The 7 inmates scheduled to die in Arkansas this month

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Ji-Man Choi, RailRiders beat Lehigh Valley IronPigs in walk-off fashion

<p>HAZLETON &#8212; Cutting through the teeth of a sometimes-whipping wind and casting aside temperatures that became pretty chilly, Abby Norwillo kept pushing through the unforgiving elements.</p><p>In the end, though, she couldn&#8217;t get past her own painful problem.</p><p>Norwillo crumpled into the sand with a sore leg and had to be helped out of the pit following her final attempt in the long jump, throwing a slight scare into Pittston Area&#8217;s tight 81-69 victory over Hazleton Area in a key Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1 girls track and field showdown at Hazleton Area&#8217;s Cougar Park.</p><p>It turned out the muscle in Norwillo&#8217;s lower front leg tightened on her last long jump takeoff enough to cause her to wince for a few minutes, but she believes it&#8217;s not serious enough to slow her down.</p><p>&#8220;I think I should be OK,&#8221; said Norwillo, who was attended to by host Hazleton Area&#8217;s trainer and spent the final few events of the meet sitting on the ground. &#8220;I told the trainer it just knotted up. You&#8217;ll see me at the next meet. I&#8217;ll be good to go.&#8221;</p><p>She went pretty far before pulling up in pain, winding up as a triple winner to help carry Pittston Area to a 3-0 record nearly halfway through the regular season while dropping Hazleton Area to 2-1.</p><p>In the boys meet, Hazleton Area rode four-time winner Michael Cusatis to an 88-62 victory over Pittston Area, keeping the Cougars on top of the WVC Division 1 boys race at 3-0.</p><p>Norwillo gave the Patriots a leg up on the girls side. She won the long jump with a distance of 15 feet &#8212; accomplished on an earlier attempt. The returning state Class 3A pole vault medalist also won her signature pole vault event by clearing 10 feet and took the triple jump by hitting 31-9 &#8212; while rushing from one event to the other as both events were held in conjunction.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m happy with where I did place-wise, but I&#8217;m not real happy with the performances,&#8221; Norwillo said. &#8220;I had to cut pole vault short to go and triple jump.</p><p>&#8220;I did what I needed to do.&#8221;</p><p>Norwillo, the only three-time winner of the day for the Patriots, said she&#8217;s experienced problems with her lower legs in the past.</p><p>&#8220;Normally, I&#8217;ll get little shin splints when I practice triple jumping,&#8221; Norwillo said, &#8220;so I have a (protective) brace on my leg. It got tight.&#8221;</p><p>She believes the cooler temperatures, which dipped near 50 degrees but felt much colder with a wind chill, may have played a part in the injury.</p><p>&#8220;In practice, I was going against the wind,&#8221; Norwillo said.</p><p>Cusatis ran like the wind, capturing the 100-, 200- and 400-meter dashes before helping the 400 relay team to victory.</p><p>&#8220;For the last 100, the wind hit you. You have to run through that,&#8221; Cusatis, coming off a successful winter season as the point guard on Hazleton Area&#8217;s boys basketball team, said. &#8220;I&#8217;m probably only two weeks into running in general. I think I&#8217;m finishing with pretty good times. I&#8217;m starting where I left off last year.&#8221;</p><p>And the Hazleton boys are starting to look like real contenders for a division title, which the program hasn&#8217;t won in three years.</p><p>&#8220;I think we have a lot of ability in each component of the meet,&#8221; Cusatis said. &#8220;It&#8217;s showing in the times, even with this colder weather.&#8221;</p><p>Along with Norwillo&#8217;s big day, the Pittston Area girls received a strong performance from Arianna Boccardi, who captured the 1600 and 3200 runs to help overcome a sweep in the three throwing events by Hazleton Area&#8217;s Kayla Merkel.</p><p>&#8220;I was pleased they competed,&#8221; Pittston Area coach Joe Struckus said of the Patriots. &#8220;These meets are always competitive, us against Hazleton is always back and forth. This conference is filled with good teams. I&#8217;m happy we&#8217;re competing with them.&#8221;</p><p><strong>Boys</strong></p><p><strong>Crestwood 76, Tunkhannock 74</strong></p><p>Nick Brown won in three events and Clay Kimsal and and Brandon Whitman both won twice as the Comets pulled out a close one.</p><p>Brown won the 800 run in 2:19 and was part of the winning 3200 and 1600 relay teams. Whitman was also on the 1600 relay and won the 400 dash in 56.6 seconds. Kimsal captured the 1600 and 3200 runs.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><ins><strong>Boys</strong></ins></p><p style="text-align: center;"><ins><strong>Hazleton Area 88, Pittston Area 62</strong></ins></p><p><ins><strong>3,200 relay &#8212;</strong> 1. Haz (Franklin Cunningham, Charlie Valdez, Aidan Malloy, Chris Scalleat), 9:15.<strong> 110 hurdles &#8212;</strong> 1. PA, Nick Barbieri, 17.0; 2. PA, Naseem Guillaume; 3. Haz, Luciano Stranko. <strong>100 &#8212;</strong> 1. Haz, Michael Cusatis, 11.5; 2. PA, Alex Haas; 3. Haz, Bircia.<strong> 1,600 &#8212;</strong> 1. Haz, Cunningham, 4:56; 2. Haz, Aidan Malloy; 3. PA, Joe Fisher. <strong>400 &#8212;</strong> 1. Haz, Cusatis, 52.1; 2. PA, Jimmy Pliska; 3. Haz, Michael Bradley.<strong> 400 relay &#8212;</strong> 1. PA (Rich Wallace, Alex Haas, Guillaume, Trevor Tigue), 46.5.<strong> 300 hurdles &#8212;</strong> 1. PA, Shane Syms, 43.2; 2. PA, Guillaume; 3. PA, Barbieri. <strong>800 &#8212;</strong> 1. Haz, Scalleat, 2:09; 2. PA, Tannon Kraklio; 3. Haz, Valdez.<strong> 200 &#8212;</strong> 1. Haz, Cusatis, 23.8; 2. PA, Haas; 3. PA, Bircea. <strong>3,200 &#8212; </strong>1. Haz, Cunningham, 10:26; 2. Haz, Kyle Pecora; 3. Haz, Malloy.<strong> 1,600 relay &#8212;</strong> 1. Haz (Cusatis,Scalleat, Siegendall, Bradley), 3:41.</ins></p><p><ins><strong>High jump &#8212;</strong> 1. PA, Paul Moska, 6-4; 2. Haz, Grula; 3. Haz, Seigendall. <strong>Pole vault &#8212;</strong> 1. Haz, Ramos, 10-0; 2. Haz, Greg Marte and PA, Nate Wesnak. <strong>Long jump &#8212;</strong> 1. Haz, Seigendall, 18-5; 2. Haz, Grula; 3. PA, Wallace. <strong>Triple jump &#8212;</strong> 1. Haz, Joe Grula, 40-2; 2. Haz, Warren Seigendall; 3. PA, Paul Moska. <strong>Shot put &#8212;</strong> 1. PA, Pat Mitchell, 45-0; 2. PA, Walter Coles; 3. PA, Jake Rutkowski.<strong> Discus &#8212;</strong> 1. Haz, Sutton, 132-0; 2. PA, Mitchell; 3. PA, Coles.<strong> Javelin &#8212;</strong> 1. PA, Coles, 160-2; 2. Haz, Grula; 3. Haz, Campbell.</ins></p><p style="text-align: center;"><ins><strong>Girls</strong></ins></p><p style="text-align: center;"><ins><strong>Pittston Area 81, Hazleton Area 69</strong></ins></p><p><ins><strong>3,200 relay &#8212;</strong> 1. PA (Charity McLeod, Jada Sharp, Nicole Zambetti, Mary Silinskie) 10:57.<strong> 100 hurdles &#8212;</strong> 1. Haz, Allie Laporte, 17.1; 2. PA, Andrea Ruby; 3. PA, Sydney Williams. <strong>100 &#8212;</strong> 1. Haz, Holly Buchman, 13.0; 2. PA, Jenna Smith; 3. PA, Jessica Tighe.<strong> 1,600 &#8212;</strong> 1. PA, Arianna Boccardi, 5:44; 2. Haz, Steph Yanochko; 3. PA, Silinskie. <strong>400 &#8212;</strong> 1. Haz, Megan Reed, 62.0; 2. PA, McLeod; 3. PA, Zambetti.<strong> 400 relay &#8212;</strong> 1. PA (Mia Barbieri, Smith, Tighe, Singer), 53.5.<strong> 300 hurdles &#8212;</strong> 1. PA, Ruby, 52.2; 2. Haz, Kaitlyn Beiler; 3. PA, Janelle Wilk. <strong>800 &#8212;</strong> 1. PA, Zambetti, 2:40; 2. PA, Silinskie; 3. PA, Sharp. <strong>200 &#8212;</strong> 1. Haz, Buchman, 27.6; 2. PA, Smith; 3. Haz, Reed. <strong>3,200 &#8212; </strong>1. PA, Boccardi, 12:19; 2. Haz, Ariana Stranko; 3. Haz, Yanochko.<strong> 1,600 relay &#8212;</strong> 1. Haz (Buchman, Josie Middleton, Jaycie Jennings, Reed), 4:20.</ins></p><p><ins><strong>High jump &#8212;</strong> 1. PA, Ashton Ashby, 5-2; 2. Haz, Pfeil; 3. Haz, Megan Llewellyn. <strong>Pole vault &#8212;</strong> 1. PA, Norwillo, 10-0; 2. Haz, Pfeil; 3. Haz, Jaycie Jennings and Haz, Summer Zito. <strong>Long jump &#8212;</strong> 1. PA, Norwillo, 15-0; 2. Haz, Pfeil; 3. PA, Singer. <strong>Triple jump &#8212;</strong> 1. PA, Abby Norwillo, 31-9; 2. Haz, Kendra Pfeil; 3. PA, Anjelica Singer. <strong>Shot put &#8212;</strong> 1. Haz, Kayla Merkel, 32-3; 2. PA, Jennifer Nickas; 3. Hz, Erin Ballick. <strong>Discus &#8212;</strong> 1. Haz, Merkel, 91-2; 2. PA, Leah Hodick; 3. PA, Caroline Wesp.<strong> Javelin &#8212;</strong> 1. Haz, Merkel, 145-0; 2. Haz, Paige Bonin; 3. PA, Emma Coles.</ins></p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Pittston Area&#8217;s Naseem Guillaume, right, took first in the 110 high hurdles in 16.5 seconds. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/web1_HAZ-PA-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Pittston Area&#8217;s Naseem Guillaume, right, took first in the 110 high hurdles in 16.5 seconds. </caption0><photoCredit0>Tony Callaio | For Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/web1_HAZ-PA-2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Pittston Area&#8217;s Pat Mitchell had a personal record throw in shot put when he took first place at 45 feet. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/web1_HAZ-PA-2.jpg</photo1><caption1>Pittston Area&#8217;s Pat Mitchell had a personal record throw in shot put when he took first place at 45 feet. </caption1><photoCredit1>Tony Callaio | For Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/web1_HAZ-PA-4.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Hazleton Area&#8217;s Jillian Buchman, center, took first in the 100-meter dash, edging out Pittston Area&#8217;s Jenna Smith, left, and Jessica Tigue. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/web1_HAZ-PA-4.jpg</photo2><caption2>Hazleton Area&#8217;s Jillian Buchman, center, took first in the 100-meter dash, edging out Pittston Area&#8217;s Jenna Smith, left, and Jessica Tigue. </caption2><photoCredit2>Tony Callaio | For Times Leader </photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/web1_HAZ-PA-3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Hazleton Area senior Allie LaPorte, center, placed first in the girls 100 hurdles with a time of 17.1 in front of Pittston Area&#8217;s Andrea Ruby, left, and Sydney Williams. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/web1_HAZ-PA-3.jpg</photo3><caption3>Hazleton Area senior Allie LaPorte, center, placed first in the girls 100 hurdles with a time of 17.1 in front of Pittston Area&#8217;s Andrea Ruby, left, and Sydney Williams. </caption3><photoCredit3>Tony Callaio | For Times Leader </photoCredit3></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Paul Sokoloski</p><p>psokoloski@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Paul Sokoloski at 570-991-6392 or on Twitter @TLPaulSokoloski</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Pittston Area girls persevere to win key track meet at Hazleton Area