It was a very special two days of competition at the Schuylkill League Track and Field championships for Lehighton’s Abigail Meckes.

On the opening day of the meet at Tamaqua High School, the senior won gold in the discus.

Wednesday, Meckes was back in the winners’ circle for a pair of gold medals, placing first in both the shot put (34-0) and javelin (124-7).

Meckes’ effort was part of a huge day for Times News area athletes, who combined for eight individual and two relay gold medals.

Meckes sweep

Meckes finished off her sweep of the field events in dramatic fashion, winning the javelin on her final throw of the competition.

Meckes said she needed to make an adjustment to deliver her winning throw.

“I kept dropping my arm (in my earlier throws),” she explained.

Her throwing coach Gwen Remaley noticed the issue.

“She’s double jointed in her elbow, and sometimes she fully extends her arm,” said Remaley. “It was just a minor adjustment to keep it slightly bent.” Brittany Bartasavage was a gold digger for Lehighton once again as well. After winning the 300 hurdles on the opening day, she added a gold in the 100 hurdles yesterday.

“I came into it and said ‘how awesome would it be to win two gold medals,’” said Bartasavage, who was seeded first in the event. “I was confident, I knew the competition and I just stayed focused.”

Bartasavage hit the finish line in a school-record time of 15.81.

“I’m so happy for our girls,” said Lehighton head coach Erica Pagotto. “It was a great day for both Abigail and Brittany.

Colts shine

The Marian boys in general - and Mike Fellin in particular - were at the top of their game.

The Colts captured two gold medals in the relay events - with Fellin playing a key role in both. The Colt sprinter also added individual golds in the 100 and 200.

In the 1600 meter relay - the final event of the meet - the Colts brought the fans to their feet as Jacob Fenstermacher, Fellin, Johnny Malarkey and anchor Ean Chelak were nothing short of stellar in overcoming second-place Nativity.

“It was a phenomenal run,” said Marian coach Justin Hugel. “I really can’t say enough about these kids.”

Indeed, it was a tense race as the backstretch found Chelak coming on harder and harder to finally overtake Nativity’s anchor Marcus Vaupel. Chelak hit the finish in a time of 3:37.40 - nearly a full second ahead of the Green Wave runner.

“It was a great run, it took a lot out of us,” Fenstermacher said. “I paced with them as much as I could, I handed off to Michael Fellin and he paced with them … then Malarkey and Ean Chelak really took it over.”

That same Colt quartet also pulled off the victory in 400 relay with a time of 44:03.

“I was running pretty angry after not winning the 400,” Chelak said about his second-place finish to Vaupel in the event. “It really humbled me, which also pushed me to my best ability. I give credit to my team. They were tremendous. I was just trying to hype them up the best I could.”

But it wasn’t just the relays where the Colts shined as they picked up three individual firsts as well.

Fellin and Fenstermacher placed 1-2 in the 100 meters, while Fellin and Chelak were at the head of the class in the 200 meters. Fellin’s winning times were 11.1 in the 100 and 23.12 in the 200.

Marian’s Alex Porambo added to his team’s gold medal haul with a victory in the 800 meters. Porambo held off a late charge from Pottsville’s James Bell, turning in a winning time of 2:09.12.

Olympian girls deliver

Jim Thorpe had some big winners as well.

Kaila O’Conner took the 100 meters in a time of 12.74, while Lydia Wallace followed up a second-place finish in the hurdles with a 1:01.91 time to win the 400 meters.

“It was really surreal, honestly,” O’Conner said after her win. “At the beginning of the season I was just okay and maybe even sub par in the event. But towards the end of the season, thanks to God and some training, I improved enough to be able to get this win.”

Meanwhile, Wallace said she knows she can be even better in the 400 moving forward.

“It wasn’t my best time, but I’m really happy to get a gold,” she said. “Now I want to focus on next week’s District 11 meet and be ready when it matters the most.”

Team titles

Blue Mountain’s boys and girls both captured team titles.

The Eagles boys finished with 116 points to edge North Schuylkill (113 points). Jim Thorpe was in the hunt right up until the final event, finishing strong in third place with 111 points. Marian and Tamaqua were very competitive, as well. The Colts used their relay teams to stay close throughout the action, ending in fourth place with 85 points, and Tamaqua finished fifth with 52 points.

The Blue Mountain girls (116 points) just held off Lehighton (112). Tamaqua (88.5) and Jim Thorpe (81) finished fourth and, fifth respectively.

BRAVO, BRAVO

… Great job by the track committee headed by Panther Valley’s athletic director Kristen Black and Tamaqua’s Mike Hromyak and his support staff.

UP NEXT

… Blue Mountain plays host to the two-day District 11 meet next week.

SCHUYLKILL LEAGUE

TRACK AND FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS

TEAM SCORES

(and Legend)

BOYS

1.Blue Mountain (BM) 116, 2. North Schuylkill (NS) 113, 3. Jim Thorpe (JT) 111, 4. Marian Catholic (MC) 85, 5. Tamaqua (T) 52, 6. Nativity (N) 49, 7. Minersville (M) 39, 8. Pine Grove (PG) 36, 9. Mahanoy Area (MA) 31, 10. Weatherly (W) 22, 11. Pottsville (P) 20, 12. Panther Valley (PV) 16, 13. Shenandoah Valley (SV) 6. 14. Lehighton (L) 5, 15. Schuylkill Haven (SH) 1.

INDIVIDUAL RESULTS

(Top three plusother locals in the top 10)

100 – 1. Michael Fellin (MC) 11.10, 2. Jacob Fenstermaker (MC) 11.47, 3. Ben Terry (MA), 4. Chris Strika (JT) 11.52; 200 – 1. Michael Fellin (MC) 23.12, 2. Ean Chelak (MC) 23.30, 3. Ben Terry (MA), 5. Chris Strika (JT) 23.70; 400 – 1. Marcus Vaupel (N) 51.93, 2. Ean Chelak (MC) 52.59, 3. Chris Strika (JT) 53.71, 6. Cameron Lewis (T) 55.02, 7. Benjamin Seachrist (JT) 55.32, 8. Gabriel DeMatto (PV) 56.11; 800 – 1. Justin Williams (NS) 2:01.78, 2. Ridge Snyder (JT) 2:06.09, 4. Ricky Ray (W) 2:06.33, 7. Alex Porambo (MC) 2:09.72, 9. Ryan Bailor (JT) 2:10.65; 1600 – 1. Jack Flynn (NS) 4:33.13, 2. Justin Williams (NS) 4:38.71, 3. Landon Boyle (M), 4. Ryan Bailor (JT) 4:41.49, 6. Ridge Snyder (JT) 4:49.78, 7. Tyler Steigerwalt (T) 4:50.33, 10. Jordan Remmel (JT) 4:53.08; 110H – 1. Robert Walchak (P) 15.46, 2. David Richards (JT) 15.88, 4. Gabriel DeMatto (PV) 17.63; 400 relay – 1. Marian Catholic 44.03, 2. Nativity, 3. Blue Mountain, 5. Jim Thorpe 46.58, 8. Tamaqua 47.40; 1600 relay – 1. Marian Catholic 3:37.40, 2. Nativity, 3. Jim Thorpe 3:39.33, 9. Lehighton 4:11.01; Pole vault – 1. Michael Levkulic (BM) 12-7, 2. Bradley Gherghel (BM), 3. Aiden Clements (JT) 12-1, 6. Cole Ackerman (T), 10. Tegan Devlin (T) 8-7; Triple jump – 1. Terry Thomas (NS) 42-3, 2. Josh Leininger (PG), 3. Cody Miller (N), 4. Johnny Malarkey (MC) 40-2.5, 6. Chris Condly (JT) 38-11.5, 7. Luke Verta (T) 38-8, 9. Bryan Wilde (PV) 37-5; Discus

– 1. Tristan Bolinsky (NS) 149-2, 2. AJ Bailor (JT) 138-9, 3. Mike Reilley (NS), 4. Seth Berk (PV) 125-10, 6. Jacob Solonoski (W) 116-8, 7. Zander Bauer (L) 112-3, 9. Richard Houser (L) 109-10.

GIRLS

TEAM SCORES

(and Legend)

1.Blue Mountain (BM) 116, 2. Lehighton (L) 112, 3. North Schuylkill (NS) 105, 4. Tamaqua (T) 88.5, 5. Jim Thorpe (JT) 81, 6. Pottsville (P) 40.5, 7. Minersville (M) 39, 8. Pine Grove (PG) 38, 9. Panther Valley (PV) 28, 10. Marian Catholic (MC) 19, 11. Mahanoy Area (MA) 17, 12. Shenandoah Valley (SV) 10, 13. Weatherly (W) 5, 14. Schuylkill Haven (SH) 2, 15. Nativity (N) 1.

INDIVIDUAL RESULTS

(Top three plus other locals in the top 10)

100 – 1. Kaila O’Connor (JT) 12.55, 2. Sarah Wagner (NS), 3. Caitlin Smith (T) 12.89, 6. Aneilia McLeod (PV) 13.60; 200 – 1. Sarah Wagner (NS) 25.69, 2. Kaila O’Connor (JT) 25.94, 3. Caitlin Smith (T) 27.12, 7. Aneilia McLeod (PV) 28.16; 400 – 1. Lydia Wallace (JT) 1:01.91, 2. Julia Kluge (BM), 3. Frances Kabana (T) 1:02.53, 6. Jamison Wheeler (MC) 1:04.04, 9. Nicole Carroll (JT) 1:05.39; 800 – 1. Cori McCormick (NS) 2:17.39, 2. Sophia Chipriano (BM), 3. Ryley Scwalm (NS), 4. Grace Stegemerten (T) 2:27.20, 5. Hailey Shreffler (PV) 2:30.79, 6. Grace Curnow (MC) 2:34.29, 7. Frances Kabana (T) 2:34.66, 8. Kelsey Gaston (L) 2:35.67, 10. Nicole Carroll (JT) 2:36.22; 1600 – 1. Olivia Haas (BM) 4:58.58, 2. Cori McCormick (NS), 3. Ryley Schwalm (NS), 4. Grace Stegemerten (T) 5:29.10, 6. Kelsey Gaston (L) 5:31.98, 7. Hailey Shreffler (PV) 5:40.39, 8. Katelyn Bos (JT) 5:42.02; 100H – 1. Brittney Bartasavage (L) 15.65, 2. Lydia Wallace (JT) 15.78, 4. Rhianne Markovchick (W) 17.34, 5. Ashley Jones (T) 17.43, 7. Ashley Pleban (MC) 17.57, 8. Autumn Steibler (PV) 17.74; 400 relay – 1. Blue Mountain 51.39, 2. Tamaqua 51.81, 4. Marian Catholic 52.40, 5. Lehighton 53.21, 8. Jim Thorpe 56.39; 1600 relay – 1. Blue Mountain 4:15.60, 2. Jim Thorpe 4:16.35, 3. Tamaqua 4:22.58, 4. Marian Catholic 4:23.74, 7. Lehighton 4:38.65, 9. Panther Valley 4:54.37; High jump – 1. Payton Kleckner (P) 5-6, 2. Hayley Ginder (L) 5-0, 3. Victoria Wagner (BM), 5. (tie) Alexa Stianche (T) and Emilee Rose (P) 4-8, 8. Alyssa Zehner (L) 4-6, 9. Eliza Bauder (MC) 4-6, 10. Madison Brown (L) 4-6; Triple jump – 1. Devin Hubler (M) 35-9, 2. Sarah Wagner (NS), 3. Megan Aaron (L) 34-8, 7. Abigail Buffington (L) 32-2, 9. Megan Rolko (T) 31-5, 10. Hayley Ginder (L) 31-1.5; Shot put – 1. Abigail Meckes (L) 34-0, 2. Kaycee Raczka (M), 3. Rylee Wenzel (T) 30-11.75, 4. Izabella Bochiocchio (PV) 30-7, 5. Kaziah Streisel (T) 30-6.5, 7. Laura Clarke (JT) 30-1, 9. Ashley Pleban (MC) 27-11.75, 10. Megan Hauser (L) 27-8.5; Javelin

– 1. Abigail Meckes (L) 124-7, 2. Rosalind Gergely (BM), 3. Jacqueline Kokinda (PV) 107-10, 4. Laura Clarke (JT) 107-6, 5. Madylin Wolter (L) 107-04, 6. Kaziah Streisel (T) 102-8, 7. Sadie Trubilla (PV) 95-6, 10. Ivy Stauffer (JT) 86-6.