One of the most impressive streaks in Lackawanna League high school sports has been orchestrated by a Susquehanna graduate.

Frank Passetti is the coach of the Abington Heights girls’ track and field team, which has not lost a dual meet in nearly eight years while putting together a 43-meet Lackawanna Track Conference winning streak. The Lady Comets were 5-0 this season going into Monday’s finale at Wallenpaupack.

Passetti, who is 47-1 (.980 winning percentage) as a girls’ coach since taking over the program at the start of the 2005 season, could be in position to extend the streak to greater lengths. Eight of the top 10 point scorers on the Lady Comets are underclassmen and Passetti already believes the current group could be the best he has put together for league competition.

“It’s probably the best dual meet team we’ve ever had,” Passetti said. “ In 2010, we had three individual state medalists and a relay that medaled. “We finished fourth in the state. That was definitely a very loaded team.” That team, led by Class AAA state 200-meter champion Jordan Hoyt, was better built to score points in big events such as the district and state championships. It may not have matched this year’s team, however, when it comes to putting up points in dual meets.

Abington Heights scored at least 100 of a possible 150 points in each of its first three victories, including a 133-17 romp over West Scranton. “This year, we’re strong in the throws; we’re strong in the sprints,” said Passetti, a 1982 graduate who competed in track and field and other sports while with the Sabers. “ … The areas where we’re not great, we’re still good. That makes us a very competitive dual meet team. “Whether we can stick with a school as big as Hazleton on the district level, that remains to be seen.”

Junior Tessa Barrett gives the Lady Comets another state contender this season. She leads a deep group of distance runners and already set a meet record while winning the 3000-meter state championship during the indoor season. Abington Heights is positioned to remain strong for years to come. Senior Alex Chapman, in the shot put, and the entire 3200-meter relay team are back after finishing second in District 2 last season.

WEEK IN REVIEW

The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins opened the American Hockey League’s Calder Cup Playoffs with a pair of 3-2 wins Saturday and Sunday in Binghamton against the Senators.

The first win came in overtime.

Chad Kolarik’s second goal of the game at 8:18 of overtime and Jeff Zatkoff’s 34 saves produced Saturday’s win. Zatkoff made 35 more saves Sunday and the Penguins withstood a goal by the Senators with 19 seconds left.

In high school sports, Montrose remained undefeated in Lackawanna League competition in softball, boys’ track and girls’ track through Sunday.

COLLEGE CORNER

Michael Bedell ran the 800 meters in a career-best 1:54.79 April 20 to finish sixth in the Big South Championships for the Campbell University track and field team.

The sophomore from Elk Lake ran the 1500 meters in 4:00.75 earlier this season at the adidas Raleigh Relays. At the same event, he helped the Camels finish ninth out of 23 teams in the 3200-meter relay.

Bedell is also part of Campbell’s cross country and indoor track and field teams. He finished 58th at the Big South Cross Country Championships in 27:35.92. Earlier in the season, he set a career-best for 8 kilometers with a

time of 26:52.20.

THE WEEK AHEAD

The Bob Spagna Lackawanna Track Conference Championship Meet is scheduled for Friday at Scranton Memorial Stadium.

In boys’ tennis, the District 2 Team Championships are scheduled to begin Friday. The tournament continues with semifinals and finals Tuesday, May 7 at Kirby Park in Wilkes-Barre.

In professional hockey, Game Three of the first-round Calder Cup Playoff series will be Thursday at 7:05 at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Wilkes-Barre when the Penguins host the Binghamton Senators. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton will also be home Saturday for Game Four, if necessary. If a fifth game is needed, it will be May 6 at the Broome County Arena in Binghamton.

TOM ROBINSON writes a weekly local sports column for the Susquehanna County Transcript. He can be reached online at _RobbyTR@aol.com_ (mailto:RobbyTR@aol.com) and followed on Twitter at @tomjrobinson.

HAPPY HARVICK WINS AT RICHMOND

"Happy" Kevin Harvick, Richmond Cup winner. Furnished by NASCAR

RICHMOND, Vir.-- Fresh tires allowed Kevin Harvick to win Saturday night’s Cup race in a green-white-checkered-flag finish at Richmond.

Harvick came to pit road for tires on Lap 396 of the 400-lap race, after Brian Vicker’s slapped the Turn 3 wall to bring out the race’s last caution. Harvick returned to the track in fourth position, but made short work of the other three drivers who did not pit.

He beat Clint Bowyer to the finish line by .343 seconds to win his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race of the season, his second at Richmond and the 20th of his career.

“When the tires cause you to fall off almost two seconds, you've got to come in and get tires,” he said. “There's not very many guys that stayed out. It all worked out tonight. We've been on the other side of it this year, so to be in Victory Lane is great.”

Bowyer led 113 laps but didn’t have a car that could stay with Harvick at the end.

“We had a good car—we just didn’t have a great car,” Bowyer said. “It seemed like we were just too tight on the throttle. It wouldn’t quite turn and come up off (the corner). It really got wild there at the end. I was just lucky enough to be on the bottom (for the final restart).”

Joey Logano, Juan Montoya, Jeff Burton, Carl Edwards, Matt Kenseth, Aric Almirola, Kurt Busch, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. were the remaining top-10.

Kurt Busch and Tony Stewart, repeatedly swapped shots with each other on the cool-down lap. Stewart was fifth on the final restart but dropped to 18th at the finish after Busch rubbed him out of the racing groove during a two-lap free-for-all that saw lots of contact throughout the field.

Jimmie Johnson had a lot of trouble and finished 12th, but the five-time champion gained ground on his closest pursuers. He now leads second-place Carl Edwards by 43 points and Kahne and Dale Earnhardt Jr. by 46. Reigning Cup champion Brad Keselowski finished 33rd on the bottom end of a roller-coaster day that saw him recover from a scrape with the turn 2 wall only to drop a cylinder in the late going.

Top-10 points leaders after 9 of 36: 1. Johnson-343, 2. Edwards-300, 3. Kahne-297, 4. Earnhardt-297, 5. Bowyer-290, 6. Keselowski-284, 7. Kyle Busch-278, 8. Biffle-272, 9. Harvick-271, 10. Menard-271.

KESELOWSKI TAKES NATIONWIDE RACE

RICHMOND, Va.—Polesitter Brad Keselowski held off Kevin Harvick in a 12-lap run to the finish to win Friday night’s Nationwide race at Richmond.

Keselowski passed Kyle Busch to the lead with nine laps left, with Harvick following into second place a lap later. Keselowski crossed the finish line .718 seconds ahead of Harvick with Busch rolling home in third.

“It’s very gratifying,” Keselowski said. “We’ve had a lot of seconds this year (two in the Nationwide Series), and we’ve been really close on the Cup side. We just haven’t been able to get that win. We’ve struggled here at Richmond, too, both in the Cup and the Nationwide cars, so it’s great to get that turned around and finally get to Victory Lane is great.”

Brian Vickers, Regan Smith, Elliott Sadler, Sam Hornish, Kyle Larson, Travis Pastrana, and Reed Sorenson were the remaining top-10 finishers.

Top-10 points leaders after 7 of 33: 1. Hornish-259, 2. Smith-238, 3. Scott-236, 4. Allgaier-225, 5. Sadler-224, 6. Vickers-222, 7. A. Dillon-222, 8. Kligerman-219, 9. Bayne-213, 10. Larson-204.

THE NASCAR CIRCUS CONTINUES

When you’re an 800 pound gorilla you can not only make your own rules, but you also have the power to levy any penalties you like.

That’s what’s been happening within the Cup series this year.

Knowing how NASCAR loves publicity, I often wonder if they create situations, knowing it will generate sensational emotions, just to gain added fan exposure.

It’s like creating a mountain out of a molehill, to gain an expected result.

The latest incident occurred last week after Matt Kenseth won the Kansas Cup race. The engine in his No. 20 Toyota car failed inspection at NASCAR's Research and Development Center, because one of the engine connecting rods was 2.5 grams too light.

“I think the penalties are grossly unfair,” said Kenseth. “I think its borderline shameful. There's no argument the part was wrong. They weighed it and it was wrong. However, there is an argument that there certainly was no performance advantage.

“If you can find any unbiased, reputable, knowledgeable engine-builder and if they saw the facts, what all the rods weighed. The average weight of all the rods was well above the minimum -- 2.5 (grams) above the minimum at least. There was one in there that was way heavy.”

Crew chief Jason Ratcliff was fined $200,000 and suspended from NASCAR until the completion of the next six Cup races and placed on probation until Dec. 31.
 Car owner Joe Gibbs has lost 50 championship car owner points.

Driver Matt Kenseth has lost 50 championship driver points.

Since all Toyota engines are supplied by the Toyota factory, there was no blame on the part of Joe Gibbs Racing.

NASCAR VP of Competition Robin Pemberton discussed NASCAR's decisions on Friday:

“As everyone knows there are a few things that are understood in the garage area that are big. When you talk about engines, you talk about tires, and you talk about fuel. That's a common thread that's been understood, and it's stood the test of time for the last 65 years. Mess with those areas, and the penalties are severe. But when you look in the case of an engine, the only time we really get a chance to look internally at an engine is post-race. Some of our most severe penalties over time have surrounded engine infractions.”

When asked why the team was penalized rather than the manufacturer, Pemberton replied: “That's tough too. Because when you look at, in their particular situation, we probably don't know all the details, but we do know they come from an outside vendor for the most part, and I don't know how you would go -- it's very difficult to go to an outside vendor and penalize them whether it's springs or shocks or parts that are bought and bolted on race cars. That's why in today's world we all know and relate to the fact that it stops at the crew chief and stops at the owner and stops at the organization that is here to compete.”

Jeff Gordon said a couple weeks ago, “It’s their sandbox, and if you want to race, you have to race their way.”

The circus will continue. The monkeys will just shift their focus to another team.

Weekend Racing: The Cup and Nationwide teams are the longest track on the circuit, the 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway. The Trucks do not race again until May 17.

Sat., May 4, Nationwide Series race 8 of 33; Starting time: 3 pm ET; TV: ESPN.

Sun., May 5, Sprint Cup race 10 of 36; Starting time: 1 pm ET; TV: FOX.

Racing Trivia Question: Kasey Kahne’s Cup career began in 2004. Which team did he start with?

Last Week’s Question: How many Cup races has Joe Nemechek won? He has four; 2004 at Kansas, 2003 at Richmond, 2001 at Rockingham, 1999 at New Hampshire.

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