District 2 will have a new process for determining seeds and qualifying for its boys’ and girls’ basketball tournaments on a two-year trial basis for 2017 and 2018.

During their annual meeting last week, District 2 officials decided on basketball changes that will include limiting all tournaments to eight teams and changing the way teams are ranked.

All Susquehanna County teams will still make the open tournaments that will remain in 6A, 3A, 2A and 1A in the new six-class system.

Rather than seed those teams by league records only, a new ratings system will be used. That same system will determine which eight teams fill the fields in Class 5A and 4A boys’ and girls’ tournaments.

Final details of the rating system will be worked out at a future District 2 committee meeting, but it will use all 22 games – league and non-league – and will be based on a team’s overall wins and losses as well as the record of its opponents. At this time, the classification of those opponents is not part of the proposed ratings formulas.

When teams play the same opponent more than once, the opponent’s record will be counted again for each time that they meet.

WEEK IN REVIEW

The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins won all three games of their first round Calder Cup Playoff series, but it was not easy.

The Penguins needed overtime in each game as the American Hockey League’s playoffs got underway.

It took two overtimes to produce Saturday night’s clincher in the best-of-five series.

Jake Guentzel scored 13:52 into the second overtime period to finish off the host Providence Bruins.

The Penguins had won, 3-2 and 4-3, in single overtimes Wednesday and Thursday in Wilkes-Barre.

Providence had the best record in the AHL since the New Year, but Wilkes-Barre/Scranton swept in three games.

Guentzel, who just joined the team following his junior season at the University of Omaha-Nebraska, had four points in Game Three.

Daniel Sprong, another young, late-season addition, scored the Game Two overtime goal then had a goal and an assist in Game Three.

The Penguins led by three goals before Providence rallied in the third period to force overtime.

Casey DeSmith, who played just six regular-season games in the AHL, was the winning goalie in all three games. He set a team record with 59 saves in Game Three, including 18 during overtime.

The Penguins advanced to face either the Hershey Bears or Portland Pirates in the second round.

In boys’ volleyball, Blue Ridge moved into a third-place tie in the Lackawanna League with Western Wayne after beating the Wildcats, 25-16, 16-25, 25-15, 25-17, in an April 19 match.

Abington Heights continues to lead the league at 7-0 and Mountain View is second at 6-1. Blue Ridge and Western Wayne are 4-3.

Dom Rogers had 17 assists and 14 service points to lead the win.

Ty Herbert had 13 points, 7 kills and 3 blocks. Wes Richardson had six kills and six points. Garrett Mansfield had five points, four blocks and three kills.

COLLEGE CORNER

Allison Lewis, a sophomore from Montrose, is a middle distance runner on the West Chester University women’s track and field team.

In her most recent meet Wednesday, Lewis scored points for West Chester in the second annual Shippensburg University Invitational. She placed sixth out of 23 in 2:26.12.

Lewis had the team’s second-best times at 500 and 800 meters during the indoor season and was part of the team that posted the Golden Rams’ second-best 1600-meter relay team of the season.

West Chester is a National Collegiate Athletic Association Division II school.

THE WEEK AHEAD

The top two teams in Lackawanna League Division 4 baseball meet Wednesday when Blue Ridge plays at defending champion Montrose.

The game will be the second meeting in three days between the two leaders.

Blue Ridge entered the week with a 4-0 division record and was scheduled to host Monday’s game. Montrose was 5-1 going into Monday.

In track and field, Elk Lake is at Montrose Monday, May 2 in meets that could decide both Lackawanna League

Both teams were 3-0 and had one meet scheduled for earlier this week. Montrose had to get past third-place Lackawanna Trail to make the boys’ meet into a regular-season ending battle of unbeatens to definitely decide the title.

Elk Lake entered this week alone in first place in the girls’ standings. Montrose was tied for second with Blue Ridge at 2-1.

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.

EDWARDS GETS BACK TO BACK CUP WINS

Carl Edwards wins at Richmond

RICHMOND, Vir.-Carl Edwards caught and passed Kyle Busch on the last lap of Sunday's Sprint Cup race for his second consecutive win.

Edwards was running right on Busch's rear bumper at the beginning of the last lap. As the two leaders came out of the final turn, Edwards put a love tap on his teammate. It was just enough to make Busch lose momentum, and allowed Edwards to cross the stripe first.

“About 20 to go, I was doing literally everything I could, everything I got, I could not catch Kyle, I could not get there,” said Edwards. “With one to go, I don't remember what Dave (crew chief Dave Rogers) said to me, but it was extremely motivating under the white flag. I thought, Man, I'm going to dive down here into turn one really hard, hope I can get down there, maybe something will happen.

“Kyle, at the same time, it looked like maybe his tires went away. Going down the back straight, I thought he'd spun his tires, they were hot. I knew I was going to run the bottom.

“Really, to be honest, the last, what, 30 laps or something, I was just head down driving as hard as I possibly could. The first opportunity I even got, you know, to get that close to him was the last lap and really the last corner.”

The win moved Edwards into first place in points.

Kyle Busch did attend the media conference after the race, but refused to talk about the ending of the race and the bump that cost him the victory.

“We had some real good speed,” said Busch. “The guys made some great adjustments. Second to the last run, we were fading a little bit. The adjustments, the pit stop there at the end, my guys ripped off an awesome one there, got us the lead when it mattered most. So that was real important for us and gave us a good opportunity to lead that final segment for as long as we did.”

Jimmie Johnson led 44 laps of the 400-lap race and finished third.

“We had a good car, and we're satisfied with what we accomplished today,” said Johnson. “We didn't have the winning car, but we're right in the game like we should be.”

Fourth place finisher, Kasey Kahne had his best finish of the season.

“I got into the wall a little bit early,” said Kahne. “I think it was Logano. I followed real close behind him around the top of three and four. We were getting pretty close to the wall. I just missed a little bit and slid, hit the wall. I thought I had wrecked my car pretty good, but it rubbed it. It was still really sharp the next corner and the corner after that.  I knew we were okay at that point.

“We just stayed after it all day. We had a little bit of struggles early in the run, the first 10 laps, and at the end of the race where we didn't have that struggle at all. I thought that was the best we've taken off all day on a 40-lap kind of dash there at the end. We needed that.”

Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin, Matt Kenseth, Joey Logano, Martin Truex Jr., and Kurt Busch were the remaining top-10 finishers.

In his first race of the season, Tony Stewart finished 14th.

Top-10 leaders after 9 of 36: 1. Edwards-331, 2. Harvick-324, 3. Johnson-310, 4. Kyle Busch-302, 5. Logano-299, 6. Kurt Busch-279, 7. Earnhardt-278, 8. Hamlin-258, 9. Keselowski-255, 10. Truex-246.

DALE JR GETS XFINITY WIN

Dale Earnhardt Jr. won Saturday's Richmond Xfinity Series race by .266-seconds ahead of Ty Dillon. The win was the first ever for Earnhardt's team JR Motorsports.

Elliott Sadler was third, followed by Daniel Suarez, Austin Dillon, Cole Custer, Brendan Gaughan, Blake Koch, Brad Keselowski, and Brennan Poole.

Top-10 leaders after 8 of 33: 1. Suarez-279, 2. Sadler-270, 3. T. Dillon-260, 4. B. Jones-249, 5. E. Jones-244, 6. Gaughan-242, 7. Allgaier-241, 8. Poole-232, 9. Reed-210, 10. Wallace Jr.-201.

JACK ROUSH NOMINATED TO NASCAR HOF

Jack Roush has been nominated for the 2017 NASCAR Hall of Fame.

In 1988 Jack Roush ventured into the unknown territory of NASCAR racing, starting a single car team out of Liberty, N.C. His No. 6 Ford Thunderbird lasted only 19 laps in its Daytona 500 debut that year. Twenty-nine years later, Jack Roush stands as the winningest owner in NASCAR history, having taken his Fords to victory lane on 322 occasions in NASCAR competition and having lifted NASCAR season championship trophies on eight occasions.

“I’m extremely honored to be in this exclusive group,” said Roush. “It wouldn’t have happened without the support of the teams that we’ve had through the decades and all the people who have made this success possible.

“I couldn’t be prouder of the fact that I’ve made the list. When I hear about all the races we’ve run and all the success we’ve had, it makes me realize we have been at this for a long time, but I’ve still got energy for it. I’ve still got passion for it and look forward to what the future will bring.”

Known as a leader in the garage for finding and developing talent, Roush has seen 19 different drivers win in NASCAR competition in his race cars and Roush Fenway has led drivers to 13 NASCAR rookie of the year awards. All-in-all, six different drivers have brought home NASCAR season championships, including Chris Buescher’s 2015 Xfinity Series championship.

“This recognition offers me a unique chance to reiterate my appreciation for all the people that have helped me to get to this point,” said Roush. “Without the Mark Martins’ and the Jeff Burtons’ and the Greg Biffles’ and Carl Edwards’ and Matt Kenseths’ and the drag racers and the road racers that preceded that, I wouldn’t be here. I’ve been very fortunate that I’ve had extremely talented and dedicated individuals in all facets of the racing business standing with me on this journey.”

An engineer at heart, Roush has employed a solutions-based approach, be it in competition, business or safety initiatives. He has been involved in numerous safety innovations, including the roof flaps designed to disrupt airflow and prevent cars from going airborne that now are standard equipment for all NASCAR race cars.

Roush’s multi-car, efficiency-of-scale model became one of the most successful in NASCAR history, with his organization placing an unprecedented five teams in the 2005 10-team ‘Chase’, after coming off back-to-back Sprint Cup Championships in 2003 and 2004.

STEWART FINED BY NASCAR

Even before his first race back after a back injury, Tony Stewart ran afoul of NASCAR's rules and was fined $35,000.

In response to a statement by NASCAR, saying, they would no longer police lug nuts on tires, Stewart lashed out. NASCAR stopped requiring teams to put all five lug nuts on its wheels at the start of the season, part of a new pit road technology initiative that also saw a reduction of its officiating force.

Stewart said it's only a matter of time before that ends badly.

“I guarantee you that envelope is going to keep getting pushed until somebody gets hurt,” Stewart said. “You will not have heard a rant that's going to be as bad as what's going to come out of my mouth if a driver gets hurt because of a loose wheel that hurts one of them. With all the crap we're going through with all the safety stuff, and for them to sit there and sit on their hands on this one.”

NASCAR regarded his statements as disparaging to the sport, and slapped him with the fine, which really only amounts to pocket change for the multi-millionaire car owner and driver.

But the newly-fledged Owners and Drivers Association stood up for Stewart, and said they would pay the fine.

Weekend Racing: The Cup and Xfinity teams are at Talladega, the longest track (2.66-miles) on the circuit.

Sat., Apr. 30; Xfinity Series race 9 of 33; Starting time: 3 pm ET; TV: Fox.

Sun., May 1; Sprint Cup Series race 10 of 36; Starting time: 1 pm ET; TV: Fox.

Racing Trivia Question: Talladega opened in 1969. Who won the first Cup race?

Last Week's Question. Which former NASCAR champion was part owner in the Richmond track? Answer. Joe Weatherly.

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

Congratulations to Kaleb Shimer and Weston Yannone, both of Susquehanna for qualifying to compete in the 2016 Middle Atlantic Wrestling Association (MAWA) Eastern National Championships, taking place in Salisbury, Maryland this May.

This year, both boys represented the small town of Susquehanna, PA and became Area 12 District Champions in their individual divisions and weight classes, qualifying them to compete at the Pennsylvania’s Jr Wrestling State Championships (PJW’s) that took place in Erie, Pa.

Kaleb Shimer

Kaleb Shimer is a 5th yr Wrestler, age 10 and wrestles for Gladiators School of Wrestling out of Guilford NY. Reaching over 400 career wins this season, he took the MAWA District champion title and qualified to compete at the Northern Regionals in Shamokin, PA. Finishing in the top 4 at regionals, he will now be advancing to the Eastern National Championships in MD.

Weston Yannone

Weston Yannone is a 3rd Year Wrestler, age 7 and wrestles for IronHorse Wrestling club out of Susquehanna. Weston recently won the 2016 Youth 55lb WORLD Champion Title in his division that took place in Reno, Nevada this April and brought home his 200th Career win. Along with a Pennway State Champion title this season, he is also the MAWA Northern District and Regional Champion in his division, advancing him with a top seed going into the Eastern National Championships.

Only 1400 wrestlers make it to Nationals from over 10,000 wrestlers who began over the last 3 weeks, qualifying at 35 different District sites. These are such huge accomplishments for these young athletes. They are both deserving of much recognition for all their hard work and dedication.