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Alex Cardoza Is December’s Athlete Of The Month

Elk Lake’s Combined State Titles, Koloski’s Multiple Medals Were
Highlights Of 2010
By Tom Robinson

Cross country, track and field and wrestling are sports that combine individual competition with team scoring.

Susquehanna County’s top high school athletes produced in both categories in those sports, highlighting the success stories of the 2010 sports year.

Elk Lake led the way with a rare sweep of boys’ and girls’ state championships in Class AA cross country on the same November day in Hershey.

Individually, Julia Koloski won a state Class AA track and field championship for Montrose while Blue Ridge’s Kaitchen Dearborn claimed a bronze medal.

Alex Stanton had the county’s next-best state performance with a fourth-place finish at 140 pounds in Class AA wrestling.

Those athletes shined in representing their local high schools while graduates from the area continued to excel on higher levels, all the way up to Chris Snee repeating his Pro Bowl status as an offensive guard with the New York Giants of the National Football League.

Elk Lake swept through the Lackawanna League unbeaten, but then fell short when it hosted the District 2 meet for the first time, finishing second to Holy Redeemer in both boys’ and girls’ cross country.

The Warriors and Lady Warriors made up for that little slip a week later when they became the first school in 23 years to sweep boys’ and girls’ state cross country titles. Holy Redeemer finished second in both races.

The state championship was the second in three years by the Elk Lake boys, who were third in 2009.

Maria Trowbridge finished in the top 10 for the second straight year, placing sixth, to lead the Lady Warriors to the first girls’ title ever by a Lackawanna League cross country team.

“Just being able to go down there as a team is special,” Trowbridge said. “To be able to win it, it is hard to explain how incredible it feels to be part of a team state championship.

“And, for the boys and girls to do it at the same time is unbelievable.”

Elizabeth Trowbridge, Mike Bedell, Luke Jones and Sean Carney all added individual medals by finishing in the top 25. Bedell was seventh, a week after being unable to finish the District 2 race.

Koloski dominated the triple jump at Shippensburg University in May, surpassing 39 feet and putting up the best three efforts of the Class AA competition to claim the state title.

After winning four District 2 gold medals for the second straight year and setting two records in the process, Koloski claimed four state medals, including her first title on that level.

“The triple jump is my favorite individual event,” said Koloski, who headed off to the University of Pittsburgh on a scholarship. “It finally all came together at the meet that matters most.”

Koloski’s fifth in the 100 and 400 relay and seventh in the long jump gave her seven career state medals.

The Penn State-bound Dearborn finished third for her second state javelin medal.

Maria Trowbridge also medaled for the second straight year with a sixth-place finish in the 3200.

Elk Lake 400 runner Cassie Van Etten, the Elk Lake boys’ 3200 relay team and Blue Ridge discus thrower Jared Conklin also claimed state medals.

Stanton rolled through the wrestling postseason, picking up his 100th win and third straight district title as the tournament’s Outstanding Wrestler, winning the Northeast Regional then advancing to the semifinal before finishing fourth in the state tournament.

Mountain View reached the state Class A boys’ soccer quarterfinals after winning District 2 and beating District 11 champion Tri-Valley, 1-0, in the state tournament.

Forest City went to the state Class A girls’ basketball tournament after finishing second in the district.

Elk Lake shared the District 2 Class AA wrestling tournament title with Western Wayne.

In addition to Elk Lake’s unbeaten league sweep in cross country, the Montrose basketball teams swept boys’ and girls’ Lackawanna League Division 3 basketball title. The Mountain View baseball, Elk Lake softball, Montrose golf, Mountain View girls’ soccer and Susquehanna football teams also won Lackawanna League divisional titles.

Basketball produced most than its share of exciting finishes, including Montrose locking up its boys’ basketball title with a 72-67 victory over Elk Lake in a four-overtime game that featured each team extended the game once with an overtime, buzzer-beating, 3-pointer.

Blue Ridge won games with half-court buzzer beaters by Marvin Green against Susquehanna late in the 2009-10 season and by Sawyer Dearborn in overtime against Elk Lake to open the 2010-11 season.

Brooke Darling led Elk Lake’s softball team, which was unbeaten into the District 2 championship game where it fell to eventual state champion Nanticoke. Darling threw two perfect games and three other no-hitters while striking out 226.

Darling, now a senior, has committed to Columbia University to pitch in college.

Susquehanna continued the revival of its football program, going unbeaten in Division 3 and reaching the District 2 playoffs, losing only to Lackawanna Football Conference Division 2 champion Lakeland, twice.

Several county athletes excelled in District 2 championship events, taking more than half the girls’ track and almost half of the wrestling titles in Class AA.

Koloski and Dearborn set records as individuals and Koloski joined 400-meter relay teammates Jacey Blom, Alexandria Lewis and Angela Short for another record.

Along with winning the triple jump on the way to a state title, Koloski claimed her third career golds in both the 100 and the long jump.

Dearborn set the javelin record.

Maria Trowbridge won the 1600 and 3200, Blue Ridge’s Alison Hall won the 800, Elk Lake’s Good the 200, and the Elk Lake girls the 1600 relay.

Stanton and Mike Pipitone took back-to-back weight classes to become Blue Ridge’s first wrestlers to win three straight District 2 titles.

Keaton Bennett (125), Devin Fiorentino (130) and Brandon Cleveland (189) won individual titles to help Elk Lake share the team championship.

Elk Lake’s Bedell (1600) and Sean Carney (400) won district boys’ track titles on their own and were part of the winning 3200 relay team.

Blue Ridge’s Zach Kruger (300 hurdles) and Conklin (discus) and Susquehanna’s Nick Vales (pole vault) also won gold medals.

Elk Lake’s Jones gave the Lackawanna League its only team or individual title in District 2 cross country.

Success continued beyond high school for many of the top graduates of the area.

Blue Ridge graduate Jocelyn Dearborn was a first-team Atlantic 10 all-star at third base with a record-setting offensive season that helped Fordham’s softball team post the school’s first NCAA Division I tournament victory in any women’s sport.

Dearborn was one of four county graduates to participate in the NCAA Division I softball tournament.

Whitney Williams, a Mountain View graduate and the starting shortstop at the University of Massachusetts, got there for the fourth straight time to finish her career.

Sisters Erin and Dayna Keene played for Cornell, which won the Ivy League title.

Monmouth University thrower Larry Lundy, a Montrose graduate, finished his career by earning second-team Northeast Conference all-star status.

Cory Poepperling, one of Lundy’s high school teammates, was an America East all-star pole vaulter at Binghamton University.

Sean Brewer from Montrose pitched with Keystone College in the NCAA Division III tournament for the second straight year.

Elk Lake graduate Kat Lucenti completed her career at Misericordia University with a second straight selection as a first-team Freedom Conference all-star pitcher.

Karin Mowry, also from Elk Lake, moved to catcher as a freshman at Baptist Bible College and was a second-team Colonial States Athletic Conference all-star.

Montrose graduate Amanda Lass reached the 1,000-point mark for the Marywood women’s basketball program with an 18-point, 14-rebound effort in a 76-53 win over Cedar Crest early in the year.

Mountain View graduates combined when Joey Scanlon scored the game-winner on an assist from Josh Pfahl to give Misericordia a 3-1 men’s soccer victory over Marywood in an ECAC South Region quarterfinal. Scanlon was named second-team Freedom Conference all-star midfielder despite missing nearly half the season with an injury.

Anthony Dorunda, a Blue Ridge graduate who played quarterback at Susquehanna, finished his career at Wilkes University as a second-team, all-Middle Atlantic Conference tight end, helping the Colonels to a berth in the ECAC South Bowl.

Former Elk Lake field hockey player Megan Bullock took over as the head coach at Marywood.

Mountain View graduate Nicole Zapolski was added to the Keystone College Hall of Fame for her play in women’s basketball.

On the professional level, Montrose graduate Rich Thompson continued to hit close to .300 while stealing bases as a veteran outfielder in the Philadelphia farm system with the Class AAA Lehigh Valley IronPigs and Class AA Reading Phillies.

Snee played in his second straight Pro Bowl, following the 2009 season.

“I love to go to the Pro Bowl, that’s an honor,” Snee said. “I love to accomplish those things, but the number-one priority is to get back to the playoffs and win another championship.”

The Giants went 10-6 in the 2010 season, tying the Philadelphia Eagles for the best record in the National Football Conference East Division, but lost on a tiebreaker to fall short of that playoff goal.

LOOKING AHEAD

See next week’s Susquehanna County Transcript, for the annual Athlete of the Year selection covering 2010.

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

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NASCAR Racing
By Gerald Hodges

Junior Johnson Starting Team For Son

By Gerald Hodges; The Racing Reporter

“I don’t want my son driving a race car. I don’t even want a race car on my place,” Junior Johnson told me several years ago during a visit to his farm.

But the NASCAR Hall of Famer has done an about face. This past week, he announced he was launching a race team that he hopes will propel his son, 17-year-old Robert, up to the Sprint Cup Series.

Junior Johnson and Darrel Waltrip after Darrel won the 1985 Winston Open.

The elder Johnson, who was enshrined in NASCAR's Hall of Fame as a member of its inaugural 2010 class of inductees, will run Junior Johnson Racing from shops on his 278-acre estate in Hamptonville, N.C.

Keith Barnwell, JJR's executive vice president and general manager told nascar.com, “We're going to run the full K&N Pro Series East and maybe the West Series' finale at Phoenix. “On some of our off-weekends, we'll be running some UARA and Whelen All-American Series late model races.

Johnson has hired two veteran mechanics with K&N Series experience, Craig Hermann and Robbie Harrison, to work on the operation. Barnwell said some Toyota stock cars have been purchased from the Red Bull Racing Team and that he and Johnson were in the process of making a final decision on what manufacturer they would align themselves with.

PRESEASON THUNDER COMING

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will take to the new asphalt at Daytona International Speedway in a three-day test session, known as NASCAR Preseason Thunder, Thursday, Jan. 20 through Saturday, Jan. 22.

Daytona 500 champions Jamie McMurray, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. are among the drivers that will appear.

In addition to viewing the on-track activity from the Sprint FANZONE, fans can watch each day’s testing at no cost from a section of the Oldfield Grandstands near Turn 4.

Drivers currently scheduled to make appearances on Thursday, Jan. 20 beginning at 6 p.m. are Dale Earnhardt Jr., Brad Keselowski, David Ragan, Kurt Busch, Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin, Kasey Kahne, Mark Martin, Martin Truex Jr. and Regan Smith.

Scheduled to appear on Friday, Jan. 21, during the 5-7 p.m. session are Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer, David Reutimann, Casey Mears, Jeff Burton, Jimmie Johnson, Joey Logano, Kevin Conway, Kyle Busch, Paul Menard and Ryan Newman. In the 7-9 p.m. session, drivers scheduled to appear are Tony Stewart, AJ Allmendinger, Brian Vickers, Greg Biffle, Jamie McMurray, Jeff Gordon, Juan Pablo Montoya, Marcos Ambrose and Matt Kenseth.

Lastly, race fans will be able to camp in the infield of Daytona International Speedway for free with their admission ticket during the three-day test inside Turns 3 and 4. Sites will be provided on a first-come, first-serve basis. Gates to the infield will open Thursday, Jan. 20 at 8:00 a.m.

Among the activities planned for both days include: interactive driver question and answer sessions on the main stage, show cars, displays, music, and photo opportunity with the Harley J. Earl Daytona 500 trophy.

MOVING NASCAR FORWARD

Several years ago Bruton Smith owner of Charlotte Motor Speedway, used a speedway wrecker to block a network television truck filled with transmitting equipment. It was an attempt to force the network to mention Lowe’s, the track sponsor.

Smith’s actions were brought about after the TV people told him Lowe’s had refused to buy airtime during the race. The strategy by Smith was designed to force the networks to get his track sponsor some TV coverage.

It didn’t work. The network didn’t back down, and Lowe’s was forced to buy advertising time during the race.

Portions of the following article were reported on nascar.com. I think it is very important that fans understand what is happening off the track.

Historically, tracks sold title sponsorships independently and then handed partners over to networks that sold a supporting ad buy. If a title partner passed on buying TV time, a network would sell a presenting sponsorship for the race broadcast to another corporation and limit or even eliminate on-air references to the track's title partner.

But the challenging ad market following the recent recession, upended the every-man-for-himself approach that resulted in such a fragmented sponsorship landscape. As a result, tracks and networks have begun to collaborate more to pitch 2011 title sponsorships for Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Camping World Truck series races. Track and media executives say the joint sales pitch underscores the new, more unified effort.

“In the past, our needs were different, so we approached the marketplace differently,” said Neil Mulcahy, Fox's executive vice president for sports sales. “As NASCAR has evolved to what it is today, economic realities dictate that we become more creative in our approach so we can build packages that include the more diverse array of assets that people are now looking for.”

Economic realities.

It’s all part of the NASCAR money-game.

Title sponsorships for Sprint Cup events aren't cheap. Tracks typically sell naming rights to a race for $1.5 million to $3 million. Networks then sell media packages that can cost as much as $3 million. Advertisers must buy both to get regional and national exposure.

It’s a win-win situation for both the track, NASCAR, and networks. Oh yes, in case you didn’t know, NASCAR gets a cut of the track’s reveune.

That disjointed sales process can be costly at times, said Devron Jeffers, Texas Motor Speedway director of sales.

"”We've lost sponsorships in some cases because a company can't come to terms with the network,” Jeffers said. “It's important now more than ever that we join forces because we have the same clients and have to consider our clients' interests first now more than ever.”

In 2011, the most likely opportunity for tracks and networks to work together will be around the Nationwide Series because those title sponsorships and supporting media cost less than Sprint Cup offers, said Andrew Feit, ESPN senior director of sports management. ESPN met with representatives from ISC and Speedway Motorsports Inc. in December in Las Vegas to outline a framework for working together, and Feit is confident that will result in joint Nationwide sales efforts this year.

“There was once a line in the sand where we were going to get our [track] money and TV needed to worry about theirs,” Mulcahey said. “As the money has tightened up, everyone is going, 'We have to work together.' Because entitlements are our prized asset, this is the future.”

Racing Trivia Question: Who won the first Daytona 500?

Last Week’s Question: Who was the driver that won three Cup championships while driving for Junior Johnson? Answer. Darrell Waltrip.

You may contact the Racing Reporter at: hodges@race500.com.

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Alex Cardoza Is December’s Athlete Of The Month
By Tom Robinson

Alex Cardoza said he has special inspiration while trying to lead an undersized Blue Ridge boys’ basketball team into title contention.

“My grandma is my motivation,” Cardoza said of Louella Coolidge. “She’s a little 4-foot-11, 70-year-old lady who comes out every game for me.

“That’s my inspiration.”

Cardoza celebrated with his family from his grandmother to his little brother Austin on the court at Montrose High School in the week between Christmas and New Year’s. It was there that Cardoza was presented the Most Valuable Player award from the Susquehanna County Christmas Tournament after hitting the game-winning shot in the first round and leading the game-breaking run in the final.

Blue Ridge was off to an 0-4 start before the first of two straight buzzer-beating wins, against Elk Lake in overtime of the Lackawanna League Division 3 final. That success carried into the tournament where the Raiders beat defending division and tournament champion Montrose, 52-51, on Cardoza’s baseline shot of an in-bounds play in the closing seconds.

In the final, Blue Ridge ran away from Elk Lake when Cardoza had the first nine points of a 13-point streak that broke the final tie in the third quarter of a 62-44 romp.

Cardoza finished with game-highs of 17 points and six assists, helping him also earn Susquehanna County Transcript Athlete of the Month honors.

“He’s a threat in every way,” Blue Ridge coach Brian Woodruff said of Cardoza, a junior who runs the offense from the point guard position and leads a trapping pressure defense. “He’s a little bit of everything for us.

“He’s big on assists. He’s very unselfish.

“He can dish it out, but he’s also a big scorer.”

Cardoza showed that with an unstoppable effort in the third quarter of the championship game when he scored 11 of his points.

“We’re a team of guys under 6 feet,” said Cardoza, who averages 17 points per game to rank second on the Raiders (3-5) in scoring behind Sawyer Dearborn. “If one of us is on, you give him the ball and he’ll put it in the hoop.

“The game plan is to get to the rim, to finish strong or dish out to a teammate. If someone’s hot, we get it to them and they’ll knock it down.”

After the slow start, that approach was giving the Raiders the look of a contender when the first month of the season came to an end.

Cardoza, who started at times as a freshman, is back after running the offense a year ago. He said many of his teammates have used playground games in the offseason to build their games for this season.

Alex is the son of Gary and Jourene Cardoza of New Milford.

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