Elk Lake’s Luke Jones set a Robert Spagna Lackawanna Track Conference meet record May 7 at Scranton Memorial Stadium while winning the 3200 meters in 9:33.28.
Two Lady Warriors won titles, giving Elk Lake three of the four victories produced by Susquehanna County athletes.
Taylor Watkins won the javelin with a throw of 110-2. Megan Bush, who also placed seventh in the discus, won the shot put with 36-8.
Montrose won the 400-meter relay in 51.0 seconds and finished second in the 1600 relay on their way to a second-place finish in the Class AA girls’ standings with 49 points.
Myra Lattimore and Madelyne Pasteka led the individual efforts by Montrose girls. Lattimore was third in the 200 and fifth in the 100. Pasteka tied for the best height in the high jump but finished third on a tiebreaker.
Allison Lewis was fourth in the 400 and eighth in the 800 for the Lady Meteors. Rebecca Timm was sixth in the 300 hurdles and tied for eighth in the pole vault. Meghan Dunne tied for sixth in the 100 hurdles.
Sarah Serfilippi took fourth in the discus and Melissa Kukowski was eighth in the 100 hurdles for Susquehanna.
Elk Lake’s Kenzie Jones was fourth in the 3200.
The Lady Warriors added a fourth-place finish in the 3200 relay and a seventh in the 1600 relay.
Lindsey Rupakus was fifth in the 300 hurdles, Dakota Radakovich was fifth in the discus and the 1600 relay team was eighth for Blue Ridge.
Lakeland won the Class AA girls’ team title with 76 points.
Elk Lake was third with 34 points. Blue Ridge was seventh with nine points and Susquehanna was ninth with six.
Abington Heights, coached by Susquehanna graduate Frank Passetti, won the Class AAA girls’ title.
Elk Lake was fourth in Class AA boys with 18 points. Lakeland outscored Dunmore, 83-66, for the team title.
Montrose was sixth with 14 points. Blue Ridge was ninth with eight and Susquehanna was 10th with two.
Jason Vermeulen was fourth in the long jump and Eddie Cumens sixth in the 800 for Elk Lake.
Jeff Zuber was fourth in the triple jump, Troy Ely was fifth in the high jump, John Lawson was sixth in the discus and Jacob Blom was seventh in the long jump for Montrose.
Blue Ridge was led by Bill Rupakus, who was fifth in the 800 and part of the fifth-place 3200 relay team.
Sal Pelicci finished seventh in the pole vault for Susquehanna.
WEEK IN REVIEW
Both Montrose players were eliminated by opponents from Dunmore Friday in the first round of the District 2 Class AA boys’ tennis singles tournament at Kirby Park in Wilkes-Barre.
Bryan Shultz fell to Tom Occhipinti, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2. Justin Parrish lost to Dennis Mundt, 6-1, 6-0.
In high school softball, Montrose has clinched no worse than a tie for first place in Division 4 of the Lackawanna League with a 10-1 record.
In high school baseball, the pitching of Dylan Thomas has helped Mountain View go into the last few days of the regular season tied for first place in Division 4 of the Lackawanna League with Lackawanna Trail at 10-1.
In professional hockey, the Providence Bruins jumped out to a 2-0 lead in their second round, best-of-seven Calder Cup Playoff series with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.
Providence won Friday’s opener, 8-5, and took Game Two Saturday, 4-2.
The high-scoring start was a surprise from the teams that ranked 1-2 in the American Hockey League in allowing the fewest goals this regular season.
Chris Bourque had a goal and three assists for Providence in the opener.
In professional baseball, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre outfielder Zoilo Almonte was named International League Player of the Week for the period of April 29-May 5 after helping the RailRiders go 8-0 on a road trip.
Almonte hit .355 for the week with two home runs, seven RBI and 11 hits while extending his hitting streak to 10 games with hits in all eight games on the trip.
The RailRiders then got plenty of help from established Major Leaguers.
Curtis Granderson, on an injury assignment from the New York Yankees after leading them with 43 home runs last season, had three straight hits at one point. He hit the game-winning, two-run homer in the eighth inning of his second game for a 5-3 victory over the Gwinnett Braves Friday night, then added two hits and drove in a run to start Saturday’s 4-3 win over Gwinnett.
“Leg-wise, I felt good,” Granderson, a three-time All-Star, said after Saturday’s game. “That’s the big thing right now, getting nine innings in.”
Granderson was 4-for-12 with the home run and three RBI through three games.
Chien-Ming Wang worked a season-long 7 2/3 innings, allowing six hits in Saturday’s win. The former Cy Young award runner-up is 2-2 with a 2.82 ERA in five starts with the team.
Wang led the American League with 19 wins in 2006 and matched that win total the next season while finishing second.
COLLEGE CORNER
Julia Koloski of the University of Pittsburgh posted career-bests in the triple jump in consecutive prestigious events.
Koloski finished second in the college division of the Penn Relays April 27 with a jump of 12.50 meters (41-0 ¼). The junior from Montrose had the second-best triple jump of the year for Pittsburgh and finishing behind only France Makabu of Middle Tennessee State.
A week later, Koloski set a new personal best in the long jump and triple jump at the Big East Championships.
Koloski went 12.70 meters in the triple jump May 5 to finish third after going 5.90 meters to finish eighth in the long jump the previous day at the Big East Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Piscataway, N.J.
THE WEEK AHEAD
The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins return home for the Calder Cup Playoffs against the Providence Bruins Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, if a fifth game is necessary.
If the best-of-seven series extends to a sixth game, it will be Monday, May 20 in Providence.
In boys’ volleyball, the District 2 Class AA tournament will begin with quarterfinal matches Wednesday. Semifinals will be played in a doubleheader Tuesday, May 21.
Susquehanna was scheduled to face Lackawanna Trail in a Monday play-in game to claim the eighth seed and a shot at top-seeded, host North Pocono Wednesday at 5.
In boys’ tennis, the District 2 Class AA doubles tournament is scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday. The first round will begin at 9 a.m. Wednesday at Kirby Park and action will continue there that day through the quarterfinals.
In baseball, the District 2 Class AA tournament begins Friday with the Class A tournament scheduled to start Monday, May 20.
In softball, the District 2 Class AA tournament opens Monday, May 20 and Class A starts Tuesday, May 21.
TOM ROBINSON writes a weekly local sports column for the Susquehanna County Transcript. He can be reached online at RobbyTR@aol.com and followed on Twitter at @tomjrobinson.
GIBBS’ TEAMS FINISH 1-2 AT DARLINGTON
Matt Kenseth, winner of Darlington race. Furnished by Toyota Motorsports.
DARLINGTON, S.C.—Kyle Busch appeared headed to victory lane in Saturday’s Sprint Cup race at Darlington, but with 11 laps left in the 367-lap race, Busch had a right rear tire go down. This allowed Matt Kenseth to take the win, while Busch had to settle for sixth.
“It’s awful sweet to win here,” said Kenseth. “The car was really, really fast. We had a lot of speed in it. We just kind of got off. The racetrack changed, we got much looser than we anticipated. We really could never get it. The second to last pit stop we made we had it closer, but then it took off and wasn't going to be near good enough. I don't know what they changed the last pit stop.
“I told them about four laps into the run, if we were going green to the end, we were going to be pretty good. Thankfully we saved the best for last.”
The win was the third for Kenseth this season, and the 27th of his career.
Denny Hamlin, Kenseth’s teammate was runner-up.
“For me, we just kept grinding away,” said Hamlin. “It was one of those days when we got our car better, pit crew picked us up positions, and took us to the second spot.”
Jeff Gordon ran a steady race, and as the laps wound down, moved up to third.
“Our team is ready,” said Gordon. “We had good track position, but we just couldn’t get it right until there at the end. I thought we were really good. Each week I see the team getting better and better.”
Jimmie Johnson was fourth and Kevin Harvick came in fifth.
For Kyle Busch, it was another frustrating night. He had the dominant car throughout the entire race, leading 265 of the 367 laps, but the apparent victory slipped away as the race neared its end.
Busch left the track without commenting. His frustration is understandable; he was fixing to win, and a misfortune smacked him, again. However, it could’ve been a lot worse. He could’ve hit the wall. He could’ve spun. The good news is he jumped two spots in points, and he still storms off.
However, an incident between him and Kasey Kahne, has Kahne expecting an apology from Busch. It occurred on lap 333, after Kahne had managed to edge by Busch in Turn 3 for the lead. Busch moved ahead off Turn 4, then headed to turn 1 side by side. It appeared Kahne went into the turn a little too fast. Busch went low into the turn, but slipped a little.
Kahne slid up and brushed the wall. “My car moved and then just spun out,” said Kahne. “I don’t know if he actually touched me or not. If he would have just entered normal like he entered the whole race there would have been no issues and I would have been leading off turn 2. “He just didn’t want that to happen, so he blew turn 1. Whether he hit me or not, he still caused that whole deal with screwing up and just mind fade. He’s had a few of them this year when I’ve been around him.’’
Carl Edwards, Juan Montoya, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Ryan Newman rounded out the top-10.
Top-12 points leaders after 11 of 36; 1. Johnson-423, 2. Edwards-379, 3. Kenseth-364, 4. Earnhardt 359, 5. Bowyer-349, 6. Kahne-326, 7. Keselowski-326, 8. Kyle Busch-325, 9. Almirola-317, 10. Harvick-315, 11. Menard-315, 12. Gordon-311.
“ROWDY” GETS 56th NATIONWIDE WIN
Kyle Busch completely dominated Friday night’s Nationwide Series race at Darlington. In addition to winning the pole, he led 107 laps of the 147-lap race, on the way to his 56th career Nationwide win.
“We definitely had a fast car, but sometimes fastness isn’t always best here (Darlington), said Busch. “You want to be good at both ends here. There's a lot of speed in 1 and 2, so you're going to have to take advantage of that as best you can. Three and 4 is an end where—I'm not going to say slower is faster—but maintaining a minimum speed is better down there.”
Elliott Sadler learned about turn 4 in a very practical way, he spun out. Despite the spin, he came back to finish second.
“I was pushing it, trying to keep up with the 54 car (Kyle Busch),” Sadler said. “I was trying to get up there and lead some laps, just went in there too hard and got loose and had to make a decision whether to spin out or try to correct it. I overcorrected and spun out.”
Brian Vickers, Joey Logano, Matt Kenseth, Kyle Larson, Regan Smith, Sam Hornish, Kasey Kahne, and Justin Allgaier were the remaining top-10 finishers.
Top-10 points leaders after 9 of 33: 1. Smith-342, 2. Hornish-314, 3. Sadler-300, 4. Allgaier-299, 5. Vickers-293, 6. A. Dillon-290, 7. Kligerman-287, 8. Scott-284, 9. Bowman-258, Larson-248
DID NASCAR SUFFER A SETBACK
NASCAR needs to rethink their penalties.
Last week, the penalties assessed by NASCAR against Penske Racing and Joe Gibbs Racing were reduced after the appeals process was completed.
Joe Gibb's owner points penalty was reduced from 50 to 12, and his suspension was eliminated, while driver Matt Kenseth's points penalty was reduced from 50 to 12.
Kenseth's win at Kansas will now count for the Chase.
The manufacturer's point penalty against Toyota increased from 5 to 7 points; Kenseth’s crew chief Jason Ratcliff's suspension has been reduced from 6 races to 1, but his fine remains at $200,000.
In the Penske case, crew suspensions were reduced from six point races to two on its final appeal.
Chief appellate officer John Middlebrook upheld the 25-point penalties to Penske drivers Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano, as well as fines and part of the suspensions. He created the perception that the violations were still major, but the team should get some benefit of the doubt, since they were working in a gray area in the rulebook, and not having raced the unapproved parts, shouldn’t result in such hefty suspensions.
Come on NASCAR, quit acting like a big gorilla.
PHOENIX RACING CALLING IT QUITS
Unable to find a long-term sponsor for either of his No. 51 Sprint Cup team, or No. 1 Nationwide team, James Finch said he is going to call it quits.
“I'm contemplating the rest of this year, and I don't know if I want a sponsor,” Finch said. “Sunday was my 776th start in NASCAR between the Nationwide and Sprint Cup. That's a lot of weekends. I'm considering pulling the plug later in the summer.”
Finch, 62, said Phoenix Racing will not enter any races after the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
“I have not been able to get the right amount of funding, the economy is pretty bad, and a lot of people don't want to do it,” Finch continued. “I'm getting kind of burned out. I think it is time for me to do something else.”
Weekend Racing: It’s the Trucks and Cup teams this weekend at the one and one-half mile Charlotte Motor Speedway. For the Cup teams, it’s the annual all-star event, a non-points night of racing.
Fri., May 17, Camping World Trucks, race 5 of 22; Starting time: 8 pm ET; TV: SPEED.
Sat., May 18, Sprint Cup All-Star event; Starting time: 7:30 pm ET; TV: SPEED.
Racing Trivia Question: How many Cup championships did David Pearson win?
Last Week’s Question: Who is Aric Almirola’s teammate at Richard Petty Motorsports? Answer. It is Marcos Ambrose.
You may e-mail the Racing Reporter at: hodges@race500.com.
