Elk Lake Captures State Gold as District 2 Dominates “Single A” Boys Race
By: Kevin Borrelli | SportzWire | November 2, 2025 | Photo courtesy Kevin Borrelli
The best race of the day for the area by far was the “Single A” boys’ race. District 2 champions and runners-up Elk Lake and Riverside posted gold and silver team performances, and they did it in totally different ways. As they have done all year long, Elk Lake used a dominant run by their top 3 runners. Leading the pack was Kendle Jones, who posted his best finish ever with a 2nd-place finish in a time of 16:05; as steady as they come, Cody Adams led the next pack of runners through in 4th place with a time of 16:29, and right on his shoulder for the majority of the race was Parker Upright, who took 6th place in a time of 16:35. All three runners came through the mile in under 5 minutes, holding top-10 spots, and just continued to move up from there. Elk Lake’s 4th and 5th runners ran totally different races. Sophomore Trevor Upright ran arguably the best race of his life. Trevor started off in 55th place at the mile before going to work and moving all the way up to 26th place with a time of 17:36. Lastly, and arguably the most important piece of Elk Lake’s championship run, was 5th man Whalen Kinney. Whalen found his stride mid-season at the Paul Short Invitational and gave Elk Lake everything they needed this weekend to claim the state title. Even though he was buried back early in the race at 164th place, he pressed on, moving up chunks of runners at a time—cutting down to 155th, then to 131st at the halfway point, then all the way up to a 97th-place finish. Riverside, on the other hand, really packed it in. Mikey Schimelfenig led the way for the team with a 7th-place finish in a time of 16:38; Mikey locked in with the Elk Lake duo of Cody and Parker, and the trio were within a few seconds of each other at each and every checkpoint along the course. Mikey’s finish gave District 2 an impressive 4 of the top 7 runners. Riverside’s 2nd and 3rd runners, both sophomores Andrew Connor and Jack Davies, finished 31st and 32nd place with times of 17:52 and 17:55. The duo worked together and moved up nearly twenty spots from the first checkpoint to the finish. Bringing it home for Riverside was another pair of runners: Brady Higgins in 54th (18:11), and the fastest 5th runner in the race sealed the silver medal for the Vikings as Michael Connor crossed the line in 56th place with a time of 18:15. The good times didn’t stop there for District 2, as Maxx Kelly from Susquehanna moved his way up from 23rd at the halfway point to take home a 14th-place medal in a time of 17:13. Avery Ronchi of Lackawanna Trail kept the medals rolling with a 17th-place finish, stopping the clock just 2 seconds after Max. Avery’s efforts gave District 2 six state medals, and they had several others just outside the top 25, including Lakeland’s Henry Decker, who took 28th place in 17:46, and Blue Ridge’s Paxton Pingarelli, who missed all of last year due to an injury, went out fast and managed to hold onto a 38th-place finish in a time of 18:01. Also, a shout-out to District 4 Northwest Area’s Michael Fritz for taking the individual title in a time of 15:59.
In the boys’ “Double A” race, Mid Valley put up a top-10 team finish, taking 7th place with 202 points, finishing just 24 points away from 4th place. The team was led by state medalist Jacob Borrelli, who held a top-25 pace throughout the race, working up to 17th and battling the last 1k to hold on for a 23rd-place finish in 17:03. The runners came in fast and furious as Crestwood’s Mason Staude took 11th place in 16:55; Mason slightly trailed Jacob early in the race before closing the gap around the halfway point. The two runners worked together for a bit until Mason made a strong move with a little more than 1k to go and carried it through the finish to earn the top local spot in the race. Mid Valley had a strong performance from their number 2 runner Matthew Repecki, who took 42nd place in 17:32. Lake-Lehman finished 17th place out of the 20-team field and was led by Bodhi Cronin, who moved up over 20 places from the mile to finish in 71st place in a time of 17:52.
The last race of the day was by far the most competitive, as the boys’ “Triple A” put up the fastest times of the day with 6 runners dipping under the 16:00-minute barrier. Local team Wallenpaupack finished in 21st place and was led by standout runner Aiden Janowicz, who posted a 105th-place finish in 17:24. West Scranton’s Seamus Wallace finished 1 second and 2 places behind Aiden. The pair found each other early in the race and worked together every step of the way. The 3rd local runner was Hazleton Area’s Christian Matos Mendez, who finished 179th with a time of 18:03.
Combined standings across all divisions for local runners and teams are as follows: Out of 63 teams: 9th place, 400 points, Elk Lake 23rd place, 681 points, Riverside 26th place, 708 points, Mid Valley 36th place, 1,034 points, Wallenpaupack
47th place, 1,184 points, Lake-Lehman
Out of 751 runners:
7th place, 16:05, 12th grade, Kendle Jones, Elk Lake
23rd place, 16:29, 12th grade, Cody Adams, Elk Lake
35th place, 16:35, 11th grade, Parker Upright, Elk Lake
37th place, 16:38, 12th grade, Mikey Schimelfenig, Riverside
61st place, 16:55, 12th grade, Mason Staude, Crestwood
89th place, 17:03, 10th grade, Jacob Borrelli, Mid Valley
126th place, 17:13, 12th grade, Maxx Kelly, Susquehanna Comm
135th place, 17:15, 12th grade, Avery Ronchi, Lackawanna Trail
161st place, 17:24, 12th grade, Aiden Janowicz, Wallenpaupack
164th place, 17:25, 10th grade, Seamus Wallace, West Scranton
Top 5 Runners Breakdown by District:
District 1 – 44 points District 6 – 87 points District 7 – 92 points District 3 – 127 points District 2 – 165 points District 4 – 273 points District 12 – 319 points District 10 – 383 points District 11 – 446 points District 9 – 973 points District 5 – 1,858 points District 8 – – points
