Montrose created a race at the top of Lackawanna League Division 4 boys’ basketball by posting consecutive wins over the two teams expected to battle for the title.

The Meteors were 0-1 in the division and just 3-6 overall before handling Susquehanna, 70-57, and Elk Lake, 42-40, in back-to-back games.

The week ended with Elk Lake still in first place at 3-1, but Blue Ridge and Montrose both at 2-1 and Susquehanna at 2-2.

Cameron Dean scored 18 points for Montrose, which opened a 54-28 lead on Susquehanna after three quarters. Brenton Warner (16), Erik Burgh (15) and Troy Ely (11) also scored in double figures.

Andrzej Tomczyk had 30 points and four steals while Josh Wheeler had 11 points for Susquehanna.

Warner had 11 points and Dean 10 against Elk Lake, which got 12 points from Tanner Reyan.

Susquehanna kept from falling too far from the lead when it defeated Mountain View, 60-35, after falling behind, 15-8, in the first quarter.

The Sabers blitzed the Eagles, 43-11, over the middle two quarters to avoid losing for the fourth time in five games.

Tomczyk led the way with 24 points, five steals and four assists. Cole Mallery had 13 points and 10 rebounds. Josh Wheeler added 10 points and Dan Biegert had five assists.

WEEK IN REVIEW

Jon Haines had a first-period pin at 220 pounds when Blue Ridge defeated Lackawanna Trail, 43-28, to improve to 2-0 and share the Lackawanna League Division 2 wrestling lead with defending champion Western Wayne.

The Raiders took advantage of forfeits at the bottom five weight classes.

Zach Edwards had a major decision for Blue Ridge while Addison Parsons posted a 9-2 win.

In girls’ basketball, Carly Erdmann had 21 points to help Forest City remain unbeaten in Lackawanna Division 3 play with a 61-28 rout of Lackawanna Trail.

The Lady Foresters have won four straight overall since an 0-7 start.

Montrose improved to 5-1 since its 0-6 start by winning twice to remain unbeaten in the division.

The Lady Meteors defeated Susquehanna, 55-36, and Elk Lake, 29-20.

In professional hockey, Robin Lehner made 31 saves Wednesday to lead the Binghamton Senators to a 3-1 victory over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in an American Hockey League game.

The Penguins outshot the Senators, 32-16, including, 14-4, in the third period.

The game was the second time in six days that the Senators beat the Penguins with Lehner in goal on a night when Wilkes-Barre/Scranton had a large shot advantage.

In the previous meeting, Lehner had 43 saves to overcome a 44-15 shot disadvantage in another 3-1 win.

The Penguins bounced back Friday night when Brad Thiessen made 23 saves in a 1-0 shutout of the Hershey Bears.

COLLEGE CORNER

Heather Wimmer won the diving competition Jan. 6 when Marywood University returned to women’s swimming action after the holiday break with a 126-115 Landmark Conference victory over the United States Merchant Marine Academy.

The Montrose graduate competed in swimming at Elk Lake during high school as part of the cooperative sponsorship between the two schools.

Wimmer was named to the Landmark Academic Honor Roll last season as a freshman. She competed in freestyle swimming events as well in her freshman season and wound up finishing third in the 3-meter and fourth in the 1-meter diving at the Landmark Championships.

The sophomore holds Marywood’s school records in both diving events.

THE WEEK AHEAD

Forest City is at Montrose Thursday night in a meeting between two teams that have battled for Lackawanna League girls’ basketball division titles in recent seasons. Both teams entered the week with 3-0 records.

Montrose won the last three Lackawanna Division 3 titles, including 2010-11 in a playoff when both teams had the same record and won a half of the league season. Forest City had the division’s second-best record the other two seasons after winning the 2008-09 championship.

In high school wrestling, Blue Ridge is at Montrose Wednesday.

In professional hockey, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins will play the Hershey Bears Sunday at 5 p.m. at Hersheypark Stadium in the AHL Outdoor Classic.

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.

SPEEDS UP IN DAYTONA TESTING

Speeds were up during last week’s preseason testing of the new car at Daytona.

Several times cars running in packs were timed at nearly 200 miles per hour.

Jeff Burton had the fastest speed of the three-day test at 194.620 mph. In the draft, the top speeds were 199.650. The top 10-lap average in the draft was 195 mph.

“I think they want us going faster,” Burton said. “I think they have a higher comfort level with the roof flaps and all that (and) they think they can get our speeds up.

“They kept inching us up at Talladega (in the test in October) and they got us to this speed, and they seem comfortable with it.”

Robin Pemberton NASCAR Vice President of Competition Robin Pemberton said NASCAR had met its goal of slightly higher speeds.

2012 photo of Jeff Burton

“We know the teams will come back and bring a little bit better this and better that,” said Pemberton. “We feel comfortable with that. The racetrack is coming to us a little bit, and speeds will fluctuate a lot — they’ll be better on new tires and it will drop off as it goes.

“We’re right in the ballpark. We don’t foresee any changes.”

Trevor Bayne, the 2011 Daytona 500 champion, posted the fastest lap at 199.650 mph.

“The biggest thing was just how the draft was working more like it used to be,” said Bayne. “There were no two-car tandems, it was cool being able to back up off the leader and get runs and take the lead and do things like you used to do. It has a little bit more strategy involved than just holding it wide open and hitting the guy in front of you as hard as you could, so I thought it was cool.”

The first Sprint Cup race of the season will be the Daytona Shootout, a 75-lap exhibition race on Saturday, Feb. 16.

Prior to the Shootout, the ARCA Re/Max Series will hold their first regular race of the season.

The Daytona 500 will be run Sunday, Feb. 24.

WILL MAYFIELD MAKE IT BACK TO NASCAR

Jeremy Mayfield called into a radio talk show last week and told Brian France that he would like to become part of NASCAR racing again.

“I want to make a serious comeback,” Mayfield said according to NASCAR.com “(It would be) very positive towards NASCAR. It could only help both sides, especially if you guys give me another chance and keep it all positive.”

Is he being realistic, or is it even possible?

Mayfield was suspended by NASCAR in 2009 and spent three years in court claiming that NASCAR suspended him for a false positive test that he said was for a mix of over-the-counter allergy medication (Claritin) and the prescription medication Adderall.

In addition he faces lots of legal problems, including numerous charges for stolen goods and possession of methamphetamine.

Mayfield believes he can put those charges behind him soon and that he would consider going through NASCAR’s Road to Recovery drug rehabilitation program.

Mayfield asked France what he could do to race in NASCAR again.

“Jeremy, you know the path back for you,” France said. “It’s the path back for anybody. I’ve always hoped that you would choose the right path and not litigation and a bunch of other things.

“That’s up to you. You have a welcome mat out (for you) anytime you want. There’s a stated process that AJ Allmendinger just went through and we welcomed him back and it’s terrific. That’s up to you.”

Mayfield’s call to France was just another strange twist in a bizarre story that would only increase in tempo if Mayfield actually tried to race again considering the combative history and strained relationship between the driver and the sanctioning body.

Other problems developed around him after leaving NASCAR. His home was raided by police in 2011 and he eventually was charged with numerous felonies, one for possession of methamphetamine and 18 for larceny, breaking and entering and possession of stolen goods.

These charges carry a maximum of more than 40 years in jail, if found guilty of all counts. But Mayfield said he and his lawyers have almost reached a plea deal that would not require jail time.

Mayfield is looking on the positive side, but there are many negatives working against him. He is 43-year’s old and has won only five Cup races in his career. If he were to some how get out of all the charges against him without landing in jail, he would still have to complete NASCAR’s drug rehabilitation program before being reinstated.

AJ Allmendinger was reinstated after a year, but he did not resist NASCAR on the charge. To the detriment of Mayfield, he fought NASCAR in court for over three years.

NASCAR is the type organization that doesn’t like for someone to buck them or put them in a bad light, and Mayfield did exactly that.

The case involving Curtis Turner in the 1960s comes to mind. He bucked the powers that be, by trying to organize a drivers union, and it was over five years before the France family reinstated him. I believe the same thing would happen if Mayfield returned.

But let’s go to the bottom line. Mayfield wasn’t setting the racing world on fire before he was forced out. Now at his age, and after having been away from a race car for several years, who would want to take a chance on someone like him with all his less-than-favorable publicity?

He would be bringing too much baggage for any reputable sponsor to accept.

From my standpoint, he needs to learn another line of work.

PATRICK WON’T RUN INDY THIS YEAR

“I can confirm to you today that I will not be doing the Indy 500,” Patrick said. “I’m just going to do the Coke 600. The team and I decided to focus on Cup. It’s going to be plenty of work as it is.

“It’s going to be important for me running for the championship full time for the first time to really keep myself focused with the Cup car.”

Last year, Patrick also focused on Charlotte as one of her 10 Cup races while she also ran a full Nationwide schedule. This year, that schedule will flip with the full Cup slate and about 10 Nationwide races.

Which Nationwide team she will race for is still to be finalized. She said she has talked to Turner Scott Motorsports but hasn’t signed a deal.

“I’m not sure if that is completely set,” Patrick said. “I know there have been some reports that have come out about running for Turner. We’re definitely talking to them and trying to figure it out.

“We’re definitely working on that but there’s nothing signed yet. The exact dates and the races and the sponsors have yet to be confirmed for all that.”

Racing Trivia Question: Did Junior Johnson ever drive an Indy-car?

Last Week’s Question: How many racing flags does NASCAR use? Answer. Seven, they are; black and white checkered, white, green, black, yellow, red, and blue with a yellow stripe.

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

When they got together to vote on all-star teams, coaches from Division 3 of the Lackawanna League laughably made Colby Thomas a second-team selection.

The player they could not contain from a team they were nowhere near being able to match did not need a small measure of local recognition.

Thomas and his teammates had much larger prizes to celebrate.

Whether on the state or national level, Colby Thomas played a big role in lifting his teams to the top.

The junior helped Mountain View High School to the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Class A boys’ championship, the first by a soccer team from Susquehanna County or the Lackawanna League.

When he was not playing with the Eagles, Thomas helped the Lehigh Valley United ’95 team reach the number-one ranking among Under-17 teams in the country. LVU placed third at the USA Soccer Nationals in the summer and reached the higher ranking with a series of strong tournament performances.

For his accomplishments, Thomas has been selected as the 2012 Susquehanna County Transcript Athlete of the Year.

Thomas edged two teammates and Montrose girls’ basketball standout Dallas Ely for the honor.

Dylan Thomas, Colby’s older brother, and Zeb Cross were also considered for their roles in helping Mountain View win Lackawanna League Division 3, District 2 Class A and state titles during a 22-1 season that included outscoring 11 division opponents, 104-4.

Ely became Montrose’s all-time leading scorer and was a first-team, all-state selection after leading the Lady Meteors to the Class AA state semifinals. Also a standout on a championship softball team, Ely went on to start her first eight games at West Chester University where she is the team’s second-leading scorer.

With the school’s first state semifinal appearance as its goal, Mountain View had to overcome the obstacle of preparation against lesser competition when a Lackawanna League decision forced the program to move down two divisions right at the time it was reaching its peak.

Mountain View, a former Division 1 title contender on an annual basis, wound up overwhelming its Division 3 opponents. The margins of victory drew angry responses from opposing coaches and even criticism of coach Roger Thomas, Colby’s father, from the school administration. Only Cross and Dylan Thomas were named first-team all-stars.

The Eagles kept scoring goals through the playoffs. They outscored three District 2 opponents, 15-1, then scored 11 goals in the first two rounds of the state tournament.

When competition became stiffer, Colby Thomas came through. He had two goals, including the game-winner, in a come-from-behind, 3-2 win over two-time defending champion New Hope-Solebury in the state semifinals. The forward assisted the only goal, spent part of the game at midfield when Cross was out with an injury and joined the entire team in taking on a defensive mentality to protect the 1-0 state championship game victory over Sewickley Academy.

Colby Thomas said the Eagles were able to remain composed in the nervous moments of their state semifinal.

“With the adversity we’ve come through this year, it allows you to look at the bigger picture,” he said. “We pushed through that as a team. We kept it as family.”

Family was a big part of Colby’s success, including the early influence of Roger, a former college player and a long-time youth and high school coach.

“He’s been working with me ever since I was 2,” Colby said. “Since I could walk, I’ve had a soccer ball.

“Credit goes to him.”

In addition to being on the championship soccer team together Colby and Dylan, an elite competitor in snowboarding, were two of the top players on the Mountain View baseball team.

Colby Thomas finished the season with 55 goals and 10 assists. Cross added 39 goals and 42 assists. Dylan Thomas, while playing defense, contributed 14 goals and 10 assists.

Colby is the son of Roger and Robin Thomas of Harford.