Preparation is underway for the spring high school sports seasons, which will include the return of Susquehanna to boys’ volleyball and Elk Lake to boys’ tennis on the Lackawanna League schedules.

Susquehanna went 3-11 during the 2014 volleyball season, but did not have a team last year.

Elk Lake last competed in a full season of Lackawanna League boys’ tennis in 2009, going 0-15.

Boys’ volleyball and boys’ tennis are the first two to begin league play.

Blue Ridge, Elk Lake, Forest City and Mountain View are the other Susquehanna County schools in the Lackawanna League, which includes Abington Heights and Western Wayne in boys’ volleyball. The season opens March 29.

Boys’ tennis begins the same day.

Montrose and Elk Lake are among 16 teams in the Lackawanna League where every team plays every other team, but standings are kept separately according to Class AAA and Class AA.

The Lackawanna Track Conference has set up crossover meets for all its teams for March 29, but does not begin division meets, which are part of the standings, until April 5.

Blue Ridge, Elk Lake, Montrose, Mountain View and Susquehanna compete in Division 4, which also includes Lackawanna Trail, in both boys’ and girls’ track and field.

Montrose is the defending boys champion and Elk Lake is the defending girls’ champion.

Baseball and softball schedules begin April 4.

All six county schools compete in Division 4 of the Lackawanna League along with Lackawanna Trail.

Montrose is the defending baseball champion. Elk Lake is the defending softball champion.

WEEK IN REVIEW

Hazleton Area’s Jimmy Hoffman finished second at 132 pounds and Abington Heights’ Nick Carr finished third at 160 pounds at the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Wrestling Championships in Hershey Thursday through Saturday.

District 2 did not have any medalists in Class AA.

In girls’ basketball, Dunmore was the only District 2 to get through the second week of the state tournament.

The Lady Bucks rallied to defeat New Hope-Solebury, 29-22, in the Class AA second round March 8, then Imhotep Charter from Philadelphia, 45-44, in the quarterfinals.

Dunmore shot just 3-for-38 in the first three quarters against New Hope-Solebury, the District 1 champion.

The Lady Bucks trailed, 7-0, after one quarter but rallied behind junior point guard Maddie Martin, who scored 10 of her 15 points in the second half.

Dunmore outscored New Hope-Solebury, 18-5, in the fourth quarter.

Izzy Cooper had nine points, 11 rebounds, three blocked shots and three steals.

Martin was clutch again in the quarterfinals where the Lady Bucks overcome an 18-8, second-quarter deficit.

She scored 10 of her 13 points in the second half and ran the delay game when Dunmore protected a small lead throughout the last four minutes.

Erika Bistran and Megan Hartshorn hit consecutive 3-pointers early in the fourth quarter to erase the last deficit, then put Dunmore ahead to stay.

Holy Redeemer also made the Class AA quarterfinals, beating York Catholic, 62-52, before losing to defending state champion Neumann-Goretti, 48-39, Friday.

The Royals had a seven-point second-half lead on Neumann-Goretti, which was scheduled to face Dunmore in Tuesday’s state semifinals.

In boys’ basketball, the season came to an end for District 2 teams during the second round of the state tournament when Scranton Prep (Class AAA), Meyers (AA) and Old Forge (A) each lost.

COLLEGE CORNER

Elk Lake graduate Adam Phillips finished fifth in the 100-yard breaststroke and was part of the second-place 400-medley relay team when Rider University finished third in the Eastern College Athletic Conference Championships at Navy.

Phillips, a senior, helped Rider go 9-0 in dual meets this season while winning its fifth straight Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference title.

THE WEEK AHEAD
 The winter high school sports season in Pennsylvania comes to an end Saturday with the conclusion of the state basketball and swimming championships.

Basketball is scheduled Friday and Saturday at the Giant Center in Hershey. Finalists were being determined in Tuesday night semifinals.

Swimming has Class AAA competition set for Wednesday and Thursday and Class AA competition set for Friday and Saturday, all at the Giant Center in Hershey.

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.

HARVICK GETS CLOSE WIN AT PHOENIX

Harvick Wins Close One at Phoenix

PHOENIX, Az.--Kevin Harvick's Sprint Cup win over Carl Edwards by 0.100-second was the closest win on record at the one-mile Phoenix track.

What looked like a Harvick waltz to the finish line turned into a no-holds barred, bumpingmatch between the two drivers during the last half of the last lap of the 312-lap race.

Harvick led twice for 139 laps and was nearly three seconds ahead of Dale Earnhardt Jr. when the caution flag came out after Kasey Kahne hit the outside wall with five-to-go.

Harvick, Clint Bowyer, and Earnhardt remained on the track while Edwards, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson and Matt Kenseth made a brief pit stop for two right side tires.

On the green-white-checkered restart, which sent the race into overtime, Edwards was lined up fourth. He quickly got by Bowyer and Earnhardt,and set his sights on Harvick.

But Harvick wasn't waiting around. He had the accelerator to the floor and Edwards was unable to catchhim until the two cars exited turn-4 and were headed for the finish line. Edwards bumped Harvick several times, and until the end of the race, it looked more like a drag race than an oval race.

Edwards moved ahead briefly, but Harvick held steady and crossed the stripe a couple feet ahead of Edwards.

“I knew I could beat him (Edwards), but when I saw him coming, I knew I was going to get some sheet metal messed up on the car,” said Harvick. “This is a tough track and you have to move around to find the right groove, but it paid off today.”

Edwards gave it his best shot and after the race went over, stuck his head in Harvick's car and congratulated him.

“I could have wrecked him,” said Edwards. “But I didn't want to do that. I tried to move him up, and was able to, but it wasn't quite enough.”

Denny Hamlin did not lead any laps but finished a strong third.

“The car was a mystery to us,” said Hamlin. “It was a fast car, but it seemed like the longer the runs, the better it got. It wasn't as fast on the restarts, and that kind of put us behind.”

Polesitter Kyle Busch led 75 laps, but after the midway point of the race, he wasn't able to lead any laps, and finished fourth.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. was fifth, followed by Kurt Busch, Matt Kenseth, Chase Elliott, Austin Dillon, and Ryan Blaney.

Top-10 leaders after 4 of 36: 1. Harvick-154, 2. Kyle Busch-154, 3. Johnson-140, 4. Kurt Busch-137, 5. Edwards-136, 6. Hamlin-131, 7. Logano-127, 8. A. Dillon-122, 9. Truex-117, 10. Earnhardt-115.

GIBBS TEAMS SWEEP XFINITY RACE

Joe Gibbs teams led by Kyle Busch finished 1-2-3 and dominated Saturday's Xfinity Series race at Phoenix.

Justin Allgaier, Chase Elliott, Ty Dillon, Austin Dillon, Elliott Sadler, Brad Keselowski, and Brandon Poole were the remaining top-10 finishers.

Top-10 leaders after 4 of 33: 1. Suarez-144, 2. Sadler-136, 3. T. Dillon-135, 4. Allgaier-132, 5. B. Jones-129, 6. E. Jones-126. 7. Gaughan-119, 8. Reed-106, 9. Poole-102, 10. Wallace Jr.-96.

WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO JAMIE McMURRAY

Jamie McMurray started off in the Sprint Cup Series in 2002 with a bang. According to some of his competitor's he's a very competitive driver, but he has never lived up to his early expectations.

“He is a good, clean driver, but if he is racing for position, he isn't going to move over and let you pass him,” said Carl Edwards, driver of the No. 19 Gibbs Toyota.

 McMurray was born June 3, 1976 in Joplin, Missouri. He grew up racing go-karts and competed in nearly every form of karting around the country before moving to late-model stock cars.

He is best known for winning at Charlotte as a substitute driver for Sterling Marlin in his second Cup start, and is one of only three drivers to win both the Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400 in the same year. He currently drives the No.1 Ganassi Chevrolet in the Sprint Cup Series with crew chief Matt McCall.

McMurray's entry into Sprint Cup racing is unique among active drivers. He was tapped as interim replacement for the injured Sterling Marlin, who fractured a vertebrae in a crash at Kansas Speedway in 2002. He made his Cup debut in SABCO Racing's No. 40 Dodge at Talladega. One week later, at Charlotte, in just his second career NASCAR Winston Cup and first non-restrictor plate start, McMurray outraced Bobby Labonte and Tony Stewart for the win.

In 2003, McMurray joined the Cup Series full-time. He won Rookie of The Year honors by 37 points over Greg Biffle. McMurray had five Top 5 finishes for the year and finished 13th overall.

He did not win any races in 2004 or 2005, and moved to Roush-Fenway Racing in 2006, scoring two of his biggest career Sprint Cup wins at the famous superspeedways of Daytona and Talladega. For 2010, Jamie returned to race for Ganassi, winning the Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400.

McMurray married Christy Futrell in July 2009. Their first child Carter Scott McMurray was born Thanksgiving morning, November 25, 2010. Their second child, a daughter named Hazel, was born February 11, 2013.

Through the tumultuous years of 2009 and 2010, McMurray found the power of prayer. Following his win at Charlotte in 2010, McMurray said in his post race interview, “As those laps were winding down, I was thinking about Daytona and why I cry and the power of prayer. I had a tough year last year. I found out the power of prayer and what that can do for you. When you get to victory lane, and you get to experience this, it just makes you a believer.”

In 2013, he had one win, one pole, nine top-ten finishes and four top-five finishes in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series coming home 15th in the championship standings.

He was the winner of the 2014 Sprint All-Star Race andearned two poles, seven Top 5 and 13 Top 10 finishes, but failed to make the Chase.

Going into last year's Contender Round, he was one point above Dale Earnhardt, Jr., who marked the cutoff line. During the race, McMurray was locked in a constant battle with Earnhardt for control of the final transfer spot. Ultimately, Earnhardt finished third and McMurray finished fourth, which tied them in points. The tie was broken in favor of Earnhardt, and McMurray was eliminated.

After three races into the 2016 season, he is 16th in points. I don't know if it's his team, or equipment, that has kept him from having better finishes, but I believe that McMurray can still get the job done.

Weekend Racing: The Cup and Xfinity teams are at the 1.5-mile Fontana, California track. The trucks do not race again until April 2.

Sat., Mar. 19; Xfinity Series race 5 of 33; Starting time: 4 pm ET; TV: FoxSports1.

Sun., Mar. 20; Sprint Cup Series race 5 of 36; Starting time: 3:30 pm ET; TV: Fox.

Racing Trivia Question: Which Cup team does Ryan Blaney drive for?

Last Week’s Question: How many crew chiefs has Jimmie Johnson had in his Sprint Cup career at Hendrick Motorsports? Answer. Only one, and that is Chad Knaus.

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