SCRANTON – Montrose finished first in half the events and placed in the top three in the other three while defending its Class AA girls’ championship in the Jordan Relays Thursday night at Scranton Memorial Stadium.
Samantha Bennici was a member of each of the three winning relays to help Montrose continue a successful week.
Just three days earlier, Montrose completed an unbeaten run through Division 4 of the Lackawanna Track Conference with a title-clinching sweep of the boys’ and girls’ meets against Blue Ridge.
Bennici collected the most gold medals, but she said the team points were the most important issue of the day.
“That was our main goal coming in here,” Bennici said. “We didn’t care how many gold medals we won. We really wanted the team title.”
Bennici showed her versatility, running the anchor 1600 leg in the distance medley relay, anchoring the 4x800 and running a leg of the 4x400.
“She’s such a hard worker,” Montrose coach Sean Castellani said. “We put her in the mile, the 800 and the 400.
“She could probably even run the 100.”
The Lady Meteors also took second in the 4x100 relay and 1200 sprint medley relay while finishing third in the 1600 medley relay.
Allison Lewis, who was also on a second-place relay, and Angela Russell, were each part of two of the wins.
Myra Lattimore ran on one winner and two second-place relays.
Meghan Gilhool was part of a win and a second-place finish while Rebecca Timm was part of a win and a third-place finish.
Hannah Dieck and Madelyn Pasteka took part in two second-place finishes and one third.
Emma Griffiths and Emma Washo were on the winning 4x800 relay.
Megan Dunne was part of the third-place relay.
“The girls work so hard all year long,” Castellani said. “I can’t ask for more than what they did.
“This is a very competitive event. This is great competition that they won against. Lakeland has great sprinters; Holy Cross has great distance runners.
“They were able to overcome all of that.”
The Lady Meteors scored 52 points, clinching the win before the final event. Lakeland and Holy Cross tied for second with 36 points.
Blue Ridge placed sixth with 20 points. Susquehanna was 10th with four points.
Blue Ridge was third in both the 400 relay and 1200 sprint medley relay.
Lakeland won the Class AA boys championship with 54 points, 20 more than Dunmore and Holy Cross, who tied for second place.
Blue Ridge was seventh with 11 points, Montrose was ninth with 8 and Susquehanna was 10th with 6.
Montrose completed its unbeaten regular seasons with a 117-33 girls’ win and an 84-66 boys’ victory Monday.
The final LTC Division 4 standings were:
Girls: Montrose 5-0, Elk Lake 4-1, Blue Ridge 3-2, Lackawanna Trail 2-3, Susquehanna 1-4, Mountain View 0-5.
Boys: Montrose 5-0, Blue Ridge 4-1, Elk Lake 3-2, Lackawanna Trail 2-3, Susquehanna 1-4, Mountain View 0-5.
WEEK IN REVIEW
The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins scored three third-period goals May 1 to complete a three-game sweep of the Binghamton Senators in the first round of the American Hockey League’s Calder Cup Playoffs with a 3-2, home-ice victory.
Binghamton held a 1-0 lead for more than 47 minutes until Zach Sill scored a short-handed goal off a Jayson Megna pass to allow the Penguins to tie the game with 7:32 remaining.
Riley Holzapfel’s power-play goal with 1:18 left put the Penguins in front.
Megna added an empty-net goal with 28 seconds to play before Binghamton’s Mark Borowiecki scored with 1.5 seconds left.
Brad Thiessen made 19 saves in the win.
In boys’ tennis, Montrose finished fifth among nine teams in the Class AA Division of the Lackawanna League.
The final standings were: Scranton Prep 13-1, Holy Cross 9-5, Dunmore 8-6, Valley View 8-6, Montrose 5-9, Honesdale 4-10, Mid Valley 2-12, Western Wayne 1-13, Riverside 0-14.
In junior high track, Elk Lake won five boys’ and three girls’ individual gold medals Friday night at Scranton Memorial Stadium in the Phil Tochelli Championships for Lackawanna Track Conference junior high teams.
Cody Oswald (800), Daniel Bell (3200), Jason Vazquez (300 hurdles), Josh Santomauro (pole vault) and Tom Malindri (shot put) won titles for the Elk Lake boys.
Elk Lake finished tied with Montrose for third place with 61 points. Lakeland outscored Dunmore, 170.5-84, for the team title.
Blue Ridge’s Garrett Mansfield won the javelin.
Mountain View was eighth and Blue Ridge 10th.
Keri Jones won the 1600 and 3200 and Katie Bennett won the 800 to help Elk Lake finish third in the Class AA girls’ standings with 63 points.
Lakeland ran away with the team title with 181 points.
Mountain View was second with 73 points, with help from wins by Emmille Miller in the shot put and Jamie Supanick in the pole vault.
Montrose won the 400 relay and was fourth in the team standings with 61 points.
Blue Ridge was sixth and Susquehanna 11th.
COLLEGE CORNER
Taylor Cundey was part of the Alderson-Broaddus College men’s volleyball team, which won the Penn-Ohio Valley League South title and advanced to the National Collegiate Volleyball Federation’s national tournament for club teams in Dallas, Texas.
Alderson-Broaddus, a West Virginia school, went 4-3 at nationals, including wins over Villanova and top-ranked Adrian College. The Battlers finished 18-11.
Cundey, a 6-foot-4 sophomore from Susquehanna, is a middle hitter for the Battlers. He was second on the team in aces (18), third in solo blocks (10) and fifth in kills (43).
THE WEEK AHEAD
The District 2 Class AA boys’ tennis singles tournament is scheduled for Thursday and Friday.
The action begins Thursday at 9 a.m. at Kirby Park in Wilkes-Barre.
Semifinals and finals are set for Friday, beginning at 1 p.m. at a site to be determined.
In track and field, the District 2 Class AA Championships are scheduled for Monday, May 13 at Scranton Memorial Stadium, beginning at 3 p.m.
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.
LONGSHOT RAGAN GETS TALLADEGA VICTORY
David Ragan, winner at Talladega
TALLADEGA, Ala.—Teammates David Ragan and David Gilliland teamed up to win Sunday’s rain-delayed Sprint Cup race at Talladega.
The race which was stopped for three hours and forty five minutes with 61 laps to go, because of rain didn’t finish until nearly dark, and when it was over, two long shot drivers had taken the top spots.
“I’m kind of a low key guy,” said Ragan. “I don’t know how we got this win, but I want to thank the lord and my teammate, David.”
The final caution came after a big wreck with six laps left caught up about 10 cars. With the field racing four wide, Ricky Stenhouse went to the outside and tapped J.J. Yeley. That took out Ryan Newman and Kurt Busch as Busch's car flipped over the top of Newman's.
Jeff Gordon and Danica Patrick also were caught up in the crash.
After the debris was cleared away, NASCAR announced that since it was getting dark, there would only be one green-white-checkered start.
Matt Kenseth, who led the most laps was at the front of the pack, followed by Carl Edwards, Jimmie Johnson, and Kurt Busch.
In less than a lap, Carl Edwards dove down under Kenseth for the lead, but Ragan and Gilliland were drafting up through the field on the outside. They caught the leaders on the backstretch of the final lap, and as the cars headed for the checkered flag, the two leaders had two much momentum to be denied.
“It’s been my dream since I started racing to stand in victory lane after a Cup race,” said Gilliland. “This is pretty close to winning. I’m just glad I could help David get there.”
Matt Kenseth led the most laps, but just got outraced at the end.
“I don’t know what went wrong,” said Kenseth. “Carl (Edwards) got a huge run, but I thought I still had a chance, but when David got ahead of me, I knew it was over.”
Ryan Newman, who was involved in the last big wreck, had some choice words for NASCAR, saying, “They got what they wanted.....Running in the dark, running in the rain.'”
The typical Talladega “Big One” came during lap 43. It started after Kyle Busch tapped Kasey Kahne’s rear bumper, sending Kahne’s No. 5 into a spin. From there it wasn’t pretty as cars went sliding, bumping, and wrecking all over the track.
All told, 13 cars were involved. Most of them did not finish the race, including Busch and Kahne.
“I don’t know what happened,” said Busch. We were all in a bunch just racing. I don’t know if he (Kahne) slowed down or what, but I just got into him.”
Both cars were racing for second when the accident occurred.
“I just kind of got shot through the center there, just a lot of momentum coming from behind,’ said Kahne. “Felt the No. 18 pushing me and next thing I know I was spinning. You just can't push with these cars. We learned that at Daytona, he was pushing me and spun me in the wall and then happened again, so that is what it is. I think we both probably understand what happened and we will figure it out from there.”
The top-10 unofficial finishers: 1. David Ragan, 2. David Gilliland, 3. Carl Edwards, 4. Michael Waltrip, 5. Jimmie Johnson, 6. Regan Smith, 7. Matt Kenseth, 8. Martin Truex, 9. Scott Speed, 10. Aric Almirola.
Top-12 unofficial points leaders after 10 of 33: 1. Johnson-383, 2. Edwards-342, 3. Earnhardt Jr.-324, 4. Bowyer-316, 5. Keselowski-314, 6. Kahne-299, 7. Almirola-293, 8. Menard-290, 9. Busch-285, 10. Biffle-280, 11. Kenseth, 279, 12. Harvick-276.
SMITH EDGES LOGANO FOR TALLADEGA WIN
With a push from teammate Kasey Kahne, Smith roared out of the pack during the final 400 yards of a green-white-checkered-flag finish and won a race decided when NASCAR called the seventh and final caution an instant before the four cars battling for the win crossed the finish line.
Smith was the leader as the field was frozen when NASCAR called the caution. Kahne was first across the stripe but was scored in third place behind Smith and Joey Logano, who were the two lead drivers when the caution lights came on.
“I was having flashbacks, sitting on pit road--I'm not going to lie--when they were making the decision,” Smith said. “I was like ‘Man, I hope we got it--I'm pretty sure we got it when the flag came out and I saw the lights come on… They only thing I didn't know was if they took it all the way to the stripe.”
Joey Logano, Kasey Kahne, Kurt Busch, Justin Allgaier, Parker Kligerman, Mike Wallace, Jason White, Jeremy Clements, and Austin Dillon were the remaining top-10 finishers.
Top-10 points leaders after 6 of 33: 1. Smith-305, 2. Hornish-278, 3. Allgaier-265, 4.Kligerman-258, 5. Sadler-258, 6. A. Dillon-257, 7. Scott-254, 8. Vickers-252, 9. Bowman-231, 10. Bayne-230.
PENSKE PENALITIES UPHELD
The NASCAR Appeals Panel upheld the penalties Wednesday to the Penske Racing teams of No. 2-Brad Keselowski and No. 22 of Joey Logano. Team owner Roger Penske said he would appeal the ruling to National Stock Car Racing Chief Appellate Officer John Middlebrook.
“I can't make any comments, it's clear we have a process and I'm better off to wait to see that conclude,” Penske said. “All I can say about the process is it's fair and equitable. We had an opportunity to explain our case in detail. We will move onto the next step.”
Penske will utilize the final step in the appeal process, in which NASCAR chief appellate officer John Middlebrook will hear from both sides. The hearing will take place May 7.
Weekend Racing: The cup and Nationwide teams are at Darlington. The Trucks do not race again until May 17.
Fri., May 10, Nationwide Series race, 9 of 33; Starting time: 7:30 pm ET; TV: ESPN2.
Sat., May 11, Sprint Cup race, race 11 of 36; Starting time: 7 pm ET; TV: FOX.
Racing Trivia Question: Who is Aric Almirola’s teammate at Richard Petty Motorsports?
Last Week’s Question: Kasey Kahne’s Cup career began in 2004. Which team did he start with? Answer. Ray Evernham Motorsports.
You may e-mail the Racing Reporter at: hodges@race500.com.
Lacy Nealy
The Montrose softball team won one division title last season and is well on its way toward possibly winning another.
Sophomore Lacy Nealy has been right in the middle of that success in her two seasons as a high school player.
Nealy was the pitcher for every win as Montrose went 13-1 to win the Lackawanna League Division 3 title last season and 9-0 to take the lead in Division 4 this season. She also keeps busy in the other half of the game as a key run producer from the fourth spot in the batting order.
For her efforts, Nealy is the Susquehanna County Transcript Athlete of the Month for April.
During the month, Nealy was 8-0 in the division as a pitcher and 1-1 in crossover games. She also batted .385 while scoring 15 runs and driving in 10.
“She’s a very hard worker,” Montrose coach Mel Lasher said. “She works during the winter. It’s not just a summer thing for her.”
Nealy uses a combination of six pitches, which have helped her strike out 39 batters while posting a 2.06 earned run average.
A pitcher since she started playing softball as an 8-year-old and advanced to travel ball at 12, Nealy also helps her teams offensively.
“I’m usually in the middle of the lineup,” said Nealy, who also has played the last two summers for the Southern Tier Smoke.
Nealy has led the way as Montrose has made progress toward a potential second straight title despite several changes in the lineup.
“We have a lot of freshmen, but they’ve been doing very well,” Nealy said.
Lacy, the daughter of Mark and Kathy Nealy of Fairdale, also plays volleyball at Montrose. She made the varsity team as a freshman and moved into the starting lineup as a sophomore.
