68th JORDAN RELAYS: Abington Heights, Scranton share 3A crown; Mid Valley earns fifth straight 2A title

SCRANTON — Abington Heights made a frantic dash to the finish. Scranton athletes, who had just raced in the previous heat, waited it out.

When Dunmore’s Tommy Clark held off Abington Heights’ DJ Rogers in the final few strides of the 1,600-meter relay finale, it did not impact the chase for the Class 3A team championship at the 68th Jordan Relays on Thursday at Scranton Veterans Memorial Stadium.

Abington Heights had the fastest time among the Class 3A teams, then Wallenpaupack came across in a time faster than Scranton ran. After some quick math, the Comets and Scranton tied with 41 team points, and Wallenpaupack finished third with 32.

DJ Rogers, Hamza Mirza, Jack Sorensen and Sean Rooney were part of two Class 3A winning relays to lead the Comets, who scored 32 points in the final four races.

“This is really unbelievable,” Rogers, a transfer from South Carolina, said. “I felt really good seeing all of the hard work and dedication on the track paying off. It was awesome seeing all of my new friends cheering me on and supporting me. I really enjoyed running, and this was a blast.”

Scranton, which started with a win in the distance medley, also finished second in the 1,600 medley and third in the 1,600 relay and the 1,200 medley.

“I knew that we had a great team and a great group of guys,” said Scranton senior Brian McCormack, who ran an opening 800 leg of 2:01.70 to give the Knights a lead in the distance medley. “We welcome the challenge, and we don’t shy away from it. We all just want to do what is best for the team.”

While Abington Heights and Scranton couldn’t break their deadlock, Mid Valley outlasted a furious comeback by Dunmore in Class 2A in another fantastic battle.

The Spartans posted wins in the 400 relay, the 1,200 medley and the 3,200 relay and finished with 52 points. Dunmore won the distance medley, and the 1,600 medley and the 1,600 relay in the final two events and had 47 points. Lakeland finished third with 28 points.

It is the fifth straight title for Mid Valley.

“This feels great,” Mid Valley sprinter Victor Holt said. “We worked so hard to get this done. It took a lot of sacrifice to get here and get this done. It is awesome to win this again.”

Abington Heights started its pursuit of its first team title since 2017 with a win in the 1,200 medley when Dylan Jaramillo, Declan Walsh, Will Regan and Rogers, who ran an anchor 400-meter split of 48.82 seconds, had a time of 2:33.31.

Jack Shoemaker, Mirza, Sorensen and Rooney won the 3,200 in 8:16.66, and Hamza, Rooney, Sorensen and Rogers, who closed with a split of 48.91 on the final 400, had a time of 3:26.59.

“DJ ran two 48s today — amazing,” Hamza said. “It was an all-around great performance from all of our guys. We have a great attitude, and we always put in the work and effort, and it pays off.”

Scranton’s gold medal came in the opening race. McCormack gave the Knights a lead, and the team of Edie Salazar, Brady Hopkins and Aidan Graff, who ran a 4:29 split in the 1,600, had a time of 8:21.12.

“This is a good outcome, but the tie is kind of crazy,” Graff said. “We all did very well in all of our races. Sometimes in the distance races, it’s tough because you are always focused on your pace, but it is really exciting when your teammates are cheering you on.”

Delaware Valley’s team of Logan Olsommer, David Choi, Alex Vaughan and Charlie McClain won the 400 relay in 44.26, and West Scranton’s team of Amir Robinson, Colin Manley, Taron Knight-Guerrier and Jacob Covage won the 1,600 medley in 3:43.14.

Mid Valley’s burners, Holt, Timothy Kramer and Jordan Chmielewski, were on both the 400 relay and the 1,200 relay, while Mason Vinansky ran on the 400 relay and Jakob Lesher ran anchor for the 1,200 relay.

Matthew Repecki, Nathan Sadaka, Richard Vinansky and Daniel Pimentel added a win in the 3,200 relay with a time of 8:33.92.

“This is very exciting,” Kramer said. “We are just striving to be the best that we can be. As a 10th grader, I came down here as an alternate, so it’s amazing to see what hard work does. It’s amazing to repeat as the team winners.”

Dunmore made a run at the program’s first team title since 1974.

Tommy Clark and Dom DeSando each ran on the winning distance medley, the 1,600 medley and the 1,600 relay to lead the Bucks.

Cory Domiano and Cole Fangio joined Clark and DeSando in the winning distance medley and the 1,600 relay, while Ryan Mecca and Gabe Franek were part of the winning 1,600 medley.

“We all ran really well,” Clark said. “This was a great team effort all the way around.”