SCRANTON – Elk Lake’s Hunter Watkins dominated the field May 10 while repeating as boys’ javelin champion in the Robert Spagna Lackawanna Track Conference Championship Meet at Scranton Memorial Stadium.

Susquehanna’s Skyla Wilson (2) battles for the lead with Lakeland’s Madison Harding late in the 100-meter hurdles finals at the Robert Spagna Lackawanna Track Conference Championship Meet. Harding finished first and Wilson was second.

Mountain View’s Joe Nally won the boys’ pole vault while Blue Ridge’s Lindsey Rupakus won the girls’ 300-meter hurdles.

Watkins won by more than 24 feet with a throw of 199-1.

Nally cleared 13-6 for his win.

Rupakus ran a winning time of 46.00 seconds.

The Montrose boys and Blue Ridge girls each finished third in the Class AA standings.

The event was scored as one meet with athletes earning points for finishing in the top eight overall. Teams were then ranked according to Class AAA and AA.

Lakeland easily won both Class AA titles.

The Chiefs outscored Riverside, 76-29, for the boys’ championship.

Montrose was third out of 12 with 23 ½ points. Mountain View was sixth with 16, Elk Lake ninth with 10 and Blue Ridge 11th with 4. Susquehanna did not score.

Lakeland beat out Holy Cross, 93 ½-66, for the girls’ title.

Blue Ridge was third with 39 points. Susquehanna tied for sixth with 16, Mountain View was seventh with 10 and Montrose 10th with 1. Elk Lake held out most of the team to practice for the district championships and did not score.

The top three finishers overall in each event earned medals.

Susquehanna’s Skyla Wilson and Mountain View’s Emillie Miller were the other medalists from Susquehanna County.

Wilson earned a silver medal for a second-place finish in the 100 hurdles and also added a fourth-place in the 200 dash.

Miller was third in the shot put.

Amber Brecht and Isabella Cosmello joined Rupakus in leading Blue Ridge to the strong team finish.

Brecht was fourth in four events, the 100 and 200 dashes and as part of the 400 and 1600 relays.

Cosmello was on the same two relays and finished fourth in the 400.

Rupakus was on both fourth-place relays.

Kandace Smith completed the 400 relay lineup while Karris Fazzi ran the other leg of the 1600 relay.

Kalynne Myers added a fifth-place in the long jump for the Lady Raiders.

Other Susquehanna County girls who scored points were: Mountain View’s Alexia Presley, sixth, 100 hurdles; Susquehanna’s Gaby Cina, seventh, shot put; Montrose’s Madison Gilhool, eighth, 100; Mountain View’s Audrey Cameron, eighth, long jump; and Susquehanna’s Lauren Soden, eighth, javelin.

Colin Mondi, Mike Stewart and Owen Brewer led the Montrose boys to their third-place finish.

Mondi was fourth in the high jump and tied for seventh in the pole vault.

Stewart was sixth in the long jump while also running legs on the fourth-place 3200 relay and sixth-place 400 relay.

Brewer was sixth in the 3200 run and part of the fourth-place 3200 relay.

Brandon Curley and Zach Mead also were part of the 3200 relay team that finished fourth.

Tyler Dovin, John Herman and Brennan Gilhool ran the other legs of the sixth-place 400 relay.

Collin Chidester was sixth in the triple jump.

Mountain View’s Tom Ord was sixth in both hurdles races.

Blue Ridge had Aaron Cook finish sixth in the pole vault and Hunter Conklin place eighth in the 200.

WEEK IN REVIEW

Madelynn Guinane threw a three-hit shutout with 11 strikeouts and only one walk Wednesday when Montrose clinched the Lackawanna League Division 4 softball title with a 2-0 win over visiting Lackawanna Trail.

Anastasia Hester, Katie Warner and Hailey Rapisardi each had two hits in the win.

In boys’ tennis, both Montrose players won three-set matches in the first round before losing, 6-0, 6-0, to seeded opponents in the second round of the District 2 Class AA singles tournament Thursday at Kirby Park.

Ben Hoal defeated Matthew Demers from Honesdale, 6-4, 1-6, 6-1, before losing to top-seeded Peter Kaczmierczak from Scranton Prep.

Christopher Lewis beat Western Wayne’s Kyle Thorpe, 6-0, 5-7, 6-3, then lost to Berwick’s Luke Whitenight, the seventh seed.

In boys’ volleyball, Mountain View finished second in the Lackawanna League.

The final standings were: Abington Heights 12-0, Mountain View 9-3, Western Wayne 8-4, Blue Ridge 7-5, Forest City 4-8, Elk Lake 2-10, Susquehanna 0-12.

In junior high girls’ track, Hannah Perkins and Chalice Guyette each won two events to help Montrose finish third in the team standings in the Class AA portion of the Phil Tochelli Lackawanna Track Conference Championships May 9.

Perkins won the 1600-meter run in 5:31.42 and the 800 in 2:33.43.

Guyette won the 100-meter dash in 13.33 seconds and the 200 in 28.49.

Montrose had 68 points to finish third of 13 teams. Western Wayne beat out Dunmore for the team title, 137-97 ½.

Susquehanna was sixth with 35 points, Mountain View ninth with 24, Elk Lake 11th with 18 ¼ and Blue Ridge 13th with 4.

Taylor Huyck from Susquehanna finished second to Guyette in the 100, just 4-100ths of a second behind.

Mountain View’s Brianna Springs was second in the 400.

Montrose’s Caroline Stack (high jump) and Elk Lake’s Sadie Bosscher (1600) placed third.

The Montrose 400 relay team of Alicia Barkan, Caroline Stack, Jordan Russell and Chalice Guyette was also third.

In junior high boys’ track, Susquehanna’s Mason Deakin went 35-7 ½ to win the triple jump at the Tochelli LTC Championship Meet.

Mountain View’s Matt Williams, in the shot put, and Elk Lake’s Malcolm Staff, in the discus, each finished second.

Blue Ridge’s Ryan Mills (triple jump), Montrose’s Nick Coy (1600) and Mountain View’s Tyler Striefsky (300 hurdles) all placed third, along with the Montrose 1600 relay team of Brendan Kanna, Chase Purtel, Jackson Herman and Dalton McCollum.

In professional hockey, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins had their season come to an end Sunday in overtime in the seventh and deciding game of the American Hockey League’s Calder Cup Atlantic Division Finals with a 3-2 loss to the host Hershey Bears.

The Penguins were 4-0 in overtime in the playoffs before the season-ending game.

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton had come from behind to even the series twice before losing in the seventh game.

The Penguins won, 2-1, in overtime May 9, then were pushed to the brink of elimination with a 5-3 loss in Hershey Wednesday. They stayed alive with Friday’s 6-2 win.

COLLEGE CORNER

Former Elk Lake all-state pitcher Brooke Darling returned from two years off to resume her college career as a graduate student at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

Darling earned Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Central Division all-star honors.

IUP went 28-19 with Darling splitting pitching duties.

The PSAC named Darling Central Division Pitcher of the Week April 25 after she threw 22 straight scoreless innings over three starts. She finished the week 3-0 with a 1.14 earned run average in four starts.

Darling went 13-7 with a save and a 1.90 ERA in 25 games, including 23 starts. She threw 14 complete games and 6 shutouts. In 143 2/3 innings, she struck out 119 while allowing 114 hits and 36 walks.

The right-hander had pitched on the NCAA Division I level in the Ivy League as a freshman and sophomore. In 2012, she led the team with 17 complete games, 9 wins and 2 shutouts. The next year, she led the team with a 2.61 ERA and tied for the team lead with 10 wins.

IUP plays on the NCAA Division II level.

THE WEEK AHEAD

The District 2-11 Class AA boys’ volleyball subregional tournament opens with quarterfinal play Wednesday.

Mountain View and Blue Ridge both made the tournament and both are headed to a Wednesday doubleheader at Holy Redeemer.

Mountain View is the fourth seed and will play Southern Lehigh, District 11’s only representative in the event, in the 5 p.m. opener.

Blue Ridge plays unbeaten, top-seed and defending champion Holy Redeemer a half hour after the completion of the first match.

In boys’ tennis, the District 2 Class AA doubles tournament is scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday at Kirby Park in Wilkes-Barre.

In baseball, the District 2 Class AA tournament gets underway with first-round action Friday.

The Class A opens with quarterfinal play Monday, May 22.

Defending champion Montrose will be one of the top seeds and open at home in AA. Mountain View will begin on the road.

Forest City is the likely top seed in Class A. Defending champion Blue Ridge will also have a quarterfinal home game.

Elk Lake has a chance for a quarterfinal home game.

Winless Susquehanna opted not to compete in the open tournament.

In softball, the District 2 Class AA tournament begins Monday, May 23. Class A gets started in the quarterfinals the next day.

Lackawanna League Division 4 champion Montrose is in contention for the top seed and one of the first-round byes that goes to the top two teams.

Elk Lake is fighting for a first-round home game.

Susquehanna and Mountain View are battling for the top seed and will play a quarterfinal home game in Class A.

Blue Ridge and Forest City will open the tournament on the road.

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.

KENSETH WINS AT DOVER

DOVER, Del.--Matt Kenseth took the lead on lap 354 after avoiding a big wreck that involved 18 cars, to get his first Sprint Cup win of the season.

Matt Kenseth Wins at Dover

The race had been red flagged with 46 laps to go in the 400-lap race after Jimmie Johnson backed up the field on a restart. Kenseth managed to stay in ahead of runner-up Kyle Larson for the remainder of the race, and finished a scant 0.188-seconds in front.

“Boy am I relieved,” said Kenseth. “This was a big win. “We've been having awful luck all season, and I was waiting for something bad to happen. Kyle gave me all I wanted. I was fortunate to hold him off. I was racing as hard as I could there at the end.”

The second-place finish was a career best for Larson.

“I didn't think I'd catch him but I got a shot at the end,” Larson said. “I tried to be patient. He made a couple mistakes but I couldn't pass him. I was too patient.”

Chase Elliott was third, and moved up to seventh in the point standings, while Kasey Kahne was fourth, and Kurt Busch rounded out the top-5.

Brad Keselowski had an up and down day. First, he was clipped on the right front by Austin Dillon during lap 281, then was penalized twice after that for having too many crewmen over the wall. He wound up sixth.

The remaining top-10 finishers were: Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Martin Truex, and Trevor Bayne.

Johnson said his car wouldn't go into gear on the restart, and seemed somewhat surprised after the incident. He was leading on the outside line when suddenly his car slowed, and cars started piling into each other.

“I honestly don't know what happened,” said Johnson. “I couldn't get it into gear. As soon as I tried to go from second to third, I got up into the neutral gate on the transmission and it didn't even go to third. It stopped before it got to third. Then I tried fourth, and then third and fourth, and then I got hit from behind. It just wouldn't go into gear.”

Kevin Harvick led the most laps (117), and was one of the drivers in contention to win, but was caught up in the lap 354 wreck and finished 15th.

Dale Earnhardt, who was also involved in the big wreck finished 32nd.

Tony Stewart saw his hopes of making this year's Chase diminish. He lost an engine in his No. 14 and finished 34th. Stewart needs to break into the top-30 in the standings and win a race by Sept. 10.

Top-10 leaders after 12 of 36: 1. Harvick-418, 2. Kyle Busch-397, 3. Kurt Busch-386, 4. Edwards-381, 5. Johnson-370, 6. Keselowski-368, 7. Elliott-341, 8. Logano-340, 9. Truex-336, 10. A. Dillon-315.

JONES GETS DOVER XFINITY RACE

Erik Jones had the field covered in Saturday's Xfinity Series at Dover.

During the race's last caution, Jones and his team elected to keep him on the track, instead of pitting for fresh tires.

The decision was the right one.

When the race went green with five laps remaining, Jones jumped to the front, and by the time the checkered flag had been dropped, he was 1.8-seconds ahead of runner-up Darrell Wallace Jr.

“I wasn't too sure about staying out on that last caution, but it turned out to be O.K,” said Jones.

Alex Bowman was third, followed by Justin Allgaier, Ty Dillon, Elliott Sadler, Joey Logano, Matt Tifft, Daniel Suarez, and Brennan Poole.

Top-10 leaders after 10 of 33: 1. Sadler-349, 2. Suarez-346, 3. T. Dillon-319, 4. Allgaier-317, 5. E. Jones-309, 6. Gaughan-305, 7. B. Jones-290, 8. Poole-282, 9. Wallace Jr.-268, 10. Reed-244.

CRAFTON GETS FIRST TRUCK WIN OF 2016

Matt Crafton captured his first Truck Series win of the season by taming Dover's Monster mile last Friday.

Daniel Suarez was second, followed by Christopher Bell, Johnny Sauter, Cole Custer, Spencer Gallagher, Tyler Reddick, Ryan Truex, Daniel Hemric, and Kaz Gaia.

Top-10 leaders after 5 of 23: 1. Crafton-124, 2. Peters-122, 3. Hemric-119, 4. R. Truex-118, 5. Gallagher-112, 6. Byron-111, 7. Nemechek-106, 8. Young-101, 9. Bell-99, 10. Reddick-96.

NEW SPRINT CUP SPONSOR COMING

NASCAR's major series will have a new sponsor come 2017.

Sprint's sponsorship of NASCAR's top series ends after the 2016 season, which raises a simple question: Who's next?

According to Sporting News, negotiations are under way for a new title sponsor, and it appears likely an announcement will come in early fall. That's the word from NASCAR executive Steve Phelps.

In all likelihood, NASCAR will announce the Cup Series title change in September or October. That's when, Phelps noted, current agreements with Xfinity and Camping World were made for the second-level series and the trucks series, respectively.

NASCAR's deal with Xfinity runs through 2024. Its Camping World agreement runs through 2022.

Another key point raised by Phelps: There might be more than one sponsor. Don't be surprised to see a sponsor that is currently involved in NASCAR and one that is new to the sport.

“The first one I'd look at is, what's the best company, the best brand that helps grow our sport?” Phelps said. “What's the best company, the best brand that can bring our sport closer to our fans?”

When NASCAR uses the term “growing the sport,” they are referring to how much money a sponsor is willing to put up.

There are reports that NASCAR is seeking $1 billion for a 10-year sponsorship.

Sprint became Cup Series sponsor for the 2008 season, after the telecommunications company purchased Nextel, which took the naming rights in 2004.

Continuity is a hallmark for NASCAR's top series. Before Nextel, tobacco giant R.J. Reynolds had the banner with the Winston Cup Series beginning in 1971. NASCAR started the stock-car racing series under the Strictly Stock name in 1949 and changed to Grand National the following year.

Finding a sponsor to match the 33-year run with Winston is unlikely.

Sprint announced in 2014 its decision to let its sponsorship agreement end.

What comes next? After Sprint's announcement, Sporting News reported that businesses in the quick service restaurant industry (Subway, Burger King, etc.), packaged goods (Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Unilever, etc.), consumer products (Panasonic, LG, etc.) or companies looking to boost their product line (as was Nextel) were prime candidates for NASCAR's next deal.

“It's got to be a big, consumer brand,” Zak Brown, CEO of Just Marketing International said, “It's one or two approaches. It's someone like Nextel, who made a really bold step because they were number three or four or five in the category and they wanted to take a big leap.

“Or you go to someone who already is the leader in a category. … I'd be very surprised if they didn't find one.”

An October announcement would come during the Chase for the Sprint Cup. Phelps said NASCAR doesn't want to disrupt the Chase, or affect Sprint's sponsorship. But don't expect the Chase to end without the new sponsor or sponsors on hand at Homestead.

Weekend Racing: The Cup and Truck teams are at the 1.5-mile Charlotte Motor Speedway. For the Trucks, it will be a regular race, but there will only be non-points racing for the Cup Series. The Nationwide teams have an off weekend.

Fri., May 20, Sprint Showdown (non-points); Starting time: 7 pm ET; TV: Foxsports1.

Fri., May 20, Truck Series race 6 of 23; Starting time: 8:30 pm ET; TV: Foxsports1.

Sat., May 21, Sprint all-Star Race (non-points); Starting time: 7 pm ET; TV: Foxsports1.

Racing Trivia Question: Tony Stewart has said this will be his last year of racing in the Sprint Cup Series. When was his rookie year in the series?

Last Week's Question? Former Winston Cup (now Sprint Cup) driver Jody Ridley of Chatsworth, Georgia had one Cup win during his NASCAR career. Which track did he win at? Answer. It came at Dover in the 1981 Mason Dixon 500.

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