TIM GROSS | Sports WriterFollowing is an event-by-event look at the boys track events in the District Three Track and Field Championships scheduled for Friday and Saturday at Shippensburg.
Each event includes the meet records, state qualifying standards and participants from the Lancaster-Lebanon League.
Other District Three previews: Girls track | Boys field
100-Meter Dash
Schedule: Trials, Friday, 3 p.m.; Semifinals, Friday, 5:15 p.m.; Finals, Saturday, 10:30 a.m.
Meet Record: Class 3A — 10.54 (Jeff White, Reading, 1979) Class 2A — 10.70 (Mike Spangler, South Western, 1984).
State Qualifying Standard: Class 3A — 11.10; Class 2A — 11.30.
Top Seeds: Class 3A — Shawn Brown, Central Dauphin East (10.72). Class 2A — Brendan Sparr, Schuylkill Valley (10.92).
L-L League Entries: Class 3A — Ezra Mellinger, Lampeter-Strasburg (13th, 10.99); Matt Russinko, Manheim Township (15th, 11.04); Logan Usner, Ephrata (18th, 11.04); Titan Cox, Manheim Township (20th, 11.05); Jose Barbon, Conestoga Valley (28th, 11.14); Theoren McElheny, Penn Manor (29th, 11.14) . Class 2A — Stanley Miller, Annville-Cleona (third, 11.04); Ishmel Wright, Columbia (fourth, 11.04); Zack Steffen, Lancaster Mennonite (sixth, 11.14); Malkam Lawrence, Lancaster Catholic (11th, 11.44); Donald Friday, Annville-Cleona (12th, 11.44); Domenic MacMillan, Annville-Cleona (20th, 11.64); Jacob Cavender, Lancaster Catholic (23rd, 11.78).
Notable: Barbon finished 12th in last year's semifinals. Last year's Class 3A champion, Harrisburg's Ronald Kent, is seeded fourth (10.83) ... Brown posted his seed time at the Mid Penn Championships ... Mellinger posted his seed time in the finals at the April 14 Black Knight Invitational. McElheny also qualified for the final ... Brown, Cox and Russinko finished first (10.97), third (10.21) and fourth (10.27) at the April 21 Blue Jay Invitational ... Miller won last year's Class 2A title ... Miller, Wright and Steffen all ran in the same heat of the 100 at the April 21 Shippensburg Invitational. They finished third (11.19), fifth (11.42) and 10th (11.62) overall.
Lampeter-Strasburg's Ezra Mellinger wins his 100-meter dash heat (11.15). Penn Manor's Theoren McElheny took second (11.33). pic.twitter.com/aswPm5yvfE
— Tim Gross (@TimGrossLNP) May 11, 2018
200-Meter Dash
Schedule: Trials, Friday, 4:25 p.m.; Semifinals, Friday, 6:15 p.m.; Finals, Saturday, 2:10 p.m.
Meet Record: Class 3A — 21.14 (Kyle Lane, Harrisburg, 1992). Class 2A — 21.60 (Mike Spangler, South Western, 1984).
State Qualifying Standard: Class 3A — 22.50. Class 2A — 22.88
Top Seeds: Class 3A — Shawn Brown, Central Dauphin East (21.58). Class 2A — Stanley Miller, Annville-Cleona (22.31).
L-L League Entries: Class 3A — Leonel Del Rosario, McCaskey (sixth, 22.17); Titan Cox, Manheim Township (seventh, 22.24); Matt Russinko, Manheim Township (14th, 22.54); Theoren McElheny, Penn Manor (21st, 22.74); Peter Carrigan, Manheim Township (24th, 22.91). Class 2A — Miller; Ishmel Wright, Columbia (fifth, 23.08); Donald Friday, Annville-Cleona (13th, 23.74); Domenic MacMillan, Annville-Cleona (14th, 23.94); Malkam Lawrence, Lancaster Catholic (17th, 24.17).
Notable: Brown won the 200 at the Blue Jay Invitational (21.82). Carrigan finished seventh in that race (23.50). McElheny finished 20th in last year's preliminaries, missing the semifinals by 0.06 seconds ... Miller, the Lebanon County champion, posted his seed time in a second-place finish at the L-L League championships ... At the Shippensburg Invitational, Miller finished third to a pair of runners outside of District Three.
400-Meter Dash
How a state-championship loss in boys soccer helped bring Zack Steffen back to the track, and how one of his "worst meets ever" helped push the Lancaster Mennonite senior to the top tier of L-L League sprinters.
Schedule: Saturday, 12:10 p.m.
Meet Record: Class 3A — 47.40 (Gary Scott, Harrsburg, 1984). Class 2A — 46.80 (Mike Spangler, South Western, 1984)
State Qualifying Standard: Class 3A — 50.09. Class 2A — 50.70.
Top Seeds: Class 3A — Joseph Bruno, Mechanicsburg (48.84). Class 2A — Austi Keim, Wyomissing (50.09).
L-L League Entries: Class 3A — Leonel Del Rosario, McCaskey (fifth, 49.73); Chad Mowbray, Penn Manor (10th, 50.34); Michael Kuhns, Lampeter-Strasburg (12th, 50.54); Anderson Velozwong, Manheim Township (13th, 50.87); Peter Carrigan, Manheim Township (16th, 50.95); Colin Gallagher, Hempfield (21st, 51.05); Jake Musselman, Cocalico (23rd, 51.20). Class 2A — Zack Steffen, Lancaster Mennonite (second, 50.42); Ishmel Wright, Columbia (eighth, 52.03); Calan Titus, Lancaster Catholic (14th, 53.81); Romeo Varela, Annville-Cleona (16th, 54.06).
Notable: Del Rosario posted his seed time when he won the L-L League title ... Mowbray won the Black Knight Invitational (51.38). He also finished first in his Shippensburg Invitational heat to finish seventh overall (51.69) in an event that Bruno won (49.41) ... Mowbray, Del Rosario and Musselman finished second (50.76), fourth (51.07) and fifth (51-31) at the April 27 Cy Fritz Open. Red Lion's Jerome Jessup, seeded sixth at districts, won the race (49.98) ... Steffen won the Class 2A 400 at the Shippensburg Invitational (51.39) and finished third at the Cy Fritz Open (50.84) and the L-L League championships (50.42).
800-Meter Run
Schedule: Saturday, 1:30 p.m.
Meet Record: Class 3A — 1:51.68 (Alec Kunzweiler, Cumberland Valley, 2013). Class 2A — 1:54.39 (Shawn Wolfe, Annville-Cleona, 2013)
State Qualifying Standard: Class 3A — 1:57.32. Class 2A — 1:59.70.
Top Seeds: Class 3A — Tyler Shue, Ephrata (1:54.87). Class 2A — Joe Cullen, Wyomissing (1:54.40).
L-L League Entries: Class 3A — Shue; Connor Shields, Warwick (second, 1:55.03); Alex Morales, Ephrata (fifth, 1:57.05); David Kramer, Penn Manor (sixth, 1:57.66); Gavin Maurer, Manheim Township (ninth, 1:58.38); Silas Buckwalter, Donegal (14th, 1:59.68); Colin Gallagher, Hempfield (15th, 1:59.72); Nate Grucelski, Conestoga Valley (17th, 2:00.07); Timothy Antonacci, Manheim Township (18th, 2:00.24); Nate Shutter, Cedar Crest (19th (2:00.30). Class 2A — none.
Notable: Shue, who won the first heat last year and finished ninth overall as the only freshman entered, claimed the L-L League title with his seed time. He also won the Class 3A 800 at the Shippensburg Invitational (1:55.17). Carlisle's Jack Wisner, seeded third (1:56.30), finished eighth at the Shippensburg Invitational (1:58.12) after a taxing run in the 1,600-meter run earlier in the day ... There are only three seniors seeded in the top 12 of the Class 3A field. Two of them, Morales and Maurer, are from the L-L League, which boasts five athletes in the top nine.
Manheim Township's Gavin Maurer (2:04.7) and Tim Antonacci (2:06.7) go one-two in the boys 800-meter run. pic.twitter.com/dsWuZ4x0fX
— Tim Gross (@TimGrossLNP) April 18, 2018
1,600-Meter Run
Schedule: Saturday, 10:40 a.m.
Meet Record: Class 3A — 4:10.73 (Craig Miller, Manheim Township, 2005). Class 2A — 4:18.68 (Barry Lopatic, Middletown, 1980)
State Qualifying Standard: Class 3A — 4:24.22. Class 2A — 4:31.13.
Top Seeds: Class 3A — Morgan Cupp, Mechanicsburg (4:19.60). Class 2A — Joe Cullen, Wyomissing (4:20.08).
L-L League Entries: Class 3A — Nate Grucelski (second, 4:20.54); Connor Shields, Warwick (fifth, 4:23.03); Christian Groff, Hempfield (sixth, 4:25.03); Evan Dorenkamp, Manheim Township (seventh, 4:25.10); Ian Miller, Manheim Township (16th, 4:30.35); Adam Wolfe, Cedar Crest (17th, 4:30.31); Elias Aviles, McCaskey (18th, 4:30.44); Silas Buckwalter, Donegal (20th, 4:31.10). Class 2A — Logan Horst, Lancaster Mennonite (12th, 4:44.240.
Notable: Shields finished sixth to qualify for the state meet at last year's district championships ... Grucelski won the 1,600-meter run at the April 21 Leonard Stephan Invitational. He posted his seed time at the May 4 Hoka Henderson Invitational... Wyomissing boasts four of the top five seeds with Ben Kuhn seeded second (4:21.75), Ryan Vargo seeded fourth (4:32.36) and Matthew Driben seeded fifth (4:33.39). Cullen was the No. 1 seed and last year's Class 2A champion.
3,200-Meter Run
Schedule: Friday, 6:45 p.m.
Meet Record: Class 3A — 9:09.05 9:06.69 (Nathan Henderson, McCaskey, 2017). Class 2A — 9:23.30 (Jason Stewart, Conrad Weiser, 1990).
State Qualifying Standard: Class 3A — 9:48.01. Class 2A — 9:31.71
Top Seeds: Class 3A — Andrew Foster, Ephrata (9:28.80). Class 2A — Brenden Miller, Upper Dauphin (9:29.66).
L-L League Entries: Class 3A — Foster; Nate Grucelski, Conestoga Valley (second, 9:30.20); Ian Miller, Manheim Township (fourth, 9:33.48); Max Lessans, Hempfield (sixth, 9:45.23); Noah Martin, Warwick (eighth, 9:48.50); Ian Blymier, Lebanon (ninth, 9:48.66); Christopher Scharf, Elizabethtown (12th, 9:49.48); Nicholas Fafel, Penn Manor (14th, 9:52.43); Jake Barrett, Cedar Crest (16th, 9:57.60). Class 2A — Logan Horst, Lancaster Mennonite (third (9:43.68); Nathan Yoder, Lancaster Mennonite (10:13.50); Nick Card, Lancaster Catholic (10:29.58).
Notable: Grucelski, Miller, Lessans, Martin and Fafel finished first (9:31.45), third (9:35.89), fourth (9:45.23), sixth (9:48.50) and ninth (9:52.43) at the Cy Fritz Open ... Miller finished second to Mechanicsburg's Morgan Cupp (seeded third) at the April 7 Bruce Dallas Invitational ... Five of the top six underclassmen entered in the race are from the L-L League ... Foster posted his seed time in a win at the L-L League championships ... Blymier cut 26.57 off his seed time at the L-L League championships to win his heat and finish fifth overall ... Horst missed last year's district three meet with an injury. Yoder finished seventh ... Horst took second place at the Shippensburg Invitational (9:56.83) ... Wyomissing's Joe Cullen, seeded fifth (10:08.39) won last year's Class 2A title.
In the Class 2A 3,200, Lancaster Mennonite's Nathan Yoder finished 7th (10:12.57). Lancaster Catholic's Jeffrey Campagna took 8th (10:13.65) pic.twitter.com/FVtjTKJlom
— Tim Gross (@TimGrossLNP) May 20, 2017
110-Meter Hurdles
Schedule: Trials, Friday, 4 p.m.; Semifinals, Friday, 6 p.m.; Finals, Saturday, 10:20 a.m.
Meet Record: Class 3A — 13.70 (Dwayne Allen, Harrisburg, 1980). Class 2A — 14.24 (Brandon Falconer, Northeastern, 1992).
State Qualifying Standard: Class 3A — 15.10. Class 2A — 15.30.
Top Seeds: Class 3A — Taraje Whitfield, Penn Manor (14.30). Class 2A — Derek Herr, Littlestown (15.04).
Local Entries: Class 3A — Whitfield; Noah Tull, Manheim Township (15th, 15.14); Keeryen Stevens, Donegal (18th, 15.17); Brendan Gates, Warwick (19th, 15.20); Tyler Flick, Manheim Central (22nd, 15.44); Elijah Herb, Elco (23rd, 15.50); Tyler Eisenhauer, Cedar Crest (24th, 15.50); Zach Reed, Manheim Central (25th, 15.54); Wayne Robinson, Manheim Township (27th, 15.64); Caleb Schmitz, Warwick (28th, 15.64); Joe Cardina, Conestoga Valley (30th, 15.69). Class 2A — Carlos Nazario, Lancaster Catholic (ninth, 17.04); Bennett Kauffman, Dayspring Christian (10th, 17.22); Chris Martin, Lancaster Catholic (14th, 17.88); Christian Hernandez, Annville-Cleona (19th, 18.44).
Notable: Whitfield settled for district silver in each of the last two seasons. Another L-L League hurdler took the title both times (Solanco's Billy Cooney in 2016; Conestoga Valley's Aanyah Bermudez in 2017) ... Whitfield and Harrisburg's Richard Gilchrist, the No. 2 seed (14.39), finished second (8.061) and third (8.066) at the indoor state championship. Camp Hill's Zack Kuntz, who won the last three District Three titles, is enrolled at Penn State ... Nazario reached the Class 2A final last season, finishing eighth.
Carlos Nazario of @LCatholic finishes third in his District Three-3A 110 hurdles prelim. 17.51. pic.twitter.com/HOhlEglN6Q
— Tim Gross (@TimGrossLNP) May 19, 2017
300-Meter Hurdles
Schedule: Saturday, 12:50 p.m.
Meet Record: Class 3A — 37.07 (Albert Lane, Harrisburg, 1980). Class 2A — 38.68 (Christian Kuntz, Trinity, 2009)
State Qualifying Standard: Class 3A — 39.80. Class 2A — 40.80.
Top Seeds: Class 3A — Taraje Whitfield, Penn Manor (38.61). Class 2A — Derek Herr, Littlestown (39.19).
Local Entries: Class 3A — Whitfield; Brendan Gates, Warwick (third, 39.03); Keeryen Stevens, Donegal (sixth, 39.61); Dejon Manning, McCaskey (ninth, 40.27); Zach Reed, Manheim Central (14th, 40.58); Obed Bawmungwa, Conestoga Valley (17th, 40.98); Josiah Zehr, Lampeter-Strasburg (24th, 41.50) . Class 2A — Carlos Nazario, Lancaster Catholic (ninth, 43.64); Bennett Kauffman, Dayspring Christian (16th, 45.19).
Notable: Whitfield finished second at last year's championships to Wilson's Alex Cluff, the No. 2 seed (38.79) ... Whitfield won both hurdles races at the Black Knight Invitational, the Shippensburg Invitational, the Cy Fritz Open and the L-L League championships ... Reed, Gates and Flick finished 11th (40.96), 13th (41.15) and 16th (41.66) at last year's district meet ... Nazario finished 11th at districts last year.
400-Meter Relay
Schedule: Saturday, 11:10 a.m.
Meet Record: Class 3A — 41.32 (Harrisburg, 1998). Class 2A — 42.70 (Trinity, 2012)
State Qualifying Standard: Class 3A — 43.25. Class 2A — 44.30.
Top Seeds: Class 3A — Wilson (41.85). Class 2A — Schuylkill Valley (42.38).
L-L League Entries: Class 3A — McCaskey (fifth, 42.99); Manheim Township (ninth, 43.63); Donegal (15th, 43.82); Penn Manor (16th, 43.89). Class 2A — Annville-Cleona (third, 45.07); Lancaster Catholic (eighth, 46.21); Columbia (12th, 47.63).
Notable: McCaskey, the L-L League champion, posted its top time of the season in a win at the Black Knight Invitational ... Annville-Cleona finished eighth in Class 2A at the Shippensburg Invitational (46.17) while Columbia took 12th (47.63).
McCaskey's Nick Allen takes the baton from Dejon Manning and holds off Manheim Township anchor Titan Cox for a 4x100 relay win at 43.0. Streaks finishes at 43.4. pic.twitter.com/DrzCSgs2Ox
— Tim Gross (@TimGrossLNP) April 30, 2018
1,600-Meter Relay
Schedule: Friday, 2:30 p.m.
Meet Record: Class 3A — 3:17.18 (Wilson. 2012). Class 2A — 3:20.90 (Scotland, 1990)
State Qualifying Standard: Class 3A — 3:24.03. Class 2A — 3:29.60.
Top Seeds: Class 3A — McCaskey (3:21.17); Class 2A — Schuylkill Valley (3:22.73).
L-L League Entries: Class 3A — McCaskey; Penn Manor (fourth, 3:23.92); Manheim Township (seventh, 3:25.54); Hempfield (10th, 3:27.04); Ephrata (11th, 3:27.71). Class 2A — Annville-Cleona (ninth, 3:38.86); Lancaster Catholic (12th, 3:40.13).
Notable: McCaskey's team broke meet records at the Black Knight Invitational and the L-L League championships ... Cumberland Calley, the No. 2 seed in Class 3A (3:22.22), won the 3A race at the Shippensburg Invitational.
3,200-Meter Relay
Everything changed for Tyler Shue in the 800-meter run at the Lancaster-Lebanon League Championships last year.
Schedule: Saturday, 9 a.m.
Meet Record: Class 3A — 7:45.00 (Harrisburg, 1984). Class 2A — 7:53.67 (Annville-Cleona, 2013)
State Qualifying Standard: Class 3A — 8:02.04. Class 2A — 8:15.55.
Top Seeds: Class 3A — Ephrata (7:52.72). Class 2A — Schuylkill Valley (7:57.30).
L-L League Entries: Class 3A — Ephrata; Cedar Crest (fourth, 8:06.72); Hempfield (sixth, 8:07.04); McCaskey (seventh, 8:09.04); Manheim Township (ninth, 8:10.95); Elizabethtown (15th, 8:13.08). Class 2A — Lancaster Catholic (ninth, 8:58.44)
Notable: Ephrata set a record in a win at the Black Knight Invitational and also won the Shippensburg Invitational and L-L League title ... Hempfield took second place at the Black Knight Invitational, and Cedar Crest finished second at the league championships ... Three hundredths of a second separate the seed times for Schuylkill Valley and second-seeded Wyomissing (7:57.33).
