WHITEHALL - Gavin Kemery executed his plan to perfection.

Knowing the race could be decided by a late kick from his rivals, the Northern Lehigh senior was well aware he couldn't hang back in Tuesday's Class AA 3200 at the District 11 Track and Field Championships.In the end, Kemery, left little doubt, crossing the line in 9:58.64, nearly 14 seconds ahead of second place Colton Fox (10:12.26) of Minersville to punch his ticket to next week's PIAA Track and Field Championships at Shippensburg University."It feels great. I feel very blessed and grateful to be where I'm at right now," Kemery said after the win. "(I knew) I had to get ahead of them early on. I knew I had to control the pace and dictate it because if I would have sat back and just hung with them, they would have out-kicked me. So I just wanted to make sure I was in a comfortable spot."Kemery's view couldn't have been better, as he led all eight laps en route to the victory."I knew that they may have something at the end and that's why I went out a little harder between laps three-and-six because I wanted to try to take as much out of them as I could," Kemery noted. "But I still wanted to have something for the end."The Marian Catholic boys' 3200-meter relay team of Zaccary Roberts, Sean Mick, Aaron Srinivasan and Dominic Mussoline also used a strong finish to win gold and advance to states. The Colts, who were seeded second, won the Class AA race with a time of 8:17.6."I knew we were strong," said Srinivasan. "We've practiced since the indoor track season back in November for this. We wanted it from the beginning."And that's what we did today. We didn't run for ourselves - we ran for our team, and that's what I think made the difference."The Marian quartet withstood a strong challenge from top seed Tamaqua, which took second in 8:25.12. But a sizzling final two laps by Colts' anchor Mussoline put the race away."We knew we had to take it somewhere; it's a mental game," said Srinivasan. "We knew that if it was one lap left, 100 meters left, we could make it up. It's not over until you win it."We had our game-faces on and we ran for each other. We had no idea of the limits of what we could do. I thought, honestly, we were going to run around an 8:25 or 8:20. But we surprised ourselves."Pleasant Valley's Seth Slavin secured his place in the state meet with a second-place finish in the Class AAA 3200.For the second straight week, Slavin was runner-up to Easton's Kevin Lapsansky, crossing the line in 9:35.86, while Lapsansky finished in 9:31.18. Slavin was also second in the 3200 at last week's Eastern Pennsylvania Conference meet."We had people around us the whole time, but once we got to that last lap, we took off," Slavin said. "I knew at about 150 (meters) to go that he had it. I'd love to think that maybe I could push harder, but there are just some things that aren't realistic."Slavin, as he always does, left everything on the track in his pursuit of Lapsansky."I was going down the straightaway thinking, 'I wish I would have won,'" Slavin said. "But I knew I was going to states. I wanted to smile, but I was in too much pain."Also securing a spot in the state meet after the first day of competition was Jim Thorpe's Rayan Green, who took second in the Class AAA triple jump with a leap of 45-11.5.As the defending champion, Green hoped to return to the top step of the podium. But the senior was content in knowing he'll have another chance to earn a gold medal, this time on one of the sport's grandest stages."I was hoping to defend my title from last year," Green said. "But the best man (Pocono Mountain West's Isaiah Wiggins won with a jump of 46-6.5) had it and it was a strong competition out there today."I knew coming in that it was going to be a close fight between me and Isaiah. But he just had the best jump and I guess today wasn't my day. We'll see at states and how far I can go there. Right now, my biggest goal is to get a first-place medal. That's my biggest goal. I'm just going to try to get myself better."STRONG FINISH … Though he won't be advancing to the state meet, Panther Valley senior Ali Capobianco left Whitehall High School's Zephyr Sports Complex on a high note, taking second in the Class AA 300 hurdles with a time of 42.34. "I'm pretty proud of that," said Capobianco. "I set a PR, got a school record, so that's pretty cool. I was chasing for the gold but I knew Pat (Gownley of North Schuylkill, who won with a time of 41.84) was going to be tough competition. It was a close finish. It didn't go my way, but I'm happy with a second place."MOVING ON … The following advanced to today's finals: Palmerton's Mike Stasko (Class AA 100 and 200); Marian's Mike Witczak (Class AA 200); Pleasant Valley's Mike Morris and Danny Hunter (Class AAA 100 and 200); Panther Valley's Josh Rodriguez, Palmerton's Mike Eckhart, Northern Lehigh's Hasan Mujovic and Tamaqua's Nathaniel Davidson (Class AA 110 hurdles); Jim Thorpe's Randy Sanon (Class AAA 100).BACK-TO-BACK? … Palmertons' Spencer Hay and Logan Blasiak will be looking to repeat as district champions today. Hay won the high jump a year ago, while Blasiak took gold in the pole vault.