KINGSTON – Susquehanna County was unable to qualify any of its teams for the District 2 Dual Meet Wrestling Championships for the third time in five seasons.
Blue Ridge made it to the 2013 tournament, but was eliminated in a Class AA opening-round match. The Raiders qualified again in 2014, but went 0-2 in the new format that was created last year when the event moved to a single-day competition at the Kingston Armory.
There were no county teams in the eight-team event in 2011 and 2012.
The last time a county team won a match at the district duals was when Elk Lake defeated Wilkes-Barre Meyers, 50-30, to reach the 2010 semifinals.
Former Elk Lake wrestler and coach Bob Hegedty is coaching at Tunkhannock and took his Tigers to the tournament in Class AAA.
Tunkhannock, which finished in a three-way tie for the Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1 title, defeated West Scranton, 33-28, in the quarterfinal opener but then lost two straight.
The Tigers finished tied for fifth after falling to Lackawanna League Division 1 champion Delaware Valley, 53-15, and Hazleton Area, 42-37.
There are 14 Class AA teams in District 2. None of the four from the county made it to the district tournament while eight of the 10 other schools qualified.
County teams went a combined 7-21 in Lackawanna League duals but six of those wins were against each other and they were just 1-15 against teams from outside the county. They are a combined 14-60 overall.
The final Lackawanna League Division 2 wrestling standings were: Western Wayne 7-0, Valley View 6-1, Scranton Prep 5-2, Lackawanna Trail 3-4, Mountain View 3-4, Elk Lake 2-5, Montrose 1-6, Blue Ridge 1-6.
WEEK IN REVIEW
Shane Prince of the Binghamton Senators scored a hat trick and added an assist to lead the Eastern Conference during a 14-12 loss to the Western Conference in the AHL All-Star Game January 26 at the Utica Memorial Auditorium.
Charles Hudon of the Hamilton Bulldogs, Brendan Leipsic of the Milwaukee Admirals and Mark McNeill of the Rockford IceHogs all had hat tricks for the Western Conference.
The Eastern Conference won the Skills Competition the night before, 15-11.
Utica Comets goaltender Jacob Markstrom stopped 16 of 18 shots in the first period to share the Most Valuable Player award with Hudon.
Prince played a role in the highest-scoring AHL All-Star Game ever. His team also won in the Sher-Wood Puck Control Relay during the AHL All Skills Competition.
Binghamton’s Chris Wideman also took part in a relay, but his team lost.
Tom Kostopoulos and Derrick Pouliot, both from the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins, both took part in the Rapid Fire competition for the Eastern in a loss to the Western.
Kostopoulos, who was captain of the Eastern team, was 4-for-7 in the Accuracy Shooting competition. He was second-best of four from the East and third of eight overall.
Prince had the worst performance in the accuracy event, going 1-for-8 hitting targets.
Wideman was part of the most successful Eastern combination of three players while Pouliot was part of the worst of the four combinations in the Pass and Score event.
Pouliot scored while Prince, Kostopoulos and Wideman missed in the Breakaway Relay.
Prince and Kostopoulos each had an assist in the All-Star Game while both Kostopoulos and Wideman finished plus-1.
In professional baseball, former Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons manager Marc Bombard was selected for the International League Hall of Fame.
Bombard managed the Red Barons to four straight IL playoff appearances from 1999 to 2002. The 2002 team won a franchise record 91 games and helped earn Bombard IL Manager of the Year honors.
In girls’ basketball, Meghan Gilhool reached the 1,000-point mark for her career Saturday night when Montrose improved to 3-0 in the second half with a 62-50 win over Lackawanna Trail.
Morgan Groover scored 18 points in the win and Gilhool added 15.
Forest City improved to 2-0 for the half.
In boys’ basketball, Montrose rallied from a double-figures deficit to win 42-40 at Lackawanna Trail Saturday.
The Meteors are 3-0 in the second half after winning the first half.
Forest City finished the week at 2-0.
COLLEGE CORNER
Cassandra Bendyk came off the bench in half of the first 18 games for the Lycoming College women’s basketball team.
The Forest City graduate is a 5-foot-9 freshman guard/forward.
Bendyk has played 53 minutes. She has scored 10 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, handed out two assists and made two steals. She is 3-for-18 (16.7 percent) from the floor, 1-for-7 (14.3 percent) from 3-point range and 3-for-3 (100.0 percent) from the foul line.
Lycoming is 12-6.
THE WEEK AHEAD
First-half champion Montrose is at defending champion Elk Lake Tuesday, February 10 in a key Lackawanna League Division 4 boys’ basketball 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.
PETTY HAS REASONS FOR OPTIMISM
Richard Petty has reason for optimism heading into the 2015 racing season. His No. 43 car with Aric Almirola behind the wheel won the July race at Daytona, and the organization has moved into larger headquarters.
Almirola will be joined by Sam Hornish, who replaced Marcos Ambrose.
“It was a breakout year for us,” said Petty. “I think Sam brings a lot of versatility. Marcos (Ambrose) was super on road courses and stuff, but he never got the hang of being ready. He could have good races and bad races and good times in the races, but I think Sam will be much more consistent with it.
“In our testing, (Hornish and Almirola) both felt the same thing in the car. Whether they’d change the air pressure or they’d change the springs and both of them feel the same thing. With Marcos, he was one way and Aric was the other way and so it was hard to compare them. Now we’ve got two cars that we can sit down and say, ‘OK, you try this and I’ll try that and if it works, we’ll put it on the other car.’ That should be an advantage for all of us.”
Richard Petty Motorsports (RPM) is a two-car Sprint Cup Series race team owned by seven-time NASCAR champion Richard Petty and New York businessman Andrew M. Murstein. The team was founded as Evernham Motorsports in 2000 by former crew chief Ray Evernham, entering full-time competition as a two-car operation in 2001. The organization was renamed Gillett Evernham Motorsports in 2007 after former Montreal Canadiens and Liverpool. owner George Gillett bought a controlling interest from founder Evernham, and took on its current name after merging with Petty's team Petty Enterprises in 2009.
Known for its factory backing from Dodge since its inception, the team switched to Ford in late 2009 and merged with Yates Racing for 2010. The team has the odd distinction of being the result of three successful teams (Evernham, Petty, & Yates) merging after falling on hard times.
After funding issues due to the Gillett family's financial woes, in November 2010, an investment group including Andrew M. Murstein and his Medallion Financial Corporation, signed and closed sale on racing assets of Richard Petty Motorsports. Petty, Murstein, and Medallion Financial are the current owners of the team, while Evernham and Gillett are no longer involved with the team.
After the 2008 season, turmoil emerged when A.J. Allmendinger and Reed Sorenson were signed to drive for the team, while Elliott Sadler was released from his ride in the 19 car and planned to sue the team to keep his job.
By 2010, RPM's continued operation was put into question when lead driver Kasey Kahne announced his departure by the end of the season. Kahne's decision was in the midst of financial problems for the Gillett family in several of their ventures, which included George Gillett defaulting on a $90 million loan he had used to purchase the team. With lackluster performance and rumors from week-to-week that the team would shut down, the chaos peaked in October when RPM's cars for the second Talladega race were briefly confiscated, and again in November when RPM's four team haulers remained parked at Texas Motor Speedway instead of heading to the next race at Phoenix, in both cases due to payment issues with engine and equipment supplier Roush Fenway Racing. The situation was resolved in November, when Richard Petty partnered with Medallion Financial and DGB investments to purchase the team for "less than $50 million." Petty once again was at the helm of a race team, and retained a one-third stake in the company by investing "several million dollars" of his own money.
Petty, bolstered by a partnership with New York-based Medallion Financial Corporation, bought out Gillett and was back to actually managing a race team and not just merely having his name on the door. Still, the margins were tight, the ledger was red, and the results on the racetrack were lacking.
It remained that way for the next four years, even as Almirola came on board full-time and teammate Marcos Ambrose picked up a pair of road-course wins.
“It was a mighty big hole we were sitting down in,” Petty continued. “Instead of getting frustrated, we just kept working and tried to be patient. But anybody who knows me knows that patience isn't exactly my thing.”
The team currently fields the No. 9 for Sam Hornish, Jr. and the No. 43 for Aric Almirola in the Sprint Cup Series, and the No. 43 for Dakoda Armstrong in the Xfinity Series.
Over the winter, RPM moved into new Mooresville, North Carolina, headquarters that was actually its last HQ as Petty Enterprises. The partnership with Roush Fenway is still in place, but for the first time in years, the team is building its own cars, not waiting on deliveries from elsewhere.
Former Indy 500 champion Sam Hornish Jr. has replaced Ambrose, and last week CEO Brian Moffitt announced that a new sponsorship deal with beverage Twisted Tea will ensure that Hornish will run the entire 2015 season.
DALE JR. NOT FOCUSED ON RETIREMENT
With Jeff Gordon announcing his retirement at the end of 2015, the attention focused on Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his future plans.
Unlike Gordon, the “R” word isn’t in Junior’s foreseeable future.
Just last week, he told reporters he would like to expand his driving to include the Truck Series.
“Jeff made his decision based on factors in his life, whether it be his health or his kids,” Earnhardt said. “I don't have any back issues and I don't have any kids on the way. I don't have any factors.”
Right now, Earnhardt said he can't think about quitting because he's enjoying his job so much. He said the last five years have been the most fun he's ever had driving a race car.
“I didn't even know I could have this much fun,” he continued. “Last year, I felt like a kid. I had the same feeling I had when I would drive down to Myrtle Beach with my Late Model. We were just on top of the world having so much fun. That freedom came back in the last couple years to just enjoy it and just release the pressure. So that's made me really think I can do this a lot longer. I think I'll stop racing when my health is an issue or I don't feel like I'm in a competitive car or I feel like I've lost a step.
“I've never driven a truck before and I've always had the interest to race a truck. I'd tell you I would run Martinsville, today, but Cole Whitt’s going to get all the shorter tracks due to his age, and we need to get him that experience when we can, and it's a great opportunity at Martinsville for him to run. So if I run a race, it'll be at a bigger track where Cole's not quite cleared to run through NASCAR's process.”
Racing Trivia Question: How many Cup wins did Richard Petty have during his career?
Last Week’s Question: Where did Jeff Gordopn win his first Cup race? Answer. It was the Coca-Cola 600, May 29, 1994 at Charlotte.
You may contact the Racing Reporter at: www.hodges@race500.com.
