The Montrose boys’ and Elk Lake girls’ athletic programs were the most successful in Susquehanna County during the 2014-15 school year.

The Meteors and Lady Warriors each had the best cumulative winning percentage for their gender while producing three Lackawanna League championship teams.

Using won-lost records in Lackawanna League play as the measuring stick, Montrose had the best combined winning percentage, followed by Elk Lake. Forest City improved to third overall by joining Montrose as the only winning boys’ sports programs. Montrose was the only school to win more than half its events in both boys and girls.

The Montrose boys won divisional titles in basketball, baseball and track and field while going 59-45 for a combined .567 winning percentage. The basketball and track and field teams were unbeaten.

The Forest City boys were 41-38-1 for a .519 winning percentage with winning teams in golf, basketball and baseball.

Montrose and Forest City were followed by: Elk Lake, 46-54, .460; Mountain View, 38-52-2, .424; Blue Ridge, 30-62, .326; and Susquehanna, 11-49, .183.

The Elk Lake girls were unbeaten champions in cross country and track and field while also winning a division championship in softball. The Lady Warriors were 55-43 for a combined winning percentage of .561.

Montrose was unbeaten in girls’ basketball in the division while its girls’ teams went 49-40 overall for a .551 winning percentage.

Elk Lake and Montrose were followed by: Blue Ridge, 21-26, .446; Forest City, 22-28, .440; Susquehanna, 29-37, .439; and Mountain View, 21-53, .284.

The best combined record was Montrose at 108-85 for .560.

Elk Lake teams were 101-97 for .510.

They were followed by: Forest City, 63-66-1, .488; Blue Ridge, 51-88, .367; Mountain View, 59-105-2, .361; and Susquehanna, 40-86, .317.

WEEK IN REVIEW

Montrose’s Austin Smith shot a 79 to finish in a four-way tie for fourth out of 48 players when the Anthracite Golf Association’s Junior Tour opened its Division I schedule June 16 at Huntsville Golf Club in Shavertown.

Sebastien Cimoch from Forest City tied for 23rd with an 87.

LOOKING AHEAD

The AGA’s Lawler Junior Tour schedule is set.

The Division I schedule has events at Wilkes-Barre Golf Club June 22, Berwick June 29, Frosty Valley Country Club July 8, Scranton Muni July 13 and Elkview Country Club July 20.

The Division II schedule is at Honesdale June 22, Fern Hall June 29, Country Club of Scranton July 6, Emanon CC July 9, Scranton Canoe Club July 13, Lehman Golf Club July 15 and Valley CC July 20.

The Tournament of Champions is set for Aug. 3 at Fox Hill Country Club and Aug. 5 at Elmhurst CC.

Division I plays 18-hole tournaments while Division II plays nine-hole events and some of its stops include educational clinics.

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.

ERIC JONES GETS NASCAR DOUBLEHEADER

Eric Jones, winner of both weekend NASCAR races

JOLIET, Ill.—Eric Jones is a driver that’s on a roll. First, he won NASCAR’s Friday night Iowa Truck race, then he flew to Chicago and took Sunday’s Xfinity Series race.

For the second consecutive weekend, rain caused problems for NASCAR races. One week ago at Michigan, the Sprint Cup race had to be shortened due to rain. This past Saturday night’s Xfinity race at Chicagoland had to be postponed until Sunday.

Jones led 94 laps of the 200-lap race and his margin of victory was nearly two seconds. He took the lead from Ryan Blaney with 10 laps to go and held on for his second career victory. It is the second week in a row that the No. 54 car has won. Kyle Busch drove it to victory lane last week at Michigan.

“What a great weekend,” Jones said. “This team has been down because of things we couldn’t control, but they never gave up. I had a great car that was fun to drive. We knew early on that we could win, and it shows just how good the team is.”

Ryan Blaney, the runner-up driver led 43 laps.

Polesitter Austin Dillon was third. Brendan Gaughan, Chris Buescher, Ross Kenseth, Daniel Suarez, Brian Scott, Ty Dillon, and Darrell Wallace were the remaining top-10.

Top-10 leaders after 14 of 33: 1. C. Buescher-528, 2. T. Dillon-499, 3. Elliott-485, 4. Smith-466, 5. D. Wallace-462, 6. Sadler-447, 7. Scott-430, 8. Gaughan-419, 9. Reed-410, 10. Suarez-407.

ERIC JONES GETS CONVINCING IOWA VICTORY

Erik Jones and his super fast Kyle Motorsports Toyota truck overpowered the rest of the field to win Friday night's Iowa truck race by nearly six seconds. He entered the race winless after eight starts this season after being hurt by back-to-back finishes of 23rd and 15th.

But this race was different.

He led 112 laps and dominated most of the 200-lap race en route to his fifth career series triumph.

“We’ve had fast trucks,” Jones said. “Things just haven’t been happening. We’re back in the swing of things. I guess the last month was just stressful all around. Stressful on me as a person. ... I kind of came to realize it doesn’t come as easy as everybody thinks it does. I had a lot of success early on and definitely got into kind of a hard spot.”

Brandon Jones, who notched his career-best, finished second. Tyler Reddick, Matt Crafton, Christopher Bell, Timothy Peters, Spencer Gallagher, Daniel Hemric, Cole Custer, and John Wes Townley rounded out the top-10.

Top-10 leaders after 9 of 23: 1. Crafton-370, 2. Reddick-358, 3. E. Jones-344, 4. Sauter-327, 5. Townley-294, 6. Gallagher-288, 7. Peters-283, 8. Hemric-282, 9. Hayley-280, 10. Kennedy-269.

Note: The Sprint Cup Series did not race this past weekend.

Top-16 Sprint Cup Chase leaders after 15 of 36: 1. Harvick-576, 2. Truex-561, 3. Logano-520, 4. Earnhardt-508, 5. Johnson-506, 6. Keselowski-480, 7. McMurray-464, 8. Kenseth-456, 9. Kahne-447, 10. Gordon-434, 11. Kurt Busch-426, 12. Menard-421, 13. Hamlin-412, 14. Edwards-401, 15. Almirola-401, 16. Newman-400.

ROSS KENSETH WALKING IN HIS DAD’S FOOTSTEPS

Ross Kenseth, son of Sprint Cup driver Matt Kenseth made his NASCAR debut Saturday in the Xfinity Series at Chicagoland, where he finished sixth.

Like any good father, Matt is helping promote his son’s career into NASCAR’s big league. During a press conference last week, Matt shared some views on his son’s “coming of age” in racing.

“You know, for me, as a dad, I think you go through a little bit of a learning process,” said Matt. “When Ross started driving late-model cars, I'd go to the track with him and we tested together. It took me a few weeks to learn to actually close my mouth a little bit.

“I probably gave him too much advice in the beginning. There's certain things I think you have to learn on your own. Like you go make a mistake or see something, and it benefits you. Oh, now I see it. It's hard to learn that sometimes just by talking.

“But on the other hand, I've always given Ross as much advice or as little advice as he wanted. I'm always been there to answer any questions, and provide him with as much help as he wanted.”

Ross said he always wanted to be a racer. Just like his dad.

“I started racing when I was really young,” said Ross. “I was five when I started running go-karts and snowmobiles. I absolutely loved the sport of racing. I watched races as a kid, seeing my dad race in the Busch Series, up to Sprint Cup. He put me in different types of cars; from go-karts, legends cars, late models, and some ARCA starts. It’s something that I feel like I've put a lot of work into, something I really love doing, really enjoy doing, feel like I'm not terrible at.

“I have a lot of fun with it. If it was up to me, I'd race two to three times a week if I could. I have a lot of fun with it. I'm looking forward to this opportunity and just hope I can make the most of it.”

For both father and son, the Xfinity race at Chicagoland Speedway was a long time in the making.

“I think we talked about trying to get some races for Ross for years,” said Matt. “I mean, it's not something that we say, ‘hey, man, we would like to do Chicago, let’s get it together.’ It's not quite that easy these days.

“We've worked on that for a long time. Ross has been working on it for a long time. He's been putting in the effort. He's been getting some results.

“You know, I'm real thankful for this opportunity, and I hope it leads into more opportunities down the road. I hope it finds some sponsorship and some opportunities to get in some more cars and run some more races. But for right now, this is the only one on the schedule.”

Weekend Racing: After a week off, the Sprint Cup teams go west to the Sonoma, California road course. The Xfinity and truck teams do not race again until the July 4th weekend.

Sun., June 28; Sprint Cup Series race 16 of 36; Starting time: 3 pm ET; TV: Foxsports1.

Racing Trivia Question: Dale Earnhardt Jr. visited Europe and Germany this past week, in search of family genealogy. During the trip, he proposed marriage to his girlfriend, and she accepted. He has said retirement from driving is on his horizon. Do you think he will retire after his current contract expires at the end of the 2016 season?

Last Week’s Question: Martin Truex Jr. drives the No. 78 Chevrolet for Furniture Row Motorsports in the Sprint Cup Series. Where is the team based out of? The team is based in Denver, Colorado, and they hope to have a second team in 2016.

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