| |
| SPORTS |
|
Please visit our kind sponsor |
|
||||||
|
HEADLINES: Montrose graduate Larry Lundy finished his senior season at Monmouth University by competing in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I Track and Field Championships in Fayetteville, Ark. Lundy, who went into the event ranked 13th in the country, fouled on all three of his attempts to finish tied for 25th out of 26 competitors. His best throw of the season – 60-10 3/4 at the Penn Relays – would have been good enough to make Lundy one of 12 finalists. Lundy, a team captain, was the eastern champion for his performance at the Penn Relays and tied teammate Chris Keller for a team-high 24 points while helping the Hawks win the Northeast Conference Championships. “Larry sat out last spring to recover from knee surgery, and he has worked very hard to get back to where he was and beyond in all three throws,” coach Joe Campagni said. “His best shot put last year was 52-5, so to improve by over eight feet in the last year is really a tribute to his tremendous work ethic this year.” Lundy, who finished third in the NCAA East Regionals, became just the seventh Monmouth athlete to reach the national championships. Three of those athletes went on to compete in the U.S. Olympic Trials. A look back at the spring seasons for other Susquehanna County graduates playing in college: DIVISION I The University of Massachusetts received a consolation prize for its near miss in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I softball tournament. UMass, including Mountain View graduate Whitney Williams, was ranked 14th in the final National Fastpitch Coaches Association poll of the season, the highest ranking for the Minutewomen since the 1999 season. UMass lost to eventual champion Washington in the regional final. Needing two straight wins over Washington, UMass won, 5-1, before falling, 6-1, in 15 innings in more than five hours. During the regular season, Williams was one of the top hitters in the Atlantic 10 while leading the Minutewomen to the conference championship. Massachusetts finished 16-2 in the league and 41-10 overall. Williams led the league in on-base percentage (.550) and walks (12) in league games while ranking second in slugging percentage (.826), tied for third in runs (16) and home runs (five), fourth in batting average (.435), tied for sixth in stolen bases (nine) and tied for eighth in runs batted in (15). Overall, the junior shortstop hit .318 with six home runs and 21 RBIs. Williams joined Blue Ridge graduate Jocelyn Dearborn, a sophomore third baseman at Fordham, as second-team Atlantic 10 Conference all-stars. Dearborn hit .275 with eight homers and 37 RBIs overall. In league play, she batted .339 and was tied for third with six doubles. Fordham was fourth in the Atlantic 10 with a 13-7 record and went 37-22 overall. Williams went against another team featuring a Blue Ridge graduate during the NCAA Tournament. Erin Keene was a freshman infielder on Ivy League champion Cornell (42-13). Keene appeared in 21 games, including eight as a starter. She was 1-for-17 at the plate (.059) with three walks, two sacrifice flies and a sacrifice hit. Kate LaBarbera, a senior from Montrose, was a member of the crew team at Drexel University in Philadelphia. LaBarbera was part of the school’s varsity eight. DIVISION II Jessica Sekely, a sophomore from Elk Lake, was a thrower for the East Stroudsburg University track and field team. Sekely’s best outdoor finish came when she finished fourth in the discus at the Kutztown Invitational. She was seventh in the hammer throw at the same meet. DIVISION III Sean Brewer, a junior right-handed pitcher from Montrose, went 8-3 while helping Keystone College win the Colonial States Athletic Conference title and advance to the NCAA Division III Mid-Atlantic Region final. Brewer was a third-team all Mid-Atlantic Region selection after striking out a team-high 88 and posting a 3.00 earned run average in 81 innings. Mason Webster, a 6-foot-4 freshman starting pitcher from Mountain View, was the most effective starting pitcher on the Marywood University baseball team. Webster led the team in wins and strikeouts (48) while posting the best ERA among the eight pitchers who threw at least 10 innings. He was 3-3 with a 5.45 ERA. Dan Downton, a freshman catcher/third baseman from Susquehanna, played in 11 games for Marywood, including six starts. He hit .241 with a double, two triples and three RBIs. Jenna Fancher, a junior from Mountain View, set the Keystone College record in the mile run when she finished in 5:55.71 in the All-American Invitational at East Stroudsburg University. Brenda Reed, a junior distance runner from Blue Ridge, was also on the Keystone women’s team. Zachary Knott, a sophomore middle distance runner from Blue Ridge, and Thaddeus Koneski, a junior distance runner from Elk Lake, were on the men’s team. Katherine Lucenti was effective both pitching and hitting for Misericordia University’s 29-15 softball team. The junior from Elk Lake went 15-8 with three shutouts and a 2.55 ERA. She struck out 115 and walked 48 in 154 innings. At the plate, Lucenti batted .300. Caitlin Ely helped the Marywood University softball team to a 27-11 record. The sophomore catcher/outfielder from Montrose played in 30 games, including 13 starts. She batted .217 and was 7-for-8 stealing bases. Leah Simko started all 34 games for the Keystone softball team and batted .295. The senior from Mountain View led the team with 15 walks and a .387 on-base percentage. Ashley Zuidema, a sophomore outfielder from Forest City, went 2-for-5 (.400) in seven games. Brad Sparks, a sophomore from Forest City, and Ryan Butler, a senior from Mountain View, were often among the top three players on the University of Scranton golf team. Sparks had the team’s best score with an 81 and Butler was third with an 84 in the season-ending Landmark Invitational at Saucon Valley. Dom Lucenti, a junior defender from Montrose, appeared in 13 games for the Misericordia men’s lacrosse team. Tracey Jayne and Kristy Saravitz, freshmen from Elk Lake, were on the King's College women's tennis roster but did not appear in any matches. TOM ROBINSON writes a weekly local sports column for the Susquehanna County Transcript. He can be reached online at RobbyTR@aol.com.
NASCAR Racing Martin Wins At Michigan On Fuel BROOKLYN, Mich. - Mark Martin was third with two laps to go in Sunday’s Sprint Cup LifeLock 400, behind the leader, Jimmy Johnson and the second-place driver Greg Biffle. Johnson, Martin’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate was the first to go. He ran out of fuel as the cars took the white flag, signifying one lap to go in the 200-lap race. About halfway around the 2-mile track, Biffle’s No. 16 Ford sputtered and slowed. Martin was there. Nobody had to point him to the checkered flag.
Mark Martin wins at Michigan. “I had been racing for the points, because those guys were running too hard for us to save gas,” said Martin. “But when Jimmie ran out, I told my crew, ‘I’m going to run hard.’ “We made it, but I ran out coming out of four.” Martin’s win moved him into eighth in Chase points. “I think we saved a little too much fuel,” said Jeff Gordon, the second-place finisher. “We were running a slower pace than those first couple of guys. I hate to see those guys run out, but that’s just the way racing is sometimes.” Denny Hamlin was third, followed by Carl Edwards, and Greg Biffle. “The racing got too intense and caused me to use up too much fuel,” said Biffle. “The 48 came up there and was driving like we weren’t on a fuel mileage run and ran us down. I messed with him there for a few seconds, but he made me use up too much throttle and gas.” Juan Montoya, Tony Stewart, Kurt Busch, Brian Vickers, and Clint Bowyer were the remaining top-10 finishers. Dale Earnhardt Jr. was never able to run with the leaders and finished 14th. Jimmie Johnson led 146 laps and finished 22nd. Top-12 Chase Contenders after 15 of 36: 1. Stewart-2189, 2. J. Gordon-2142, 3. Johnson-2047, 4. Kurt Busch-1961, 5. Newman-1934, 6. Edwards-1927, 7. Biffle-1913, 8. Martin-1868, 9. Kyle Busch-1860, 10. Hamlin-1849, 11. Kenseth-1848, 12. Burton-1810. LOGANO GETS NATIONWIDE WIN AT KENTUCKY Joey Logano pulled away from Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch with 10 laps to go and won the Meijer 300 NASCAR Nationwide Series race for the second year in a row at Kentucky Speedway. Top-10 points leaders after 14 of 35: 1. Kyle Busch-2211, 2. Edwards-2074, 3. Keselowski-2003, 4. Leffler-1993, 5. Logano-1860, 6. Allgaier-1628, 7. Gaughan-1620, 8. Keller-1613, 9. Bliss-1599, 10. S. Wallace-1543. BRAUN BEATS KYLE BUSCH IN TRUCK RACE Colin Braun took advantage of a mistake by Kyle Busch, Saturday at Michigan to win his first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race and Roush Fenway Racing's 50th in the series. Top-10 points leaders after 9 of 25: 1. Crafton-1362, 2. Hornaday-1323, 3. Skinner-1318, 4. Bodine-1265, 5. Kyle Busch-1180, 6. Starr-1179, 7. Cook-1157, 8. Malsam-1157, 9. Crawford-1140, 10. McCumbee-1131. FINANCES AFFECTING MANY TRUCK TEAMS Money, or the lack of it, is causing problems for some NASCAR teams. Some have shut down their entire operations, while others have laid off employees in order to stretch their budgets. The Texas Truck race had only 33 starters instead of the customary 36 truck starting field. Based on the level of competition and the early retirement rate, it appeared that almost one-third of the trucks on the starting grid were ‘start and park’ entries. None of the trucks in the last 10 positions of the race completed more than 26 laps, all of them falling out of the race with reasons like ‘Vibration, Overheating, Ignition and Handling.’ One truck was listed as ‘Too Slow.’ Truck Series teams have been saying all year that finances were either tight or non-existent. At the season-opening event at Daytona, everyone was trying to get through the third race of the year at Atlanta. Because the Trucks run so few races during the early part of their schedule, the hope was to find additional money to keep going past those first events. Some have found money, most haven’t. Suddenly, NASCAR’s most exciting division is finding itself with the same few teams dominating the racing action week in and week out. Unfortunately, you can look for more of the same each weekend, because they are running out of money and the series does not pay enough to cover travel expenses for most teams. Red Horse Racing, which operates two Truck teams, suspended operations of its No. 1 entry driven by Johnny Benson because of a lack of sponsorship. The decision, comes just eight races into Benson's first season with the organization he joined after five seasons with Bill Davis Racing. Red Horse, which will continue to field its No. 11 truck for driver TJ Bell, has been working to secure sponsorship for Benson since he joined the team in December. “It hasn’t been for a lack of effort,” majority owner Tom DeLoach said. “We had several people working on finding a sponsor for the No. 1 and Johnny Benson. I’ve been working on it myself. We gave it our best shot, and we tried as long as we could, but nothing materialized.” Benson has four top-10 finishes this season, including a fourth at Texas Motor Speedway, and is seventh in the standings. “I am saddened that we were unsuccessful in accomplishing our goal,” DeLoach said, “But this is a tough economic climate and the cost of fielding a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series team with essentially no support other than our manufacturer is too much for Red Horse Racing to bear alone.” NOTE: Johnny Benson was injured Saturday night in a crash at Berlin Motor Speedway in Marne, Michigan, during a super late model race. He is listed as in serious but stable condition with broken ribs and burns. The accident occurred on the second lap of the race, after Benson collided with another car, slammed into the wall and erupted into flames. Weekend Racing: The Camping World Trucks and Nationwide teams will be at the Milwaukee Mile in West Allis, Mich. The Cup teams travel west to Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California for their first road course event of the year. Fri., June 19, Camping World RV Sales 200, race 10 of 25; Starting time: 8:30 p.m. (EDT); TV: Speed. Sat., June 20, Nationwide Series Milwaukee 250, race 15 of 35; Starting time: 7:30 p.m. (EDT); TV: ESPN2. Sun. June 21, Sprint Cup Toyota/SaveMart 350, race 16 of 36; Starting time: 3:30 p.m. (EDT); TV: TNT. Racing Trivia Question: Where is Joey Logano’s home town? Last Week’s Question: Which is the longest track on the NASCAR Cup circuit? Answer. Talladega. It is 2.66-mile around it. You may contact the Racing Reporter at: hodgesnews@earthlink.net.
News
|
Living
|
Sports
|
Schools
|
Churches
|
Ads
|
Events
Military | Columns | Ed/Op | Obits | Archive | Subscribe © |
