KINGSTON – Blue Ridge senior Dalton Hogle fought off a series of late takedown attempts by Western Wayne’s Harrison Clookey in the Class AA 145-pound championship match Saturday afternoon to win a title at the District 2 Class Wrestling Championships at the Kingston Armory with a 4-3 victory.

Hogle scored the first takedown of the bout for an early lead on the top-seeded Clookey.

The bout was tied going into the third period where Hogle took the lead on a reversal with 1:35 remaining.

“He started getting high I think and I just had to shake him off,” Hogle said.

Clookey escaped with 56 seconds to cut the deficit to a point, but Hogle blocked several of his shots to preserve the victory.

“It was kind of hectic,” Hogle said. “I started doubting myself, but I knew I had to just keep fighting.”

Hogle made it to the final by pinning Lackawanna Trail’s Jared Simon in 1:18 in Friday’s quarterfinals, then shutting out Lake-Lehman’s Jake Tomolonis, 4-0, in the semifinals.

The title by Hogle was a shining moment in what has generally been a tough wrestling season for Susquehanna County teams.

The four county teams occupied the bottom four spots in the final team standings.

Wilkes-Barre Meyers outscored Lake-Lehman, 218-178, for the title. Western Wayne beat out Valley View, 159-148, for third place and the top finish by a Lackawanna League school.

Montrose was 11th in the 14-team field with 53 points, followed by Elk Lake with 49, Blue Ridge 36 and Mountain View 13.

Jacob O’Brien of Montrose and Blaise Cleveland of Elk Lake also reached the final before losing by technical falls. They joined Hogle as the only county wrestlers to advance to Northeast Regionals by finishing in the top three in a weight class.

O’Brien, a sophomore, reached the 106-pound final for the second straight year. He lost, 16-1, in 4:39 to Dominic Pasone of Meyers, one of only two unbeaten wrestlers in the district.

O’Brien pinned Lake-Lehman’s Cole Schuler in 55 seconds and defeated Western Wayne’s George Mrsich, 10-6, to reach the final.

Cleveland, the third seed, pinned Valley View’s Nick Barber in 28 seconds before knocking off second-seeded Trent Phillips from Lackawanna Trail, 9-4, in the semifinals.

T.J. Cistrunk of Meyers defeated Cleveland, 18-2, in 5:01 in the final.

Montrose and Elk Lake each had four wrestlers receive medals by finishing in the top six.

Paddy Parks (145) placed fourth while Makyle Fabrizio (132) and Brandon Swift (138) were sixth for Montrose.

Elk Lake’s Blake Chew (138) and Jake Hand (152) were fifth while Adam Curry (160) was sixth.

Mountain View 113-pounder Corbin Smith and Blue Ridge 126-pounder David Austin each finished sixth.

WEEK IN REVIEW

YATESVILLE – MMI Prep pulled away over the final 11 minutes February 17 to knock Susquehanna out of the District 2 Class A boys’ basketball quarterfinals with a 60-43 victory at Pittston Area High School.

The opening week of District 2 basketball featured 60 games to narrow the field. The Susquehanna boys took part in one of four games that tipped off the tournament with early starts on opening night. Montrose won and Elk Lake lost in Class AA girls’ games that were also part of tipping off the tournament.

Susquehanna, the last seed in the five-team field, had leads in the first and second quarters and tied the game early in the third.

MMI, which improved to 10 wins, twice Susquehanna’s season total, outscored the Sabers, 25-10, for the last 10:40 to pull away.

Luke Falletta hit consecutive 3-pointers in the final minute of the first quarter to give Susquehanna a 14-12 lead after falling behind, 8-3, in the first 3:22. Brady Towner opened the second quarter with a strong inside move to make it eight straight points and a 16-12 lead.

Tyler Williams led the Sabers with 16 points and eight offensive rebounds, including seven on the offensive end. His drive for a three-point play 10 seconds into the second half tied the game for the last time, 29-29.

Falletta, who finished with 11 points, hit his third 3-pointer with 3:10 left in the third to cut the gap to 3-33.

MMI ended the third quarter and started the fourth with a 17-5 run to break the game open by midway through the fourth quarter.

Austin Felter’s defense in a box-and-one limited Cory Rogers, who came in averaging more than 18 points, to two points for nearly 20 minutes to begin the game.

Ed Herbener led the Preppers with 20 points and five assists. John Stish added 14 points, 13 in the first half when he hit three 3-pointers. Rogers finished with 12 points, four blocked shots and three steals.

Christian Miller chipped in with seven points and eight rebounds for the Sabers, who finished 5-18.

MMI finished strong again Friday night when it knocked off top-seeded Forest City, 52-35, at North Pocono.

The Preppers and Foresters were tied at halftime before MMI held Forest City to 13 second-half points.

Rogers led MMI with 23 points.

Noah Fedak scored 12 points and Noah Yates had 10 for Forest City, which finished 12-10.

Only the Forest City girls made it through the first week.

The Lady Foresters had a quarterfinal bye then won Sunday in the same Class A doubleheader at Mid Valley where Susquehanna was eliminated.

Forest City defeated Lackawanna Trail, 44-23, after Old Forge downed Susquehanna, 50-32.

Emily Lewis hit five 3-pointers, including three in the game-breaking third quarter, while scoring a game-high 16 points for top-seeded Forest City.

Lewis had 10 points in the third quarter when Forest City turned a 17-12 lead into a 39-18 advantage.

McKenzie Hartman added seven of her 14 points in the third. She finished 5-for-6 from the line.

Kerrigan Buck led Lackawanna Trail with nine points.

Old Forge used a balanced attack to defeat Susquehanna.

Tori Tansley and Nina Pascolini scored 11 points each while Kelci Yesnowski and Gabby Verespey had 10 each.

The defending champion Lady Devils started and finished strong. They took a 17-8 lead after one quarter and, after adding only two points to the lead over the middle quarters, outscored the Lady Sabers, 15-8, in the fourth.

Susquehanna, which finished 6-17, was led by Mikaela Hargett with 13 points. D.J. Decker added nine.

The Montrose girls were the only other county team to win a game in the district tournament, taking a first-round game before losing in the quarterfinals.

While the other three county teams in the AA girls’ bracket were losing by a total of 96 points in the February 17 opening round, Montrose stomped Northwest, 56-34, at home.

Fallon Gurn scored 15 points to lead the win while Morgan Groover added 13 points and Meghan Gilhool had 10.

Montrose opened a 25-7 halftime lead.

Gurn had eight points in the first quarter to spark the Lady Meteors to a 14-5 lead.

Gilhool hit 3-pointers in the second and third quarters when Montrose remained in control, 37-21.

Katie Warner had six of her eight points in the fourth quarter.

Kelsey Yustat led Northwest with 15 points.

Riverside opened a double-figures lead in the first half Friday night on the way to a 46-34 win over Montrose in the quarterfinals.

The Lady Vikes were seeded 11th while the Lady Meteors were seeded third.

Groover scored 14 points and Angela Russell had 10 for Montrose (16-8).

Elk Lake’s season ended on its home court with a 71-46 loss to Riverside in the first game of the doubleheader.

The Lady Warriors finished 9-11.

Meyers defeated visiting Mountain View, 61-39.

The Lady Mohawks forced 28 turnovers and used a 16-1 run to open the second half to run to a 52-15 lead.

Salimah Biggs had 16 points and nine steals while Tiffany Muniz had 14 points and eight steals for Meyers.

Makenna Whitaker had 10 of her 19 points in the fourth quarter for the Lady Eagles. Tori Wilder hit a pair of 3-pointers while adding nine points.

Mountain View ended 4-18.

Holy Cross destroyed visiting Blue Ridge, 65-16.

The Lady Crusaders opened a 45-9 halftime lead.

Megan Houlihan had six points to lead Blue Ridge, which finished 3-20.

Mountain View, Blue Ridge and Elk Lake all lost first-round games in Class AA boys.

Montrose had the top seed and a first-round bye but was then defeated by Riverside in Sunday’s quarterfinals, 55-44.

The Meteors, who finished 15-6, were led by seven after one quarter.

Jack Fruehan had 17 points in the loss.

Just as the school’s girls’ team did, the Riverside boys eliminated higher-seeded teams from both Elk Lake and Montrose from the tournament.

Elk Lake played Tuesday as part of a home doubleheader February 17.

Riverside rolled to a 76-43 rout.

The Vikings used a 25-10 second quarter to take a 42-22 halftime lead.

Will Davis had 25 points in the win.

Cole Tyler had 12 points and Bailey Newhart added 10 for Elk Lake (9-13).

Hanover Area eliminated Blue Ridge, 66-44, and Mid Valley clobbered Mountain View, 71-31, Wednesday.

Blue Ridge (4-19) took a 10-6 lead after one quarter against Hanover Area, a 15-8 team that contended for the Wyoming Valley Conference Division 2 title into the final week of the regular season.

Austin Darrow had 26 points to lead the Raiders.

Hanover Area was led by Jake Barber with 17 points.

Jason Kenny scored 28 points to lead Mid Valley.

Mountain View also finished 4-19.

In District 2 diving, Elk Lake’s Jimmy Kerchner finished last of 10 Class AA boys Sunday at the Wilkes-Barre CYC.

In professional hockey, Matt Murray made 22 saves Saturday night to earn his seventh shutout of the season, tying a Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins team record in a 2-0 American Hockey League win over the Providence Bruins.

Brad Thiessen also had seven in the 2010-11 season.

Murray, a 20-year-old rookie, has four shutouts in his last six games, giving up just four goals while making 146 saves during that time.

COLLEGE CORNER

Allison Hall was part of a California University of Pennsylvania women’s distance medley relay that broke a school record, provisionally qualified for the NCAA Division II Championships, ran the fastest time in the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Conference this season by more than seven seconds, and posted the seventh-best time in the nation this year.

The senior from Blue Ridge was part of a group that won easily in 11:55.61 Feb. 13 at the Bucknell Tune-Up.

THE WEEK AHEAD

The Class AA Northeast Regional Wrestling Championships are set for Friday and Saturday in Williamsport.

The top four finishers in each eight-man bracket will advance to the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Championships at the Giant Center in Hershey March 5-7.

In the past, only three wrestlers advanced from regionals, but the PIAA has gone from 16 to 20 wrestlers per weight class at the state tournament.

Blue Ridge’s Hogle (26-5) is matched against District 4 fourth-place finisher Steven Yates from Towanda (31-8) in Friday night’s 145-pound quarterfinals. Yates is a junior.

O’Brien (23-3) begins competition at 103 pounds against Line Mountain sophomore Collin Klinger, a third-place finisher from District 4 with a 34-8 record.

Elk Lake senior Cleveland (33-6) will face Troy sophomore Zach Zimmerman (30-7). Zimmerman was second in District 4.           

In girls’ basketball, Forest City (11-11) will face Old Forge (11-10) in the District 2 Class A final Saturday. The site and time have not been announced.

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.

GREAT AMERICAN RACE GOES TO LOGANO

Joey Logano

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.—Joey Logano won the 2015 Daytona 500 in an overtime finish, followed by Kevin Harvick and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Based on the preliminary races and many wrecks that occurred in each race leading up to this year’s “500”, most racers predicted Sunday’s 200-mile affair would be a crashfest.

But it didn’t happen. Instead, it was one of the milder Daytona events, with only six cautions. The “Big One” never happened.

“I really don’t know what to say,” said Logano. “It’s all about hard work. That’s what got us here. We had a great car today. We knew we had a really fast car, but once the race started, the team was quiet. They didn’t know what to expect. Well we did it and here we are.”

Kevin Harvick, the runner-up did not lead any laps.

“We had a pretty good plan and was where we wanted to be, but there was no one to help push me past Joey,” said Harvick. “We wound it pretty good coming out of that last turn, but it’s like we were racing each other. Neither one of us had any drafting help. He was in the lead and he won.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished third and seemed to have a fast car, but all he said was, “I got shuffled back on that last restart. I got down on the inside and couldn’t do anything.”

Denny Hamlin was fourth, followed by Jimmie Johnson, Casey Mears, Clint Bowyer, Martin Truex Jr., Kasey Kahne, and Greg Biffle.

Jeff Gordon started on the pole and led the early part of the race. He was shuffled back, and did manage to get back up front twice, but he seemed to lose some of his zip and wrecked near the end. He led six times for 87 laps, and was credited with a 33rd-place finish.

Tony Stewart lost control of his car on lap 41, and smacked the outside wall. He returned to the track for a few laps, but pulled it behind the wall and parked it. He finished 42nd.

Brad Keselowski ran up front for most of the race until losing an engine in his No. 2 Ford on lap 159. He finished 41st.

Logano took over the lead for the last time during lap 171. He was still the leader on lap 197, when Justin Allgaier’s engine blew in his No. 51, causing him to brush the outside wall. NASCAR put out the red flag, which meant the race would have a green-white-checkered ending.

For the g-w-c restart, Logano was on the outside front, while Denny Hamlin was on his inside. In the second row, it was Jimmie Johnson and Clint Bowyer. Then it was Martin Truex and Kevin Harvick.

Logano got a good jump on the restart and pulled back into the lead, with Clint Bowyer right behind him. Kevin Harvick managed to work his way into the second spot. As the field took the white flag, signifying the last and final lap, it was Logano and Harvick.

Midway down the back straightaway Austin Dillon got into the rear of Jeff Gordon, sending him into the wall. There were a few other cars that were damaged, but it was not a major Daytona accident.

The leaders were half a lap from the finish when the incident occurred and NASCAR allowed the race to finish under green.

BUSCH BROTHERS OUT INDEFINITELY

Neither Kyle nor Kurt Busch was able to make this year’s Daytona 500. Kyle, who had qualified fourth, broke his right leg and left foot in a crash with 8-laps to go in Saturday’s Xfinity race.

Kurt’s problems were not racing related. NASCAR suspended him indefinitely on Friday after a judge declared him guilty of domestic violence.

While it might be only two or three months before Kyle is back in a race car, it could be considerable longer than that for Kurt.

NASCAR suspended Kurt Busch after a judge said the former champion almost surely strangled and beat an ex-girlfriend, Patricia Driscoll last fall and there was a "substantial likelihood" of more domestic violence from him in the future.

Busch will not be allowed to race or participate in any NASCAR activities until further notice given the "serious nature of the findings and conclusions" made by the Delaware judge.

Kurt appealed NASCAR’s decision, but a three-judge panel and the Appellate Administrator met on Saturday and upheld the ruling.

Busch's attorneys have filed a motion asking the judge to re-open the hearing so that they can present testimony from three acquaintances of Driscoll, who they say were previously reluctant to get involved, but have now come forward to contradict statements Driscoll made about her relationship with Busch.

Kurt Busch becomes the first driver suspended by NASCAR for domestic violence.

Regan Smith replaced Busch in the No. 41 car for the Daytona 500.

Kyle Busch underwent successful surgery to repair the fracture on his right leg and broken left foot, and was resting comfortably in the hospital over the weekend.

He will be out of competition indefinitely.

Matt Crafton filled in for him during the Daytona 500, but Joe Gibbs Racing has not named a substitute driver for any other races.

RYAN REED CLAIMS DAYTONA XFINITY WIN

Ryan Reed caught Brad Keselowski in the final turn of Saturday’s Xfinity Series race at Daytona International Speedway, and took the checkered flag in a nail-biting finish to earn his first career NASCAR victory in his 40th start.

Reed got a push from Chris Buescher about halfway to the finish line on the final lap, and breezed by Keselowski for the win.

There were several wrecks that eliminated 23 cars. At the end there were only nine cars on the lead lap.

Buescher finished second, followed by Ty Dillon, Austin Dillon, Brad Keselowski, David Starr, Aric Almirola, Kyle Larson, Ross Chastain, and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

TYLER REDDICK GETS FIRST TRUCK VICTORY

Tyler Reddick led 48-laps on the way to victory in Friday night’s Daytona Truck race. The win was the first of his career.

Top-10 finishers: 1. Reddick, 2. Erik Jones, 3. Scott Lagasse, 4. Austin Theriault, 5. Ray Black, 6. David Gilliland, 7. Bryan Silas, 8. Matt Crafton, 9. Daniel Suarez, 10. Johnny Sauter.

Weekend Racing: The Sprint Cup cars and Camping World Trucks will be at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The 1.5-mile high-banked track is one of the fastest in the nation. While the present day track only dates back to 1960, its predecessor, Lakewood Speedway opened right after World War I.

The track held races between 1919 and 1979, including events sanctioned by AAA/USAC, IMCA, and NASCAR. It was a one-mile dirt track which was located adjacent to Lakewood Fairgrounds. Lakewood Speedway was considered the "Indianapolis of the South" as it was located in the largest city in the Southern United States and it held an annual race for Indy cars.

Racing Trivia Question: Many drivers from Owensboro, Kentucky have raced in NASCAR. Can you name at least three?

Last Week’s Question: Who won the first Daytona 500, which was held in 1959? Answer. It was Lee Petty.

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

Mansfield, PA – On January 25, 2015, Shelbey Twining of Thompson, Pennsylvania, was crowned Miss Rodeo Pennsylvania 2015.

Shelbey Twining

Shelbey Twining, Miss Rodeo Pennsylvania 2015, is a 2009 graduate of Mountain View High School and is currently pursuing her Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology with a minor in Business Management.

Twining, 24, has been riding horses since she was 4 years old. Growing up, she was a 4-H member and joined a local rodeo association at the age of 13. Her love for horses grew and during the summer of 2010, Twining got the opportunity to be on the college rodeo team at Fort Scott Community College in Kansas. Along with her two horses, Twining packed her bags and moved from Pennsylvania to Kansas where she spent the year competing in rodeos.

In 2011, she returned home to Pennsylvania to be closer to family, and decided to pursue a career with the goal of saving enough money to finish her education. The current titleholder decided to apply for the position of Miss RodeoPennsylvania 2015, when a coworker told her about the advertisement she had seen. Twining was chosen to win the title and is excited to spend her year of reign making appearances, while preparing to compete at the Miss Rodeo America pageant held in Las Vegas, NV.