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Two straight unbeaten seasons.
Three Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1 championships in five years.
Speed to burn on the track and power to pop eyes in field events.
Much of the star power that made the Coughlin Crusaders almost unbeatable has left, leaving the team with a lot of work to do if it plans to claim a third straight WVC boys Division 1 title.
“It would be very hard,” Coughlin coach Paul McGrane said. “We lost some great kids.”
Like everyone else, the Crusaders also lost some time to get ready. Winter Storm Stella not only delayed the start of the season by a week, but left most WVC teams scrambling for outdoor practice time.
“You can’t just send the kids out there without a few practices outside,” McGrane said. “Kids will get hurt.”
Coughlin had a much better feel going into its 2016 opener.
With Nick Carman leading the sprints last season, two-time state performer Jacob Khalife tossing the discus and shot put like they were paper weights and Franco Balbuena flying through the middle distances, Coughlin could pretty much count on picking up big points through all areas of the sport.
No more.
“Losing those three guys, that’s hard to make up,” McGrane said. “We’re very, very young. Our throws are young and inexperienced. Same with our distances.”
That doesn’t mean the Crusaders were crushed by last year’s graduation.
They return star hurdlers Ron Sepkoski and Kevin Kozerski, who could turn out to be an unbeatable duo this season. And Cole Horan and Vincent Todd return as half of a 400 relay team that went to states last season, and should make up some ground in sprints and jumps.
“Our sprinters and hurdlers are pretty good,” McGrane said.
But other teams are coming fast.
Led by hurdler Naseem Guillame and jumpers Paul Moska and Jimmy Pliska, Pittston Area appears primed to make a jump into the mix for the league crown.
Wyoming Valley West brings back two-time state 400 medalist Ray Richard, and Wyoming Area leaps up from Division 2 with a squad that’s traditionally strong.
And a Coughlin program that has won 32 of its 35 meets ov er the past five years might be hard-pressed to continue such dominance.
“We’ve had a pretty good run the last couple years,” McGrane said. “I’ve been lucky, with great kids. Everybody likes to beat you. We have a good, competitive league, with great coaches and great kids from other schools.”
The biggest battle for a crown could well be among the WVC Division 1 girls, where four teams have a legitimate shot at the top spot.
Like Coughlin on the boys side, Dallas has rolled to the past two girls titles without a defeat while winning the 2015 District 2 Class 3A title and finishing with a district team silver medal last season. But the Mountaineers no longer have state high jumper Katie Kravitsky or dynamite distance runner Ally Rome to rely on for automatic points.
What they do bring back is a solid corps led by distance runner Riley Oremus and hurdler Abby Zolner, which is enough to make the Mountaineers league favorites again.
Pittston Area has other ideas. The Patriots are paced by school record-setting javelin thrower Taryn Ashby and Abby Norwillo, who took fifth place at states in the pole vault last season.
Hazleton Area brings back state silver medalist javelin thrower Kayla Merkel and a host of experience. And Wyoming Area boasts standout hurdler and school pole vault record-holder Shelby Stackhouse, along sprinters Jalen Rhodes and Vanessa Shedlock — who formed half of a 400 relay team that went to states last season.