Chris Snee ended arguably the most successful career ever by a Susquehanna County athlete when the two-time Super Bowl champion and former All-Pro offensive guard with the New York Giants gave in to a series of injuries prior to the start of the National Football League season.

Rich Thompson, like Snee, a Montrose graduate, ended a 14-year career in professional baseball. Thompson, who stole 486 bases in more than 1,500 career minor-league games, made it to Major League Baseball twice. The outfielder played six games with the Kansas City Royals to start the 2004 season and 23 more with the Tampa Bay Rays in 2012.

While Snee’s decade among the NFL elite ended in 2014, several county athletes enjoyed success locally on the high school level and away from home on higher levels.

Elk Lake remained among the best cross country programs in Pennsylvania when the girls finished second and the boys finished fourth in Class A at the state meet in Hershey.

Dallas Ely emerged as one of the top Division II women’s basketball players in the country, Colby Thomas transitioned from state high school champion to starter on a pair of national championship contenders in soccer and Dan Kempa completed a career as one of the nation’s best receivers Division III football.

But, for the first time in the millennium, the county did not have an active professional athlete in the regular season.

Thompson, who finished as a Class AAA outfielder with the Durham Bulls in 2013, followed through with plans to retire.

Snee tried to make it back from his latest round of surgeries, on his hip and elbow, but decided in training camp that he could not go forward.

“I have no regrets about my decision and I never will,” Snee said a week after his retirement was announced. “That being said, it’s still tough to leave the game, a game I grew up dreaming of playing. I had my dream job for 10 years.”

Snee did some volunteer high school football coaching along with some media work on pro football in the first fall after his playing career ended.

Katie Bennett, Kenzie Jones and Justine Johns were each both team and individual medalists at the state meet. Bennett finished 10th, Jones 11th and Johns 17th.

The Lady Warriors, who were unbeaten champions of the entire Lackawanna League, have finished first or second in the state for five straight years. Elk Lake won a state Class AA girls’ title in 2010, finished second in AA in 2011, won the first title after the creation of Class A in 2012 and finished second the past two years.

In the spring, Elk Lake’s Taylor Watkins finished sixth in the state in the javelin after winning league and district titles.

Bennett and Jones ran together on another championship team, joining Julie Van Etten and Elizabeth Trowbridge to give Elk Lake a district title in the girls’ 3200-meter relay.

Lattimore, in the 200, and Allison Lewis, in the 400, won individual district gold and joined Emma Griffiths and Rebecca Timm to give Montrose the winning 1600 relay team.

Hunter Watkins made it brother-sister gold medalists in the district javelin.

Blue Ridge’s Brett Hepler won the district discus title.

District team titles went to Elk Lake in boys’ cross country, Mountain View in girls’ soccer and Blue Ridge in girls’ volleyball.

Freshman Cody Oswald and sophomore Dan Bell finished second and third in the district to lead Elk Lake.

Hannah Richner was selected as an all-state midfielder for Mountain View, which went unscored on in three district tournament games. The Lady Eagles also won a Lackawanna division title.

Susquehanna reached its first District 2 softball final and its first football final since 1995 by breaking a 19-year drought without a playoff victory.

Austin White, the Lackawanna Football Conference Division 3 Offensive Player of the Year, according to www.northeastpafootball.com, ran for 162 yards and three touchdowns and passed for another score in the 31-28 district playoff win over Lackawanna Trail.

Montrose won another Lackawanna League Division 4 girls’ basketball title, running its division winning streak to 40 games in the process. The Lady Meteors went 20-6 and returned to the state tournament two years after making a run to the semifinals. Myra Lattimore wrapped up her basketball career by earning team Most Valuable Player honors at the league’s all-star game.

The Montrose track teams repeated as Lackawanna Division 4 titles. The girls won their third straight Jordan Relays title.

The Mountain View girls and Montrose boys won division soccer titles in playoffs.

Elk Lake went unbeaten while winning the Lackawanna Division 4 basketball title.

Mountain View’s baseball team and Montrose’s softball team also won their divisions.

Meghan Stenzhorn, an outfielder on the Mountain View softball team, was named second-team Class AA all-state.

Austin Smith from Montrose finished 19th in the state in Class AA golf.

Lauren Wallis, a Clifford resident playing at Scranton Prep, made it to the PIAA East Regional as an individual and to the state team championships.

Montrose’s Jacob O’Brien went 28-5 as a freshman and finished second in the District 2 Class AA tournament in wrestling.

The year ended with Montrose teams continuing their dominance of county basketball tournaments. The Lady Meteors improved to 5-for-5 in the Denise Reddon Memorial Tournament with Meghan Gilhool winning her second straight Most Valuable Player Award. In the second game of a championship doubleheader on their homecourt, the Meteors became the first to win four titles in the Susquehanna County Christmas Tournament.

Ely led Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference women’s basketball players in scoring at West Chester University. She was named honorable mention All-American and ranked among the national Division II leaders last season and the first half of this season in scoring, 3-point shooting, foul shooting and steals.

Thomas, who had led Mountain View to a state title and another state championship appearance in his high school career, made the all-tournament team and reached the championship game of the USA Soccer U-18 Boys National Championships with the Lehigh Valley United 95s. He then moved on to Messiah College, the most successful Division III college soccer program in the country, and worked his way into the starting lineup for six games.

With Thomas providing five goals and two assists, Messiah was unbeaten until falling in the national semifinals.

Kempa, a Blue Ridge graduate and former Susquehanna Saber, caught 60 passes for a King’s College season record while pushing his career record to 151.

In regional professional sports, the Binghamton Mets won an Eastern League baseball title.

The Binghamton Senators won the American Hockey League East Division title, but were knocked off in the first round of the Calder Cup Playoffs by the rival Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. The Penguins advanced to the conference final.

WEEK IN REVIEW

Tori Wilder and Makenna Whitaker combined for seven 3-pointers while splitting 30 points Friday night when Mountain View opened the Lackawanna League Division 4 girls’ basketball season with a 50-48 win over Lackawanna Trail.

Wilder scored all of her points by hitting five times from 3-point range.

Lucy Adams added 11 points in the win.

Forest City and defending champion Montrose rolled in other division openers. Forest City defeated Susquehanna, 48-21, and Montrose handled Blue Ridge, 51-21.

In boys’ basketball, Jack Fruehan scored 19 points and Montrose broke a fourth-quarter tie to defeat Blue Ridge, 52-40, in a Lackawanna League Division 4 opener.

Cody Hollister hit five 3-pointers while scoring 21 points when Mountain View defeated Lackawanna Trail, 66-55.

In high school wrestling, Montrose 106-pounder Jacob O’Brien finished third in the Tunkhannock Kiwanis Tournament Dec. 29-30.

All four county teams were among the 26 teams in the field.

O’Brien, who won three straight bouts to reach the consolation final, helped Montrose to the best finish of the four. The Meteors were 20th with 45 points.

Wyalusing outscored Cranford, N.J., 241-197.5, for the team title.

Elk Lake was 21st with 31 points, Blue Ridge was 23rd with 28 points and Mountain View was 25th with 16.

Patrick Parks added a sixth-place finish for Montrose at 145.

Elk Lake had three wrestlers place. Blaise Cleveland was fourth at 195 while Blake Chew (138) and Jacob Hand (152) were eighth.

Ryan Rogers led Blue Ridge by placing sixth at 285.

Mountain View did not place any in the top eight. The Eagles had three wrestlers post two wins and fall one win short of wrestling for a place. Schae Thomas was eliminated on a one-point loss at 170 while Sean Kshir (138) and John Dougherty (195) went out in the same round.

In professional hockey, Nick Drazenovic had two goals and an assist while Matt Murray made 30 saves Friday night when the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins shut out the visiting Binghamton Senators, 5-0, to add to their American Hockey League East Division lead.

COLLEGE CORNER

Ely made sure the West Chester University women’s basketball team bounced back from its first loss of the season.

The 5-9 junior guard from Montrose scored 14 of her 21 points in the first half Dec. 20 when West Chester rolled over Clarion, 91-68, in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference game.

Ely helped the Golden Rams to a 54-29 halftime lead. She finished 8-for-12 from the floor and also had five rebounds, two assists and a steal.

West Chester won its first eight games for its best start since the 2000-01 season.

Ely had a team-high 15 points in a 69-61 loss at Gannon Dec. 17.

On the season, she is averaging 17.4 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.1 assists. She is shooting 45.4 percent from the floor, 40.4 percent on 3-pointers and 92.1 percent from the foul line.

West Chester went into the weekend 6-1 in the PSAC and 9-1 overall.

THE WEEK AHEAD

Blue Ridge (1-0) will face defending champion Western Wayne (2-0) Wednesday at Scranton Prep as part of a Lackawanna League Division 2 triple-dual meet in wrestling.

In boys’ basketball, Lackawanna Trail is at Montrose Friday night in what has the potential to be an important game in the first-half Lackawanna League Division 4 race.

In girls’ basketball, defending Division 4 champion Montrose is at defending Division 3 champion Dunmore in a Lackawanna League girls’ basketball crossover game.

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.

ALLMENDINGER FINALLY DID IT

AJ Allmendinger celebrates his August victory at Watkins Glen. Furnished by NASCAR

There were many racing fans that wondered if AJ Allmedniger would ever win a Cup race.

But after 212 tries and coming up empty, he found victory lane.

“This is what I live for -- this is all I talk about,” Allmendinger said after his dramatic victory over Marcos Ambrose in August at Watkins Glen that ended a 212-race winless streak and catapulted his JTG Daugherty Racing team into the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship. “I don't want to hear that AJ might be the next first-time winner -- I'm tired of hearing that.”

In a battle between two drivers with everything on the line, AJ Allmendinger held off Ambrose in breathtaking fashion to win at the Glen and claim a spot in the Chase.

In the closing laps, Allmendinger and Ambrose bumped each other, leaned on each other, raced each other side-by-side through the esses without wrecking -- astoundingly -- and swapped the lead before Allmendinger secured his first Cup Series victory with a pass in Turn 6 with just over one lap left.

On the next-to-last lap, Allmendinger controlled the restart and held the lead through Turn 1, but Ambrose applied pressure up through the esses, gained ground when Allmendinger ran wide in the bus stop chicane and got past the No. 47 Chevrolet after setting up a pass with a tap at the exit from the bus stop.

But Allmendinger stayed to Ambrose's outside through Turn 5 and leaned on the No. 9 Ford through Turn 6, gapping Ambrose down the front straight and pulling away for the win.

“Yeah, I mean I knew our car was slick on restarts on the tires, and I knew Marcos was going to try to move me out of the way if he had the opportunity,” Allmendinger continued. “To his credit, he didn't wreck me. He just moved me like he should have. I went down into the next corner and leaned on him a little bit to see if I could get a gap and get them racing behind me.

“I knew if I could just get a three or four-car-length gap, they weren't going to get back to me. That was just a fun race. Thanks to the fans for enduring the red flags, the track workers for putting the track back together a couple of times. Everybody at home, if you didn't love that you are not a fan of racing.”

STEWART HAD SWEET/SOUR YEAR

Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Chevrolet won the Sprint Cup title. The organization’s three other teams, driven by Tony Stewart, Danica Patrick, and Kurt Busch didn’t fare well.

Both professionally and personally, Stewart suffered through the worst season of his career in 2014. He did not win a Sprint Cup Series race for the first time in a season since making his debut in 1999. The Kevin Ward Jr. incident certainly impacted numerous sectors of his personal life and he missed races for the second year in a row as a result.

Stewart started the year testing the surgically repaired leg that ended his 2013 campaign in August. A tough season, results-wise, turned tragic almost exactly a year later when Stewart was moonlighting in a Saturday night Sprint Car race at Canandaigua Motorsports Park. His car accidentally struck and killed driver Kevin Ward Jr. when Ward ran onto the track to confront him after wrecking the lap before. An investigation revealed marijuana in Ward's system and no criminal charges were filed against Stewart, but he was devastated and spent several weeks in seclusion before returning to the Cup series.

“This has been one of the toughest tragedies I've ever had to deal with both professionally and personally,” Tony Stewart said following the Kevin Ward Jr. tragedy on Aug. 9 in New York. “This is something that will definitely affect my life forever. This is a sadness and a pain that I hope no one ever has to experience in their life. With that being said, I know that the pain and the mourning that Kevin Ward's family and friends are experiencing is something that I can't possibly imagine.”

Danica Patrick was generally more competitive than in the previous year, and achieved a couple career best results, yet she dropped one place to 28th in the standings. She still had a better year than teammate Kurt Busch, who won a race in SHR's new No. 41 car to make the Chase, but ended the year refuting allegations from his ex-girlfriend that he was physically abusive.

The highlight of Busch's season came in May, when he was the only driver to attempt the Indianapolis 500/Coke Zero 600 double; distinguishing himself in the IndyCar with a sixth-place finish while driving for Andretti Autosport.

NEW SEASON WITH NEW RULES

Much will change in the Sprint Cup Series from 2014 to 2015, including a reduction of horsepower, a reduced rear spoiler, driver adjustable track bars and a universal testing band.

Change came fast during the 2014 season, with entirely new formats for the Chase and pre-race qualifying. These were on the heels of the Gen-6 car and new rules packages, as well as giving new teeth to the penalty process. The changes grabbed the attention of fans, both traditional and non-traditional.

“The direction that we're going allows us not to have to make any significant changes in the future," NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France said in April when potential engine changes were discussed. “We know exactly what we're trying to do with the rules package. We think the (Chase) format is something we can build on for the next 10 or 15 years, or longer. We don't want to change things just because we feel like it. It's always difficult … So I love the general direction we're at. We're past the majority of the changes, and now we can build on where we're at.”

The race off the track has already started to see which teams will first find success with the new formula. Hendrick and Penske were fast out of the gate in 2014 while Roush Fenway Racing was never able to recover from their slow start.

NASCAR introduced a new championship format prior to the 2014 season and the sanctioning body seemed to get exactly what it intended. Drivers and teams battled both on the track and off it as winning became paramount with every position on the track mattering more than ever before.

However, the final race also produced two championship finalists with extremely underwhelming statistics. As a result, it will be interesting to see how an increased understanding of the format will change how teams and drivers approach the final 10 events of the season in 2015 and if NASCAR will get its four best teams into the Championship Format.

With a testing ban, it will be more difficult than ever before for teams to work themselves out of guessing wrong on the changes to the Gen-6 Sprint Cup car next season.

Racing Trivia Question: What will the Nationwide Series be known as in 2015?

Last Week’s Question: Dale Jr.had wins at Martinsville and Daytona. Where were his other two victories? Answer. He won both Pocono races.

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