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SCOTT TWP. &#8212; Everyone wants to win, but with team points and state qualifying opportunities at stake, it becomes important for a runner to know when he or she can&#8217;t finish first at the District 2 Cross Country Championships.The three individual girls champions at Wednesday&#8217;s meet won by a total of 2:47.89, with each finishing more than 38 seconds ahead of the field. The three boys races were closer, but the champions all won by more than 10 seconds.Montrose&#8217;s Brandon Curley took the lead of the Class A boys race for good in the final quarter mile, but none of the other five wins were the result of a big kick. Instead, winners took early control and maintained their leads.It became important for the runners behind the eventual winners to run their best races and not let the scorching pace set by the frontrunners burn them out.Holy Redeemer&#8217;s Lindsey Williams and Berwick&#8217;s Mitchell Martin both know a lot about winning races, but each made the adjustments necessary to finish a comfortable second in the Class 2A races that had the day&#8217;s two largest fields.Williams was the defending district champion who won all five multi-school Wyoming Valley Conference cluster meets that she entered this season, as well as the WVC Conference Meet. After being boxed in early, she had to work her way into second place.Once she got into second, Williams never made a serious run at Scranton Prep&#8217;s Mia Bellucci. Williams finished 38.15 seconds behind Bellucci, but opened her own gap of 13.97 seconds on the rest of the field.&#8220;After the first mile, I saw her just going and going,&#8221; Williams said. &#8220;I didn&#8217;t really give up, so to speak, but, at the same time, I just wanted to be smart. I didn&#8217;t want to sprint and then die, especially for that last hill.&#8220;After about 2 &#189; miles, I figured &#8216;stay in second, go for a good time, see what you can do, take the hill, then just go and forget about everybody else.&#8217;&#8221;Martin won five times and finished second once in the WVC&#8217;s multi-team cluster-meet schedule, losing only to Wednesday&#8217;s champion, Jack Zardecki. He finished the 3.1-mile Lakeland High School course in 16:29.07 to finish 10.88 seconds behind Zardecki and 8.59 seconds in front of third-place Mitchell Rome, Zardecki&#8217;s Dallas teammate.&#8220;I was hoping to come in second, run with the top guys and do my best to hang on,&#8221; said Martin, who finished in the same spot, behind Zardecki, at the WVC Conference Meet.Pittston Area sophomore Nicole Zambetti was in the race that featured the most dominant performance. Georgetown recruit and multiple state medalist Katie Dammer from Abington Heights won the District 2-4 Class 3A Subregional by almost a minute and a half.Zambetti kept her pace and had just enough to grab the last available state individual berth.&#8220;I knew if I tried to stay with her, I&#8217;d die somewhere,&#8221; Zambetti said of Dammer.Conference comparisonWednesday turned into a big day for the Lackawanna League.The Lackawanna beat out the WVC, 5-1 in team champions, 5-1 in individual champions, 5-3 in state team qualifiers, 26-13 in individual state qualifiers and 60-30 in medalists.The Lackawanna has 23 schools to work with, compared to 19 for the WVC.Defending championsDallas is the two-time defending state champion in Class 2A boys and looked more like a contender for a third than it has all season.The Mountaineers and Holy Redeemer will both return to Hershey after finishing first and 10th last season.&#8220;I think we can run a little bit better, but we are definitely heading in the right direction,&#8221; Dallas coach Matt Samuel said. &#8220;That&#8217;s an absolute.&#8221;While the Mountaineers chase more awards, their lead runner, Zardecki, is the WVC&#8217;s top individual threat after finishing 25th as a sophomore and seventh as a junior.Jersey Shore&#8217;s Isaac Davis, who was third, and South Fayette&#8217;s Sam Snodgrass, who was sixth, join Zardecki as the top three finishers from a year ago and all have been putting up impressive times.&#8220;It&#8217;s going to be fun,&#8221; Zardecki said.State scheduleThe PIAA Championships are Saturday on the Parkview Cross Country Course in Hershey.The day gets started at 9:30 a.m. with Class A girls where Wyoming Seminary&#8217;s April Kupsky is the lone WVC runner.The conference is not represented in the 10:15 Class A boys race.Dallas is a team entry in the Class 2A girls race at 11. Williams, teammate Anna Capaci and the Lake-Lehman combination of Jade Fry, Jace Garnick and Abby Paczewski have also qualified.Dallas and Holy Redeemer run at 11:45 in Class 2A boys, along with Martin and Crestwood&#8217;s Clay Kimsal, Matthew Brunetti and Kyle Price.Zambetti and Hazleton Area&#8217;s Katie Balay will run in Class 3A girls at 12:30 p.m.Hazleton Area&#8217;s Franklin Cunningham runs in the last race of the day, Class 3A boys, at 1:15 p.m.<style>
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<div class="neCaption">Holy Redeemer&#8217;s Lindsey Williams, right, runs her way to a silver medal in the District 2 Class 2A girls cross country championship at Lakeland High School in Scott Township on Wednesday afternoon. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/web1_CMYK-XC-Districts_2.jpg</photo0><caption0>Holy Redeemer&#8217;s Lindsey Williams, right, runs her way to a silver medal in the District 2 Class 2A girls cross country championship at Lakeland High School in Scott Township on Wednesday afternoon. </caption0><photoCredit0>Bill Tarutis file photo | For Times Leader </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Tom RobinsonFor the Times Leader</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach Times Leader sports at 570-829-7143 or on Twitter @TLsports</shirttailMeta></div>

High School Cross Country: Local runners picked up the pace in push to make states