The Montrose boys finished second in the team standings and several Susquehanna County girls turned in impressive individual performances during the Lasagna Invitational Friday night at Wyalusing.
Lakeland finished first out of 26 teams with 107 points. Montrose edged Scranton Prep, 74-73, for second place.
Jennifer Korty, a Forest City student running for Carbondale as part of a cooperative sponsorship of the sport between the two schools, was named Outstanding Female Athlete.
Korty, Susquehanna’s Skyla Wilson and Elk Lake’s Keri Jones all won events.
Colin Mondi finished third in the high jump and discus as well as seventh in the pole vault for Montrose, which got second-place finishes from Justin Richel (high jump), Zach Mead (1600-meter run) Owen Brewer (3200 run) and the 3200 relay team. Mead and Brewer were on the relay with Brandon Curley and Mike Stewart.
Stewart, in the long jump, and Curley, in the 1600, also had third-place finishes individually.
The Meteors were fourth in the 1600 relay, Collin Chidester was fifth in the triple jump and Zach Summers was sixth in the shot put.
Elk Lake’s Cody Oswald and Hunter Bedell were second in the 400 dash and 800 run.
Mountain View’s Joe Nally placed sixth in the pole vault.
Korty set a Carbondale team record by winning the 1600 run in 5:19.60. She also won the 800 in 2:27.39 and placed fourth in the 3200.
Wilson won the 100 hurdles in 15.71 and the 200 dash in 27.19 while placing third in the 400.
Jones won the 3200 in 11:49.47.
Montrose and Elk Lake each had a second-place girls relay team.
Emma Griffiths, Anna Loomis, Morgan Bush and Georgia Smith teamed for Montrose in the 3200 relay and Grasyn Bushnell, Adrianna Meaders, Mikaela Meaders and Lyda Ofalt teamed for Elk Lake in the 400.
Montrose’s Madison Gilhool was second in the 100, fourth in the 200. She also anchored the 1600 relay team to a third-place finish. Griffiths, Loomis and Smith were part of the team as well, putting them in the top three in two relays.
Smith was fourth in the 800. Teammate Radvile Vaiciulyte was also fourth in the high jump.
Mountain View got fifth-place finishes from Alexia Presley in the 100 dash and 100 hurdles as well as Emmille Miller in the shot put.
Lydia Ofalt (400) and Mikaela Meaders (200) were fifth for Elk Lake.
The invitational also included freshmen-only races in selected events.
Brennan Gilhool won the 100 dash and Liam Mead won the 1600 run for the Montrose boys.
Susquehanna’s Billy Perry was second to Mead.
Montrose’s Bush was second in the girls’ 1600.
WEEK IN REVIEW
Elk Lake defeated Mountain View, 91-58, April 26 to clinch at least a tie for the Lackawanna League Division 4 girls’ track and field title.
In junior high track, Susquehanna placed 13th, Montrose 17th and Elk Lake 20th out of 20 boys’ teams that scored points Saturday at the Abington Heights Junior High Invitational.
Montrose was 15th and Elk Lake tied for 16th out of the 18 girls’ teams that scored in the meet.
In softball, Montrose improved to 8-0 to remain in the Lackawanna League Division 4 race.
In high school baseball, Montrose also leads Division 4 with a 7-1 record.
In professional baseball, the Binghamton Mets went right from a six-game Eastern League losing streak into a six-game winning streak that included a three-game sweep of the visiting Portland Sea Dogs.
Pennsylvania’s only two Class AAA teams met for the first time this season with the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders taking two out of three games in the International League series with the visiting Lehigh Valley IronPigs.
COLLEGE CORNER
Elk Lake graduate Kenzie Jones is a freshman distance runner on the Mansfield University women’s track and field team.
Jones won the 10,000-meter run on her home track April 23 in the Under the Lights Invitational, finishing in 39:21.18 to win by more than five seconds over Oneonta’s Deirdre Davis.
Mansfield is an NCAA Division II school.
Jones finished seventh out of 14 runners in the 5,000-meter run in 19:22.25 in the Lou Onesty/Milton G. Abramson Invitational April 9 at the University of Virginia. The top four runners that day were from Division I schools.
Jones was eighth at the Fred Hardy Invitational March 25 in Richmond, Va., finishing the 5,000 in a personal-best 19:06.92.
During indoor season in the winter, Jones competed in the mile, running a season-best time of 5:41.72.
THE WEEK AHEAD
The high school track and field championship season gets under way this week.
Following the Jordan Relays Thursday at Scranton Memorial Stadium, the Lackawanna Track Conference’s Robert Spagna Championship Meet is scheduled for Tuesday, May 10, also at Scranton Memorial.
The first District 2 championships will begin Friday in boys’ tennis with the quarterfinal round of the team tennis championships.
Montrose, the only Susquehanna County school with boys’ tennis has been eliminated from consideration for the team tournament.
In professional hockey, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and Hershey Bears will meet in a best-of-seven Atlantic Division Finals Series in the American Hockey League’s Calder Cup Playoffs.
The teams play in Hershey Wednesday and Friday. They are in Wilkes-Barre Saturday and again Monday, May 9 for Games Three and Four.
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.
KESELOWSKI IS BIG WINNER AT TALLADEGA
TALLADEGA, Ala.--Brad Keselowski got his second Sprint Cup win of the season Sunday, before an estimated 183,000 cheering fans, that saw only seven undamaged cars cross the finish line.
Brad Keselowski
The other 33 cars had either been knocked out of the race or were badly banged up.
The last of ten cautions came out on lap 183 of the 188-lap race. When racing resumed on lap 185, the leaders were Keselowski, Kurt Busch, Trevor Bayne, and Jamie McMurray. Kurt Busch briefly took over, but after receiving a push from Kyle Busch, Keselowski went back to the front. As the field came out of turn-4 and headed for the finish line on the last lap, Cole Whitt got into the rear of Kevin Harvick, and sent him flying into the outside wall.
NASCAR immediately put out the yellow flag and froze the field, while the leaders were still about 100 yards from the finish line.
“You've got to have a great car and some luck to win here,” said Keselowski. “Today, we had both. I've got to thank Kyle. I really needed that push he gave me near the end.”
Kyle Busch finished second.
“This was a rough day,” said Busch. “We were involved in a couple skirmishes, so the way things worked out, we were lucky to finish where we did.”
Austin Dillon finished third for his best-ever Cup finish.
“We knew we had a good car, and it handled real good,” said Dillon. “But it seems like every time we started moving to the front, somebody would wreck. You have to credit the guys in the pit, because each time they patched it up and got me back on the track.”
Jamie McMurray, Chase Elliott, Ty Dillon (Note: Tony Stewart will receive credit for the sixth-place finish, because he started the race in the car), Clint Bowyer, Kurt Busch, Ryan Blaney, and Trevor Bayne were the remaining top-10 finishers.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. was involved in two separate wrecks. The first came during lap 51 while he was switching lanes.
“The car was real tight,” he said. “I think the air was kind of taken off my spoiler as I moved down the track, and it got loose.”
The second incident came after Carl Edwards had a right front tire blow out and he ran Junior into the wall, ending his day, and relegating him to a 40th and last place finish.
On lap 95, Jimmie Johnson, Austin Dillon, Chris Buescher, Joey Logano, Carl Edwards, Michael Annett, and David Gilliland brought out the race's fifth caution.
The race's big wreck came on lap 160, and 17 cars were involved. Drivers that were in it included, Paul Menard, Jimmie Johnson, Martin Truex Jr., Austin Dillon, Jamie McMurray, Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Bobby LaBonte, Kurt Busch, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Casey Mears, Greg Biffle, Regan Smith, Ryan Newman, Brian Scott, and A. J. Allmendinger.
Twenty laps later, someone sent Danica Patrick into a spin, and she wound up hitting Matt Kenseth, who went for a wild ride. His No. 20 Joe Gibbs Toyota, rolled three times and flipped once, but he walked away from it.
“I wish I could just run one of these things without getting taken out,” said Patrick. “I really don't know what happened. Someone got into my rear quarter panel, and I lost control.”
There were only fifteen cars running at the end of the race.
Top-10 Cup leaders after 10 of 36: 1. Harvick-351, 2. Kyle Busch-342, 3. Edwards-337, 4. Johnson-329, 5. Logano-316, 6. Kurt Busch-312, 7. Keselowski-300, 8. Earnhardt-279, 9. Truex-274, 10. Austin Dillon-272.
SADLER GETS FIRST WIN IN TWO YEARS
Elliott Sadler won Saturday's Talladega Xfinity Series race the hard way.
He fought for it.
Sadler had run near the front of the pack for most of the race, but only led a few feet near the end.
The race went into overtime after there was a caution for debris on lap 110 of the scheduled 113-lap race. Sadler was lined up in the third spot for the green-white-checkered finish, behind Joey Logano, the leader. Logano was able to hold off the other chargers, but Sadler was right on his rear bumper as the cars came out of turn-4 and headed for the finish line.
Sadler faked a move to the high side, and Logano tried to block. Sadler came back down, and Logano tried to do the same. But he lost control and ran into Sadler, then bounced into the outside wall, while Sadler was able to continue.
Immediately after Logano hit the wall, NASCAR put out the caution flag, freezing the field..
For a few minutes it looked like Brennan Poole would be the winner, but when the video tapes were reviewed, it showed Sadler being in front at the moment the caution occurred.
“People don't know how hard it is to win one of these race,” said a jubilant Sadler. “The team gave me a great car and I was determined not to let them down.
“I had a plan for the end of the race. Joey tried to block me, but I knew I had to keep digging.”
Justin Allgaier was second, followed by Brennan Poole, Jeremy Clements, Brendan Gaughan, Austin Dillon, Daniel Suarez, Matt Tifft, Chase Elliott, and Aric Almirola.
Top-10 leaders after 9 of 33: 1. Sadler-314, 2. Suarez-314, 3. T. Dillon-281, 4. Allgaier-280, 5. Gaughan-279, 6. B. Jones-273, 7. E. Jones-263, 8. Poole-251, 9. Wallace Jr.-229, 10. Reed-221.
LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON
Chase Elliott won his second NASCAR Sprint Cup Pole this past Sunday at Talladega.
His father Bill, won the same pole 30 years ago.
While Chase hasn't yet ascended to the racing heights that his father has, he's well on the way to making a name for himself at the sport's highest level.
This is his rookie season in the Sprint Cup Series, and he already has two poles, two top-5 finishes, and is 12th in driver points.
“This is definitely a special place,” said Chase Elliott of Talladega. “This has always been a special place to him and it’s certainly great to be here and have the opportunity.”
Elliott also won the pole for the season-opening Daytona 500, but he crashed and finished 37th. He’s back in the same car he drove at Daytona, and he credited his No. 24 team for giving him such a good car.
“Man, this is cool,” he continued. “Those guys do such a good job. And as I said in Daytona, this had nothing to do with me. This is the car that we had. This is the same car we had in Daytona. They brought another fast one here.
“Obviously I have a lot to learn,” he said. “The race last time at Daytona didn’t go so good. Hopefully for me, I’ll just try to take what I learned and try to cut down those dumb mistakes that I made in the Daytona 500 this year and just try to be smarter.
“The first thing is making it to the end and obviously I didn’t do a very good job of that in February. Our first goal is to try to get to the end of the race; and if we can get there, just try to be smart.”
Elliott took over driving duties of the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet at the beginning of the 2016 season.
He won the 2014 Xfinity Series championship, becoming the first rookie to win a national series NASCAR title.
Last year, Elliott was named the NASCAR Xfinity Series Most Popular Driver for the second year in a row.
He was born November 28, 1995 in Dawsonville, Georgia.
Weekend Racing: The Sprint and truck teams travel to the 1.5-mile Kansas Speedway. The Xfinity Series teams have an off week.
Fri., May 6; Truck Series race 4 of 23: Starting time: 8:30 pm ET; TV: Foxsports1.
Sat., May 7; Sprint Cup race 11 of 36; Starting time: 7:30 pm ET; TV: Foxsports1.
Racing Trivia Question: Who owns the Kansas Speedway?
Last Week's Question. Talladega opened in 1969. Who won the first Cup race? Answer. Richard Brickhouse. That was the year of the driver boycott. Not all the regular Cup teams participated.
You may contact the Racing Reporter by e-mail at: hodges@race500.com.
