Katie Bennett, Justine Johns and the entire Elk Lake cross country program remained among the state’s best, Susquehanna County pitchers ruled the District 2 baseball championships at PNC Field, changes were made that will impact the future of local high school sports and Chris Snee’s recent past in the National Football League was celebrated.

Those were just some of the stories involving Susquehanna County athletes that made news in 2015.

Bennett and Johns each earned their third Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Cross Country Championships state medals in November. They finished 14th and 19th overall to help the Lady Warriors finish sixth in the state in Class A. Bennett, a District 2 track and field champion in the 800-meter run, and Johns also joined Julie VanEtten and Kenzie Jones for a seventh-place finish in the Class AA 3200-meter relay.

The Elk Lake boys finished eighth in the state in cross country after winning the District 2 Class A title.

Others also excelled on the state level in PIAA events.

Dylan O’Dell finished 10th individually in Class AA boys’ golf and helped the team finish tied for fifth after winning its first District 2 title and a Subregional playoff match.

The Elk Lake girls’ 3200-meter relay team produced one of three medals by county athletes in state track.

Montrose’s Billy Hewes placed sixth in the Class AA 110-meter high hurdles.

Elk Lake’s Hunter Watkins was seventh in the Class AA boys’ javelin.

Blue Ridge’s Megan Houlihan, in volleyball, and Montrose’s Madison Gilhool, in soccer, earned all-state recognition in Class A.

The county produced two district champions at the same site on the same day when Blue Ridge’s Jake Decker and Montrose’s Matt Benninger threw back-to-back shutouts in baseball finals at PNC Field in Moosic, home of the Class AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders.

Decker threw a two-hitter in a 2-0 victory over Forest City in Class A.

Benninger struck out nine in a three-hitter during a 1-0 Class AA win over Hanover Area.

Blue Ridge repeated as district champion in Class A girls’ volleyball.

Brianna Baker from Montrose won the district Class AA girls’ golf championship, Dalton Hogle from Blue Ridge won the Class AA 145-pound wrestling title and several county athletes earned track and field gold medals.

In addition to Bennett’s individual and relay district titles, Watkins and Blue Ridge’s Laurren Whitney swept the Class AA javelin titles and Montrose won the girls’ 400-meter relay.

Earlier, Watkins, Elk Lake teammate Tommy Milandri (shot put) and Montrose’s Colin Mondi (high jump) had won titles at the Bob Spagna Lackawanna Track Conference Championship Meet.

Elk Lake girls and Montrose boys won Lackawanna League Division 4 titles in the spring. Elk Lake won softball and track and field while Montrose won baseball and track and field.

Both Montrose basketball teams were 12-0 to win Lackawanna Division 4 titles.

Montrose went 20-0 to win the Lackawanna League boys’ cross country title.

Mountain View and Montrose were part of a three-way tie for first in Lackawanna League Division 3 girls’ soccer, only to lose out on the title in a playoff.

Future championships will look different in District 2 and around the state because of a decision made in the fall.

The PIAA switched from four to six classifications in football, boys’ and girls’ basketball, baseball and softball and expanded the number of classes in some other sports.

District 2 announced that it would hold future basketball championships at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Wilkes-Barre Township.

Chris Snee’s career was recognized in two ceremonies. First, he was placed in the New York Giants’ Ring of Honor, then Snee returned to Montrose to present a golden football as part of an NFL program connecting each of the past Super Bowl players and head coaches with their former high school programs.

Snee returned following a breakthrough football season at Montrose, which went 5-5 to match the total number of wins by the program in the last six years.

Derek Nunez, an Elk Lake student, produced a pair of 300-yard rushing games to highlight the turnaround but Montrose ended its cooperative sponsorship with Elk Lake after the PIAA’s change to six classes in order to avoid becoming a Class AAA team.

A four-game winning streak by the Meteors included their first win in the Bluestone Trophy Game, 3-0, over Susquehanna.

County athletes continued their success after high school.

Dallas Ely, who led Montrose to the 2012 Class AA girls’ basketball state semifinals, earned honorable mention All-American honors and became a 1,000-point scorer in college. She led West Chester University to the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division II national tournament where Ely had 25 points in an 88-85 loss to West Liberty.

Former Susquehanna players Christian Miller and Austin White led the City to a 41-6 romp in the Dream Game.

Miller was the game’s leading tackler and White started at quarterback.

Miller, a Susquehanna graduate, had six tackles, including a sack and another for a loss, along with five assists and three pass rushes. White passed for 75 yards and ran for 15.

CUP RACE

Elk Lake was one of the most successful District 2 athletic programs in the fall.

According to point totals released by NPFSports.com for its new Toyota of Scranton All-Sports Cup, Elk Lake had the second-most successful sports program in the fall out of 22 District 2 Small Schools.

Toyota of Scranton and NPF Sports will award the cups to the one Big School and one Small School that achieve the most athletic excellence during the 2015-16 school year.

Teams earn points based on regular season, district postseason and state postseason team success. The cups will be awarded following the completion of spring sports.

Elk Lake went into the winter sports season locked in a tight three-way race, according to the NPF point system.

Holy Cross scored 135 points, Elk Lake 134 and Wyoming Seminary 133.

Holy Redeemer had a 127-116 lead over Dunmore for fourth place.

After Lakeland’s 98 points, Montrose ranked sixth with 85 and Forest City seventh with 79.

All but one Susquehanna County school finished in the top half of the Small School rankings in the fall.

Blue Ridge was ninth with 70 points and Mountain View 10th with 64.

Susquehanna was last among the 22 Small Schools with five points.

Wallenpaupack leads the Big School race with 240 points. Dallas is second with 210, before a tight pack of Abington Heights (201), Crestwood (200) and Scranton Prep (199).

WEEK IN REVIEW

Adam Kowalewski and Noah Yates made the all-tournament team but Forest City was unable to defend its tournament title.

Tony Maloney scored 21 points and hit five of the 11 3-pointers Tunkhannock used to top the Foresters, 50-37, in Saturday night’s Forest City Rotary boys’ basketball tournament final.

Avery Newhart, who had 11 points, and all-tournament pick Sean Harder, who had 10, each made three 3-pointers for Tunkhannock.

The Tigers opened a 23-7 lead after one quarter.

Yates had 14 points for Forest City.

Western Wayne defeated Mountain View, 56-53, for third place despite 35 points and seven 3-pointers from all-tournament selection Matt Lavin.

Justin Rodriguez from Western Wayne completed the all-tournament team.

Dahlton Frisbie led the Wildcats against Mountain View, scoring 25 points and matching Lavin’s seven 3-pointers.

Forest City used a big fourth quarter Wednesday to reach the final with a 69-60 win over Western Wayne.

Kowalewski scored eight of his 15 points in the fourth quarter when he was 4-for-5 from the line to help the team go 11-for-18 and outscore the Wildcats, 22-12.

Jared Paulin and Dylan O’Dell added five points each in the fourth.

Paulin scored 10 of his 25 points in the third quarter to help the Foresters remain within one in a game that was tied at halftime.

Noah Yates added 12 points in the win.

Justin Rodriguez went 6-for-8 from the line while scoring 18 points to lead Western Wayne. Dahlton Frisbie hit three 3-pointers while scoring 13. Scott Walck added 12.

Tunkhannock defeated Mountain View, 40-32, in the other semifinal.

Mountain View scored the first 13 points Dec. 21 at Susquehanna and went on to defeat the Sabers, 57-42, in the Bill McLaughlin Tribute Game.

Jesse Gerfin scored 15 points to lead the Eagles to the win.

Gerfin hit a pair of 3-pointers in the first quarter to help Mountain View to a 17-7 lead.

Susquehanna rallied to within two several times in the middle quarters before another streak, this one for nine points, helped Mountain View take a 40-32 lead into the fourth quarter.

Lavin and Cody Hall took it from there.

Lavin had nine points in the fourth quarter when Hall was 4-for-4 from the line to lead a 7-for-8 effort by the team. Both finished with 14 points.

Tyler Williams scored 21 points for Susquehanna, including nine to fuel the comeback attempts in the third quarter.

Freshmen Bryce Baldwin and Mason Deakin contributed to the effort for the Sabers. Baldwin had nine points. Deakin led the team with six assists, along with five points and five rebounds.

The game honors the contributions to the sport by McLaughlin, the former Mountain View coach.

THE WEEK AHEAD

The Lackawanna League Division 4 basketball seasons get underway Saturday.

In boys’ basketball, Susquehanna is at Forest City and Mountain View is at Lackawanna Trail in 2:15 games. Blue Ridge is at Montrose at 5:30.

In girls’ basketball, Forest City is at Susquehanna at 11 a.m., Lackawanna Trail is at Blue Ridge at 2:15 p.m. and Montrose is at Blue Ridge at 3:30.

TOM ROBINSON write 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.

LARSON AND ELLIOTT; TWO DRIVERS TO WATCH

Kyle Larson in 2015

Kyle Larson has yet to live up to what many racing insiders expected, but 2016 might be his break out season.

The Japanese American driver came on board as one of the most promising young drivers in NASCAR’s Drive For Diversity program. While he did win the 2014 Sprint Cup Series Rookie of the Year, he didn’t win a race in 2015, and failed to make the Chase.

In 2014, Larson had eight top 5’s and seventeen top 10’s, displaying remarkable skills and showed continued improvement throughout the season.

But what a difference a year can sometimes make.

In 2015, Larson’s team was inconsistent with only two top 5’s and ten top 10’s. Moreover, what really stands out in 2015 is the differential between qualifying (a season average starting position of 13th), compared to a disappointing average finish of 19th.

Whether this was Larson’s fault, or his team as a whole, it’s hard to say, but the team failed to improve the car during the course of most races.

In addition, for the 35 races that Larson competed in during 2015, he finished lower than 23rd at the same tracks as compared to 2014.

Larson missed one race during 2015. He fainted during a fan appearance Saturday while at Martinsville Speedway for Sunday's race. After an initial evaluation at a local hospital, Larson was transported to a Charlotte facility for further testing. Nothing was found wrong with him medically, and he was back in his car the next weekend.

Despite the letdowns, it doesn’t mean the exceptional 22-year-old doesn’t have the talent to win.

He has often shown that he has the racing know-how and equipment to win. A good example of this came during the last race of the 2015 season at Homestead. Larson was in contention for the win until a late race caution relegated him to a 5th place finish.

While it’s no guarantee of success, he will have a new crew chief in 2016.

The team announced that Chad Johnston has been named crew chief for Larson and the No. 42 Target team. Johnston replaced Chris Heroy, who had been Larson's crew chief for his first two years in Sprint Cup.

“I'm excited to get to work with Chad and to start doing what needs to be done to get the team to Victory Lane next year,” Larson said in a team release. “As a team, I think we are very close and the addition of Chad should help move our program forward for many years to come. Lastly, I would also like to thank Chris for all he did to help me grow in my first two seasons in the Cup series.”

Johnston joins the No. 42 team from Stewart-Haas Racing, where he has been the crew chief for Tony Stewart and the No. 14 Chevrolet since the 2014 season. Johnston also served as crew chief for Martin Truex, Jr. and the No. 56 at Michael Waltrip Racing from 2011-2013. Johnston has one career Sprint Cup race win as a crew chief (2013, Sonoma) and helped guide Truex Jr. into the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup during the 2012 season.

I think that Larson has the talent and skills to win in the Sprint Cup Series. If his team can provide him with the needed backup, I believe he will be a winner.

CHASE ELLIOTT MOVING TO FULL-TIME CUP

Chase Elliott has what it takes to win in NASCAR’s top series; pedigree, experience, skill, and a great team. With all those attributes, it’s not a question of “if he will win, but when?”

Elliott, 20, is set to compete for Rookie of the Year campaign in 2016, taking over the driving duties of the No. 24 Chevy from four-time series champion Jeff Gordon. The 2014 Xfinity Series champion competed in five Sprint Cup events last season in preparation for his first full season in NASCAR's top division.

“I think it makes great sense,” Dale Earnhardt said about his future Hendrick Motorsports teammate. “You know, I think it’s a great plan. He's running well enough that it seems to make a lot of sense. I wouldn't have expected anything else, to be honest with you. He's ready.”

When asked to comment on how his 2015 Sprint Cup season might go, Elliott replied, “I think you take it as it comes. Until you go and try, it's hard to say. There's times where I think, 'yeah, maybe we could keep up,' and other days, maybe not. Really until you give it a fair chance it's hard to say at what point you are in your career. So I try to take it a week at a time, I don't ask questions and just try to hope for the best.”

Jeff Gordon, former driver of the No. 24 car for the past 23 years, is a great supporter of Elliott.

“I mean this kid is phenomenal. He is just a sponge,” Gordon said. “You just introduce him to new things and he just excels at it. When it comes to young talent like Chase, getting him in a Cup car is a perfect plan.”

NASCAR ALIVE AND WELL

During his speech at the NASCAR Awards Banquet, NASCAR CEO Brian France said the sport is in good shape.

“I want to tell you a little bit about the future because in my career, and I've been at this a long time,” said France. “I've never been more excited about what's going on in our industry than right now. I say that because of all of the innovative things that are happening.

“You know, innovation or ideas can come from anywhere. But it's the people in this room that execute those ideas - our track operators, our race officials, our teams, our team personnel - they've embraced what we're doing in a way that is unprecedented in motorsports.

“I'm talking about little things like the Air Titan system which helps us get our events completed in a timely way. Those are little things that make a big impact. The big things like our format change surprised many people. Some thought it couldn't be done. They didn't think you could have an elimination-style format in auto racing. Didn't make sense.

“They also didn't think that the level of competition could rise, that our teams could step up to the moment and do things they never thought possible.

“But you know what, they have. And all of you in this room have embraced that, our tracks, everybody, our marketing partners, have understood the importance of raising the level of competition to our fans. They love it.

“That gives me great assurance we're going to have a good future. I want us to have an exceptional future. I know now with the industry working so closely on big things and small things that we're going to have an exceptional future.”

Racing Trivia Question: Where was the first official NASCAR race held?

Last Week’s Question: What year was NASCAR founded? It was formed in 1948. The first races were held in 1949.

You may contact the Racing Reporter by e-mail at: hodges@race500.com.