District 2 of the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association began planning fall championship events during its August meeting.

Dates have been set in golf and cross country, two sports that will have new formats on the state level – and therefore the district level – beginning this season.

Golf will split into two classifications for the first time.

Cross country is switching from two to three classifications.

Golf team championships will be Oct. 5 at Paupack Hills. The individual titles will be decided Oct. 8 at Fox Hill Country Club.

Cross country will be held Oct. 24 at Elk Lake.

There are 22 Class AA and 18 Class AAA boys golf teams in District 2.

There are 17 Class AA and 15 Class AAA teams in girls golf.

All five county teams – Blue Ridge, Elk Lake, Forest City, Montrose and Mountain View – will compete in Class AA in golf.

The top six boys in each class and the top three girls in each class will advance to the PIAA East Regional. Each district team champion will also have the chance to advance.

In boys cross country, there are nine Class AAA teams, 17 Class AA and 15 Class A.

There are seven Class AAA, 19 Class AA and 15 Class A teams in girls cross country.

All six county schools – Blue Ridge, Elk Lake, Forest City, Montrose, Mountain View and Susquehanna – will be Class A in girls’ cross country. Montrose will be Class AA in boys’ cross country while the remaining schools are in Class A.

District 2 will award 15 medals each in Class A boys and girls, 20 medals each in Class AA boys and girls and 10 medals each in Class AAA boys and girls.

The district will have two team qualifiers and 10 additional individual qualifiers for the state meet in Class AA boys and girls and Class A girls. It will have one team qualifier and five additional individuals in Class AAA boys and girls and Class A boys.

WEEK IN REVIEW

Montrose’s Katie Clark received the award for second-place senior August 21 when she shot an 81 in the Jackman Memorial Girls’ Tournament at Scranton Municipal Golf Course.

Scranton Prep’s Danielle Dalessandro shot a 76 and Central Dauphin had a four-player team score of 338 to win the event, which drew 46 players and five full teams.

The top two players in each class, after the title was determined, received awards.

Selena Cerra of Holy Cross was low senior with a 79 to edge Clark by two shots.

Holy Cross also had the top two juniors – Emily Okrepkie with an 83 and Rachel Mackrell with an 86.

Central Dauphin’s Alli Cooper finished second overall with a 77 and was the low sophomore. Wallenpaupack’s Julia Santo was second with a 78.

Central Dauphin's Alexis Hartwick was low freshman with an 83, followed by Wallenpaupack's Molly Mowatt with a 101.

Montrose also won its opener, making it one of four teams at 1-0 in Lackawanna League Division 2 golf behind Lackawanna Trail, which is 2-0.

In girls’ tennis, Montrose is one of five teams to start 2-0, joining Abington Heights, Honesdale, Scranton Prep and Wallenpaupack.

THE WEEK AHEAD

High school football season gets underway Friday night.

The opening weekend includes Montrose at Carbondale Friday night and Western Wayne at Susquehanna Saturday.

We will once again predict the outcome of all high school football games involving Lackawanna Football Conference teams.

Our record on predictions last year was 90-24 (78.9 percent) for the regular season and 99-28 (78.0 percent) overall.

This week’s predictions, with home teams in CAPS: CARBONDALE 32, Montrose 12; Western Wayne 33, SUSQUEHANNA 23; LACKAWANNA TRAIL 37, Nanticoke 10; Old Forge 16, LAKE-LEHMAN 10; GAR 38, Lakeland 26; Parkland 44, DELAWARE VALLEY 32; SCRANTON 37, Hazleton Area 13; VALLEY VIEW 41, Wallenpaupack 7; DUNMORE 42, North Pocono 20; RIVERSIDE 28, West Scranton 27; Mid Valley 24, HANOVER AREA 20; SCRANTON PREP 35, Wyoming Area 27; EAST STROUDSBURG NORTH 42, Honesdale 19; ABINGTON HEIGHTS 23, Pittston Area 16; Meyers 21, HOLY CROSS 20.

In girls' volleyball, the Lackawanna League season also starts Friday with Susquehanna playing at Dunmore in a matchup of last year's division champions. The Lackawanna League returns to a format where all teams play in the same league this season. In other openers, Montrose is at Blue Ridge, Mountain View is at Lackawanna Trail, Elk Lake is at Western Wayne and Forest City is at Abington Heights.

In girls' soccer, Lackawanna League Division 4 play opens Tuesday, Sept. 4 with Blue Ridge at Montrose and Elk Lake at Forest City.

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.

HAMLIN PERSEVERES AT BRISTOL

BRISTOL, Tenn.— Denny Hamlin displayed one of the best racing performances of the year in Saturday night’s Sprint Cup Irwin Tools race. He and Carl Edwards raced each other hard for several laps, before Hamlin was able to gain the lead on lap 462 of the 500-lap race. As Edwards faded, Hamlin pulled away to beat Jimmie Johnson to the checkered flag by 1.103 seconds.

Unlike Bristol’s Spring race, which had little in the way of excitement, Saturday night’s race featured 13 cautions and plenty of emotion, as drivers began to rubber-in the outside groove and discovered it was the fastest way around.

“It's just a different kind of racing,” said Hamlin, who won the 20th Cup race of his career. “But it was the same thing -- we were all running in a line. You're just waiting for the next guy to screw up to get around (him).

“I don't think we saw as much side-by-side racing, but you didn't see side-by-side racing with the old Bristol. You just saw a bunch of cars in line, waiting for someone to get knocked out of the way or to mess up.”

Denny Hamlin, winner of Bristol Cup race

Jeff Gordon contended for the lead but finished third.

“The pace was fast,” said Gordon, who inched closer to a wild-card spot in the Chase but still trails Kyle Busch by 16 points for the second of two positions. “You'd fly up around the top like that with all that rubber down. . . . It was fast, and it was intense.”

Brian Vickers was fourth, followed by Marcos Ambrose, Kyle Busch, Clint Bowyer, Joey Logano, Kasey Kahne, and Paul Menard.

There were plenty of flare-ups to punctuate the racing. Juan Pablo Montoya wrecked Ryan Newman, and dropped him out of a provisional wild-card spot.

Brad Keselowski got sandwiched between three different cars before wrecking.

Contact from Regan Smith sent Danica Patrick hard into the frontstretch wall.

No wreck was more significant to the outcome of the race -- or to the Cup standings, for that matter -- than the one between Tony Stewart and Matt Kenseth on Lap 332. Stewart had the faster car, but Kenseth had the race lead, and their cars collided as they powered through Turn 4, with Stewart to the outside.

Repeated contact between the cars turned both sideways. Kenseth's Ford careened into the inside wall at the end of the frontstretch, with Stewart's Chevrolet slamming into Kenseth's car.

Kenseth's car was damaged, but he drove away from the wreck. Stewart climbed from his car and slung his helmet squarely into the nose of Kenseth's car, as he came back around the track.

“We weren't that great of a race car, but we were definitely faster than that (Kenseth's car) after that restart (on Lap 329),” Stewart said while his car spent 25 laps in the garage for repairs. “I checked up twice to not run over him, and I learned my lesson there.

“I'm going to run over him every chance I've got from now till the end of the year -- every chance I've got.”

Stewart finished 27th and dropped a spot to 10th in the standings, 16 points ahead of Kasey Kahne in 11th. If Stewart should drop out of the top 10, he won't get bonus points for his three victories when the Chase starts.

Kenseth finished 25th and fell two spots to fourth in points, but he clinched at least a wild-card berth in the Chase.

Top-15 Chase leaders with two races remaining before the Chase begins. Only the top-12 drivers will be in contention. 1. Biffle-849, 2. Johnson-838, 3. Earnhardt-838, 4. Kenseth-823, 5. Truex-797, 6. Bowyer-794, 7. Keselowski-790, 8. Hamlin-774, 9. Harvick-767, 10. Stewart-746, 11. Kahne-730, 12. Edwards-712, 13. Kyle Busch-707, 14. J. Gordon-691, 15. Newman-688.

LOGANO TAKES BRISTOL NATIONWIDE RACE

Joey Logano raced Kevin Harvick side-by-side for nearly 20-laps before passing him and going on to victory in Friday night’s Food City 250 Nationwide race at Bristol. It was his 15th career win and first at the .533-mile short track.

Ricky Stenhouse finished second, followed by Kyle Busch, Austin Dillon, Elliott Sadler, Cole Whitt, Ryan Blaney, Michael Annett, Danica Patrick, and Sam Hornish.

Top-10 leaders after 23 of 33; 1. Sadler-864, 2. Stenhouse-845, 3. Hornish-836, 4. A. Dillon-829, 5. Allgaier-770, 6. Annett-726, 7. Whitt-671, 8. Bliss-640, 9. Scott-550, 10. Patrick-539.

RED HORSE TEAMS ARE RED HOT

Timothy Peters led all 204 laps of last Wednesday night’s truck race at Bristol. With new teammate Parker Kligerman finishing in the runner-up spot, Red Horse Racing had itself a 1-2 finish to remember.

“What an awesome feeling,” Peters said in Victory Lane. “The sky’s the limit right now.”

Will that “no limits” momentum end in a title? After eight top-5 finishes in 13 starts, including a pair of runner-up results at Daytona and Kansas, Peters has given himself a 17-point cushion atop the charts.

RHR’s 1-2 finish at Bristol hasn’t been the only bright spot of the year, though. From rookie John King’s surprise victory to open the year, to veteran Todd Bodine’s win at Dover, the organization — which took home the 2007 series championship with Johnny Benson behind the wheel — has proven they’re worth paying attention to once again. As with many multi-car programs, nothing is perfect; King struggled after that Daytona upset, eventually losing the ride to lack of sponsorship.

Todd Bodine, driver of the third truck has had an amazing run of bad luck, but is still 14th in points.

Funding for the program, put together through patchwork deals continues to be a concern overall, but after 13 of 22 races, RHR has shown they have what it takes to go the distance.

Top-10 truck leaders: 1. Peters-497, 2. Buescher-480, 3. T. Dillon-476, 4. Lofton-472, 5. Kligerman-466, 6. Crafton-448, 7. Coulter-446, 8. Hornaday-422, 9. Piquet-418, 10. White-401.

A YANKEE IN NASCAR

Gene Monahan, the former head trainer for the New York Yankees baseball club is now a member of Hendrick Motorsports.

Monahan retired last fall after 49 years with the organization. A lifelong racing fan going back to his childhood days in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Monahan moved from his two-bedroom condominium in Hackensack, N.J., to a large house in Mooresville, N.C., last November to be close to NASCAR teams.

In April, 2012, he became a consultant for Hendrick and works about 15 hours a week, serving as an athletic trainer for the 45 or so pit crew members employed by the race team.

“Why a guy like Gene?” said Andy Papathanassiou, a Hendrick director who oversees the recruiting, development and training of pit crews. “Because as we strive to keep these crews performing at the top level of their game in the pit stop world, injury and recovery is a big part of that equation. And that's where someone like Gene, with his expertise and background and his enthusiasm for what he does, is invaluable.”

Weekend Racing: The trucks have an off weekend, while the Cup and Nationwide teams are at the 1.54-mile Atlanta Motor Speedway for night races.

Sat., Sept. 1, Nationwide Atlanta 300, race 24 of 33; Starting time: 6:30 pm ET; TV: ESPN2.

Sun., Sept. 2, Sprint Cup Advocare 500, race 25 of 36; Starting time: 6:30 pm ET; TV: ESPN.

Racing Trivia Question: How many Cup teams does Richard Petty Motorsports field?

Last Week's Question: Which team will Cup driver Jamie McMurray drive for next season? Answer. He will remain with his current team, Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing, for at least one more year.

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