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Elk Lake's Bedell Wins Four Gold Medals At District 2 Class AA Track Championships
By Tom Robinson

SCRANTON - Elk Lake’s Mike Bedell handled a heavy workload May 16, winning both the 800- and 1600-meter runs and running 400- and 800-meter legs on winning relay teams to make him the only athlete to win four gold medals during last week’s District 2 Track and Field Championships.

Bedell led Elk Lake to a second-place finish in Class AA boys where Holy Redeemer scored 119 points to 94 1/3 by the Warriors.

“I’ve been looking at it most of the season,” Bedell said. “As a senior, I thought I was strong enough to do it.”

Bedell helped keep the Lackawanna Track Conference Division 3 champions in the team title race but the Royals used a 1-2-3 finish in the 200 and a 1-2 finish in the 100 to come out on top.

“We thought maybe our distance guys could match their sprinters,” Bedell said, “but they ran phenomenally in anything under 400 meters.”

Bedell won the 1600 in 4:22.78 beating the field by more than six seconds. He was the only runner under two minutes in the 800, which he won in 1:58.69.

Sean Carney and Will Bennett joined Bedell in running on both winning relays. Bryan Grosvenor was part of the 3200 team that finished in 8:17.07. Brad Moore was part of the 1600 team that finished in 3:30.65.

Carney added a third gold medal by winning the 400 in 50.39. He was fourth in the 800.

Moore was also fourth in the 400.

Luke Jones won the 3200 for Elk Lake in 9:46.24.

Jason Vermeulen qualified for states by finishing second in the long jump while placing sixth in the high jump.

Jeremy Schwartztrauber was fourth in the pole vault and tied for eighth in the high jump.

Joe Woolcock was fourth in the javelin and seventh in the triple jump.

Mark Bush was sixth in the discus.

The top two in each event advanced to the state meet this weekend. The top six received medals and the top eight scored points for their teams.

Blue Ridge was third with 63 points. Montrose was 10th out of 18 teams that scored points with 25 1/3. Susquehanna was 17th with eight.

Blue Ridge’s Zach Kruger won the 300 hurdles in 41.04.

The Raiders sent their 400 relay team and discus thrower Eric Onyon to the state meet with second-place finishes. Jake James, Sean Stanley, Kruger and Dan Kempa finished the 400 relay in 44.34 seconds. Onyon had a throw of 146-11.

Blue Ridge had several near misses in state qualifying with Kempa taking third in the javelin and 100 while Onyon was third in the shot put and Kruger was third in the 110 hurdles.

Also placing for the Raiders were: the 3200 relay team, fourth; 1600 relay team, fifth; Jake Hinkley, 3200, sixth; and Zachary Edwards, pole vault, seventh.

Montrose’s Jeremy Dibble and Susquehanna’s Nick Vales each made the state meet in the pole vault with a 1-2 finish when they both cleared 12-6.

The Meteors also got points from Cole Wheaton finishing third in the high jump and sixth in the long jump, Kurt Kimsey finishing fifth in the javelin, John Lawson finishing eighth in the javelin, the 400 relay team finishing eighth and Ethan Jones finishing tied for eighth in the high jump.

Susquehanna County athletes placed in 17 of the 18 boys' events.

In the Class AA girls’ meet, Elk Lake won the 1600 and 3200 relays while placing fourth with 68 points.

Holy Redeemer ran away with the team title with 133 points to 85 by Holy Cross.

Blue Ridge was eighth of 17 teams with 31 points. Montrose was 10th with 28 and Susquehanna tied for 16th with one.

Allison Hall of Blue Ridge joined the Elk Lake relay teams as the only gold medal winners from Susquehanna County.

Cassie VanEtten and Emily Williams handled the first two spots in both the 3200 and 1600 relay teams. Sisters Elizabeth and Maria Trowbridge completed the 3200 relay team that won in 9:53.03. Kirsten Hollister and Kelsie Hermick were on the 1600 team that won in 4:09.29.

Maria Trowbridge finished second in both the 1600 and 3200 to earn the right to run at the state meet while VanEtten did the same in the 400.

Elk Lake got contributions from several athletes.

Megan Bush was fourth in the shot put, Cassie Salsman was fifth in the 300 hurdles, Chelsea Karabin was fifth in the javelin, Hermick was fifth in the 400, Hollister was sixth in the 100, Abigail Zdancewicz was seventh in the 1600, Lainey Bedell was eighth in the 1600 and Cindy Good was eighth in the 300 hurdles.

Blue Ridge senior Hall, who was second as a freshman, won her third straight district title in the 800 by finishing in 2:19.71.

Teammate Katie Drake was second in the pole vault.

Other placewinners for Blue Ridge were: 400 relay, third; 1600 relay, fifth; Kailey Ragard, 200, seventh, and Holly Holbrook, discus, eighth.

Montrose had the following score points: Allison Lewis, 400, third; Samantha Bennicci, 800, third; Alexandra Lewis, 200, fourth; Emmie Gibson, high jump, sixth and Nichole Lewis, high jump, tie for seventh.

Susquehanna’s Melissa Kukowski was eighth in the 110 hurdles.

WEEK IN REVIEW

CLARKS SUMMIT - Montrose’s Zach Warriner and Michael Roman won their first two matches before taking the fourth-seeded team to three sets in the quarterfinals of the District 2 Class AA boys’ tennis doubles tournament at Birchwood Racquet Club.

Warriner-Roman topped Riverside’s Drew Tomko-Dylan Bonitz, 6-2, 6-0, and Wyoming Area’s Davide Fanelli-Trevor Adler, 6-4, 6-7 (4-7), 6-4.

Wyoming Seminary’s Bijoy Ghosh-Christopher Kim eliminated Warriner-Roman, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.

The other Montrose team, Ryan Ochse-Isaac Mitchell, was eliminated in the first round by Scranton Prep’s sixth-seeded team of Jay Patel-Matt Hanahue, 6-1, 6-1.

Wyoming Seminary’s Harry Parkhurst-Henry Cornell went on to win the title.

In softball, Elk Lake improved to 13-0 to clinch the outright title in Division 3 of the Lackawanna League.

In professional hockey, the Binghamton Senators used home ice to complete a sweep of the Calder Cup semifinals series with the Charlotte Checkers and advance to the finals for the first time since the Binghamton Whalers made it in 1982.

The Senators rolled, 7-1, on May 17, then came back the next night for the clinching, 4-3 overtime victory.

Binghamton finished the four-game series with five power-play and three short-handed goals.

Zack Smith had a hat trick and an assist while Robin Lehner made 37 saves in the rout.

Ryan Keller scored the series-clinching goal at 13:05 of overtime when Smith won a faceoff to set him up.

Lehner made 42 saves in the win.

Ryan Potulny, one of 13 current Binghamton players who spent time in the National Hockey League with the parent Ottawa Senators this season, leads all American Hockey League players in playoff scoring with 14 goals and 11 assists in 17 games.

LOOKING BACK

Elk Lake’s Jenny VanEtten won the 800 in 2:27.05 and the 1600 in 5:29.56 at the District 2 Junior High Track and Field Championships May 13 at Scranton Memorial Stadium.

VanEtten helped Elk Lake finish 10th out of 30 girls’ teams that scored points in the meet.

The Lady Warriors had 21 points.

Blue Ridge tied for 20th with nine points, Montrose was 26th with five points and Susquehanna tied for 29th with one point.

Abington Heights beat out Pittston Area, 80-72, for the team title.

Coughlin outscored Lakeland, 68-60, for the boys’ team championship.

Elk Lake tied for 20th with nine points while Montrose was 27th with two points.

COLLEGE CORNER

Jocelyn Dearborn’s brilliant college softball career came to an end Saturday when Fordham University lost to Penn State, 5-2, in 16 innings at the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I University Park Regional.

The senior third baseman from Blue Ridge was named Atlantic 10 Player of the Year and led the Rams in virtually every offensive statistic.

Fordham was 22-16 before winning 16 of its final 17 regular-season games. The Rams (42-19) then won their first Atlantic 10 title by posting three straight shutouts, including one in 10 innings in the semifinals.

The Rams opened the NCAA Tournament with a 2-0 win over Penn State Friday. They lost 2-0 to Oregon before falling to Penn State later in the day Saturday.

Dearborn was an Atlantic 10 all-Rookie selection as a freshman, a second-team conference all-star as a sophomore and a first-team choice as a junior.

While starting all 61 games, Dearborn led Fordham in runs (45), hits (70), doubles (11), triples (8), home runs (16), RBI (44) and walks (20). She was second in batting average (.350) and stolen bases (8).

COLLEGE DECISION

Dan Kempa had some of his best football games as Susquehanna quarterback in his trips to Luzerne County.

Now, Kempa plans to play all of his home games there after committing to continue his football career on the Division III level at King's College.

The Blue Ridge senior, who played football at Susquehanna as part of the cooperative sponsorship between the schools, averaged just under 14 yards per carry and just under 13 yards per pass attempt in his last three games in the Wilkes-Barre area.

Kempa ran 98 yards for the winning touchdown in an upset of GAR in 2009. He finished with 171 yards rushing and was 7-for-11 passing.

Last season, Kempa turned six carries into 214 yards and three touchdowns against Holy Redeemer, then went 4-for-7 with 151 yards and four touchdowns against Nanticoke. He produced 300 yards rushing, 196 yards passing and was responsible for nine touchdowns in the two games.

Kempa was named Lackawanna Football Conference Division 3 Offensive Player of the Year by northeastpafootball.com as a senior. He rushed for at least 1,000 yards each of his last three seasons.

THE WEEK AHEAD

The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Track and Field Championships are Friday and Saturday at Shippensburg University.

Elk Lake’s Jones is seeded fifth in the 3200, while teammates Carney (400) and Bedell (800) are seeded seventh. Blue Ridge’s Hall is also seeded seventh in the girls' 800.

Bedell and Maria Trowbridge each scratched out of the 1600 while the Elk Lake girls are also out of the 3200 relay to give themselves better chances at medals in other events.

Track events have qualifying Friday and finals Saturday.

Field events are split over the two days.

In boys’ volleyball, the District 2 Class AA tournament finishes with a third-place match and championship doubleheader at Marywood University Thursday.

Forest City qualified for the event, which had its first two rounds scheduled for Monday and Tuesday.

In baseball, the District 2 Class A semifinals are scheduled for Thursday.

One semifinal will match the winners of the Susquehanna at Blue Ridge and Forest City at Old Forge games that were scheduled for Tuesday.

Mountain View is the third seed in Class AA and will be home against West Side Tech Wednesday.

Elk Lake is the ninth seed and playing at Mid Valley.

Montrose will be either the sixth or seventh seed, depending on the outcome of some regular-season games that were postponed repeatedly because of rain, and will host either Lakeland or Northwest.

In softball, Forest City is at Mountain View in Wednesday's Class A quarterfinals with the winner to play at second-seeded Blue Ridge in Friday's semifinals.

Elk Lake has one of the top two seeds in Class AA and a bye into Thursday's quarterfinals.

Montrose, the number-five seed, was scheduled to open tournament play Tuesday.

Susquehanna chose not to compete.

In professional hockey, the Binghamton Senators will start the Calder Cup finals at some point.

The Senators were waiting for the Hamilton Bulldogs and Houston Aeros to complete their seven-game series Tuesday night. Houston won the first three games before Hamilton rallied with three straight wins.

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

“Million Dollar” Carl Edwards

By Gerald Hodges; The Racing Reporter

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Carl Edwards easily won Saturday night’s Sprint All-Star race with a flawless run. While Edwards was beating Kyle Busch to the finish line, his other three Roush Fenway teammates finished in the top-8.

Edwards won three of the four-race segments of the 100-lap feature. On the last and final 10-lap segment, he got a huge jump on runner-up Kyle Busch, and cruised to the checkered flag.

Carl Edwards celebrates his All-Star win at Charlotte.

Unlike most past races, that have been filled with crashes and wrecks as the drivers make a wild dash to the finish, this one was lacking of excitement, as the 10-lap segment turned out to be free of wrecks and bumping.

“The key to winning this race are the guys behind me,” said Edwards. “One of them is Jody Fortson, who lost his father. I want to say “hi” to Sheila Fortson watching, but Bob Osborne and my guys, especially the guys on pit road. They could have dropped the ball. That was all the pressure in the world on those guys. They performed a flawless pit stop and we got out in front of Kyle (Busch). He is a bear on those restarts, so if we would have started behind him, I think it would have been really tough.”

When Edwards pulled into the infield grass after taking the checkered flag, the front of his car dug into the grass, and he messed up the front-end.

“I feel so bad about tearing up the car, but Bob says he’s got a faster one for next week, so I’m pretty excited,” continued Edwards.

The win paid Edwards a flat $1-million.

Despite bringing home his career-best finish in six NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race appearances, Kyle Busch came up short.

“This was a good race for us with our M&M’s Camry,” said Busch. “We came up a little bit short, but we got beat by a faster car. The best I could’ve done was something on a restart and I didn’t get a great one there - that final one, but I still kept up with him (Carl Edwards) a little bit, but he was just too fast. He got away from me and spread the gap too far. By the time I was trying to run him back down on the top side there, it just took me too long to get back to him. A few more laps, maybe I would’ve got him, but all you had was 10 (laps).”

David Reutimann, Tony Stewart and Edwards’ teammate Greg Biffle rounded out the top-five.

Matt Kenseth was sixth and David Ragan, who took the checkered flag earlier in the night with a dominating performance in the Sprint Cup Showdown, finished eighth in his first career Sprint All-Star Race.

Kevin Harvick and Ryan Newman comprised the remainder of the top-10.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. was voted into the race by fans as the third driver from the Sprint Show Down, but he had nothing for the winners.

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series returns to point-paying racing on May 29 with the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte. The longest race on the Sprint Cup schedule

STENHOUSE GETS FIRST NATIONWIDE WIN

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. held off Sprint Cup regulars Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski to get his first career Nationwide victory in Sunday’s John Deere 250 at Iowa Speedway.

Stenhouse, driver of the No. 6 Roush Fenway Ford passed teammate Carl Edwards for the lead with 15-laps remaining in the 250-lap, and held on until the checkered flag was given.

“We’ve wrecked several cars here in the past, and coming into today’s race this wasn’t my favorite track, but it is now,” said Stenhouse.

Carl Edwards, winner of Saturday night’s Sprint Cup All-Star race was second.

“We had a very fast car at the beginning,” said Edwards. “During the last pit stop we changed the tire air pressure, and that really messed it up and made the car loose.”

Brad Keselowski was third, followed by Reed Sorenson, Elliott Sadler, Kenny Wallace, Michael McDowell, Justin Allgaier, James Buescher, and Austin Dillon.

Top-10 leaders after 12 of 34: 1. Sadler-418, 2. Sorenson-411, 3. Stenhouse-410, 4. Allgaier-398, 5. Leffler-375, 6. Almirola-366, 7. K. Wallace-355, 8. S. Wallace-315, 9. Scott-303, 10. Wise-289

“AN ANGEL ON MY SHOULDER,” SAID KYLE BUSCH

Kyle Busch credits an angel to helping him win the Charlotte truck race.

“We didn’t have the fastest truck and I got into early trouble,” said Busch. “I had an angel riding with me.

“I’m going to say I had some help tonight. It's weird how things work, but, man, when you believe in it and you trust it and you have faith in it, it'll repay you.”

The angel, Busch was referring to was Zahra Baker, a 10-year-old girl, whose remains were found in North Carolina, after she had been reported missing.

Busch had put her name and photo on his No. 18 truck prior to the race.

Busch crossed the finish line .317 seconds ahead of Clint Bowyer. The victory was his third straight in the series, his fourth in six starts this season and the 28th of his career, bringing his aggregate victories across NASCAR's top three series to 97. That ties him with Dale Earnhardt and Darrell Waltrip for third all-time in total wins across all three national series.

Cole Whitt ran third and took over the series points lead. At 19, Whitt is the youngest driver ever to lead the series points and the first rookie.

James Buescher came home fourth, followed by Ron Hornaday Jr., Johnny Sauter, Austin Dillon, Parker Kligerman, Justin Marks, and Brad Sweet.

Top-10 leaders after 7 of 24: 1. Whitt-260, 2. Sauter-259, 3. Hornaday-257, 4. Crafton-243, 5. Dillon-240, 6. Peters-225, 7. Buescher-202, 8. Rogers-195, 9. Kligerman-195, 10. Papais-192

Weekend Racing: The Sprint Cup and Nationwide teams are at Charlotte. The trucks do not race again until June 4.

Sat., May 28, Nationwide Series Top Gear 300, race 13 of 34, Starting time: 2:30 p.m.; TV: ABC.

Sun., May 29, Sprint Cup Coca-Cola 600, race 13 of 36; Starting time: 6 p.m., TV: FOX.

All times are Eastern.

Racing Trivia Question: How many Truck titles has Ron Hornaday won?

Last Week’s Question: Jeff Burton drives the No. 31 Richard Childress Chevrolet. Who did he drive for before RCR? Answer. He drove for Roush Racing.

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

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