PIAA TRACK & FIELD: Dunmore has heavy medal haul in Class 2A meet
SHIPPENSBURG — Dunmore’s track and field athletes had quite a medal haul.
Tommy Clark powdered his way to a seventh-place medal in the 800-meter run, Cory Domiano sprinted his way to an eighth-place finish in the 400 and Maura Michalczyk overcame a frightening setback the day before the meet to win an eighth-place medal in the girls Class 2A pole vault.
Finally, Dunmore’s team of Domiano, Clark, Gabe Franek and Dom DeSando capped the weekend with a seventh-place medal in the 1,600 relay on a rewarding Saturday afternoon in the Class 2A meet at Shippensburg University’s Seth Grove Stadium.
In the 800, which is run as a time final, Clark ran in the first heat based upon his seed time of 1 minute, 59.51 seconds to win the District 2 title.
He took the lead after 300 meters and pulled away to a time of 1:57.39. Then he had to wait to see how that would hold up through the next two heats.
He finished seventh overall.
Archbishop Carroll’s Gabriel Cuffey won gold in 1:52.38.
“We had a good 4-by-4 (Friday)and knew we were going to get a medal, so I just went all out,” Clark said. “I wish I had more competition in that heat, because I think I would have gotten a faster time. That was tough.”
In the boys 400, Domiano ran a school-record time Friday of 49.32 seconds.
He bounced back in the final. He worked hard on the backstretch and came down the home stretch in 50.01 seconds for an eighth-place medal.
Penn Cambria’s Josh Stolarski won gold in 47.10.
“I wanted to get out pretty hard, and I did,” Domiano said. “But after the prelims yesterday, I kind of tweaked my hamstring a little bit. I tried to push through that pain, and right around the last 200, it started to kick in again, so I am just happy that I was in the final and got a medal.”
Both Domiano and Clark ran in the 1,600 relay along with Gabe Franek and Dom DeSando and took home a seventh-place medal with a time of 3:34.77.
Nativity BVM won in 3:20.91.
“We didn’t think that we would be this competitive at the beginning of the season,” Domiano said. “Seeing how we did here, we have the top three in our sights for next year.”
In the pole vault, Michalczyk overcame adversity to win a medal for the second straight season.
At practice Thursday evening, she shattered her pole, leading to a crash into the pits, and didn’t have a pole to replace that one.
On Saturday morning, Vault Works Club loaned Michalczyk a pole of equal weight and strength.
“We had the track for practice, and my run-throughs were going great, and all of a sudden my pole snapped in half,” Michalczyk said. “I did something to my finger; my whole leg got bruised up, so that was definitely a setback.
“I had a day to regroup, and I came down and cheered on the boys, and it was exciting to watch them succeed. Thankfully, another club had a similar pole, and I was able to use that. It was an adjustment, but it still got me a state medal.”
Michalczyk missed her first jump of the day at 10-0, but recovered to easily get over the height on her second attempt. She cleared 10-6 on her first run and 11-0 on her second try and earned her a spot on the podium.
She also finished eighth at last season’s state meet.
Bermudian Springs junior Lilyana Carlson won gold with a height of 13-0.
“The field was more competitive than it has been in years,” said Michalczyk, the Bucknell University commit. “I had some bad luck, and I am just happy that I was able to work through that and get a state medal.”
