap of 15-feet, 10 1/2-inches, while Abbie Panek was ninth at 14-feet, 9 1/2-inches, and freshman Kaitlyn Leonard was 17th at 14-feet, 2-inches. Thompson was also fourth in the triple jump at 32-feet, 8-inches.

Grace Ellsworth finished third in the freshman 1,600-meter run in a time of 6:38.23, and Haylie Horton was fifth in 6:51.53.

Sophomore Elizabeth Denlinger placed fourth in the high jump at 4-feet, 8-inhes, and sophomore Evelyn Panek was 10th at 4-feet, 4-inches. Denlinger was 13th in the pole vault at 7-feet, and junior Emma Renninger was 14th at 7-feet.

Gorsline placed sixth in the 300-meter hurdles in a time of 51.05 seconds, while Henderson was eighth in 51.92 seconds, and Wheeler was 15th in 54.76 seconds.

Bentley finished sixth in the 800-meter run in 2:33.77.

Leonard was 10th in the freshman 100-meter dash in 14.95 seconds, while Delanie Patton was 11th in 15.06 seconds, and Hannah Parrish was 15th in 15.73 seconds.

BOYS
Troy won the team title with 105 points, while runner-up Northwest Area had 83.5 points. Athens finished 10th with 23 points.

Comstock placed fourth in the discus with a toss of 133-feet, 7-inches, while senior Kaden Parrish was 22nd in 102-feet, 2-inches, and senior Josh Nittinger was 23rd at 102-feet, 2-inches.

Comstock placed seventh in the shot put with a heave of 41-feet, 9-inches, and Nittinger was 16th at 38-feet, 11-inches.

Wanck placed fifth in the 1,600-meter run i a time of 4:37.22, and freshman Lucas Persun was 25th in 5:08.34. Wanck also finished fifth in the 3,200-meter run in 10:01.84, and Persun was 24th in 11:09.29.

Junior Jase Babcock teamed with seniors Mitch Hamilton and Jack Ryan, and junior Peter Jones to finish fifth in the 400-meter relay in a time of 47.04 seconds.

Babcock placed sixth in the long jump at 19-feet, 8-inches, and Jones was 22nd at 17-feet, 6-inches. Babcock also finished ninth in the triple jump at 38-feet, 5 1/2-inches, while sophomore James Friend was 13th at 37-feet, 6 1/2-inches, and Jones was 20th at 35-feet, 10 1/4-inches.

Babcock finished 10th in the high jump at 5-feet, 6-inches, and Friend was 15th at 5-feet, 4-inches.

Alex Arcesi placed fifth in the freshman 1,600-meter run in a time of 5:21.63, and Zach Blackman was eighth in 5:46.48.

Seniors Dash Bishop, and Sean Clare teamed with Friend and sophomore Alex Thompson to place eighth in the 1,600-meter relay in a time of 3:50.16.

Ryder Morley placed eighth in the freshman 100-meter dash in 13.03 seconds.

Sophomore Chase Ingram finished 10th in the pole vault with a mark of 8-feet, 6-inches.  He was also 16th in the 110-meter hurdles in 20.73 seconds.

Jones finished 12th in the 200-meter dash in 24.74 seconds.

Friend finished 15th in the 400-meter dash in 55.54 seconds, and Ryan was 24th in 59.36 seconds.

Clare was 15th in the 800-meter run in a time of 2:11.94, and Thompson finished 19th in 51.66 seconds.

Parrish finished 24th in the javelin with a throw of 103-feet, 4-inches, and junior Caleb Nason was 26th in 99-feet, 8-inches.

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IN PHOTO 1: Athens junior Sara Bronson. … PHOTOS BY LANCE LARCOM.