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Lake-Lehman distance runner Dominic Hockenbury is the only returning state champion from the Wyoming Valley Conference and will try to defend his PIAA gold medal in the 3,200-meter run during the state finals Friday in Shippensburg.

Despite battling through tendinitis in her knee, Dallas high jumper Katie Kravitsky will attempt to win her second consecutive state medal Saturday in the PIAA Class 3A track and field championships at Shippensburg University’s Seth Grove Stadium.

Plenty of things have changed for Dominic Hockenbury since the Lake-Lehman distance star won his first track and field gold medal during last year’s state finals.

Since then, he’s collected another first-place PIAA finish in cross country, gained respect among his peers in the running community and added his name to the prestigious Penn Relays competition.

The biggest difference, however, may be the strong sense of self-confidence Hockenbury has accumulated over the past year.

Maybe that’s why he scoffs at the seedings that have Hockenbury ranked third entering today’s PIAA Class 2A Track and Field Championships at Shippensburg University’s Seth Grove Stadium.

“The seedings for the race really don’t mean much to me at all,” Hockenbury said. “I know who my competition is. I know what I have to do.”

That’s because those state seedings are based on district championship performances, where athletes are presumably at or near their peaks. Hockenbury wasn’t.

“My district time was 24 seconds slower than my best time this year,” Hockenbury said. “The pace down at states will be a lot faster.”

Nobody in the state ran a faster boys Class 2A district time than Meyers’ Raheem Twyman in the boys 300 hurdles, and he’ll be the top seed in that event. Only one other athlete from the Wyoming Valley Conference is seeded first entering the PIAA field, and that’s Lake-Lehman’s Emily Johns in the girls Class 3A discus. She’ll compete Saturday, a day after Hockenbury goes for another boys gold, as the Lehman boys are classified as 2A by the state while the school’s girls are Class 3A.

Class 2A competitors from the WVC who are slotted among the eight favorites to win medals in each category are Northwest senior Tyler Burger, seeded third in the 300 hurdles and eighth in both the 110 hurdles and long jump; his teammate Zach Briggs, who’s seeded fifth in the 400-meter dash; the Meyers 400-meter relay team, which is sixth; Hanover long jumper Brandon Chafin, seeded seventh; and Hanover Area girls discus thrower Chyanne Fine, seeded fourth.

In Class 3A, Wyoming Valley West’s Ray Richard in the boys 400-meter dash, Hazleton Area’s Emily Malone in the girls 200-meter dash and Dallas’ Katie Kravitsky in the girls high jump are all seeded seventh in their respective events; Johns is also seeded eighth in the shot put; and her Lake-Lehman teammate Cayle Spencer is seeded third in the girls javelin throw, followed by Hazleton Area’s Kayla Merkel at No. 4 in that event.

Coughlin sprinter Nathaniela Bourdeau, seeded 25th in the Class 3A girls 100-meter dash, is still a question mark to compete in the race. She suffered an apparent quad injury while running on the school’s District 2 400-meter relay team, and hasn’t been back on the track since.

“When she went down, she had bruises all over her legs,” Coughlin coach Paul McGrane said. “They’re starting to fade away. She really hasn’t tested it. We’ve been rehabilitating it, she’s been with the trainer every day.”

Still, Bourdeau will make the trip to Shippensburg with the hopes of getting back on the track.

“Oh, she’s going down to the meet,” McGrane said. “She’s planning on running Friday. If it’s really limiting her, we may have to do something. Hopefully, she’ll be good.”

Nobody will be surprised if Hockenbury is as good as gold once again.

While his state seed time is at 9:33.41, the junior has consistently put up much lower times through the season, and his best for the year came in at 9:06. That’s well below the 9:25.06 of the state’s top seed, Griffin Mackey of Sewickley Academy.

“Oh, I definitely feel like there are expectations for me to come back and win it again this year,” Hockenbury said.

He gets the sense a lot more people than his hometown fans in the stands will be watching him closely this time.

“Definitely,” Hockenbury said. “I’m more known after winning there last year. Going in, I feel I’m at a whole different level this year.”

That’s because he’s elevated his performances to an elite status.

Hockenbury won the state cross country championship in the fall, finished fifth in the 500-meter run during the indoor track and field championship to earn All-American status and earned an invitation to the prestigious early-season Penn Relays for the first time in his high school career last month.

“I’m running with a whole different class of runners,” Hockenbury said.

Now, he’s planning to stay at the head of the class with his second consecutive state championship in the Class 2A boys 3,200-meter run. It’s a goal Hockenbury has his heart set on, and anything less might cause him heartbreak.

“It would definitely be real hard to deal with,” Hockenbury said. “But I know if I go out and give my best effort and come up with a second- or third-place finish, it won’t be disappointing as long as I know I did everything I can do.

“But hopefully, we come back with a gold medal and it’s all smiles and laughing from there.”