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WILKES-BARRE &#8212; They asked girls boxing phenom Sophia Guerriero to give cross country a try. Turns out, she&#8217;s a knockout in that sport, too. A week after gritting through her first-ever cross country event for Berwick High School on an injured ankle, Guerriero finished among the top 10 Wednesday during a cluster race at Kirby Park.&#8220;It&#8217;s definitely pretty hard,&#8221; Guerriero said of her endeavor of distance running. &#8220;I knew it was going to be really challenging. I think cross country is very hard. It&#8217;s underestimated.&#8221;Don&#8217;t take the talent of Guerriero lightly.The Berwick sophomore &#8212; who recently competed in boxing&#8217;s National Junior Olympics &#8212; finished Wednesday&#8217;s course in 23:11, just ahead of 11th-place finisher Cecelia Huntigton of Northwest.That may have paled in comparision to Cameron Marcinkowski and the rest of Holy Redemeer&#8217;s runners, who swept the top five spots in the girls race and had seven finishers among the top eight.Marcinkowski led the girls field with a time of 20:49, Redeemer teammates Madison Dewees (21:07), Lexie Marcinkowski, Anna Capaci and Destiny Andes. Berwick&#8217;s Jaida Geiser came in sixth, but Redeemer runners Sophie Bere and Emily Lehman were right behind.But Guerriero&#8217;s effort helped Berwick remain above the .500 mark for the season at 3-2 by besting Nanticoke Area, 16-39. Hanover Area&#8217;s score edged Berwick 28-29 and unbeaten Holy Redeemer took a 15-48 victory over Berwick. The Northwest girls, led by Huntington, also downed Nanticoke Area, 16-43, but dropped races against Hanover Area, 23-33 and Holy Redeemer, 15-50. The Columbia Montour Vo-Tech girls also competed in the event, downing Nanticoke Area but falling to Holy Redeemer and Hanover Area.On the boys side, Northwest edged Holy Redeemer 33-35 in a battle of unbeatens and downed Nanticoke Area, 19-44, but was edged by Hanover Area, 29-33. Berwick beat Nanticoke Area, but fell to Holy Redeemer and Hanover Area, while Columbia Montour Vo-Tech out-pointed Nanticoke Area but dropped races against Holy Redeemer and Hanover Area.Guerriero wasn&#8217;t about to drop to the canvas, despite temperatures in the mid-80s and muggy conditions at Kirby Park.She finished four slots behind teammate Geiser in a race she said was rewarding.&#8220;It was faster than my last time,&#8221; Guerriero said. &#8220;I&#8217;m happy with it, especially with the heat. It&#8217;s really hot out. One coach said, in this heat, girls run 30 to 40 seconds slower. The heat plays a role.&#8221;Her main role is out-pointing opponents in a boxing ring, where Guerriero emerged as the Mid-Atlantic Region champion to earn a trip to Junior Nationals this past June &#8212; where she suffered a 4-2 loss in preliminary action. She trains daily at Berwick&#8217;s Rocky Boxing Club under the guidance of gym owner Leo Talanca, trainer Abel Alaniz and local amateur fighter George Zapata, so making it to track practices is almost impossible.That makes Guerriero&#8217;s accomplishments on the cross country course even more impressive.&#8220;Let me tell you, she&#8217;s a fighter &#8212; no pun intended,&#8221; Berwick cross country coach Karen May said. &#8220;Last week, on a bad trail at Northwest, she limped around the whole course and did well. I knew she was going to come out (Wednesday) with a top finish.&#8221;Ironically, May didn&#8217;t realize she was getting a top contender from the girls boxing circuit to run with the Bulldogs. She approached Guerriero simply with hopes she may want to join her brother on the cross country team.&#8220;I didn&#8217;t even know she existed, didn&#8217;t know she was a fighter until somebody told me,&#8221; May laughed. &#8220;I said, &#8216;Can you run?&#8217; She said, &#8216;Oh, yeah.&#8217; Then I did some research on her, she&#8217;s a great boxer. I had no idea. So I approached her and said, &#8216;Would you like to come out for the cross country team? It&#8217;ll help with your boxing.&#8217; &#8220;The more she considered it, the more Guerriero liked the idea. &#8220;I do it to keep in shape for boxing,&#8221; Guerriero said. &#8220;It&#8217;s just different training. I knew it was going to be difficult, I know I&#8217;m not a runner.&#8221;BOYS CROSS COUNTRYLake-Lehman, Valley West, Tunkhannock pick up winsLehman defeated Wilkes-Barre Area, 15-48, and Pittston, 19-42. Valley West defeated Wilkes-Barre Area, 19-41, and Pittston Area, 26-33. Tunkhannock defeated Wilkes-Barre Area, 21-39, and Pittston Area 27-31.Valley West&#8217;s Tavian McKenna led all runners finishing in 17 minutes and 52 seconds. Lehman took the next three places with Chandler Longstroke, Nick Hockenbury and Michael Serafin, finishing second, third and fourth respectively.Nate Ridgley was Pittston Area&#8217;s top finisher, placing sixth.GIRLS CROSS COUNTRYLehman, Valley West, Tunkhannock victoriousLake-Lehman defeated Wilkes-Barre Area, 15-50, and Pittston, 18-39. Valley West defeated Wilkes-Barre Area, 15-50, and Pittston Area, 24-31. Tunkhannock defeated Wilkes-Barre Area, 15-50, and Pittston Area, 24-31.The Black Knights&#8217; Abby Paczewski took top overall honors finishing in 20:15. She was followed by teammate Madison Brdaric in 21:33.Pittston Area&#8217;s Nicole Zambetti finished third, followed by three Tunkhannock runners, Madelyn Franko, Kailyn Smith and Camryn Rogers.H.S. GOLFHoly Redeemer 152, Lake-Lehman 161Sean Boland shot a 1-over 35 to lead Holy Redeemer past the Black Knights.Also scoring for the Royals were Jack Gallis, 38, and Martin Cryan 39. Matt Williams and Jack Pizzolotto tied for the final scoring spot, each shooting a 40.Lehman was led by Bobby Luqiano, who shot a 36. Also scoring for the Black Knights were Joe Maseychik, 41; Mike Sholtis, 42; and Bryce Burgit, 42.Hazleton Area 170, Valley West 170John Joseph shot a 5-over 36 at Irem Temple Country Club to lead the Cougars past Valley West.Also scoring for Hazleton Area were Joe Rebarchak, 43; Brian Bartal, 42; and Zeke Millot, 45.Scoring for Valley West were Gabe Brunn, 42; Zackary Buzinkai, 44; Pete Scholl, 46; and Luke Bowern, 48.Crestwood 164, Nanticoke 235Matt Magurak shot a 3-over 39 at Blue Ridge Trail Golf Course to lead the Comets past Nanticoke.Also scoring for the Comets were Colby Jones, 40; Owen Blazick, 41; and Mike Hall, 44.Scoring for the Trojans were Charlie Casey, 48; Luke West, 57; and Matt Stashak, 58. Ali O&#8217;Connor and Chase Pierontoni tied for the final scoring spot with a 60.Dallas 155, Pittston Area 177Logan Paczewski shot a even-par 36 to lead Dallas past Pittston Area at Irem Temple Country Club.Also scoring for Dallas were Brett Ostroski, 38, and Max Steinruck, 40. Freddie Lombardo and Matthew Dolan tied for the last scoring spot, each with a 40.Scoring for Pittston Area was Zack Volaski, Nick Scavo and Frankie Nocito, all with 44s, and Tyler Wassel with a 45.GIRLS TENNISHoly Redeemer 3, Berwick 2Genevieve Johnson, Ellie Kozak and Gianne Miller swept the singles competition to lead Holy Redeemer past Berwick.Berwick&#8217;s doubles team of Carissa Benderavich and Jordan Stochla and the team of Vanessa Pinto and Sarah Stettler posted Berwick&#8217;s two victories.Wyoming Seminary 5, Crestwood 0Ella Krypel, Emily Urbanski and Shilee Desai all scored singles victories to lead the Blue Knights past the Comets.The doubles teams of Jocelyn Mattingly and Dominica Delayo and Paige Parsons and Vicky Smulowitz completed the sweep with victories.Hazleton Area 4, MMI 1Alyssa Mazurek and Maddie Terraccino each scored singles victories to lead the Cougars past MMI.Alondra Sequra and Anjdina Hsiao scored a doubles victorie for the Cougars. MMI&#8217;s lone win came from the doubles team of Emily Ankiewicz and Emily Ryan. The Preppers forfieted the No. 3 singles match.Tunkhannock 3, Hanover Area 1Megan Keiser and Ashley Keinia each won a singles match to lead the Tigers past Hanover Area.Jennal Laughinghouse then teamed with Ashley Martin at No. 1. doubles to give Tunkhannock another victory. Hanover Area, which forfeited the final doubles match, got its lone win from Karlee Yuscavage at No. 1 singles.Dallas 3, Wyoming Area 2Sarah Stallard post a victory in singles action to lead the Mountaineers past Wyoming Area.Dallas also got victories in doubles from the team of Caroline Stallard and Audrey DelGaudio and the team of Cara Rorina and Kaitlyn Slusser.Wyoming Area got wins from Briana Pizzano and Bella Scappaticci in singles.GIRLS VOLLEYBALLDallas 3, Wilkes-Barre Area 0Dallas swept the Wolfpack by game scores of 25-12, 25-13, 25-12.The Mountaineers were led by Lyndsey Hornlein (19 digs), Sam Michael (eight kills, 10 aces), Hannah Shultz (three blocks) and Emma Berger (21 assists, 15 service points).Tunkhannock 3, Wyoming Area 1The Tigers defeated the Warriors by game scores of 25-20, 25-19, 23-25, 25-16.Tunkhannock was led by Dana Macko (four aces, 13 kills, 22 digs), Emily Schultz (six aces, two kills, 11 digs), Lily Miller (one Ace, four kills, 11 digs) and Rani Shrivastava (one ace, one kill, two digs, 24 assists).Pittston Area 3, Valley West 0Pittston Area defeated Valley West by game scores of 25-12, 25-12, 25-11.The Spartans were led by Karlee Peters (five service points, two aces, five assists) and Trinity Johnson (two kills, two service points).FIELD HOCKEYNanticoke Area 3, Hanover 2Nanticoke Area coach Grace Reed got the best of her mother, Hanover Area coach Jocelyn Holodick-Reed, in the first meeting of two coaches with the Trojans winning in overtime.Riley Baird scored the game winner at 6:32 of overtime. Madison Stashak and Grace Reed assisted on the goal. Also scoring goals for Nanticoke were Reed and Josie Park.Scoring for Hanover Area were Marina Ciavarella and Abby Korba.LOCAL COLLEGESMEN&#8217;S SOCCERWilkes 5, Clarks Summit 0Four different Colonels found the back of the net as visiting Wilkes University snapped a two-game losing skid.With the win Wilkes improved to 2-2 on the season.Nicholas Gaydos, Jacob Bausher, Andrew Richard and Christopher Garcia all scored for the Colonels, who also benefited from an own goal from Clarks Summit.Wilkes is back in action Saturday with a road game at Haverford College, starting at 2:30 p.m.PSU Lehigh Valley 5, PSU Wilkes-Barre 2Ricky Wooditch scored twice for Penn State Wilkes-Barre in a loss.WOMEN&#8217;S SOCCERSusquehanna 3, King&#8217;s 0King&#8217;s goalie Tara Bender equaled her career high in saves with 10 as the Monarchs fell to Susquehanna.King&#8217;s plays Albright next at 7 p.m. Saturday at McCarthy Stadium.<style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Paul Sokoloskipsokoloski@www.timesleader.com</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach Paul Sokoloski at 570-991-6392 or on Twitter @TLPaulSokoloski</shirttailMeta></div>

Guerriero goes the distance for Berwick cross country team