SPECIAL SECTION, SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2006 PAGE 6 Optimism runs high By DAVE ROSENGRANT For The Post EHMAN TWP. — Optimism is running rampant through the Lake-Lehman cross country program this year. The boys team returns three runners who qualified for the PIAA champion- ships last year, while two girls return from last season’s District 2 Class 2A runner-up team. Senior Justin Amy is expected to lead the way for the boys team. At the state meet last year, he finished the 3.1-mile course at Hershey Park Stadium’s White Field in 17 minutes, 35 sec- onds, good enough for 69th place in the 4 Class 2A race. Sophomore Mike Ryan was two seconds behind i Amy, finishing 74th in £ the field of 286 run- ners. The third run- ner on the boys i team is junior 4 Justin Mazer, = who also qual- | ified for the state meet. And : the Black Knights added Adam Staricha, who is a se- nior out-of-state transfer. “The guys are all beating up on each other at practice,” head coach John Sobocinski said. “We don’t have a definitive number one guy because they are all taking turns being num- i sil Neil Dierolf, Justin Amy and Justin Mazer help form the backbone of this year's cross country team at Lake-Lehman. CROSS COUNTRY ber one at practice.” The fifth spot will be between juniors Jason Neare and Neil Dierolf, along with freshman Carson Baker. Sobocinski knows all this com- petition can only turn into good results. “They are really motivated and are really in- to it,” he said. “It’s hard with cross country to get kids excited every day but my guys are real- ly, really into it. They're going to be happy for a meet because our practices have been so com- petitive.” On the girls side, sophomore Marina Orrson and junior Sarah Austin return as state qual- ifiers. Seniors Tori Posatko and Kelcey Cole join junior Courtney Matus to round out the top five. The girls lost a few contributors from the nucleus of last year’s team, but should still be solid when competing in Wyoming Valley Confer- ence meets. This year, the WVC has adopted a new system as individual meets have been replaced with cluster- meets. Each meet will consist of six teams. Lake-Lehman will be paired with two oth- ~ er teams and the trio will compete against another three teams. During those meets, Lake- Lehman will only score against teams in the opposing cluster. The See L-L CROSS, Page 9 POST FILE PHOTO/CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK Dallas hopes By DAVE KONOPKI Post Editor DALLAS TWP. — So what can the Dallas cross country program do for an encore? The girls and boys teams cruised through the Wyoming Valley Conference last year, winning their respective cham- pionships with an unbeaten record. The girls took it several steps further, capturing the District 2 Class 2A title before winning the program’s second state championship. Despite losing many outstanding runners to graduation, head coach Matt Samuel is looking forward to the season. “I guess it’s another new adventure,” said Samuel, who begins his fourth year at the helm of the program. “We feel like we’re going to have a strong team again this season. It’s going to be fun finding out.” The Mountaineers return a solid group of runners on the girls side, led by senior Kenslie Kerestes. Last year, Ker- estes — who finished second at the District 2 meet behind teammate Lisa Giacommetti — broke her right foot during to stay ahead of the pack POST FILE PHOTO/CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK Members of the Dallas cross country team are hoping to have another successful season in the Wyoming Valley Conference. the state championship meet in Hershey. She finished © muel. “I don’t think it’s any secret that if she didn’t the race, however, which proved to be instrumental in break her foot, she had a great chance of being all- the Mountaineers winning the state championship. “Kenslie had a great summer of training,” said Sa- gee DALLAS XC, Page 1
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