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By JEFF DEAN Times Leader Correspondent
Friday, December 17, 1999 Page: 1B
Bishop Hafey’s Chuck Dinofrio has a formula so simple it might make his
opponents smack their foreheads when they hear it.
“I try my best every race,” Dinofrio said. “I try to focus on the race
at hand. And during the race itself, I try not to go out too fast, so I can
pick up the pace toward the end.”
It’s a simple plan, but like most simple plans, it worked flawlessly.
Dinofrio, a junior who has been Hafey’s top runner since ninth grade, went
undefeated in five regular-season meets this year, recorded a 16:18 personal
best (over five kilometers), finished second at the district championship meet
and 19th (in 16:30) at the state championship at Lehigh University.
Most of all, though, Dinofrio led his Hafey team to its second consecutive
district championship and a state championship.
For his performance, the coaches named him the most outstanding runner in
the Wyoming Valley Conference Division III.
“Chuck just loves to run,” said Tom Kostic, Hafey’s coach. “This year he
really improved his pacing. He still gets out quick, but then he settles in
and looks for something in the end. And since he spent the summer working on
his kick, he’s very strong in the last 800 meters.”
Kostic was anything but surprised that his team won the state championship.
For one thing, Hafey placed four runners (Dinofrio, Joshua Evans, Steve Sanko,
and Kevin Walsh) on the all-conference squad. For another, Kostic had seen the
signs of success as early as last season.
“Since we won our first district title last year, as well as the
Bloomsburg Invitational, we started seeing the potential of the team. Then we
finished seventh in the state championship last year, too.
“We weren’t graduating any runners, so over the summer we knew what we had
to do, and we set the state title as a goal.”
Rob Isaacs, a sophomore from Wyoming Seminary, joined the Hafey runners on
the all-conference team.
In Division II, Nanticoke senior Joe Grady earned his second consecutive
most outstanding runner honor. Teammates Steve Baran, a junior, and Mike
Forgach, a senior, join Grady on the all-conference team. Wyoming Area seniors
Matt Bowen and Justin Lehman round out the squad.
Like Dinofrio, Grady went undefeated in five regular season events this
year, as did his team. He finished fifth at the district meet, and recorded a
personal best 16:32 to finish 12th in the state championship. “I like to go
out hard and fast, get a lead, and just hold on,” Grady said. “Be
disciplined, work as hard as you can, and do all the practicing you have to.”
Junior runner Brian Klinefelter from Berwick earned the most outstanding
runner honors in Division I.
He is joined on the all-conference team by Adam Casper, a junior, and Eric
Wagner, a senior, from Hazleton Area, Scott Sauers, a senior from Pittston
Area, and Damon Young, a junior from Tunkhannock Area.
Klinefelter won four of five regular-season meets, and recorded a personal
best of 16:57 in the league championship meet. He also finished 11th at
districts.
“The main thing I worry about at the start of a race is not getting stuck
behind,” Klinefelter said. “When you get stuck behind, you’re done. I know I
always have a lot left at the end, so if I’m in it, I usually have a good
chance.
“My big goal for next year is not to lose. I want to win all my meets. I’m
going to do a lot more training, more mileage, more speed work, more
lifting.”
In girls Division III, the coaches voted Northwest Area junior Emily Ciak
the most outstanding runner.
Teammate Erica Briggs, a sophomore, joins her on the all-conference team
along with Wyoming Seminary’s Anna Lloyd, a senior, and Amanda Young, a
junior, and Bishop Hoban’s Kim Bray, a senior.
Ciak won all six regular-season meets she ran (her school had to run an
extra tie-breaking meet to win the conference title) and recorded a personal
best 20:05 over five kilometers and 19:05 over the 2.9 mile distance.
She also finished 13th at the district meet.
In addition to running cross-country, Ciak played field hockey during the
fall, which meant she had to do her training before school. She would also run
laps around the hockey field after games.
“Players from other teams would ask me if I was in trouble,” Ciak said
with a laugh. “Then this rumor started that I ran five miles a day every day
before school. It wasn’t true – I didn’t run every day, and it wasn’t five
miles – but if people have to spread rumors, I guess that’s a nice one to have
spread.”
Wyoming Area freshman Megan Torbik outran four Hanover Area runners (Erica
Drevenak, Lisa Olshefski, Christi Skiro and Kerri Stephanik) to earn the most
outstanding runner designation in girls Division II. Kelly Walsh, a senior
from Wyoming Area, joins them on the team.
In her first year on the team, Torbik won all four meets in which she ran.
Her personal best time was 19:15, which she set at her home course. In the
district championships, she finished second by just 2 seconds (in 19:19) and
finished 20th in the state championships (in 19:24).
“I’m happy with the way I ran,” said Torbik, who hopes to break the
19-minute barrier next season. “I’m just starting to see where I am. Even at
states I really didn’t go in thinking I could win, but these next three years
I’m definitely going to go for it.”
In Division I, senior Jessica Youngblood of Wyoming Valley West was voted
most outstanding runner.
Youngblood was one of three Valley West runners to make the all-conference
squad (with Caitlin Burns and Colleen Smith), and led her team to a conference
championship and second place in the district meet. Ella Daniels, a freshman
from Tunkhannock Area, and Carla Edwards, a sophomore from Hazleton Area, also
are on the all-conference team.
Individually, Youngblood won two of her five meets and ran a personal best
19:49 to finish second in the district meet. She also finished 97th at the
state meet.
“Second at districts was a surprise,” Youngblood said. “I felt really
good, though. The main thing is to train hard, then find a pace where you’re
comfortable and just know how to keep it.”