Kirsten Hollister finished in the top four in four events Friday night when Elk Lake placed sixth out of 20 girls’ teams that scored points in the Lasagna Invitational track and field meet at Wyalusing Valley High School.

The Lady Warriors clinched at least a tie for the Lackawanna Track Conference Division 3 title earlier in the week.

Montrose finished 14th in the girls’ standings at Wyalusing while Susquehanna was 18th.

Jeremy Dibble led the way as Montrose finished 10th in the boys’ standings where 24 teams scored points.

Elk Lake was 13th, Blue Ridge was 16th and Mountain View was 24th.

Hollister was on the second-place 3200-meter relay team along with Maria and Elizabeth Trowbridge and Lainey Bedell.

Megan Bush (shot put) and Hollister (200) were third for the team’s best individual finishes.

Hollister, Kellie Grosvenor, Jenny VanEtten and Rachel Manzek finished third in the 1600 relay.

VanEtten, in the 800, and Hollister, in the 400, each finished fourth.

Maria Trowbridge was fifth in the 800 while Elizabeth Trowbridge was fifth in the 1600.

Manzek (300 hurdles) and Kelzie Jones (3200) were eighth.

Allison Lewis led Montrose with a third-place finish in the 400 and was part of the fourth-place 1600 relay team along with Samantha Bennici, Hanna Dieck and Meghan Gilhool.

Bennici was sixth in the 800, Gilhool was seventh in the 400 and Dieck was also part of the eighth-place 400 relay team.

Myra Lattimore, who was fifth in the 200, and Madelyn Pasteka, who was eighth in the high jump, were also on the 400 relay team. Nichole Lewis was also on the 400 relay.

Rebecca Timm took seventh in the 300 hurdles.

Susquehanna’s Sarah Serfilippi was third in the discus while teammate Melissa Kukowski was fifth in the 100 hurdles.

Montrose’s Dibble placed second in the pole vault, third in the 110 high hurdles and seventh in the 300 hurdles to lead the county performances in the boys’ meet.

Teammate Kurt Kimsey was third in the javelin and seventh in the discus.

Brandon Russell was fourth in the pole vault and Jacob Blom was eighth in the long jump.

Will Bennett, in the 1600, and Matt Cuomo, in the 300 hurdles, finished third to lead Elk Lake. Bennett was also sixth in the 800.

Luke Jones was fourth in the 3200 where he joined three other runners in taking at least seven seconds off the previous record.

Jason Vermeulen was fifth in the long jump while Jeremy Schwartztrauber tied for eighth in the pole vault.

Sean Stanley was third in the triple jump along with being part of the seventh-place 400 relay team to lead Blue Ridge.

Mike Robbs (1600) and Gage Piechocki (discus) were sixth.

Zach Edwards tied for eighth in the pole vault.

Jacob James, Bill Rupakus and Craig Monks were also on the 400 relay team.

Mountain View’s Noah Marsh tied for fifth in the high jump.

WEEK IN REVIEW

SCRANTON – The Lackawanna County Multi Purpose Stadium Authority approved the sale of the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees Thursday morning, clearing the way for reconstruction of PNC Field in Moosic and allowing professional baseball to return to northeastern Pennsylvania in 2013.

The $14.6-million sale of the franchise to SWB Yankees LLC, a joint venture of the New York Yankees and Mandalay Baseball Properties, was approved by a 4-1 vote.

Stadium reconstruction, which will have to be completed under a tight schedule after lengthy sales negotiations, will allow the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees to resume their International League schedule locally in April, 2013. The team is playing its entire 2012 schedule away from home, using stadiums in six other cities.

Scranton attorney John McGee, who led the push that resulted in Triple-A baseball arriving in northeastern Pennsylvania in 1989, spoke out against the sale in the public comments portion of the stadium authority meeting.

McGee, a former member of and solicitor for the authority, was the only member of the public to speak. He repeated his statement from Wednesday’s public hearing that the Stadium Authority should not enter into the agreement without more binding contract language to prevent the Yankees from taking the team out of the area.

The sales agreement includes a 30-year lease of the stadium by SWB Yankees.

“I’m opposed to the sale because of the risk that the team can relocate,” McGee said. “I strongly urge you not to act until the New York Yankees enter into a non-relocation agreement that they entered into with their own city.”

The lease and existing contract language are enough to protect Lackawanna County, according to attorney Steven Labovitz, who led negotiations on behalf of the county. They combine with the financial commitment the Yankees are making, including on future maintenance and capital improvements to the stadium, to make such a move unlikely, according to Labovitz.

The Yankees are leasing the team at $750,000 per year and have committed $15 million toward future stadium upgrades, which was one of the keys to a deal that some involved thought might not happen at one point.

“We were at an impasse,” Labovitz said.

During Wednesday’s public hearing, stadium project construction manager Greg Butz said major demolition work will begin within the next week.

In professional hockey, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins advanced to the second round of the American Hockey League’s Calder Cup playoffs.

The Penguins defeated the Hershey Bears, 2-1, Saturday night in the fifth and deciding game.

Hershey won the third and fourth games at home.

Cal O’Reilly and Zach Sill scored seven seconds apart late in the second period for a 2-0 lead.

Brad Thiessen made 18 saves.

In high school baseball, Montrose won twice to improve to 8-0 and remain alone in the Division 3 lead with the Lackawanna League’s only perfect record.

The Meteors have shown the ability to win close games. They had a one-run victory and a pair of two-run wins prior to beating Blue Ridge, 6-2, and Mountain View, 8-5, in eight innings last week.

Matt Lewis and Mike Rapisardi had two hits each against Blue Ridge. Lewis had a two-run homer while Rapisardi had two doubles.

Zach Loomis scored three runs and stole two bases.

Anthony Bartok allowed two runs in 5 1/3 innings for his third win.

Justin Hartman hit a two-run homer in the top of the eighth to break a 4-4 tie against Mountain View.

Korey Stimmel led off the inning with a single and scored on Hartman’s homer.

Rapisardi struck out 13 while working all eight innings on the mound.

The Meteors are 8-0 in the division and 11-0 overall.

In high school softball, Montrose finished the week 7-1 and tied for first in Division 3 with Lackawanna Trail.

COLLEGE CORNER

After spending four years on the Marywood University basketball team, Susquehanna graduate Brent Keyes was also a member of the school’s first golf team this season.

Keyes shot 94 last week at Scranton Municipal when the Pacers fell to the University of Scranton, 302-322.

Kirk Fallon, another senior from Susquehanna who was on the basketball team, was on the golf team and was in the lineup for one fall match. Fallon shot 89 in at Mountain Laurel during a three-way match in which the Pacers lost to Misericordia and defeated Wilkes.

THE WEEK AHEAD

The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins will be home Saturday, Sunday and, if necessary, Tuesday, May 8 at the Mohegan Sun Arena in their best-of-seven, second-round Calder Cup series with the St. John’s Ice Caps.

St. John’s was scheduled to be home in the series for its first two games Tuesday and Wednesday.

In high school sports, the spring postseason gets started Friday with the quarterfinal round of the District 2 boys’ tennis team championships.

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

Busch Brothers Sweep Richmond

RICHMOND, Vir. - Kyle Busch took advantage of a late caution to win Saturday night’s Cup race at Richmond, while his brother Kurt won Friday night’s Nationwide race.

The Cup race turned on the last caution, which was called because of a plastic water bottle in Turn 2. Tony Stewart, the leader and Busch pitted for fresh tires.

Busch’s team got him out of the pits ahead of Stewart. On the restart with eight-to-go in the 400-lap race, Stewart spun his tires. Dale Earnhardt moved into second, but did not have the car to catch Busch.

Kyle Busch celebrates his Richmond Cup win

“I don't know where that last caution came from, but it was our saving grace,” Busch said in Victory Lane. “It was a gift. We came down pit road and (crew chief) Dave Rogers and the guys went to work and gave us a great pit stop, got me out front.”

Earnhardt, who took over second in the standings - five points behind series leader and 18th-place finish Greg Biffle -experienced brake problems for much of the race, but used the late restart to improve his position after Stewart fell back.

“We had some brake problems all race long,” Earnhardt explained. “I had a great restart, and I ran really great for one lap, and the pedal went back to the floor. I just had to pump it up all the way down the straightaway and I didn't have any front brakes getting into the corner, so I couldn't get in real hard.”

Tony Stewart, the race leader before the final caution, lost ground on the restart and finished third.

That’s the best car I’ve had here at Richmond in a long, long time,” said Stewart. “It was something I felt really comfortable with today. We were where we needed to be at the end of the day. When the caution is for a plastic (water) bottle on the backstretch, it’s hard to feel good about losing.”

Denny Hamlin ran fourth, followed by Kasey Kahne, Jimmie Johnson, Clint Bowyer, Mark Martin, Brad Keselowski, and Carl Edwards.

Jimmie Johnson, came to pit road during a caution on lap 319, but was penalized for a tire violation on his pit stop, after one of his crewmen rolled a tire unattended toward the pit wall, and had to restart from the tail end of the field.

That same restart proved disastrous for Carl Edwards, who led the most laps. He was black-flagged for jumping the start before reaching the restart lines on the outside wall.

Top-12 leaders after 9 of 36: 1. Biffle-338, 2. Earnhardt-333, 3. Hamlin-329, 4. Kenseth-328, 5. Truex-316, 6. Johnson-314, 7. Harvick-313, 8. Stewart-307, 9. Edwards-287, 10. Newman-278, 11. Kyle Busch-265, 12. Bowyer-264.

KURT WINS NATIONWIDE RACE FOR BROTHER

Kurt Busch beat Denny Hamlin to the checkered flag by .062 seconds to win Friday night's Nationwide race at Richmond.

Busch delivered the first-ever Nationwide Series victory to the team owned by his brother, Kyle Busch. The win was Busch's fourth in the series and his first on a short track. Hamlin came up two feet short after a phenomenal drive from the rear of the field after a pit road mistake.

“To get KBM (Kyle Busch Motorsports) its first win -- this is unbelievable,” Kurt Busch said in Victory Lane. “It's harder than you think, putting a program together. You think you can come in here and muscle your way to the top, but you have to think your way to the top.”

Pole-sitter Kevin Harvick ran third, followed by defending series champion Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Sam Hornish Jr. Elliott Sadler finished sixth, followed by Ryan Blaney, Michael Annett, Autin Dillon, and Kasey Kahne.

“This is the most emotional I've ever been for a win,” said Kyle. “Man, this is cool. When you're behind the wheel, it's a lot easier to do. Kurt ran him really tough, and then Denny ran us clean.”

Top-10 leaders after 7 of 33; 1. Sadler-285, 2. Stenhouse-283, 3. A. Dillon-262, 4. Hornish-232, 5. Annett-220, 6. Whitt-207, 7. Allgaier-192, 8. Malsam-182, 9. Bayne-180, 10. Bliss-174.

LACK OF CAUTIONS A NO-NO

There have only been 43 yellow flags this season, going into the Richmond race. At this same point last year there were 80. The last caution for a multicar wreck came April 1, at Martinsville.

Blame it on the cars, tracks, safer racing, or more caution on the drivers part, the lack of action hasn’t made for an exciting year of racing.

It’s left many fans wanting more.

Wrecking, crashing, and bumping and rubbing, has always been an inherent part of the sport of racing.

But not in 2012.

Bruton Smith, owner of Bristol Motor Speedway is in the process of tearing up parts of the track pavement, after the dismal attendance at this year’s Spring race. He plans to grind down the top portion of the racing surface in order to return the racing to its original style.

His decision not to seek driver input on how to fix the track didn't sit well with several drivers. And not all drivers are convinced the decision by Smith to grind the top groove will return racing at the half-mile track to the bumping and grinding it was known for before the 2007 reconfiguration.

“I think they're wasting their time,” said Greg Biffle.

Some drivers point to the uniformity of the car design as the culprit.

“The Car of Tomorrow has brought a lot of great things for us,” said Jimmie Johnson. “But I don't think we can look at the garage area for the next change. I think the change comes with the venues. The change comes with the resurfacing of tracks and reconfiguring tracks to make more side-by-side racing.

“And then there's also the argument of tracks that create more cautions that some people want to see. From a competition side, NASCAR has created a very level playing field, which we were all after. And now we need to look at the venues and try to put on a better show based on the tracks.”

Two track examples would be California and Texas. At California the race ran 124 caution-free laps. Two weeks later at Texas, there was a 219-lap green flag run.

Then came Kansas. There were three cautions for a total of 18 laps. One came when Clint Bowyer spun, and the other two were for debris.

In 2011, there were 18 cautions. This year there were only five.

This is not the type racing fans are accustomed to. Racing is an emotional sport. Except for a couple brief finishes, where the leaders made contact, fans haven’t been treated to much excitement.

Hopefully, the next three races, Talladega, Darlington, and Charlotte will see the action pick up. Fans not only deserve it, but demand it.

Weekend Racing: The Sprint Cup and Nationwide cars will be at the 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway, the longest track on the circuit. The trucks do not race again until May 18.

Sat., May 5, Nationwide AARON’s 312, race 8 of 33; Start time: 3 pm ET; TV: ABC.

Sun., May 6, Sprint Cup AARON’s 499, race 10 of 33; Start time: 1 pm; TV: FOX.

Racing Trivia Question: What ancient site was the Talladega Superspeedway built on?

Last Week's Question: Who drives the No. 3 truck in the Camping World Truck Series? Answer. It is Ty Dillon.

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