ALLENTOWN - With the District 11 Track and Field Championships a little over two weeks away, Friday's Allentown School District Invitational offered a glimpse of what the postseason might look like for many schools from the Times News area.

Lehighton, Northern Lehigh, Northwestern, Palmerton and Pleasant Valley competed at J. Birney Crum Stadium against a varied field that included schools from the Colonial League, Schuylkill League, Eastern Pennsylvania Conference and programs from outside of District 11.Pleasant Valley has been impressive in its first year of competition in the newly formed EPC, and much of that success has had to do with the Bears prowess in the middle distance and distance events.The trend continued yesterday for both the boys and girls.Jen Mickens took first in both the 800 (2:25.16) and 1600 (5:13.13.64), setting a school record in the latter in the process.After letting North Penn's Ariana Gardizy set the pace for much of the early portion of the 1600, Mickens was able to stay in the pack and conserve her energy, which allowed the junior to kick at the end and pull away from her competition."It was a great first race of the day and a huge PR for me," she said of her previous best time of 5:20. "I was able to slowly close the distance and just focus on that, and I knew she (Gardizy) was going to come back to me. And I think conserving that little bit of energy early definitely helped me."Mickens also used a strong finish in the 800, edging Nazareth freshman Haven Snyder by .13 at the line.The Bears earned a sweep of the 800, with Khai Samuels winning the boys race in 1:57.95 after taking third in the 1600 earlier in the day, which Samuels admitted could have been better."I had a really bad start in the 1600, so I got nailed by my coaches," he said. "When I stepped up to the line (of the 800), I just wanted to get a good start and go from there."But I really wanted to stay undefeated in the 800. I knew it would be hard, with people like Joe (Espinal of Wilson, who finished second) and Calvin (Schneck of Whitehall, who finished third) here. The fact that I did stay undefeated is something I'm really proud of."Seth Slavin nearly gave the Bears a win in the 3200, finishing second with a time of 9:50.19. Whitehall's Gabe Lamm won the race in 9:48.93."Overall I'm just happy that I was able to push as hard as I could," said Slavin. "Even if I died at the end, I still gave it everything I had."The Northwestern girls opened the meet with a win in the 3200 relay with a time of 9:53.52.The victory was impressive for many reasons, not the least of which was that the Lady Tigers were running without one of their usual members in Rachele Cerrone.After trialing for the first half of the race, Sarah Segan took the baton and opened a sizable gap for Abbie Smith, who was running for Cerrone."I just didn't want to let down my team," said Segan. "They (Sabrina Mertz and Carly Pierce) worked so hard and ran great legs before me and I didn't want to let them down."I just tried to stay there and I felt good enough to kick before the end so I just tried to take it."The surge put Smith in the lead when she took over, something she wasn't necessarily expecting."I was actually planning on finding someone to pace myself off of and trying to stick with them," said Smith, "but it obviously didn't work out that way. What kept me going was everyone screaming, because I thought someone was right behind me."Palmerton, which had several place winners, was led by Sean Doherty's win in the 300 hurdles."It means everything," said Doherty, who won the race in 41.39. "All the hard work in practice with my coaches has paid off and I owe this medal to them. I'm just going to keep trying to do my best and see what happens."Lehighton's Tyler Crum, who has been among the area's best in the long jump all season, didn't disappoint last night, winning the event with a leap of 23-0."I was definitely shooting for 23-1, which is the (school) record," said Crum. "But I have leagues, districts and hopefully states to try to get that."And every meet I keep getting better, setting personal bests. Hopefully I can make it to states and see what I can do."Palmerton's Spencer Hay took second in the high jump at 6-2, and just missed an opportunity to clear 6-4."I definitely feel like I'm going to get it before the end of the season," Hay said of the height. "Once I get a warm weather day, and I can get a longer approach, I think it will come to me."Northern Lehigh's Jess Olewine took third in the triple jump with a mark of 37-5, and also took fifth in the long jump."I'm very happy with that," the senior said. "Last year I was jumping like 35-10, and that got me into states, so I'm beyond happy."I set personal bests twice today, in the long jump and triple. It just gives me so much confidence to know I'm where I want to be right now after being hurt for the first half of the season. For me to jump that well is exciting."Other second place finishers: Natcheli Gomes, Northwestern (high jump, 5-2); Northwestern girls 1600 relay team (Sarah Segan, Sabrina Mertz, Lauren Anderson, Alexis Gawelko) 4:10.32.Other third place finishers: Pleasant Valley girls 3200 relay (Lizz Eberhardt, Abby Leach, Megan Braddock, Shelby Jones) 9:58.83; Alexis Gawelko, Northwestern (100 hurdles, 15.95); Jon Anthony, Palmerton (discus, 138-1); Demetrius Green, Pleasant Valley (long jump, 21-11).