First Posted: 12/22/2014

With another year come and gone, 2014 was a great year for sports in the Back Mountain. Some current students earned high honors and former students saw their athletic careers continue into something bigger.

Here is a recap of some of the most memorable stories and moments for sports in the Back Mountain Area.

FIRST TOP STORY: State medals were claimed by Back Mountain wrestlers in sets of three.

Lake-Lehman’s Austin Harry and the Dallas combination of Ryan Monk and Connor Martinez returned from the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Wrestling Championships held March 6-8. For Harry, it was the third state wrestling medal of his career and the highest ranking of those medals.

SECOND TOP STORY: Regan Rome ran the first half of her 3,200-meter run stride-for-stride with her younger sister, Ally. Dominic DeLuca ran virtually his entire race alone.

When they were done, the two Dallas senior distance runners had special reasons to celebrate the final District 2 gold medals of their highly-decorated high school careers.

THIRD TOP STORY: Dallas High School sophomore Katie Kravitsky decided she wanted to try track and field in the spring of her freshman year. High jumping was a different story.

After some coaxing from her coaches into doing it, high jumping became second nature to Kravitsky who, by the end of her sophomore year, garnered attention from Division I through III colleges after she competed at New Balance Outdooor Nationals in Greensboro, NC.

FOURTH TOP STORY: Mariano Medico, of Shavertown, made the semifinals of the 100th Golf Association of Philadelphia Junior Championship look relatively easy. Getting to them was not.

After a few tough matches in the quarter and semifinals, Medico became just the eight player to win the title more than once in the century-old event.

FIFTH TOP STORY: Sam Casto dabbed in muliple sports after moving to Dallas from Florida, but it was not until she was a student at Georgia Tech that she found her calling in competitive rowing.

The 21-year-old competed in Varese, Italy this past summer for the United States in the World Rowing Under-23 Championships, placing 10th out of 21 interntational competitiors.

SIXTH TOP STORY: The Dallas High School sports field underwent a reconstruction during the summer and fall months to give the field better turf and better lighting.

Football, soccer, field hockey, lacrosse and baseball will all be played on the multi-purpose surface with the softball team picking up the opportunity to hold additional practices during the poor weather in the spring.

SEVENTH TOP STORY: High school cross country titles were determined in the fall, but much of the work that went into creating the top individuals and teams may have taken place months prior.

Lake-Lehman’s Dominic Hockenburry was rewarded for his offseason efforts when he etched his name into the record books by capturing the PIAA Class AA 32oo-meter run state title at the end of his sophomore season and breaking the record in the process of fastest time of 15:51, 52 seconds faster than the previous title holder.

EIGHTH TOP STORY: The competitive nature that led Kylie Fisher and Ashlie Lewis into coaching, of course, placed each in intense pursuit of a victory.

The twin sisters, however, wound up in complete agreement that the 2-2 overtime tie between the Dallas and Tunkhannock field hockey teams was the appropriate finish to the first time the two faced each other as opponenets.

NINTH TOP STORY: Colonial League Defensive Player of the Year honors were not enough to get Greg Manusky drafted by a National Football League team.

The former Dallas High School and Colgate University standout fought his way into the NFL by going undrafted and is still in the league today, working as the defensive coordinator for the Indianapolis Colts.

TENTH STORY: Ted Jackson Sr. said that he was ready to apply for the Dallas High School head football coaching position three years after being relieved of his duties after a 27-year stint as head coach.

One person possibly standing in his way is his son Ted Jackson Jr., whom Jackson Sr. said was unsure if he would be applying for the position as well, but did say if either of them was hired the other would serve as an assistant coach.