SPORTS

Main News
County Living
Sports
Schools
Church Announcements
Classifieds
Dated Events
Military News
Columnists
Editorials/Opinions
Obituaries
Archives
Subscribe to the Transcript

Watch This space for information on upcoming events in Susquehanna County.

Please visit our kind sponsors

Issue Home October 21, 2003 Site Home

HEADLINES:
Local Sports Scene
NASCAR Racing
Richard Darrow Gets ABC Bowling Plaque

Lady Meteors Finish As Top AA Cross Country Team

Montrose defeated Scranton Prep and two other opponents at home October 14 to finish as the Class AA champion of the Lackawanna Cross Country League.

The Lady Meteors went 21-2 while facing every other Lackawanna team in the league's cluster scheduling format. The highlights were the win over Scranton Prep (19-4) and a victory over Class AAA champion Abington Heights (22-1).

Montrose's only losses came against Delaware Valley and Honesdale, two other strong Class AAA teams.

Elk Lake finished as the best boys' cross country team from the county with a 19-4 record.

Robert Squier of Elk Lake finished unbeaten while his sister Jessica was beaten by just one runner, Western Wayne's Meaghan Robbins. Both Squiers set course records during the closing meet at Montrose.

Jessica Squier won the girls' race in 17:27.

Montrose had four of the next five finishers in the six-team race to produce its 22-31 victory over Prep.

Jeanne Roszel was second in 18:31 and Tara Chiarella was third. After Scranton Prep's Erin Byrne came in, she was followed by Montrose's Krista DiRiancho and Courtney Groll.

Katrina Rinehimer and Carly Devine finished eighth and ninth to lead Blue Ridge, which won two out of three races to finish the season 13-10.

Robert Squier's finish in 14:51 helped Elk Lake win two out of three races in the boys' meet. Teammate Ryan Place again followed him to the finish line. His time of 15:02 was 27 seconds better than any other runner in the field, which included defending state champion Scranton Prep (22-1).

Brett Hagstrom finished ninth to lead Montrose, which also won two out of three races while finishing 12-11.

WEEK IN REVIEW

Montrose missed out on a repeat of its Lackawanna League and District 2 golf championships from a year ago.

The Meteors were beaten, 5-4, in an 18-hole match with Scranton Prep. Both teams came into the match as unbeaten division champions.

In football, Montrose broke its five-game losing streak in style by rolling over Bishop O'Hara, 42-0, Saturday.

Susquehanna remained winless when it fell to Scranton Prep, 43-13.

In tennis, Montrose's Sarah Golis and Elk Lake's Kristen Oakley each won one match before being eliminated in the second round of the District 2 Class AA singles tournament at Kirby Park in Wilkes-Barre.

Golis defeated Samantha Miller of Honesdale, 6-4, 6-2, before becoming one of three players to lose 6-0, 6-0 to Christine Kansky of Crestwood. Kansky, the 2001 state champion and a three-time state finalist, went on to her fourth straight district title.

"I really think I played smart," Kansky said after completing her title run. "I mixed it up more than I usually do.

"Most people know me for my pace."

Oakley defeated Crestwood's Ashley Neubauer, 6-4, 7-6, in the first round. Oakley then lost to eventual semifinalist Nina Shah of Wyoming Seminary, 6-1, 6-0.

Montrose's Stephanie Gow and Elk Lake's Kara Talcott were each eliminated in the first round.

In professional hockey, the Binghamton Senators are 5-1 with the most standings points in the 28-team American Hockey League. The Senators had the league's best record at 5-0 before losing in Bridgeport, 1-0, Sunday. San Antonio and Lowell are each 4-0 with a chance to match Binghamton's start.

Denis Hamel leads the league in goals with six and is fourth in points with seven.

Josh Langfeld is a league-best plus-7.

Ray Emery leads the league with four wins and is third with a 1.39 goals against average.

Rookie Greg Watson had two goals and two assists for the first four points of his career and Langfield added two goals and an assist Saturday in an 8-2 romp over Worcester.

Earlier in the week, the Senators beat Bridgeport, 2-1, and Hamilton, 4-3.

LOOKING BACK

Terry McCarthy, 48, of Montrose was the top county finisher in the eighth annual Steamtown Marathon, which was run from Forest City to Scranton October 12.

McCarthy was 159th out of 1,396 runners who finished the course. He was 19th among 186 in the 45-49 Male Division by finishing in 3:15:34.

Gene Corey of Forest City was the only county runner to finish in the top 10 in an age group. Corey, 60, was 659th overall and eighth among 32 men in the 60-64 Division. Corey finished in 3:54:03.

Other county finishers with age, hometown, place and time: Roger Scott, 33, Great Bend, 255th, 3:25:13; James Cook, 38, Forest City, 259th, 3:25:15; Jeff Hall, 46, Jackson, 275th, 3:26:05; Mark Smith, 50, Montrose, 293rd, 3:27:39; Craig Benson, 49, Thompson, 368th, 3:34:47; Fran Graytock, 55, Forest City, 490th, 3:43:03; Joseph Monteforte, 40, New Milford, 507th, 3:44:10; Scott Glezen, 32, Great Bend, 617th, 3:51:26; Bradley Janey, 39, Union Dale, 1101st, 4:31:02; John Hart, 64, New Milford, 1128th, 4:36:08; Susan Lucenti, 46, Montrose, 1148th, 4:38:05; Angela Rapisardi, 46, Union Dale, 1358th, 5:37:10.

COLLEGE CORNER

Jason Skarbez of Susquehanna and Robert Lagermasini of Blue Ridge are reserve linemen on the football roster at Wilkes University, which is off to a 4-2 start.

Skarbez, a 5-foot-10, 245-pound sophomore offensive lineman, played in the season-opening, 55-28 victory over Albright.

Lagermasini, a 6-foot-2, 295-pound freshman, is listed on defense. He has not made his first appearance.

THE WEEK AHEAD

The District 2 cross country championships will be held Wednesday at Scranton Municipal Golf Course.

The Squiers, the Elk Lake boys' team and the Montrose girls' team should all be in contention for district titles and berths in the state championship meet.

In football, Susquehanna and Montrose each have division games Friday night.

Susquehanna (0-3 in the division and 0-8 overall) is at Mid Valley (2-1, 4-4) in Division 3 of the Lackawanna Football Conference.

Montrose (0-3, 2-6) is home with Scranton Prep (1-2, 3-5) in Division 2.

Our football predictions were 8-2 last week, bringing the season record to 67-21 (76.1 percent).

This week's predictions, with winners in CAPS: MID VALLEY 40, Susquehanna 18; SCRANTON PREP 32, Montrose 22; ABINGTON HEIGHTS 21, Delaware Valley 14; RIVERSIDE 30, Bishop O'Hara 6; DUNMORE 24, Carbondale 7; LACKAWANNA TRAIL 35, Old Forge 13; VALLEY VIEW 27, North Pocono 6; WEST SCRANTON 28, Wallenpaupack 6; SCRANTON 35, Honesdale 21; LAKELAND 42, Western Wayne 7.

TOM ROBINSON writes a weekly local sports column for the Susquehanna County Transcript. He can be reached online at RobbyTR@aol.com.

Back to Top

NASCAR Racing

JEFF GORDON Dominates In Martinsville Win

Martinsville, VA – Four-time Winston Cup Champion Jeff Gordon dominated Sunday's Subway 400 by leading 232 of the 500 laps, and holding off his teammate Jimmie Johnson by 1.036-seconds.


Jeff Gordon

Gordon now has five wins and five poles at the Martinsville track.

It was Gordon's second victory of the 2003 season, his other win coming in the spring race at Martinsville.

"Right now, I love this place," said Gordon. "I wish we could race at Martinsville every weekend. The team is on top of their short track program, and really they have been on top for the past five races."

Gordon, who was also the polesitter, led the first 107 laps before a pit stop. He regained the lead on lap 295 and was clearly the dominate car for the remaining 125 laps.

Dale Earnhardt, Jr. pressured Gordon during the middle stages of the race, but could never make a pass.

Earnhardt, Jr., Jeff Burton and Kevin Harvick pitted for fresh tires during a caution on lap 403, while Gordon and Johnson remained on the track.

When green flag racing resumed on lap 428, Earnhardt was back in 12th spot. He worked his way through the field but he only made it to fourth, behind Gordon, Johnson and Stewart when the checkered flag was given.

"I struggled all weekend," said Johnson. "To be able to finish second behind Jeff is wild. Even after being spun out and all the other things that happened, it's just amazing.

"I hate running second, but he (Jeff Gordon) is the master here."

Stewart's No. 20 Home Depot Chevrolet was strong all day.

"That was pretty good," said Stewart. "Yesterday I was praying that the throttle would hang up and we could stick it in the fence and get the backup car."

There were 15 cautions for 117 laps. The record is 18 cautions. Gordon earned $183,018, plus a grandfather clock for his win.

Matt Kenseth, the Winston Cup points leader finished 13th, and now has a 240 point lead with six races left.

Top ten finishing order: 1. Jeff Gordon, 2. Jimmie Johnson, 3. Tony Stewart, 4. Dale Earnhardt Jr., 5. Ryan Newman, 6. Terry Labonte, 7. Kevin Harvick, 8. Jamie McMurray, 9. Bill Elliott, 10. Jeff Burton.

Top-10 points leaders after 31 of 36 races: 1. Kenseth-4548, 2. Harvick-4308, 3. Earnhardt Jr.-4265, 4. Newman-4248, 5. Johnson-4242, 6. J. Gordon-4202, 7. Stewart-3971, 8. B. Labonte-3840, 9. T. Labonte-3775, 10. Elliott-3685.

Dodge Teams Will Feel Financial Pinch In 2004 – Dodge announced they are dropping their diversity program which gives supplemental funding to several teams, including that of Bill Lester's No. 8 Craftsman Truck team.

They also may cut back their NEXTEL Cup operations next season by limiting car owners to a single team sponsorship. This would affect all Dodge owners, who field more than one team.

Should Provisional Rules Be Changed? The NASCAR rules regarding provisional starters have been a point of controversy for the past couple of years. Currently, seven starting positions are set aside in each Winston Cup race for provisional starters-starting positions determined by car owner standings, not speeds.

There are quirks-for example, a team in the top-25 of the standing is not "charged" a provisional. In addition, there is a limit to the number of "charged" provisionals for each team throughout the season.

"I think the provisional rule has outgrown itself," says Kyle Petty, driver of the No. 45 Georgia-Pacific/Brawny Dodge. "I might be the wrong person to talk to about it because right now we are in that boat. That's an antiquated rule right now just because of the way the sport is.

"If you look around today, and not just today, there are really only 40 or 41 cars showing up on a consistent basis. You've got guys like the Morgan-McClures, the Morgantheaus, and others who have shown up all year long. They have gone to California, and have towed all around the country, to make these shows happen. Then you have guys come in and cherry pick. They run one-off races and they make the race. They might have had to use a provisional, but they had one because some of the other guys didn't.

"At the same time, you have some of the older teams, like the No. 4 team, that have been around for so long and have done so much for the sport and now they are looking for a sponsor. Every week they are trying to sell themselves to sponsors, but at the same time have the chance of going home. It sends a bad message. I think NASCAR is looking at the rule change, but I think it will be next year before anything happens. I wish they would change it now, but it will probably be next year."

Eddie Jones is general manager of the No. 49 BAM Racing team.

"The provisional rules have always served well, but the intent of the rules no longer applies," said Jones. "People have begun abusing the system, especially in the second half of this year. Running a 'new' number on a car just to pick up provisionals… I'm not sure that's very ethical. But, the way the system is formatted it's perfectly legal.

"My suggestion to NASCAR would be to qualify 42 cars on speed and save one spot for either the 43rd fastest or if you do have one car that is in the thick of the title hunt that just happens to have some sort of mechanical failure or 'freak' deal, allow that car the 43rd position. Very seldom does more than one contender have a problem during qualifying. If you want to be generous, save two spots. I'll include us in this, if we can't qualify in the top 41 slots, hey, we don't deserve to be here."

OTHER RACING

HAMILTON JR. Wins Memphis Busch Race – The top ten results of the Busch Series Sam's Town 250, run Saturday at Memphis Motorsports Park: 1. Bobby Hamilton Jr., 2. Jason Keller, 3. Johnny Sauter, 4. Ron Hornaday, 5. Brian Vickers, 6. Scott Wimmer, 7. Casey Atwood, 8. Mike Bliss, 9. David Stremme, 10. Ashton Lewis.

Top-10 points leaders after 30 of 34 races: 1. Vickers-4117, 2. D. Green-4094, 3. Keller-4083, 4. Hornaday-4077, 5. Riggs-4073, 6. Hamilton Jr.-3893, 7. Wimmer-3604, 8. Kahne-3582, 9. Jay Sauter-3580, 10. Compton-3520.

Roush Drivers Finish 1-2 In Martinsville Truck Race – The top ten results of the Advance Auto Parts 200, run Saturday at Martinsville, VA: 1. Jon Wood, 2. Carl Edwards, 3. Dennis Setzer, 4. Rick Crawford, 5. Bobby Hamilton, 6. Jimmy Spencer, 7. Darrell Waltrip, 8. Ken Schrader, 9. David Starr, 10. Ted Musgrave.

Top-10 points leaders after 21 of 24 races: 1. Gaughan-3589, 2. Kvapil-3544, 3. Musgrave-3520, 4. Setzer-3517, 5. Wood-3366, 6. Hamilton-3287, 7. Crawford-3273, 8. Edwards-3169, 9. Cook-2967, 10. Chaffin-2900.

WEEKEND RACING

The NASCAR Busch and Winston Cup series are racing at Atlanta, while the trucks have an off weekend.

Saturday, October 25, Busch Series, Aaron's 312, race 31 of 34, 203 laps/312 miles, 1 p.m. TV: TNT.

Sunday, October 26, Winston Cup Bass Pro Shops/MBNA 500, race 32 of 36, 325 laps/500 miles, Noon TV: NBC.

Racing Trivia Question: Where was the first NASCAR truck race held?

Last Week's Question: How long was the beach-road course that that NASCAR raced on between 1948 and 1958? Answer: It was 4.1-miles in distance.

Gerald Hodges/the Racing Reporter is a syndicated NASCAR columnist. If you have a racing question that you would like answered send it to The Racing Reporter, P.O. Box 160711, Mobile, AL, 36616, or e-mail it to: hodgesnews@cs.com.

Back to Top

Darrow Gets ABC Bowling Plaque

Richard Darrow, Hallstead (pictured) was presented with a plaque in Knoxville, Tennessee at the American Bowling Congress Tournament for participating for 25 years.

Richard started bowling in 1953. Many frames were rolled at Valley Lanes in Great Bend. He was a junior bowling coach there during the 1970’s. In 2001, he was honored by having a league named after him at Valley Lanes.

After Richard retired, he was invited to join the Model T Senior League, at Maplewood Lanes in South Montrose. Although he will be 79 shortly, many in this league have accrued additional years; teammates Edwin Summers, Trudy Summers and Retha Stone are examples.

Richard is on oxygen 24/7, even while bowling. He has had to go to a 13-pound ball down from 16 pounds. The comradeship is worth adjustments (in order to keep bowling). Richard also knows how to keep things lively on the lanes and is enjoyed by all his fellow bowlers.

Richard is looking forward to bowling on the Maplewood Lanes Team at the ABC Tournament in Reno, Nevada in 2004 ("be the Good Lord willing").

With an attitude like Richard’s, he’s sure to be bowling for many more years.

Back to Top


News  |  Living  |  Sports  |  Schools  |  Churches  |  Ads  |  Events
Military  |  Columns  |  Ed/Op  |  Obits  | Archive  |  Subscribe