Myra Lattimore scored 22 points Jan. 20 when Montrose gradually pulled away for a 60-40 victory over Lackawanna Trail to complete the first half unbeaten in Lackawanna League Division 4 girls’ basketball.
The win was the 34th straight by Montrose in division play, including going 18-0 in Division 4 since the realignment prior to the 2012-13 season. The Lady Meteors have won four straight division titles, including the last three in Division 3 of the three-division format prior to realignment.
Meghan Gilhool added 16 points in the latest clinching victory and Nicki Lewis had 15.
The Lady Meteors have won 11 straight games overall this season.
The final first-half division standings were: Montrose 6-0, Forest City 5-1, Susquehanna 3-3, Mountain View 3-3, Lackawanna Trail 3-3, Elk Lake 1-5, Blue Ridge 0-6.
WEEK IN REVIEW
The Mountain View boys’ soccer team gathered Thursday night at the Rock Mountain Bible Camp to celebrate its second straight trip to the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Class A boys’ state championship game.
Awards were presented to each player, including special recognition of the eight seniors, who were part of the 2012 state championship and 2013 unbeaten run until falling short of a repeat in the state title game. The senior class also contributed to four straight District 2 Class A championships.
In addition, the following awards were presented: Big Boom Award, Ed Bognatz; Most Improved, Aaron Freeman and Matt Heller; Coaches Award, Nick Jarrow; Most Valuable Defender, Bobby Pfahl; Mid Valuable Midfielder Zeb Cross; and Most Valuable Offender, Colby Thomas.
The Eagles became the first Susquehanna County team and the first Lackawanna League team to reach a state final in boys’ or girls’ soccer and did it in consecutive seasons despite a lack of help in preparation from the league.
Historically, most teams that advance to the state finals do so with the benefit of preparation through a demanding schedule.
The Lackawanna Interscholastic Athletic Association, which oversees all Lackawanna League sports, forced Mountain View out of its routine of playing in the highest division prior to the last two seasons. Although seldom challenged by close competition, the Eagles got themselves ready for the two longest state tournament runs in league history.
In high school wrestling, defending champion Western Wayne defeated visiting Blue Ridge, 63-15, in the match that will likely decide the Lackawanna League Division 2 title.
The two teams were undefeated in the division.
The Wildcats knocked the Raiders out of first place with the win.
Zach Edwards needed less than a minute to post a pin for Blue Ridge at 145. David Austin added an overtime decision at 113 and Kyle Bayle picked up a forfeit at 132.
Evan Grimm (126) and Dakota Swoyer (285) had first-period pins to lead Western Wayne.
In boys’ basketball, the final first-half Lackawanna League Division 4 standings were: Elk Lake 6-0, Montrose 5-1, Lackawanna Trail 4-2, Mountain View 2-4, Susquehanna 2-4, Blue Ridge 1-5, Forest City 1-5.
COLLEGE CORNER
Sara Krupinski, a 5-foot-8 sophomore guard from Montrose, has appeared in all 15 games this season for the King’s College women’s basketball team.
Krupinski is averaging 1.5 points, 0.7 rebounds and 0.9 assists while playing 7.5 minutes per game. She is 9-for-28 (32.1 percent) from the floor, 1-for-12 (8.3 percent) from 3-point range and 3-for-6 (50.0 percent) from the line.
King’s is 4-11, including 0-4 in the Middle Atlantic Conference Freedom League.
THE WEEK AHEAD
The District 2 Dual Meet Wrestling Championships have a new site this year, which allows the tournament to switch from two days to one.
Both the Class AAA and Class AA tournaments will be held at the Kingston Armory Saturday with a consolation bracket determining third place among the quarterfinal and semifinal losers in the eight-team fields.
Blue Ridge is in and Montrose has a shot at qualifying for the Class AA tournament.
The quarterfinals are scheduled for 10 a.m., with the semifinals and first round of consolations tentatively set for 11:30 a.m. Following consolation semifinals at 1 p.m., the championship and third-place matches are tentatively set for 4 p.m.
Pairings will be set during a Wednesday night seeding meeting at Hanover Area.
In professional football, the Lackawanna League will be represented in Super Bowl XLVIII Sunday in East Rutherford, N.J.
John Glenn, a former Lackawanna Trail football and basketball standout, is a special teams assistant with the Seattle Seahawks.
Our prediction for the Super Bowl is: Seattle 27, Denver Broncos 25.
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.
CAN KESELOWSKI REBOUND THIS YEAR
Brad Keselowski at New Hampshire in 2013. Furnished by NASCAR
Brad Keselowski won the 2012 Sprint Cup championship.
After starting out strong in 2013, with seven top-10 finishes in the first eight races, Keselowski's team made a multitude of mistakes. He and his team became immersed in suspensions, penalties that took away driver points, and parts failures.
They never regained their early season form, and failed to make the 12-driver Chase field.
Will he be able to turn things around and make a run for this year’s title?
“Yeah, I mean, you've got to continue to work hard and strive to get better,” Keselowski said. “For missing the Chase by what we did, yeah, we had a lot of technical problems, but I'm sure there were a few races where we could have finished better. So we've got to get better every opportunity that we can.”
Keselowski had only one win and was more known for what he did off the track than on.
He stuck his foot in his mouth more than once by his comments. At one point he was told by NASCAR that he needed to “shut up and drive.”
It’s not to say that Keselowski's struggles in 2013 were entirely his fault. The team switched from Dodge to Ford, and was further hampered by Ford's continued issues with the lack of horsepower.
Keselowski had driver points taken away when it was discovered that Penske was using unapproved suspension pieces, and his crew chief and lead engineer were suspended for a couple of weeks.
“Some weeks last year we were pretty good,” Keselowski continued. “We run well. We were fast. Sometimes we were probably a third to fifth to sixth place car. But at times, I felt like we were a winning car if we could have gotten out front. I think track position meant that much, which we'll work every week. It's just a matter of continuing to evolve and get better as a team and communicate because with the new Gen-6 car, it’s all new for everybody. So we'll work on all of that stuff in 2014
“It didn’t feel good to not make the Chase or run better than we did, but there is a part of you that just feels like you're first in class.
“I'm confident that things will come back around, and when it does, we'll change these seconds and fifths or whatever into wins.
“I feel like that's bound to happen next year, and we have the team to pull it off. I also feel like the way the points are right now, we still control our own destiny, which is if we win the race, we get the points lead. So that's about all you can ask for.
“Certainly I would have liked to have won more than we did last year, but I feel like we're fighting the good fight and doing some great things as a team that I'm really, really proud of.
“Obviously, it's not going to come easy. But anything worth doing in life shouldn't come easy, and I appreciate the efforts of the people that I'm around to make it happen. I appreciate the fact that it's difficult, because it brings out the best in everybody. As a group, I feel like we've brought our best, and I'm really proud of everybody for that.”
It would help Keselowski and his team if they could get an early win. Penske has excellent equipment, Keselowski has shown the ability to win on any kind of track and the team is capable of providing him a race car that can run upfront.
I’d say that if Keselowski can avoid some of last year’s distractions and focus on racing, maybe some of the problems they experienced won’t reappear, and they can find that positive image once again.
NEW QUALIFYING FORMAT
NASCAR has announced a new group qualifying format for the Cup, Nationwide and truck series.
“We believe the timing is right for a new qualifying format across our three national series,” said Robin Pemberton, vice president for competition and racing development. “This style of group qualifying has all the makings of being highly competitive and more engaging to our fans in the stands and those watching on television and online. For the drivers and teams, we believe this new qualifying will fuel even greater competition leading into the events. Additionally, it provides our tracks, broadcasters and other key partners with a greater opportunity to develop more entertaining content for our race weekends.”
At tracks measuring 1.25 miles in length or larger, qualifying will consist of three rounds:
The first qualifying elimination round will be 25 minutes in duration and includes all cars/trucks. The 24 cars/trucks that post the fastest single lap from the first qualifying round will advance to the second round.
The remaining cars/trucks will be sorted based on their times posted in the first round of qualifying in descending order.
The second qualifying elimination round will be 10 minutes in duration and the 12 cars/trucks that post the fastest single lap time will advance to the third and final round. The fastest remaining cars/trucks earn positions 13th through 24th based on their times posted in qualifying in descending order.
The third and final qualifying round will be five minutes in duration and the fastest single lap time will determine positions 1st through 12th in descending order.
At tracks measuring less than 1.25 miles, qualifying will consist of two rounds:
The first qualifying elimination round will be 30 minutes in duration and includes all cars/trucks. The 12 cars/trucks that post the fastest single lap time from the first qualifying round will advance to the second and final round.
The remaining cars/trucks will be sorted based on their times posted in the first round of qualifying in descending order.
There will be a 10-minute break between the two qualifying rounds.
The second and final qualifying round will be 10 minutes in duration and the fastest single lap time posted will determine positions 1st through 12th in descending order.
The new qualifying format does not apply to the Daytona 500. Additionally, it does not apply to non-points events or the Truck Series event at Eldora Speedway. NASCAR previewed the concept of group qualifying with its national series teams late last fall.
Racing Trivia Question: Who won last year’s Daytona 500?
Last Week’s Question: Which Nationwide team will Chase Elliott drive for in 2014? Answer. He will drive a full season for JR Motorsports, a Dale Earnhardt Jr. company.
You may e-mail any questions to the Racing Reporter at: hodges@race500.com.
