DIMOCK - The Elk Lake cross country course has been altered since the District 2 Championships arrived for the first time last year.

Luke Jones followed a different path, but his result was the same.

The Elk Lake junior repeated at home, winning the Class AA boys’ championship, making him one of three runners to defend individual titles in the four races Oct. 26.

Three of the four team champions also repeated.

“I knew I had to get out fast because Holy Redeemer gets out fast,” Jones said.

Holy Redeemer put five runners in the top 10 to take the Class AA boys’ title.

The Blue Ridge boys and Elk Lake girls each finished second behind a Holy Redeemer sweep to qualify for spots in Saturday’s state championships.

Jones qualified as an individual, along with four girls from Susquehanna County.

The top 10 individuals who are not part of the two qualifying teams earned spots in the state meet.

Montrose’s Samantha Bennici and Allison Lewis, Blue Ridge’s Casey Pardum and Susquehanna’s Ivy Christensen made it.

Rico Galassi of Holy Cross and Jones went out even faster than the Holy Redeemer pack. They separated from the rest of the 137-runner field by more than 14 seconds in the first mile.

Jones then moved past Galassi, who was unable to chase him down.

Jones won in 16:45, beating Galassi by 20 seconds and Mitchell Ford, the top Holy Redeemer runner, by 40.

When two runners came in right after Ford and two more in the top 10, the Royals had what they needed for a 31-85 win over Blue Ridge.

Blue Ridge beat out Holy Cross by 11 points for the other state berth.

Jake Hinkley was sixth in 18:01 to lead the Raiders. Teejay Loomis was 16th then Michael Robbs, Chris Carelson and Ethan Mansfield followed in succession from 20th to 22nd to lock up the spot.

Elk Lake was seventh out of 18 teams with 182 points.

Montrose was 11th with 291 and Susquehanna 13th with 382. Forest City and Mountain View did not have complete teams.

Susquehanna sophomore Brandon Soden was 24th.

Eddie Cumens was 26th and Will Bennett 36th for Elk Lake.

Montrose’s Thomas Lewis was 40th and Blue Ridge’s George Ward was 50th.

Marissa Durako led a Holy Redeemer repeat in Class AA girls by repeating her own title by 37 seconds over teammate Rachel Sowinski.

Elk Lake freshman Jenny Vanetten was third.

The Lady Warriors were stronger than the Lady Royals in the fifth, sixth and seventh spots but fell short in the team scoring, 40-58.

Lainey Bedell, Kirsten Hollister, Maria Trowbridge, Abby Zdancewicz and Emily Williams all finished in the top 22 out of 111 total runners and in the top 19 among runners from complete teams, which were therefore part of the team scoring.

Lake-Lehman was third with 105 and Montrose was fourth with 130.

Mountain View beat Mid Valley in a tiebreaker to finish eighth out of 16 teams with 258. Susquehanna was 10th with 293.

Blue Ridge and Forest City ran incomplete teams.

Bennici was seventh for Montrose.

Bedell was 10th, Hollister 12th, Lewis 13th, Pardum 15th, Trowbridge 16th and Christensen 18th.

Pardum and Christensen are freshmen.

Zdancewicz and Williams came in 20th and 21st for Elk Lake.

A total of seven county freshmen were in the top 36, including Montrose’s Angela Russell in 23rd, Blue Ridge’s Laurren Whitney in 28th, Montrose’s Emma Washo in 30th and Susquehanna’s Mikayla Hargett in 36th.

Mountain View’s Kelly Purdy was 34th.

Elk Lake’s seventh runner, Kellie Grosvenor, was 41st and Mountain View’s Alix Taylor was 47th.

Dallas and its top runner, Reagan Rome, repeated in the Class AAA girls’ race.

Dallas also won the team title and Sean Burke of Abington Heights the individual title in the Class AAA boys’ race.

WEEK IN REVIEW

Mountain View and Forest City won District 2 Class A girls’ soccer semifinals.

One day after finishing in the top half of the district cross country field, Taylor converted a penalty kick in the second overtime to lift Mountain View over Lakeland, 2-1.

Carly Erdmann and Megan Goben each had a goal and an assist Friday when Forest City recovered from an early deficit to defeat Montrose, 4-1.

Earlier in the week, Montrose shut out Carbondale, 6-0, in the quarterfinals.

In boys’ soccer, Mountain View and Forest City also advanced, winning quarterfinals to make the District 2 Class A semifinals.

Third-seeded Mountain View shut out Montrose, 4-0, and fourth-seeded Forest City blanked Meyers, 3-0.

Zach Sosnoski made 15 saves in the shutout for Forest City.

Brian Nebzydoski, Ryan Long and David Cavalieri scored for the Foresters.

Wyoming Seminary shut out Elk Lake, 2-0, in the District 2 Class AA quarterfinals.

In field hockey, Nanticoke eliminated Elk Lake, 2-0, in a District 2 Class AA first-round game.

In football, Lackawanna Trail hammered winless Montrose, 42-6.

Eric Laytos ran for two touchdowns, passing the 1,000-yard mark in the process, and forced a fumble in the first half when the Lions opened a 35-0 lead to assure that the entire second half would be played under the Mercy Rule.

The Lions then built the lead to 42-0 when Jonathan Zedar ran back the second-half kickoff for a touchdown.

COLLEGE CORNER

Ellen Squier, a senior from Elk Lake, finished 13th to lead Philadelphia Biblical University Saturday at the Colonial States Athletic Conference Cross Country Championships at Keystone College.

Squier finished the six-kilometer course in 22:36.2 to land a spot as a second-team CSAC all-star.

THE WEEK AHEAD

The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Cross Country Championships are set for Saturday at the Parkview Course in Hershey.

The Class AA girls’ race, including the defending champion Elk Lake team and four county individuals, is scheduled for 9:30 a.m.

The Class AA boys’ race, including Blue Ridge and Elk Lake’s Jones, is scheduled for 11:30 a.m.

In boys’ soccer, the District 2 Class A championship is scheduled for Thursday at 7:30 at Scranton Memorial Stadium. The game will feature the winners from the semifinals, which were scheduled Monday with Holy Cross facing Forest City in one game and Mountain View taking on Wyoming Seminary in the other.

In girls’ soccer, Mountain View will face Forest City Thursday at 5:30 at Scranton Memorial Stadium for the District 2 Class A championship.

In girls’ volleyball, the District 2 Class A championship match will be played Wednesday at Marywood University between the winner of Monday’s semifinals that put Susquehanna against Mountain View and Lackawanna Trail against MMI Prep.

In football, the regular-season concludes for Susquehanna and Montrose Friday night.

Susquehanna was 2-1 in the division and 5-3 overall going into Monday when it was scheduled to play Mid Valley after their game was postponed Saturday.

The Sabers are set to play at Old Forge, which also was pushed back to Monday with its game at Holy Cross. Going into Monday, the Blue Devils were 3-0 and 7-2.

Montrose (0-4, 0-9) is home against Mid Valley (2-1, 4-4 going into Monday).

Our predictions in last week’s games were 7-1 (87.5 percent) in the games that were completed as of presstime, bringing our season record to 81-23 (77.9 percent).

This week’s predictions, with home teams in CAPS: OLD FORGE 23, Susquehanna 6; Mid Valley 52, MONTROSE 6; CARBONDALE 27, Honesdale 26; LAKELAND 36, Western Wayne 23; Dunmore 31, RIVERSIDE 14; DELAWARE VALLEY 27, Wallenpaupack 24; SCRANTON 30, Abington Heights 0; VALLEY VIEW 45, North Pocono 0; Lackawanna Trail 38, HOLY CROSS 24; SCRANTON PREP 24, West Scranton 14.

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

Stewart Gets Third Chase Win

MARTINSVILLE, Vir. - Tony Stewart won his third Chase race Sunday at Martinsville and moved into second, just eight points behind Carl Edwards.

On the last restart with three to go in the 500-lap race, Stewart was lined up on the outside of leader Jimmie Johnson. As the cars entered turn-3, Stewart pulled alongside Johnson, and as the cars headed down the frontstretch, he completed his pass for the lead.

Tony Stewart, winner at Martinsville.

“Man, I don’t know how I pulled that off,” said Stewart. “No one passes the 48-car on the outside.

“I didn’t think we had the best car, but I had a little more grip than I thought.”

Stewart served notice in victory lane that he has his sights set on another Cup championship.

“He'd better be worried. That's all I can say. He's not going to have an easy three weeks,” he said, referring to Carl Edwards.

Johnson appeared to have the fastest car at the end, but unlike most of the other leaders, he did not pit for fresh tires during a caution on lap 473.

“Not taking on fresh tires may have hurt us, but once he (Stewart) got up alongside me I was worried about not wrecking either one of us,” said Johnson.

Johnson moved from seventh to sixth in points, but is still 43 behind Edwards.

Third-place finisher Jeff Gordon led the most laps (113), but lacked speed near the end.

“This was an absolutely crazy race,” said Gordon. “I got into Junior (Earnhardt) once. I went high when I should have went low. I don’t know what happened, but our car lost something on those last two runs.”

Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin, Jeff Burton, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Martin Truex, Carl Edwards, and Ryan Newman were the remaining top-10.

Chase contenders Matt Kenseth, Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch, and Brad Keselowski all took hits late in the race.

On lap 461, Kenseth and Kyle Busch tangled, forcing both cars into the pits for repairs. Kenseth’s No. 17 had to go to the garage area, while Busch’s No. 18 was repaired on pit road.

Busch was in such a hurry to leave his pit stall that his team didn’t have time to tighten the lugnuts on his left front tire. He sped out of his pits, and about the time he reached the track surface, the tire came off and rolled about halfway around the track.

Keselowski finished 17th, with Kyle Busch 27th, and Kenseth 31st.

There was a record-high 18 cautions for 106 laps.

The three remaining races are at Texas, Phoenix, and Homestead.

Top-12 Chase contenders after 33 of 36: 1. Edwards-2273, 2. Stewart-2265, 3. Harvick-2252, 4. Keselowski-2246, 5. Kenseth-2237, 6. Johnson-2230, 7. Kyle Busch-2216, 8. Kurt Busch-2215, 9. Earnhardt-2200, 10. J. Gordon-2197, 11. Hamlin-2193, 12. Newman-2193

KENNY WALLACE TO MAKE 520th START

Kenny Wallace will make his 520th Nationwide start this wekend at Texas breaking Jason Keller’s old record. Wallace’s first race was in 1988 at Martinsville in a car owned by Dale Earnhardt.

“Actually when I think of 520 starts, in a weird way I don't think of the Nationwide Series," Wallace said on NASCAR.com. “I've got 344 Cup Series starts. I spent 10 full years in Sprint Cup. So as appreciative as I am to be in the Nationwide Series, it's not really that 520 that I'm thinking about. I'm thinking about 864 combined starts and how that ranks 14th in NASCAR history.

The youngest of the three Wallace racing brothers, Kenny never emerged from the shadow of oldest brother Rusty as a racer.

When he was 15, Kenny traveled with Rusty to a race in Mobile, Alabama.

“For helping on the team, sometimes they would let me practice the car,” he said. “This time I never got in the car. But he did let me get behind the wheel of the the hauler as we left the track. It had been a two-day show, and Rusty and all the team were exhausted, so I was designated to drive.

“After a couple hours Rusty woke up and began screaming. He had looked over at the speedometer, which was showing 80 miles per hour, and almost had a heart attack. He made me pull over, and took the wheel.

“That’s the last time Rusty let me drive home after a race.”

This year he's seventh in points, two spots in front of his nephew Steve. His career earnings as a Nationwide driver are more than $10-million.

Wallace is a seasoned driver and an ambassador of the sport, a hustler who never seems to tire publicly while scrambling to keep admirers smiling all around him.

He plans to run at least one more season in the Nationwide Series and then see where he's at. But he's feeling more at ease with himself these days as a television analyst.

“It really bothered me that people thought of me just as a TV guy,” He said. “I've had literally not hundreds but thousands of people tell me how good I am on TV, and I've struggled with it my whole life. I'm good at something I don't care about being good at.

“And now, at 48 years old, I'm very grateful. Now I know my place in life. It doesn't bother me like it used to. It used to tear me up, but now I'm almost there. I would say I'm 90-percent OK with it and I've come a long way - because I used to be 100-percent not OK with it.”

As for what others think of him as a driver, he said he no longer cares. He said he knows exactly what he is and where he belongs.

And no matter what others do think of him, Kenny Wallace has added an awful lot to the racing world.

HAMLIN GETS FIRST TRUCK WIN

Denny Hamlin won Saturday’s Truck Series race, while driving one of Kyle Busch’s trucks at Martinsville Speedway.

“The Truck Series is lots more competitive now than it's ever been, and it means a lot to myself to win a Truck Series race, especially running just one a year,” said Hamlin. “This was just one of those weekends where everything worked out great for us.”

Ron Hornaday Jr. ran second followed by Austin Dillon, Johnny Sauter, Joey Coulter, Kevin Harvick, Cale Gale, Timothy Peters, Brendan Gaughan, and James Buescher.

Top-10 leaders afer 23 of 25; 1. Dillon-811, 2. Buescher-800, 3. Hornaday-796, 4. Sauter-796, 5. Peters-763, 6. Bodine-744, 7. Crafton-720, 8. Coulter-719, 9. Whitt-715, 10. Kligerman-682

SPRAGUE HEADED BACK TO TRUCKS

Dave Moody reported on Sirius Radio last week that Truck Series driver, Jack Sprague will return full-time in 2012, driving for for Randy Moss Racing.

Sprague has been absent from the NASCAR garage since 2008, when he finished ninth in points driving for Kevin Harvick, Inc. and Wyler Racing. His last win came in 2007. He has 28 career wins in 297 starts, along with the 1997, 1999 and 2001 series titles.

He will reportedly run the 2011 season finale at Homestead Miami Speedway for Winfield Motorsports, reuniting with former crew chief Dennis Conner. Sprague and Conner teamed to win 24 Truck Series races and three championships.

Weekend Racing: The Cup, Nationwide and Truck teams will be at the 1.5-mile Texas Motor Speedway this weekend.

Fri., Nov. 4, Camping World Trucks Winstar 350, race 24 of 25; Starting time: 8:30 p.m.; TV: Speed.

Sat., Nov. 5, Nationwide O’Reilly Auto Parts Challenge, race 32 of 35; Starting time: 1 p.m.; TV: ESPN2.

Sun., Nov. 6, Sprint Cup AAA Texas 500, race 34 of 36; Starting time: 2 p.m.; TV: ESPN.

All times are Eastern.

Racing Trivia Question: Where is Kenny Wallace’s hometown?

Last Week’s Question: Who is the current crew chief on Tony Stewart’s No. 14? Answer. It is Darian Grubb.

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