SCRANTON – Myra Lattimore, Allison Lewis and Rebecca Timm were each on all three winning relays Thursday night to lead Montrose to its third straight Jordan Relays Class AA girls’ title.
Meghan Gilhool was on two of the winning relays while Emma Griffiths was on one winning relay and both of Montrose’s second-place relays.
By finishing first or second in five of the six events and fourth in the other, Montrose produced a team score of 51 points, 12 better than second-place Holy Cross.
In the first 53 Jordan Relays, between 1955 and 2008, there were no Susquehanna County teams among the 154 team titles awarded. The last six Class AA girls’ and two of the Class AA boys’ titles since have been won by county teams. Blue Ridge broke through with the 2009 girls’ title followed by Elk Lake sweeping boys’ and girls’ the next two years and the Montrose girls winning the last three.
The Lady Meteors set a meet record in the 1200-meter sprint medley relay.
Lewis ran the opening 400-meter leg. Gilhool and Timm followed with 200-meter legs, then Lattimore ran the final 400 to beat second-place Lakeland by almost three seconds.
“It was a great feeling to accomplish it again,” Lewis said of the team title. “We worked hard for it.”
Gilhool was also part of the 4x100-meter relay team that Lewis anchored to win in 50.72 seconds. Blue Ridge was next for a 1-2 county finish.
Griffiths was on the closing 4x400 that Lattimore anchored. The Lady Meteors finished in 4:08.83 to again beat Lakeland, their top threat, by almost three seconds.
“Our goal in each race was usually to try to stay ahead of them,” Lewis said.
Angela Russell and Samantha Bennici joined Griffiths on both of the second-place teams, the distance medley and the 4x800. Bennici anchored both. Krysten Morgan ran a 400 leg on the distance medley. Emma Washo was the other member of the 4x800 team.
Timm, who will also compete in the pole vault and 300 hurdles at the District 2 championships, is looking forward to the Lady Meteors again being a postseason threat in the 400 and 1600 relays.
“I definitely like our 4 by 4,” she said. “I also think our 4 by 1 has a strong chance. We’ll definitely be trying to take it to states.
“For our team, it doesn’t matter the exact make-up of a relay. I feel like the team chemistry for us is so strong that no matter who we substitute in, we don’t really have any weak links.”
Lewis, Lattimore, Bennici and Madelyn Pasteka all ran on the 1600 relay team in the state final last year when Montrose finished seventh in Class AA at the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Championships.
Blue Ridge was fifth out of 10 teams with 30 points at the Jordan Relays, just five points out of third place and 13 ahead of sixth.
Lindsey Rupakus, Brianna Brewer, Isabella Cosmello and Katherine Kempa formed the second-place 4x100 team for Blue Ridge, which also had three teams finish third. The Lady Raiders were third in the distance medley, the 1200 sprint medley and the 4x400 relay.
Rupakus, Cosmello and Kempa were each on two of the third-place relays as was Lindsey Burdick. Laurren Whitney, Amber Brecht, Casey Purdum and Brewer were on one of the third-place teams.
Lakeland won the Class AA boys’ title with 58 points, 19 in front of Riverside.
Montrose was fourth of 10 teams with 25 points. Mountain View was 12th with 19 and Blue Ridge was eighth with 14.
The Meteors were second in the 4x400 relay with William Hewes, Nick Hendrickson, Mike Stewart and Steve Shelp.
Mountain View was third in both the 4x800 relay and 1600 sprint medley. Tyler Chidester, Joe Nally, Brandon Freely and Joe Higby were on the 4x800. Garrett Cameron, Bobby Pfahl, Brett Crowley and James Goodenough formed the 1600 sprint medley.
WEEK IN REVIEW
Earlier in the week, Montrose completed successful defenses of two other titles.
Both Montrose teams won Lackawanna Track Conference Division 4 titles with unbeaten divisional records for the second straight season.
The Meteors won, 83-67, and the Lady Meteors won, 115-34, at Blue Ridge April 28 to clinch the titles.
Blue Ridge went into the boys’ meet in second place.
Hewes and Owen Brewer each won two individual events and one relay. Hewes won both hurdles and was part of the 1600 relay. Brewer won the 1600 and 3200 along with being on the 3200 relay.
Brenton Warner won the shot put and discus.
Austin Cook won the 800 and was on the 3200 relay. Mike Stewart won the long jump and was on the winning 1600 relay.
Craig Stanley won the 100 and triple jump and was part of the winning 400 relay team for Blue Ridge. Zach Conrad won the 200 and 400.
The final boys’ standings for Division 4 were: Montrose 5-0, Blue Ridge 3-2, Elk Lake 3-2, Lackawanna Trail 3-2, Mountain View 1-4 and Susquehanna 0-5.
Bennici and Lewis each won two individual and two relay events for Montrose.
Bennici won the 800 and 1600 along with the 1600 and 3200 relays. Lewis won the 200 and 400 as well as the 400 and 1600 relays.
Hanna Dieck won the long and triple jumps and ran on the 400 relay.
Griffiths won the pole vault and the 1600 and 3200 relays.
Washo won the 3200 and 3200 relay. Lattimore won the 100 and 400 relay.
The final girls’ standings for Division 4 were: Montrose 5-0, Elk Lake 4-1, Blue Ridge 3-2, Mountain View 2-3, Susquehanna 1-4 and Lackawanna Trail 0-5.
In high school baseball, Mountain View ended the week with the Lackawanna Division 4 lead by going 7-1. Montrose is 6-1.
In high school softball, Mountain View also leads with a 7-1 record. Montrose is second at 5-2.
In professional hockey, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins advanced to the second round of the Calder Cup Playoffs by winning a best-of-three series from the Binghamton Senators, three games to one.
After the first three games of the series had gone into overtime, the Penguins clinched Friday with a 5-1, home-ice victory.
Andrew Ebbett had a goal and two assists in the clinching win. Chuck Kobasew, Brian Dumoulin and Harry Zolnierczyk added a goal and assist each and Peter Mannino made 26 saves.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton had regained the series lead Wednesday when Kobasew redirected a Conor Sheary shot from the point 7:32 into overtime of Game Three for a 3-2 victory.
Jim O’Brien’s goal for Binghamton with 9:02 left forced the overtime.
COLLEGE CORNER
Brooke Darling worked 5 1/3 innings of one-hit relief April 26 when Columbia University closed out its softball season with a 6-5 victory over Penn in Game Two of a doubleheader.
The junior right-hander from Elk Lake was the top pitcher for Columbia, which went 8-10 in the Ivy League and 21-21 overall.
Darling appeared in 22 games, including 16 as a starter. She completed 11 games and threw two shutouts.
In 101 innings, Darling gave up 132 hits, 76 runs, 69 earned runs and 49 walks while striking out 59.
THE WEEK AHEAD
The District 2 Class AA boys’ tennis singles tournament is scheduled for Thursday and Friday.
The first three rounds will be played Thursday, beginning at 9 a.m. at Kirby Park in Wilkes-Barre.
The semifinals and finals will be played the next day at a site to be determined.
In track and field, the District 2 Class AA Championships are scheduled for Tuesday, May 13 at Scranton Memorial Stadium, beginning at 3 p.m.
In professional hockey, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins open the Calder Cup Eastern Conference semifinals with home games Friday and Saturday at home against the Providence Bruins.
The best-of-seven series is scheduled to continue May 14 through May 21.
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.
