DIMOCK ‒ Elk Lake swept all four Class A titles in muddy conditions on its home course Wednesday in the District 2 Cross-Country Championships.
Elizabeth Trowbridge won the individual title while leading the Lady Warriors to the team victory in girls.
Luke Jones finished first, claiming his third straight title, while helping the Warriors win in boys.
Elk Lake led a strong Susquehanna County effort in the girls’ race. Montrose finished second, Susquehanna third and Blue Ridge fifth out of 10 teams.
The Lady Warriors and Lady Meteors took the district’s two team spots in the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association state championships Saturday at the Hershey Parkview course.
Susquehanna sophomores Ivy Christensen and Mikayla Hargett and Blue Ridge’s Lauren Whitney were among the individuals who also advanced to Hershey by finishing in the top 10 spots, not counting the runners from team qualifiers.
The top five, eight of the top 10 and 11 of the top 14 were from the county.
Trowbridge finished the 3.1-mile course in 22:11, beating teammate Jenny Vanetten by nine seconds.
Montrose’s Samantha Bennici and Allison Lewis finished third and fourth then Kenzie Jones of Elk Lake was fifth.
Christensen and Hargett came in eighth and ninth for Susquehanna, one spot ahead of Elk Lake’s Lainey Bedell.
Montrose’s Emma Washo and Angela Russell were 12th and 14th, right before and after Blue Ridge’s Whitney.
Susquehanna freshman Alyssa Sweeney finished one position and eight seconds out of a state trip in 19th place.
Kirsten Hollister was 23rd to complete Elk Lake’s team score of 40.
Courtney Harding was 22nd to help Montrose finish with 54 points.
Susquehanna was third with 93 points, helped by freshman Jessica Plutino-Gilleran in 24th place.
Blue Ridge was fifth with 129 points.
Elk Lake won the boys’ team title, 46-69, over Lackawanna Trail.
Blue Ridge was fourth out of 14 teams with 136 points. Susquehanna was 11th with 269. Mountain View (348) and Forest City (378) occupied the last two places in the team standings.
Susquehanna’s Brandon Soden and Justin Acone and Blue Ridge’s Jake Hinkley were among the 10 individual qualifiers who will join Elk Lake and Lackawanna Trail at the state meet.
Luke Jones finished in 18:18, 10 seconds ahead of Rico Galassi of Holy Cross.
A young group helped bring the Warriors to the title. Sophomore Eddie Cumens was fifth, freshman Hunder Bedell was seventh, and sophomore Dalton Sherman was 14th.
Soden was ninth, Acone 10th and Hinkley 17th to land state berths.
Seth Carney was 19th to complete Elk Lake’s team score.
T. J. Loomis was 20th and David Austin 24th for Blue Ridge.
The Montrose boys competed in Class AA and finished 13th out of 15 teams with 357 points. Scranton Prep edged Tunkhannock, 54-65, for the team title.
Chris Arnold was 41st for the top Montrose finish.
WEEK IN REVIEW
Susquehanna got off to a fast start at Carbondale Friday night but was unable to maintain it in a 41-6 Lackawanna Football Conference Division 3 loss.
The Sabers produced almost half of their total defense in the opening drive while jumping to a 6-0 lead.
Susquehanna moved 61 yards in six plays and 3:41 to open the scoring.
Quarterback Austin White accounted for 65 yards on the possession, beginning with an 11-yard pass to Austin Felter while being wrapped up by a Carbondale pass rusher on third-and-eight.
White ran for six and two yards before a penalty pushed the Sabers back into a third-and-seven situation. From there, White rolled right and round Craig Stanley behind the defense for a 45-yard touchdown.
The extra-point attempt was blocked, but the Sabers were able to carry the 6-0 lead into the second quarter.
Carbondale, which finished its division schedule at 3-2 and improved to 4-5 overall, scored early in each of the next three quarters to take control
The Chargers scored on the first play of the second quarter on their way to a 13-6 halftime lead.
Brandon Sales then sprinted 81 yards untouched up the middle of the field with the second-half kickoff to break the game open.
Susquehanna fell to 2-2 and 3-6.
In another game, Montrose also started strong before falling to Lackawanna Trail, 28-7.
The playoff-bound Lions (3-1, 7-2) broke a 7-7 tie and moved ahead to stay on the final play of the first quarter.
Montrose finished 1-4 in the division and fell to 1-8 overall.
In boys’ socceer, unbeaten Mountain View advanced to the District 2 Class A semifinals with a 5-0 victory over Meyers Friday.
Zeb Cross had a goal and three assists in the first half for the top-seeded Eagles.
Wyoming Seminary eliminated Forest City, 4-0, and Lakeland shut out Elk Lake, 1-0, in other quarterfinals.
Forest City managed just two shots despite having a 5-1 edge in corner kicks.
In girls’ soccer, Mountain View, Forest City and Montrose landed three of the four semifinal spots.
Mountain View pounded Carbondale, 12-3; Forest City shut out Holy Cross, 2-0; and Montrose topped Dunmore, 6-1, in the quarterfinals. Top-seeded Mountain View and Forest City were scheduled to meet in the semifinals Monday.
In girls’ volleyball, Susquehanna finished tied for third out of 10 teams in the Lackawanna League.
The final standings: Dunmore 18-0, Abington Heights 15-3, Susquehanna 12-6, Western Wayne 12-6, Lackawanna Trail 11-7, Mountain View 9-9, Elk Lake 7-11, Montrose 3-15, Blue Ridge 2-16, Forest City 1-17.
Mountain View was eliminated in the quarterfinals of the District 2 Class A tournament with a 25-19, 20-25, 24-26, 25-22, 15-9 loss to Freeland MMI.
Susquehanna was scheduled to face Lackawanna Trail in Tuesday’s semifinals.
COLLEGE CORNER
Blue Ridge graduate Allison Hall was California University’s second finisher to help the team place ninth out of 14 at the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Championships in women’s cross-country Oct. 20 at Slippery Rock.
Hall, a former District 2 champion, needed 24:05.1 to complete the six-kilometer course and finish 38th out of 138 runners. As a freshman last season, Hall was an All-Academic selection.
THE WEEK AHEAD
The District 2 Class A girls’ volleyball championship is scheduled for Thursday at North Pocono at 5.
Susquehanna needed a win Tuesday over Lackawanna Trail to reach the final where its opponent would be unbeaten Dunmore or MMI Prep.
In soccer, the District 2 Class A championships were scheduled for Wednesday, weather permitting.
District officials decided late last week to move semifinals in all classes up to Monday to try to get them completed before Hurricane-related weather arrived in the region.
In high school football, the regular season comes to an end this weekend.
Montrose (1-8) is home against Northwest (5-4) Friday at 7 p.m. and Susquehanna (2-2, 3-6) is home against Old Forge (4-0, 9-0) Saturday at 2 p.m.
Our predictions last week were 9-1 (90.0 percent), making our season record 82-26 (75.9 percent).
This week’s predictions, with home teams in CAPS: Northwest 33, MONTROSE 7; Old Forge 30, SUSQUEHANNA 0; Valley View 44, NORTH POCONO 22; Delaware Valley 47, WALLENPAUPACK 10; Scranton Prep 24, WEST SCRANTON 18; DUNMORE 42, Riverside 13; Mid Valley 36, HONESDALE 6; LAKELAND 29, Western Wayne 25; Northwest 33, MONTROSE 7; Carbondale 41, TUNKHANNOCK 9; Scranton 27, ABINGTON HEIGHTS 17; Lackawanna Trail 47, HOLY CROSS 0.
The PIAA Cross-Country Championships are set for Saturday in Hershey.
The Class A girls are scheduled to start at 9:30 a.m. and the Class A boys are set for 11:45 a.m.
Elk Lake, a top contender for the Class A girls’ title, was second in Class AA lasts season before the PIAA switched to three classifications.
Luke Jones was second in the Class AA boys’ race last year.
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.
