SCRANTON – Jenn Korty, Skyla Wilson, Lindsey Rupakus and Lydia Ofalt led the way as Susquehanna County girls continued their recent history of track and field success while Elk Lake’s Hunter Watkins repeated an individual title May 17 in the District 2 Class AA Track and Field Championships at Memorial Stadium.

Elk Lake’s Lydia Ofalt holds off Holy Redeemer’s Caroline Banas on the way to the District 2 Class AA 400-meter championship

Korty, a Forest City runner who competes for Carbondale as part of the cooperative sponsorship of the sport between the two schools, was one of just girls to win two events.

Wilson, a Susquehanna sophomore, won one hurdles event and qualified for the state meet in another.

Blue Ridge’s Rupakus is heading to Shippensburg University for the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Championships for the third straight year, this time as one of just two three-event qualifiers among District 2 Class AA girls. The senior was part of two district title-winning relay teams, helping the Raiders to fourth place out of 18 teams.

Elk Lake sophomore Ofalt provided the other district title as girls from county schools won six of the 18 events.

Watkins repeated as boys’ javelin champion with one of the state’s best throws this season.

The top two boys’ finishers and top girls’ finisher in each event made it to the state meet, along with others who met difficult state-qualifying standards during the district championships. The first six finishers earn medals and the top eight score points for their teams.

Korty, a junior who made the state cross country meet during her sophomore season, showed off her endurance. She medaled in the day’s three longest races, winning two and finishing sixth.

“I’m used to doing it all,” said Korty, who won the 1600-meter run by more than 10 seconds in 5:12.75, won the 800 in 2:22.42 and placed sixth in the 3200. “I did it all during the regular season.”

Wilson and Rupakus performed well in the hurdles, the events where the district’s girls stack up best against the rest of the state.

In addition to winning the 300 hurdles in 45.31 seconds, Wilson surpassed the qualifying time to make the state meet by finishing second in the 100 in 15.49. She was one of four state qualifiers in the 100 and one of three in the 300.

Wilson ran her personal best time ever in both events and said she hopes to improve those times again in Shippensburg, the site of four state championships by her mother, Teresa Covert.

Rupakus, Amber Brecht and Isabella Cosmello were part of both the 400 and 1600 relay wins. Rupakus, who plans to run on the NCAA Division I level at Sacred Heart University in Connecticut, also qualified for the state meet while finishing second to Wilson in the 300 hurdles in 45.83.

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

Ofalt, who entered the event as the fifth seed, pulled off a win by lowering her season-best in the 400 to the winning time of 1:00.72. She scratched from both hurdles races to concentrate on the title shot in the 400 and the move paid off.

Holy Redeemer, which scored 118 ½ points, beat out Holy Cross and Lakeland in a close three-way title race.

Blue Ridge was fourth with 54 points.

Cosmello led off the 400 relay, followed by Smith, Rupakus and Brecht’s anchor leg for a time of 51.49.

“It was crazy intense,” Brecht said. “ … It feels really good for all the hard work to pay off.”

Brecht, Cosmello and Fazzi set up Rupakus in second place before she ran the best leg of 60 entries in the race, 59.37, to bring the team in first in 4:11.52.

“That’s my favorite race to run,” Rupakus said. “I get all my excitement from being anchor.”

Like Rupakus, Cosmello and Brecht contributed beyond the two relay wins.

Cosmello was third in the 400.

Brecht was fourth in both the 100, where she was behind three state qualifiers, and the 200.

Fazzi added to her relay win by finishing sixth in the 1600.

Kalynne Myers, the long jump, and Kim Klim, in the triple jump, also medaled with sixth-place finishes.

Jessie Purdum scored in the 3200 by placing eighth.

Elk Lake tied Carbondale for sixth with 44 points.

The Lady Warriors fell 17-hundredths of a second shy of a chance at repeating their state medal in the 3200 relay, finishing second in 9:50.57 with the team of Julie VanEtten, Katie Bennett, Keri Jones and Justine Johns.

Jones also finished second in the 3200 while Johns was fourth in the 800 and part of the sixth-place 1600 relay.

Ofalt was part of the fourth-place 400 relay in addition to her 400 title.

Grasyn Bushnell, Adrianna Meaders and Mikaela Meaders were part of both the fourth-place and sixth-place relays. Mikaela Meaders was eighth in the triple jump.

Eliza Bosscher (triple jump) and Kaitlyn Hongach (shot put) were seventh.

Kourtney Snigar was fourth in the javelin and Madison Gilhool scored in four events to lead the way for Montrose, which placed 12th with 21 points.

Snigar was also eighth in the 400 relay.

Gilhool was sixth in the 200, and eighth in the 100 individually and as part of the 400 and 3200 relays.

Emma Griffiths, Anna Loomis and Georgia Smith were on both the fourth-place 3200 relay and eighth-place 1600 relay.

Morgan Bush completed the fourth-place relay.

Radvile Vaiciulyte was fifth in the high jump.

Audra Everitt was eighth in the shot put.

Gabrielle Davis and Amber Kadlecik joined Gilhool and Snigar on the 400 relay.

Mountain View was 14th with nine points.

Emmillee Miller was fifth in the shot put, Stephanie Ostir was sixth in the 400 and Alexia Presley was seventh in the 100 hurdles.

Watkins dominated in the boys’ javelin while winning his third straight district title.

The Elk Lake senior, who plans to throw at Division II Mansfield University, had four throws longer than anyone else in the competition. He won by 16-8 with a throw of 198-0, just five inches short of the record set by Lake-Lehman’s Brandon Burkhardt in 2005.

Watkins also anchored the fourth-place 1600 relay and placed sixth in the 300 hurdles.

Lakeland won the team title with 110 points.

Montrose, led by state qualifying distance runners Zach Mead and Owen Brewer, was seventh with 39.

Mead finished second in the 1600 in 4:37.11 and was also on the seventh-place 1600 relay.

Brewer was second in the 3200 in 10:05.36.

Colin Mondi was fourth in the high jump, fifth in the discus and tied for sixth in the pole vault.

Mike Stewart was third in the long jump and part of the 1600 relay with Mead, Mike Henry and Brennan Gilhool.

Devin Nash was seventh in the shot put. Brandon Curley, in the 1600, and Cody Iverson, in the 110 high hurdles, were eighth.

Elk Lake was 10th with 33 points.

Hunter Bedell will join Watkins at the state meet.

Bedell finished third in the 800 but took the state berth opened up when Dunmore’s Matt Murray scratched to concentrate on the 1600.

The Warriors got all of their points from fourth athletes.

Cody Oswald, who was fourth in the 400, and Seth Tewksbury, who was fifth in the high jump, joined Watkins and Bedell on the fourth-place 1600 relay.

Mountain View was 15th with 14 points.

Joe Nally lost out on the title on a tiebreaker after clearing 13 feet, but finished second and claimed a spot at states.

Jeff Virbitsky was sixth in the 1600, Tom Ord was seventh in the 110 hurdles and the 400 relay of Jarrett Bartlett, Joshua Johnson, Kyle Kraft and David Shea was eighth.

Blue Ridge was 16th with 12 points.

Hunter Conklin was third in the 100 and fifth in the 200.

Aaron Cook tied for sixth in the pole vault.

Susquehanna did not score any points. The Sabers were led by an 11th-place finish in the 400 relay and a 15th-place finish by freshman Billy Perry in the 1600.

WEEK IN REVIEW

Defending champion and second-seeded Montrose rolled over visiting Carbondale, 15-0, in four innings Friday when the District 2 Class AA baseball tournament opened.

The Meteors put the game away on the 15-run rule with seven runs in the bottom of the fourth.

R.J. Arnold went 4-for-4 with three runs and two RBI while Chris Lee threw a two-hitter and provided two hits.

Northwest needed just five innings to defeat visiting Mountain View, 13-0.

The Eagles managed only three hits.

In boys’ tennis, Montrose’s Christopher Lewis-Ben Hoal won once before being eliminated from the District 2 Class AA doubles tournament.

Lewis-Hoal beat Tunkhannock’s Colin Franko-Ben Kreiser, 6-1, 6-4, before losing to three-time champions Peter Kaczmierczak-Tony Kutz from Scranton Prep, 6-0, 6-0.

Liam McGranaghan-Billy Hotaling lost to Tunkhannock’s Alek Greenip-Avery Newhart, 6-2, 6-1.

In boys’ volleyball, Mountain View and Blue Ridge each lost in the District 2-11 Class AA Subregional quarterfinals during a Wednesday doubleheader at Holy Redeemer.

Mountain View won the first two games before being eliminated by Southern Lehigh, 21-25, 22-25, 25-10, 26-24, 15-7.

Jesse Gerfin had 6 kills and 6 blocks while Emmett Jodon had 19 assists for Mountain View.

Unbeaten defending champion Holy Redeemer, a state semifinalist last season, handled Blue Ridge, 25-3, 25-13, 25-9.

Garrett Mansfield led Blue Ridge with nine assists. Austin Harper had five kills and an ace. Ty Herbert had two kills.

THE WEEK AHEAD

Top-seeded Montrose opens play in the District 2 Class AA softball tournament Wednesday at home against the Northwest-Holy Cross winner.

Elk Lake was scheduled to open Monday where it was needed a win over Wyoming Seminary to get a Wednesday game at second-seed and defending state champion Holy Redeemer.

The tournament continues Friday with semifinals and Wednesday, June 1 with the final.

At least one Susquehanna County team – Tuesday’s Mountain View/Forest City winner will be in the Thursday District 2 Class A semifinals. Blue Ridge and Susquehanna also had quarterfinal home games scheduled for Tuesday to try to get into the semifinals. The championship is set for Tuesday, May 31.

In high school baseball, Blue Ridge and Forest City, the top two seeds, are home Wednesday in District 2 Class A semifinals.

Blue Ridge will host the winner of Monday’s Lackawanna Trail-Elk Lake game. Forest City will host the Old Forge-MMI Prep winner.

The championship is scheduled for Memorial Day at 7 p.m. at PNC Field in Moosic, home of the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders.

The District 2 Class AA semifinals are scheduled for Thursday.

Defending champion and second-seeded Montrose needed a Tuesday win over Northwest to reach Thursday’s semifinal against the Holy Cross-Mid Valley winner.

The final is scheduled for Memorial Day at 10 a.m. at PNC Field.

In track and field, the PIAA Championships are set for Friday and Saturday at Shippensburg University.

Through Sunday night, the PIAA had compiled results for 11 of the 12 districts to create tentative seedings. The addition of District 4 athletes after their championship could adjust those seeds slightly.

Elk Lake’s Watkins was ranked second in the boys javelin at that point. Watkins will be competing for the first set of medals to be awarded on the weekend.

The boys javelin is part of the Friday 9 a.m. field finals.

Field events are split into 9 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. groups Friday and Saturday and are completed in one session.

Mountain View’s Nally is in the last set of field events, beginning Saturday at 12:30 and is tied for eighth among seeds, pending the addition of District 4 athletes.

Track events have qualifying Friday, except for the 3200, the longest race, and finals Saturday.

Susquehanna’s Wilson was listed fourth in the 300 hurdles and fifth in the 100 hurdles. The 300 is scheduled for 3 p.m. qualifying Friday and 2 p.m. finals Saturday. The 100 is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. qualifying Friday, 10 a.m. Saturday semifinals and 12:15 p.m. Saturday finals.

Korty was listed ninth in the 1600, which runs at noon Friday and 12:45 p.m. Saturday. She also runs later in the afternoon in the 800.

Blue Ridge’s Rupakus is scheduled to run three times Friday afternoon, as a possible seventh seed in the 300 between the 400 and 1600 relay appearances. All three finals are also in the afternoon Saturday.

Elk Lake’s Ofalt completes the county girls entries while Montrose’s Mead and Brewer and Elk Lake’s Bedell are the other boys in the meet.

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.

LOGANO WINS ALL-STAR RACE

CHARLOTTE, N.C.--Joey Logano won Saturday night's Sprint Cup All-Star non-points race. He passed Kyle Larson with two laps to go and collected one million dollars. His teammate Brad Keselowski finished second.

Joey Logano Sprint Cup winner

“I got underneath him once and I got to the outside of him once, we went up high and I got underneath him and I got loose underneath him,” Logano said. “I knew I had position on him going into the corner and had to keep him on my quarterpanel and not let him get to my door, so I drove in there hard. He was gonna drive in there hard to keep on my door and I was gonna drive in there hard to keep him at my quarter.

“I tell you, Larson is a hard racer. I watched him in the Showdown earlier today and I knew what I was up against. I knew he was gonna run hard. I’m a hard racer, I knew it was gonna be a fun battle for sure.”

Remaining top-10: 3. Dale Earnhardt Jr., 4. Carl Edwards, 5. Kurt Busch, 6. Chase Elliott, 7. Trevor Bayne, 8. Greg Biffle, 9. Denny Hamlin, 10. Kyle Busch.

NASCAR had instituted some rules changes just two days before the race which caused confusion for some drivers.

Matt Kenseth got caught in the first segment without having pitted under green for a two-tire change. As a result, he went from race leader to getting a one-lap penalty.

Kenseth said afterwards that he had no idea what the rules were, even after the race was over.

Tony Stewart was involved in a wreck trying to pit during the second segment. Greg Biffle got into Chase Elliott, and Stewart, Kasey Kahne and Matt Kenseth crashed in the resulting melee. Their cars were done. Stewart called the race rules "the dumbest damned thing" he had ever seen.

NASCAR regular season points racing returns next weekend.

CRAFTON GETS TRUCK WIN

 Matt Crafton won Saturday's Truck Series race at Charlotte for his 13th career victory.

Crafton, who led 47 laps of the 134-lap race, gained the lead for the last time from Johnny Sauter during lap 130, and went to win by 5.746-seconds.

Kyle Busch, who led 27 laps, finished a strong second.

Sauter was third, followed by Tyler Reddick, Matt Tifft, Spencer Gallagher, Timothy Peters, Christopher Bell, Daniel Hemric, and William Byron.

Top-10 leaders after 6 of 23: 1. Crafton-161, 2. Peters-149, 3. Hemric-144, 4. Gallagher-139, 5. Byron-135, 6. R. Truex-129, 7. Nemechek-127, 8. Reddick-125, 9. C. Bell-124, 10. Sauter-120.

HARVICK STAYING AT STEWART-HAAS

Kevin Harvick is not going anywhere. His plans are to stay at Stewart Haas Racing until retirement, which is several years down the road.

There have been persistent rumors for the past couple of weeks that Kevin Harvick wasn't happy with his team's plan to switch from Chevrolet to Toyota at the end of the 2016 racing season, and he would be leaving.

But at a press conference at Charlotte last week, Harvick said, “It ain't so.”

There were two avenues of speculation: first, he might be going back to Richard Childress Racing, and second, he would take over the No. 5 Hendrick Chevrolet, now driven by Kasey Kahne.

“It got so out of control that I actually went to Kasey Kahne and said, 'Hey, man, here’s what’s going on,'” Harvick said. “I told him, 'there has not been one person who has called me from your organization, I want you to have the trust in your team. I want you to believe in your team and keep working on the things you are working on it. Here’s where it’s at, here’s what I’m doing and here is how it’s gonna go.'”

In addition, it would be hard for him to rejoin RCR, because Richard Childress plans to bring his other grandson, Ty Dillon, up into the Cup ranks next year. That would mean Childress would have to add two additional teams, which is highly unlikely.

“It's all been great with the management at SHR,” continued Harvick. “I never even worried about having to take phone calls or place phone calls or put our team in a position to go out and talk to other people. That was never the case. It was just extending an extension that needed to be put in place because in the end it's like I've said several times, I feel like I've got the best crew chief in the garage. Our team has been performing well and doing the things that they need to do and I like the challenges that face us in the future. That motivates me to have those things in place. And so, it's all been good. It's just been some crazy rumors that however they got started, they got started.

“Now that I've signed a long term contract I will be able to drive until I feel like I'm not having fun anymore or I'm not competitive. It's way too much fun right now being competitive and having fast cars and you feel like you're making up for a little bit of lost time at the beginning.

“So, it's been fun to kind of have that rejuvenated feeling the last three years and really be excited about it and love being part of the team and organization and all the things that come with what we have right now. So, it's just a lot of fun and it's going to have to be pretty painful for me at the end of this one to just say I'm done because I'll still be in my mid-40's. I'm not going to commit to quit before it's too soon.”

ELLIOTT IS IMPRESSIVE

Chase Elliott has certainly impressed a lot of race fans in his rookie season in the Sprint Cup Series.

He was the top-finishing rookie at Dover two weeks ago. His third place finish was his best in the Sprint Cup Series, bettering his fourth-place showing last month at Bristol.

Elliott led the four-car Hendrick Motorsports contingent to the checkered flag at Dover. Kasey Kahne finished behind him in fourth while his other teammates Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. took home 25th and 32nd-place results respectively.

Elliott has run well this season, and might be close to a win.

“Well, I hope I'm close,” he said. “Doesn't really matter what I say. Till you go get it done, it really is irrelevant.

“For me, I think I have a team that's capable of doing it. The way I saw it at Dover, we had our shot, we had a chance to do it. I didn't do it. It's as simple as that. Either you do or you don't, and we haven't yet.

“Had a lot of fun racing with those guys at the end there. Like I say, hate to not get the job done and be so close, but we'll keep digging at it and try to get a little better.”

Elliott also received the most fan votes for the sprint All Star Race.

After 12 races into the 2016 season, the 20-year-old son of NASCAR champion Bill Elliott has two poles, eight top-10 finishes, and is seventh overall in Chase points.

Weekend Racing: Racing continues this weekend at Charlotte with the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series. Sunday night's 600-mile Sprint Cup race will be the longest of the season.

Sat., May 28, Nationwide series race 11 of 33; Starting time: 2:30 pm ET; TV: Foxsports1.

Sun., May 29, Sprint Cup race 13 of 36; Starting time: 6 PM ET; TV: Fox.

Racing Trivia Question: Who won the first race at Charlotte Motor Speedway? It was ran in 1960, and was called the World 600.

Last Week's 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? Answer. His first full season in the Cup Series was 1999.

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