SCRANTON – Elk Lake’s Taylor Watkins won the girls’ javelin title by more than a dozen feet with a throw of 131-0 May 6 in the Lackawanna Track Conference’s Robert Spagna Championship Meet at Scranton Memorial Stadium.

The Montrose girls were again the top team from Susquehanna County, using second-place finishes in the 400- and 1600-meter relays and a fifth-place finish in the 3200 relay to place sixth in the 22-team league. The Lady Meteors scored 50 points to rank third among Class AA schools.

Lakeland not only swept the Class AA titles but outscored all the Class AAA teams in both the boys’ and girls’ standings.

Elk Lake took second in the girls’ 3200 relay with Julie VanEtten, Kenzie Jones, Elizabeth Trowbridge and Katie Bennett.

Susquehanna’s Sal Pelicci, in the pole vault, and Elk Lake’s Hunter Watkins, in the 300 hurdles, placed third in the boys’ meet.

Four county girls had fourth-place finishes.

Montrose’s Myra Lattimore placed fourth in both the 100 and 200, while teammate Allison Lewis was fourth in the 400 and fifth in the 200.

Blue Ridge’s Lindsey Rupakus was fourth in the 300 hurdles and eighth in the 100 hurdles. Teammate Laurren Whitney was fourth in the javelin.

Blue Ridge and Elk Lake finished fifth and sixth in the girls’ 400 relay and Blue Ridge was seventh in the 1600 relay. Rupakus, Katherine Kempa and Isabella Cosmello were on both Blue Ridge relays, joining Brianna Brewer in the 400 and Lindsey Burdick in the 1600. Elk Lake’s team was Mikaela Parrett, Emily Forba, Andrea Rockefeller and Olivia Laudeman.

Other girls to finish in the top eight to score points for their teams: Rebecca Timm, Montrose, 300 hurdles, fifth; Madelyne Pasteka, Montrose, high jump, fifth; Jones, Elk Lake, 3200, sixth; Brianna Thompson, Montrose, shot put, seventh; Burdick, Blue Ridge, 400, eighth; Samantha Bennici, Montrose, 1600, eighth; and Sarah Serflippi, Susquehanna, discus, eighth.

Other boys to finish in the top eight: James Goodenough, Mountain View, 400, sixth; Billy Hewes, Montrose, 110 hurdles, sixth; Brett Hepler, Blue Ridge, triple jump, sixth; and Zach Edwards, Blue Ridge, pole vault, seventh.

Elk Lake was 10th in the girls’ team standings with 32 points. Blue Ridge was 14th with 18. Susquehanna tied for 18th with a point.

Susquehanna, Elk Lake and Blue Ridge tied for 16th in the boys’ standings with six points. Montrose and Mountain View tied for 19th with three points.

WEEK IN REVIEW

 Nicole Shay drove in four runs May 4 when Susquehanna knocked Mountain View out of the Lackawanna League Division 4 softball lead with a 6-5 win.

 Shay had a two-run single and a two-run homer to help the Lady Sabers open a 6-1 lead.

 Montrose entered the final week of the regular season with an 8-2 record with two games remaining. Mountain View was 8-3 and Susquehanna 7-3.

 In high school baseball, Mountain View entered the week in the Division 4 lead at 10-1. Lackawanna Trail was 7-1.

 In boys’ volleyball, Mountain View finished second in the Lackawanna League.

 The final standings were: Western Wayne 13-1, Mountain View 12-2, Abington Heights 11-3, Blue Ridge 7-7, Forest City 7-7, Susquehanna 3-11, Lackawanna Trail 3-11 and Elk Lake 0-14.

 In boys’ tennis, Montrose placed fifth out of nine teams in the Lackawanna League Class AA Division.

The final standings were: Scranton Prep 13-1, Valley View 10-4, Dunmore 9-5, Holy Cross 8-6, Montrose 5-9, Honesdale 4-10, Mid Valley 3-11, Western Wayne 2-12 and Riverside 1-13.

Both Montrose players lost in the first round of the District 2 Class AA singles tournament.

Bryan Schultz won the first set before losing to Steve Wempa of Dallas, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4. Austin Smith fell to fifth-seeded Luke Whitenight of Berwick, 6-3, 6-1.

In professional hockey, the Providence Bruins and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins traded outbursts in the first two games of their best-of-seven, second-round American Hockey League Calder Cup Playoffs in Wilkes-Barre.

Providence did all the game’s scoring in the first 8:03, including three goals in one minute, for a 4-0 victory in Friday night’s series opener.

Niklas Svedberg only needed to make four saves in the third period to finish off the shutout, which featured a total of 20 saves.

Alexander Khokhlachev had two goals and an assist.

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton scored three times in a stretch of 4:02 during the second period on the way to a 6-1 win Saturday night to tie the series.

The Penguins ended Svedberg’s shutout streak at 134:33.

Anton Zlobin had two goals in the quick burst to turn a 1-1 tie into a 4-1 lead. He also had an assist.

Brian Dumoulin had a goal and two assists.

COLLEGE CORNER

Allison Hall helped the California University women’s 3200-meter relay team to a second-place finish May 3 at the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Championships at Shippensburg University.

Hall, a junior from Blue Ridge, ran the first leg on a team that produced its season-best time of 9:19.43. She was also part of the ninth-place, 1600 relay team that finished in 3:58.32.

Meghan Ragard, a senior from Blue Ridge, was part of the East Stroudsburg team that set a school record while finishing fifth in the 3200 relay in the 9:30.97.

Sarah Kimsey, a senior from Montrose, did a career-best 37-2 ½ in the triple jump to finish eighth. It was the sixth-best triple jump in Kutztown University history.

THE WEEK AHEAD

The District 2 Class AA baseball tournament is scheduled to begin Thursday.

Class A, which starts with quarterfinal play, is scheduled to open Monday, May 19.

In boys’ volleyball, the Class A tournament opens with quarterfinal action Wednesday. The semifinals are set for Tuesday, May 20.

In softball, the first round of the District 2 Class AA playoffs is set to begin Monday, May 19. The Class AA tournament, which begins in the quarterfinal round, is tentatively set to open Tuesday, May 20.

In professional hockey, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins go to Providence for Games Three through Five of the best-of-seven Calder Cup playoff series Wednesday, Friday and Saturday at 7:05.

Game Six, if necessary, would be Monday, May 19 in Wilkes-Barre at 7:05.

 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.

GORDON OUTLASTS HARVICK AT KANSAS

Jeff Gordon wins at Kansas. Furnished by GM.

KANSAS CITY, Kan.—Jeff Gordon showed he can still get the job done, as he held off a hard charging Kevin Harvick to win Saturday night’s Cup race by less than two-car-lengths.

“Kevin was extremely fast,” said Gordon. “I got a little loose there at the end and I knew it was going to be close.

“We had a fast car, but the key to our win was the fast pit stops, and how we were able to get out ahead of him as we cycled through our last stop.”

Polesitter, Kevin Harvick dominated early, but found himself stuck in the middle of the field about midway of the race. He struggled with an ill-handling car that hampered his ability to return to the form he showed early in the race. His team continued to make chassis adjustments, which helped him get back to the front. On lap 208 Harvick reclaimed the race lead, but he had to make one last stop for fuel.

He struggled on pit road, and was unable to make up the ground he lost and had to settle for second when the checkered flag waved.

“What put us in second is, I didn’t get down pit road very good there coming to the pit box,” Harvick said. “I kind of ran out of gas, and I was paying attention to the fuel pressure gauge instead of the pit road speed light. I lost some time there, but I was able to find a groove that worked really well near the end. I slipped with about eight or nine laps to go. I was able to make the ground back up, but not get by Jeff.”

Kasey Kahne, Joey Logano, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Carl Edwards, Danica Patrick, Aric Almirola, Jimmie Johnson and Matt Kenseth were the remaining top-10.

Top-16 Chase leaders after 11 of 36: 1. Gordon-394, 2. Kenseth-379, 3. Kyle Busch-373, 4. Earnhardt-368, 5. Edwards-367, 6. Logano-346, 7. Johnson-340, 8. Newman-332, 9. Biffle-328, 10. Vickers-327, 11. Keselowski-326, 12. Hamlin-318, 13. Larson-318, 14. A. Dillon-306, 15. Harvick-302, 16. Kahne-294.

Gordon became the ninth driver to win a Cup race this season. It was his 89th career victory. He is third behind Richard Petty (200) and David Pearson (105) on the Sprint Cup all-time win list.

Last week Gordon celebrated the 20th anniversary of his first Cup victory, which came in 1994 at Charlotte in the Coca-Cola 600.

“Yeah, that was just a very special moment to relive,” Gordon said. “Such a great moment in my career. Hard to believe it's 20 years ago. But what an amazing day to go to Charlotte in the 600, such a tough race, compete against the best guys.

“Rusty Wallace was certainly very strong that day and the car to beat. Then Ray Evernham made a great two-tire call. We had a fast race car, but that two-tire call made the difference.

“To see the emotions that I went through because it meant so much. Twenty years, wow, it's hard to believe, but it's been amazing.

“I know that time is running short. I can't say I'm sitting here concerned about it. I've had an amazing career. I've accomplished more than I ever thought that I would. This year my focus is on what a great race car and race team that we have.

“I think it's just part of my personality or maybe part of a race car driver's personality that I don't look too far ahead. I worry about the things that I can control. Right now the things I can control is that race car on the weekends, working as hard as I can with the team to get the best results.

“We're off to a great start. Right now I'm healthy. I'm in good shape. I'm having a lot of fun. We're very competitive out there. That's taking all of my attention. Besides the time I spend with my family, that's where my focus is.”

“ROWDY” KYLE RUNS AWAY AT KANSAS

Kyle Busch completely dominated Friday night’s Truck Series race at Kansas Speedway. He led 8 times for 104-laps in the 167-lap race..

The victory was the second of the season in a truck for Busch. It was his 37th in the series and it came by 3.021 seconds over second-place Matt Crafton.

The win helped ease the pain of four DNF’s that he has experienced in the Cup Series at Kansas.

“It was a really good race for us,” said Busch. “We unloaded fast, just made some slight changes to it, and played around with some things trying to make it better in practice.”

Matt Crafton finished second.

“He had a very, very fast truck,” Crafton said.

“We were just a little bit scared. We wanted to make another track bar change, but I was afraid to make any more adjustments, because it might hurt more than help.”

Joey Logano was third, followed by Austin Dillon, Taylor Malsam, Jeb Burton, German Quiroga, Ron Hornaday, Joe Nemechek, and Mason Mingus.

Top-10 leaders after 3 of 22: 1. Crafton-120, 2. Peters-112, 3. Hornaday-112, 4. Quiroga-109, 5. Sauter-105, 6. R. Blaney-101, 7. J. Burton-98, 8. Kennedy-96, 9. D. Wallace-90, 10. Townley-87.

EDWARDS AND BIFFLE CONTRACTS UP IN AIR

The 2014 NASCAR season isn’t half over, and already there is talk about driver contracts.

Two of the drivers, whose contracts will expire at the end of this season are Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle. Both drive Roush Fenway Racing Fords.

Last week at Kansas, Biffle talked to the media about his on-going negotiations, while Edwards maintained a wall of silence.

"You guys know that I don't like to talk about that stuff in the media,” said Edwards. “To me, that is business and I have made the mistake of letting that turn into a big media thing before so I would rather not talk about that and keep that between me and Jack (Roush) and Steve Newmark."

Biffle was more reluctant to discuss his contract, even implying that his contract talks center around the 3M Corporation, the sponsor on his No. 16.

“I am absolutely, 100 percent lined up with where I am,” said Biffle. “I enjoy being at Roush Fenway. I love 3M. We have a great relationship and the program works really, really well for 3M ... Plain and simply. There is a bunch of new people trying to get their arms around all of the business.

“They've got a lot of business units inside that '3M' ... which likes having all these sponsors in the garage part of one company.

“I've got options. I know I'm going to be racing. I know I'm going to be driving a car. So I'm not worried about it.”

Edwards finished sixth in the Kansas race, while Biffle came in 16th.

Weekend Racing: The Truck and Cup teams will be at the 1.5-mile Charlotte Motor Speedway for two night races, while the Nationwide teams travel to Newton, Iowa (a 7/10ths mile track). The Charlotte Cup race will be a non-points race.

Fri., May 16, Truck Series race 4 of 22; Starting time: 8 pm; TV: FoxSports1.

Sat., May 17, Sprint Cup Series All Star race; Starting time: 7 pm ET; TV: FoxSports1.

Sun., May 18, Nationwide Series race 10 of 33; Starting time: 1:30 pm ET; TV: ESPN.

Racing Trivia Question: What year did Carl Edwards begin his NASCAR career in the Truck series?

Last Week’s Question: Who won the first Kansas Cup race, which was in 2001? Answer. Jeff Gordon.

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

Micaela Rhone

Susquehanna’s softball program is on the rise after years spent near the bottom of the standings.

The Lady Sabers went into the final weekend of the regular season still in contention for a Lackawanna League Division 4 title and prepared to open the playoffs at home as the top seed in District 2 Class A.

Senior pitcher Micaela Rhone leads the division in strikeouts and has fanned more batters than any pitcher in the division over the past two seasons.

The Lady Sabers went into the weekend in the title hunt, largely because of handing defending champion and division leader Montrose its only two losses, including one on a two-hit shutout by Rhone.

“Without that pitching, we’re in tough shape,” second-year coach Joe Collins said. “It’s nice to see Susquehanna improving and doing something in softball.

“It’s been a long time.”

The Lady Sabers had not won more than four division games since the 2007 season.

For her role in the turnaround, Rhone has been selected as the Susquehanna County Transcript Athlete of the Month for April.

During her four years on the team, Rhone has helped Susquehanna improve from 1-13 to 4-10 to 4-8 to 7-3 in the division.

“This year has been awesome,” said Rhone, who prepared for her senior season by playing on travel teams and working on her pitching at clinics in the offseason. “The sophomore girls have really stepped up and helped us reach the next level.”

Rhone has done her part by striking out 78 and walking just 18 while posting a 3.17 earned run average in the division. She has allowed an average of four hits and fewer than two runs per game in the team’s wins after some rougher outings earlier in the season.

“Im just hitting the spots and our coach is very smart with where he calls the pitches,” Rhone said. “If he says ‘throw it up’, I throw it up and the screwball gets a lot of people.”

Collins also credited Rhone’s ability to hit spots and fool people with her screwball, along with saying her pitches are “deceivingly fast.”

The coach said Rhone’s calm approach helps her being effective in tough situations and is part of what makes her one of the team’s leaders.

“She is a very bright young lady and is a great role model for the other girls,” Collins said. “She doesn’t think that she is better than anyone else and always gives credit to those who surround her.”

Micaela is the daughter of Dean and April Rhone of Starrucca. In addition to softball, she is a basketball cheerleader at Susquehanna and has spent 15 years dancing. She currently studies tap, jazz and Celtic dancing at Windwood Hill Dance Academy in New Milford.