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Kruger, Hall Post Victories In Conference Championships
By Tom Robinson

SCRANTON - Blue Ridge’s Zach Kruger and Allison Hall emerged with victories in two of the most thrilling races in a night full of exciting finishes May 10 in the Robert Spagna Lackawanna Track Conference Championships at Memorial Stadium.

Kruger was on both ends of the close calls, edging Valley View’s Brandon Jackson by 14-hundredths of a second to win the 300-meter hurdles in 40.07, but losing to Steve Munley by one-hundredth of a second in the 110-meter hurdles.

The only athlete to finish second by a smaller margin was Kruger’s Blue Ridge teammate, Dan Kempa.

Kempa and Antonio Russo put up the same official time while running in different heats of the 100-meter dash. Since the meet included one race only - the top times in heats won the sprints, rather than qualifying runners for the finals - they had to be compared more closely through the electronic timing system which had Russo at 11.222 and Kempa at 11.223 seconds for a one-thousandth of a second difference that gave Russo the title.

Kruger and Kempa helped Blue Ridge remain in what was also a close team race.

Dunmore won the Class AA boys’ championship with 53 points, three more than Blue Ridge.

Hall passed three other runners coming down the homestretch to win the 800 by three-tenths of a second over Wallenpaupack’s Chelsea Mann with a time of 2:23.75.

Blue Ridge stayed in contention for the boys’ team title with the help of strong relay teams. The Raiders scored in all three relays while none of the other Class AA teams placed in more than one.

Jacob James, Kruger and Kempa were on both the second-place, 400-meter relay team and the fifth-place 1600 relay team.

Sean Stanley completed the 400 lineup while Chris Carlsen ran on the 1600 team.

Hinkley led off the eighth-place 3200 relay team that also included Greg Stonier, Mike Robbs and Ethan Mansfield.

Stanley, in the triple jump, and Eric Onyon, in the discus, added fourth-place finishes for the Raiders.

Blue Ridge also got points from Jacob Hinkley, who was eighth in the 3200.

Montrose was sixth out of 13 teams with 18 points. Elk Lake and Susquehanna tied for 10th with eight points while Mountain View was 11th with four points.

Montrose gained all of its points in field events.

Kurt Kimsey led the Meteors with a third-place finish in the javelin.

Jemery Dibble was fifth in the pole vault.

Cole Wheaton was fourth in the high jump and sixth in the long jump.

Elk Lake got all its scoring in throwing events. Joe Woolcock was fourth in the javelin throw while Mark Bush was seventh in the discus and eighth in the shot put.

Nick Vales scored all of Susquehanna’s points with a second-place finish in the pole vault.

Athletes who finished in the top eight in their event overall, including Class AAA entries, received points.

Matthew Weiler was fifth in the 200 for all of Mountain View’s points.

Montrose was fourth among girls’ teams with 27 points. Holy Cross outscored Riverside, 70-63, for the title.

Alex Lewis earned points in four events, two as an individual and two on relays, for the Lady Meteors. She was seventh in the high jump, eighth in 200 and part of the fourth-place 1600 relay team and seventh-place 400 relay team.

Allison Lewis was fourth in the 400, fifth in the long jump and part of the 1600 relay team.

Samantha Bennici was fifth in the 800 and 1600.

Samantha Abbott and Myra Lattimore were part of both relay teams.

Jacey Blom ran a leg of the 400 relay.

Blue Ridge was fifth of 12 teams with 24 points. Mountain View was eighth with three points, while Elk Lake and Susquehanna tied for ninth with two.

In addition to Hall, Blue Ridge got a second-place finish from Katie Drake in the pole vault and scored points in two relays.

Hall, Brittany Chaffee, Megan Hinkley and Kailey Ragard formed the fifth-place 400 relay team and seventh-place 1600 relay team.

Mountain View’s Olivia Zick was sixth in the javelin.

Susquehanna’s Melissa Kukowski was seventh in the 100 hurdles.

Elk Lake’s Chelsea Karabin was seventh in the javelin.

WEEK IN REVIEW

KINGSTON - Montrose’s Zach Warriner reached the quarterfinals of the District 2 boys’ tennis singles tournament before being eliminated.

Warriner, the fourth seed, received a bye and won one match before losing to fifth-seeded Walker Templeton of Scranton Prep, 6-3, 6-3.

Warriner’s win came against Ian Betti, 7-6 (8-6), 6-3.

Michael Roman, Montrose’s other entry in the tournament, lost his first match to sixth-seeded Bijoy Ghosh of team champion Wyoming Seminary, 6-1, 6-4.

Montrose qualified for the District 2 Class AA team tournament as the fourth seed and beat Valley View, 3-2, in the quarterfinals.

Scranton Prep then shut out Montrose, 3-0, in the semifinals.

In softball, Elk Lake remained unbeaten and clinched at least a tie for the Lackawanna League Division 3 title.

The Lady Warriors reached 12-0 with a 2-1 victory over second-place Blue Ridge in eight innings.

Blue Ridge’s only two losses have come against Elk Lake.

In boys’ volleyball, Forest City finished third in the Lackawanna League.

The final standings: Lackawanna Trail 11-1, Western Wayne 10-2, Forest City 8-4, Susquehanna 6-6, Blue Ridge 3-9, Elk Lake 2-10, Mountain View 2-10.

In professional hockey, the Binghamton Senators won the first two games of the best-of-seven Calder Cup semifinals from the Charlotte Checkers, 7-4 and 3-0.

Kaspars Daugavins, Erik Condra and defenseman Andre Benoit had a goal and two assists in the first game.

Robin Lehner made 35 saves in the shutout and Ryan Potulny scored two of the goals Friday.

COLLEGE CORNER

Jenna Fancher was one of two recipients of the N. Scott Thurston Award when the Keystone College athletic department honored its graduating student-athletes at its annual year-end banquet earlier this month.

The Thurston Award is presented annually to one male and one female athlete who are in their junior or senior year and have demonstrated outstanding academic excellence.

Fancher, a member of the women’s cross country and track teams, had a term grade point average of 4.0 and a cumulative grade point average of 3.88 as a biology major.

The Mountain View graduate had earlier received the Keystone College Outstanding Graduate award.

Fancher plans to continue her education at the Commonwealth Medical College.

THE WEEK AHEAD

The first three rounds of the District 2 boys’ tennis doubles tournament are scheduled for Wednesday, beginning at 9 a.m. at Kirby Park.

The tournament continues Thursday at 1 p.m.

In volleyball, the District 2 tournament opens Monday.

In baseball and softball, the District 2 tournament is scheduled to open Tuesday, May 24.

In professional hockey, the Binghamton Senators are home Wednesday in Game Four of their Calder Cup semifinal series with Charlotte.

The teams were scheduled to play Game Three Tuesday night. If Game Five is necessary, it will be Saturday in Binghamton at the Broome County Arena.

If the series continues to Games Six and Seven, those games will be played in Charlotte.

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

Kenseth Cruises To Dover Win

DOVER, Del. - Matt Kenseth found victory lane for the second time this season, as he won Sunday’s Fed-Ex 400 easily ahead of Mark Martin.

During the last round of pit stops, Kenseth’s team elected to give him only two fresh tires, while most of the other teams took on four.

The decision was the right one, because Jimmie Johnson and Carl Edwards, two drivers that got four fresh tires were not able to gain on Kenseth.

Matt Kenseth winner of Sunday's Dover Cup race.

“At the time we weren’t sure two tires was the way to go, but it turned out to be the right call,” said Kenseth. “There was a lot of loose rubber on the track, and we felt like the way the car was handling, we could maintain our speed for the remainder of the race.”

Mark Martin did not pit on the final round of stops, and managed to stretch his fuel and tires to a second-place finish.

“This team was good today,” said Martin. “We had a fast race car, and we couldn’t have won the race unless we had more speed, but the team did everything they could do to keep me up front.

“This certainly was not a win, but it was a great day for us.”

Marcos Ambrose finished third, while Kyle Busch, the winner of Friday night’s truck race was fourth. Brian Vickers came home fifth and Clint Bowyer edged out Carl Edwards, Saturday’s Nationwide winner, for sixth while Edwards claimed seventh.

“I really thought we were making the right call,” said Edwards. “I thought four tires were the way to go, because of the rubber build-up on the track. But obviously, they didn’t make that much difference.”

Martin Truex was eighth, followed by polesitter, Jimmie Johnson, and Kevin Harvick.

Unlike Saturday’s Nationwide race when 14 cars were wrecked, Sunday’s event had only a few minor wrecks with no major pileups between any drivers.

Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch, who are under probation for rough driving tactics during the Southern 500 at Darlington drove very respectful around each other.

Top-25 Chase contenders after 11 of 36: 1. Edwards-416, 2. Johnson-392, 3. Kyle Busch-379, 4. Earnhardt-364, 5. Harvick-362, 6. Kenseth-342, 7. Newman-340, 8. Bowyer-336, 9. Kurt Busch-336, 10. Stewart-328, 11. Martin-324, 12. Biffle-311, 13. Hamlin-304, 14. J. Gordon-299, 15. Montoya-296, 16. Allmendinger-295, 17. Menard-291, 18. Kahne-286, 19. Truex-282, 20. Ambrose-281, 21. Ragan-270, 22. McMurray-267, 23. Burton-258, 24. Keselowski-251, 25. Labonte-251

EDWARDS WINS NATIONWIDE RACE IN OVERTIME

Carl Edwards needed nine laps of ‘overtime’ to win his third Nationwide Race of the season and his second career victory at the “Monster Mile” of Dover.

Edwards had to hold his lead against two green-white-checkered starts and the charging car of Joey Logano. In the end, Edwards hung on by a thread as Logano lost control and collected several cars behind him in one of the wildest Dover finishes ever.

At first, Edwards thought he had hit Logano to start the massive Lap 209 wreck that destroyed the cars of Logano and Clint Bowyer, among others.

“Damn it - I didn't mean to hit him,” Edwards radioed after the accident. “Is everybody all right?”

Replays showed that Edwards made no contact with Logano as the two raced for the lead. Logano had a lead of almost a car-length before the rear of his car slammed the outside wall. Logano bounced off the wall and into the path of Bowyer, whose Chevrolet careened into the inside wall.

“I'm just glad it worked out,” Edwards said after the race. “I'm glad that I didn't hit him. I'm glad that everyone was OK. But that's a product of what we do. When it comes down to it … this racetrack, we're driving so hard here, and there's so much grip, and you're giving everything you can, and the cars are so close there at the end.”

Kyle Busch finished second followed by, Reed Sorenson, Ricky Stenhouse, David Reutimann, Elliott Sadler, Kenny Wallace, James Buescher, Aric Almirola, and Mike Wallace.

Top-10 leaders after 11 of 34: 1. Sadler-379, 2. Sorenson-369, 3. Leffler-364, 4. Stenhouse-363, 5. Allgaier-361, 6. Almirola-339, 7. K. Wallace-307, 8. Scott-286, 9. S. Wallace-282, 10. Wise-274

KYLE BUSCH AGAIN

Kyle Busch pulled away from Cole Whitt after a restart on Lap 198 of 200, to win the Dover Truck race under caution when Nelson Piquet Jr. and Timothy Peters wrecked on the final lap.

“Cole Whitt did a really nice job,” Busch said in victory lane. “I think he's got something going on over there. The guys do a really nice job, and he's fast. He's quick week in and week out, and this is the first one he's really contended for - that I've been in, anyway.

“I snookered him (Whitt) on the second-to-last restart, and I got him a little bit there, but on that last restart, he was right with me. We ran down into Turn 1 side-by-side. I chose the bottom because I felt like, running through (Turns) 1 and 2 wide open, it was the faster way around.”

It was Busch’s third truck series victory in five starts this season, and the 27th time in the series.

“Running second to Kyle is like winning the race for us,” Whitt said. “We'll take that and move on and go to Charlotte (May 20) and try to win one there.”

Matt Crafton came home third and claimed the series points lead. Austin Dillon and Kevin Harvick ran fourth and fifth, respectively. Joey Coulter, Brendan Gaughan, James Buescher, Ron Hornaday, and Justin Marks were the remaining top-10 finishers.

Top-10 leaders after 6 of 25: 1. Crafton-225, 2. Sauter-220, 3. Whitt-218, 4. Hornaday-217, 5. Peters-212, 6. Dillon-203, 7. Papis-173, 8. Rogers-168, 9. Bodine-165, 10. Gaughan-164

Racing Commentary: Where are the top Nationwide and Truck Series’ drivers? There really isn’t any, because 16 of the 17 races run this season have been won by Cup regulars.

This is a problem for NASCAR, and they know it.

Starting with the 2011 season, a driver had to declare which division they were going to run for the title in. The reasoning behind that rule was to prevent Cup drivers from participating in large numbers in the lower Nationwide and Truck Series’.

But so far, it hasn’t happened.

Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards has practically dominated the two classes.

Track owners like for the Cup regulars to enter one of these lower series because it helps put fans in the stands. A Truck race ticket can be bought for about one-third of what one would cost for a Cup race.

While ticket sales are important, it is also imperative that younger drivers get the opportunity to compete.

As it stands now, most drivers trying to break into either the Nationwide or Truck series are finding it extremely difficult.

From where I stand, if NASCAR doesn’t make another rule limiting Cup driver participation, their driver development program is going to slide downhill.

Weekend Racing: It will be Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Charlotte for Sprint Cup and Truck teams. The Cup race is a non-points event, while the Trucks will be running for points. The Nationwide teams are at Newton, Iowa for a Sunday race.

Fri., May 20, Camping World Trucks, race 7 of 24, Starting time: 8 p.m.; TV: Speed.

Sat., May 21, Sprint Cup All-Star race, non-points, Starting time: 7 p.m.; TV: Speed.

Sun., May 22, Nationwide Iowa 250, race 12 of 34, Starting time: 2 p.m.; TV: ABC.

All times are Eastern.

Racing Trivia Question: Jeff Burton drives the No. 31 Richard Childress Chevrolet. Who did he drive for before RCR?

Last Week’s Question: How many Cup teams does Hendrick Motorsports have? Answer. Four. They are Jimmie Johnson (48), Jeff Gordon (24), Dale Earnhardt Jr.(88), and Mark Martin (5).

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

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Students Complete Shooting Course
Submitted By Fran Worden, Sportsman

Owning a handgun to carry for protection seems like a good idea nowadays. Residents are registering for small firearm training classes knowing their life may depend upon knowing how to shoot.

NRA certified instructor Al Robbins held a two day, eight hour NRA Basic Pistol Shooting Skills course April 20-21 at the Franklin Hill Range, New Milford Rifle and Pistol Club. The overflow of so many students registered for the course required additional classes at the instructor’s private home range.

The classroom instruction emphasized the safe handling of single and double action pistols and revolvers, including identifying components, various calibers with correct ammunition, and the proper cleaning and storing of a firearm.

The skills shooters learned were bench rest positions, proper stance, grip, aim, breathing, and trigger control of a pistol. Upon completing fundamentals, students had a chance to practice shooting a few rounds under direct supervision of the instructor. The students were encouraged to continue to practice using their firearm at a shooting range. Commenting on the course, a student said, “this is the best forty-five dollars I’ve ever spent. It was well worth it.”

Each student that successfully completed the basic course received an attractive certificate.

The Basic Pistol Training course meets the standards of the National Rifle Association of America. Its goals are to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, especially concerning the Second Amendment, the individual citizen’s right to keep and bear arms.

For additional information please e-mail aljohn@nep.net.

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