LTC athletes set for national championship meets – Scranton Times-Tribune

Local track and field athletes are taking their talents to the next level at various national competitions this weekend.

Lakeland junior Kaylyn Davis, Mid Valley’s Natalie Talluto and Olivia Thomas, and a contingent from Abington Heights will be in action, aiming for experience against the top athletes in the country.

Davis, the Times-Tribune Girls Track and Field Performer of the Year, is set to throw the javelin in the Championship Division at the New Balance National Championship meet Sunday at University of Pennsylvania’s Franklin Field.

Davis won a bronze medal at the PIAA Class 2A Championship meet in the javelin with a distance of 124 feet, 1 inch. Her personal-best mark is 128-1, which she hit to win the District 2 Class 2A gold medal. She also won the title at the Robert Spagna Championships with a distance of 127-5.

Abington Heights graduate Tomara Seid, an All-Region performer, competes in the Championship Division of the pole vault Saturday at the New Balance meet. Seid has a career-best height of 12-2 from the Friendship Games on May 9. She also cleared 12-0 to win a silver medal at the District 2 Class 3A Championships and recently finished third at the Warwick Valley Fast Times Relays with a height of 10-7 in early June.

Abington Heights will also be represented by this year’s All-Region 3,200 relay team of Erin Bartell, Anna Pucilowski, Maggie Coleman, and Reese Morgan; the distance medley team of Pucilowski, Coleman, Morgan, and Marley Gilboy; middle school hurdler Rachel Regan; and middle school shot putter Justin Lezinski at the meet.

Thomas, who dominated at the junior high level for Mid Valley, will race in the 100-meter hurdles and the long jump on Thursday and Friday, respectively, in the Middle School Division at the New Balance meet.

Thomas set a meet record to win the 100 hurdles in 15.07 seconds and won the gold in the long jump with a distance of 16-5.5 at the Phil Tochelli Junior High Championships.

Talluto, also an All-Region athlete, travels to North Carolina to compete at the adidas Track Nationals at Greensboro. She will race on Friday in the 100 hurdles and in the 400 hurdles.

Talluto emerged as one of the top athletes in the Lackawanna Track Conference this season. Last weekend, she finished fourth in the 100 hurdles with a time of 15.75 and was fourth in the 400 hurdles with a time of 1:14.40 at the East Coast Track and Field Championships. Talluto has a personal-best time of 15.25 in the 100 hurdles that she ran at the Jack Roddick Invitational in April.

Buckhorns shine

Wallenpaupack’s Aiden Janowicz had a strong start to the summer season.

The District 2 Class 3A champion in the 1,600, who missed most of his junior year with an injury, finished fourth in the 800 (1:56.23) at the East Coast Track and Field Championships on June 13-14 at Kenny Armwood Stadium at Piscataway, New Jersey.

Earlier, Janowicz posted a career-best time of 1:55.69 in the 800 and finished 12th at the John Hay Pennsylvania Distance Festival at West Chester Henderson High School.

June Brown, a LTC Division I-II Coaches’ All-Star, finished second in the 800 at the East Coast Track and Field Championships, running a personal-best time of 2:19.18.

Kelcie Fillebrown finished ninth in the 800 (2:30.30).