Montrose freshman Hannah Perkins posted a 36.1-second win Saturday in her race at the 52nd annual McQuaid Cross Country Invitational in Rochester, N.Y.

The McQuaid Invitational features 25 races, including 13 on the varsity level, and draws thousands of runners to Rochester each year.

Perkins finished first out of 251 runners from 38 schools in the Girls Unseeded Varsity A-2 race, one of the small school races. She finished the 3.1-mile course in 18:20.5.

Montrose finished third out of 20 teams in the Boys Varsity A race, the strongest of the small school events.

Brandon Curley led the Meteors, finishing 17th in 15:56.7. Zach Mead was 19th and Owen Brewer 23rd out of 166.

Watkins Glen, N.Y. won with 63 points. Elk County Christian had 91 and Montrose 146.

The strong invitational completed a big week for the Montrose boys.

The defending champion Meteors emerged alone in first place in the Lackawanna League standings by beating all four of their opponents Sept. 27 in the biggest day of the season in cluster meets.

The Sept. 27 meet was the one day of the season that teams were scored against each of the other schools that they run with on a regular basis.

Montrose handed Wallenpaupack its first defeat, 18-45, and beat Elk Lake, one of its season-long running partners, 19-40.

The Meteors also defeated Blue Ridge, 18-43, and Delaware Valley, 19-38 to improve to 13-0.

Mead finished first in 17:14 and Brewer was second, just two seconds behind.

North Pocono went into the day as another unbeaten, but lost to Abington Heights.

Elk Lake was 2-2 with a 28-29 loss to Wallenpaupack and wins of 19-44 over Blue Ridge and 18-43 over Delaware Valley.

Curley was fourth, Liam Mead eighth and Austin Dolaney ninth for Montrose.

Cody Oswald was fifth, Peyton Jones seventh and Seth Owens 10th for Elk Lake.

The Elk Lake girls knocked off two of the last three unbeatens, topping Wallenpaupack, 18-37, and Delaware Valley, 19-37.

Elk Lake also beat Montrose, 21-40, and Blue Ridge, 15-50, to improve to 12-1, behind only Holy Cross, the team the Lady Warriors lost to in the opener.

Perkins finished first in the six-team race, with Elk Lake’s Justine Johns and Keri Jones second and third.

Shyanne Bennett and Sadie Bosscher were seventh and eighth for Elk Lake.

WEEK IN REVIEW

Susquehanna and Montrose dropped road games Friday night to the top two teams in Division 3 of the Lackawanna Football Conference.

The Sabers battled second-place Lakeland before falling, 21-0.

Susquehanna remained within 7-0 at halftime before Lakeland scored twice in the third quarter.

Matt Pidgeon scored twice for the Chiefs, including the team’s second touchdown on an 80-yard fumble return.

The Chiefs are 4-1 in the division and 5-1 overall with the only loss coming to unbeaten Dunmore.

Dunmore rolled over Montrose, 55-12, opening a 42-0 lead midway through the second quarter.

In boys’ soccer, Blue Ridge improved to 8-0 to hold on to the Lackawanna League Division 3 lead.

In girls’ volleyball, Blue Ridge is also unbeaten. It is 10-0 and alone in first place in the Lackawanna League.

In golf, Blue Ridge fell one win short of making the playoffs.

The final Lackawanna League standings were: Scranton Prep 14-0, Riverside 11-3, Holy Cross 11-3, Carbondale 11-3, Dunmore 10-4, Lakeland 9-5, Mid Valley 9-5, Old Forge 7-7, Blue Ridge 6-8, Western Wayne 5-9, Elk Lake 4-10, Lackawanna Trail 3-11, Montrose 2-12, Mountain View 2-12, Forest City 0-14.

COLLEGE CORNER

Tyler Salak, a junior from Mountain View, is the number-two golfer on the Keystone College team.

Salak has an 82.50 stroke average through four rounds. His low round is 79, a score he has posted twice.

Salak had a 79 at Glenmaura National Golf Club to tie for medalist during a tri-match, which the Giants lost to King’s College and the University of Scranton.

THE WEEK AHEAD

Montrose and Susquehanna are both home for Lackawanna Football Conference Division 3 games.

Mid Valley (3-2 in the division and 3-3 overall) is at Montrose (1-4 and 1-5) Friday night. Dunmore (5-0 and 6-0) is at Susquehanna (2-3 and 3-3).

Our high school football predictions for last week were 11-1 (91.7 percent), making our season record 58-16 (78.4.).

This week’s predictions, with home teams in CAPS: Mid Valley 27, MONTROSE 16 … Dunmore 27, SUSQUEHANNA 14 … LACKAWANNA TRAIL 19, Old Forge 7 … RIVERSIDE 26, Lakeland 20 … West Scranton 23, VALLEY VIEW 21 … SCRANTON PREP 53, Honesdale 0 … North Pocono 25, WESTERN WAYNE 0 … SCRANTON 32, Hazleton Area 22 … WALLENPAUPACK 27, Dallas 17 … Carbondale 37, HOLY CROSS 26 … DELAWARE VALLEY 41, Williamsport 30 … ABINGTON HEIGHTS 24, Wyoming Valley West 21

In golf, the District 2 Individual Championships are scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 11 at Elmhurst Country Club.

In girls’ tennis, the District 2 Class AA team championships begin Thursday, but Montrose (4-9) will miss out on the 10-team field.

In professional hockey, the Binghamton Senators and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins open their American Hockey League seasons with home games Saturday night at 7:05. The Senators play the Hershey Bears and the Penguins play the Hartford Wolfpack.

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 Is Back In Victory Lane

Kevin Harvick and son Keelan in Victory Lane at New Hampshire (Furnished by NASCAR)

LOUDON, N.H.--Kevin Harvick overtook Matt Kenseth with six laps to go after a late race restart, and then outraced him to the checkered flag in Sunday’s Sprint Cup race.

Kenseth was the leader on the lap 292 restart, followed by Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski and Martin Truex Jr.

Kenseth did not get a good restart, and Harvick was able to take the lead from him. The two drivers battled each other for another lap, but Harvick’s No. 4 Chevrolet proved to be the faster of the two cars.

Harvick started 19th and didn’t have the best handling car earlier in the race, by the time the last caution came out in the 300-lap race, his team had made adjustments, and he was on the move.

“Man, everything worked out really good,” Harvick said. “The car was pretty good on the restarts. Once we got clean air there at the end, it wound up being really good up front. I’m just really proud of our team. They did a great job. A lot of the problems we’ve had in the past happened on pit road, but today, the guys did an awesome job.”

Harvick had not won at New Hampshire since 2006, which previously was his only win at the track. The 2014 Sprint Cup champion now joins Martin Truex Jr. as drivers who will automatically advance to the second round of the Chase.

“The last restart is my fault,” Kenseth said. “I let Kevin lay back on me, and I should have known better, plus I spun the tires and got beat in (Turns) 1 and 2.

“We really didn’t need that last caution. That’s the way the race went, so there is nothing we could do about it now. I thought we had the car to win, but I guess the 4-team found something there at the end.”

Kyle Busch was third, while Brad Keselowski was fourth and Kurt Busch was fifth.

Polesitter Carl Edwards was the sixth-place finisher. He was penalized by NASCAR for not having all four of his tires below the yellow box during a pit stop, and as a result he was sent to the tail end of the field.

Martin Truex Jr. led the most laps (141), but had to settle for seventh.

Jimmie Johnson, Kasey Kahne, and Kyle Larson rounded out the top-10 finishers.

Top Chase leaders with two races to go before the field of 16 drivers will be reduced to 12: 1. Keselowski-2087, 2. Truex-2086, 3. Kyle Busch-2085, 4. Kenseth-2078, 5. Logano-2073, 6. Harvick-2071, 7. Hamlin-2071, 8. Johnson-2070, 9. Elliott-2068, 10. Edwards-2068, 11. Kurt Busch-2067, 12. Larson-2057, 13. McMurray-2052, 14. A. Dillon-2052, 15. Stewart-2046, 16. Buescher-2027.

SADLER SURVIVES LATE CRASH FOR XFINITY WIN

Elliott Sadler took advantage of a late race restart to gain his third Xfinity Series win of the year.

With 12 laps to go in Saturday’s 200-lap race at Kentucky Speedway, Erik Jones and Ty Dillon banged into each other after a restart and were out of the race.

The damage was extensive to both cars and both drivers are suddenly in danger of not advancing beyond the first round of the Chase, with just two races remaining in the first round.

The race was red-flagged for several minutes as NASCAR worked to clear the track of debris before the final restart.

Ryan Blaney was the leader on the last restart with four-to-go, but Sadler, who was lined up second got a good jump and pulled into the lead. Daniel Suarez also passed Blaney but was unable to get by Sadler, who finished .246-seconds in front.

“These guys are my heroes,” said Sadler. “We had a 10th or 15th place car at best. Still had to come in and really take our time and work on it, great pit calls by Kevin (Meendering, crew chief) and the guys to get us in position. Got a good push there at the end.

“This team has no quit in them. We just fight till the end. This is a great way to start the Chase.”

Suarez and his team struggled throughout the race, but had seemingly overcome a tight condition at the end.

“Right at the end, we were pretty good, maybe just a little tight but we were strong,” he said. “I feel like we were the fastest car out there at the end. I just needed one or two laps more to get the win.”

Top-10 finishing order: 1. Sadler, 2. Suarez, 3. Ryan Blaney, 4. Sam Hornish, 5. Matt Tifft, 6. Brendan Gaughan, 7. Ryan Reed, 8. Darrell Wallace Jr., 9. Justin Allgaier, 10. Brennan Poole.

Top-10 leaders after 27 of 33: 1. Sadler-2050, 2. Suarez-2042, 3. Gaughan-2036, 4. Reed-2034, 5. Wallace Jr.- 2034, 6. Allgaier-2032, 7. Poole-2031, 8. Koch-2030, 9. E. Jones-2027, 10. Sieg-2025.

BYRON GETS SIXTH TRUCK WIN

William Byron raised his Truck Series win total as he led 161 of 175 laps of Saturday’s race at New Hampshire. Only 10 other drivers in the history of the series have won six or more races in a single season.

Greg Biffle’s nine wins in 1999 tops all drivers, and with six races remaining on this year’s schedule, Byron has a chance to break it.

“We just try and win,” Byron said. “We just go out there and compete like we don’t have a win, so that’s our objective and we want to keep this momentum going throughout this Chase so we can make it to Homestead. That’s the ultimate goal.”

Kyle Busch, the owner of the No. 9 truck driven by Byron advised him before the race.

“Go fast and turn left,” Busch said. “I mean, obviously, there’s a lot of different scenarios that can happen, but William’s done a great job of all the different obstacles that’s been put in front of him. He’s been able to do a good job with that, including this whole year. This is win No. 6. It’s not anything new to these guys and this team to be able to go to Victory Lane.”

Christopher Bell finished second .446-second back. The remaining top-10 were: Matt Crafton, Tyler Reddick, Timothy Peters, Cole Custer, Kaz Graia, Brett Moffitt, John Nemechek, and Johnny Sauter.

Top Chase leaders after 17 of 23: 1. Byron-2052, 2. Crafton-2036, 3. Bell-2035, 4. Nemechek-2030, 5. Peters-2028, 6. Sauter-2026, 7. Kennedy-2025, 8. Hemric-2005. Note: There are only eight drivers eligible for the Truck Series championship.

HALL OF FAME HIT BY PROTESTORS

The NASCAR Hall of Fame was among the sites hit by vandals, when peaceful protests turned into violent late Wednesday in Charlotte. On Thursday morning, a street sign hung like a spear from the front window of the hall’s news center, after vandals tried prying out one of the front windows. Windows in the lobby of the adjacent NASCAR Tower were busted out, as were windows at nearby restaurants and two hotels. The looters apparently failed to get into the Hall of Fame and its exhibits, though there are reports of confrontations with a half a dozen looters inside the Buffalo Wild Wing restaurant at one corner of the hall building.

Weekend Racing: The trucks travel to the 1,5-mile Las Vegas Motor Speedway, while the Cup and Xfinity Series teams are at the Dover Mile.

Sat., Oct. 1, Xfinity Series, race 28 of 33; Starting time: 3 pm ET; TV: NBCSN.

Sat., Oct. 1, Truck Series, race 18 of 23; Starting time: 8:30 pm ET; TV: Foxsports1.

Sun., Oct. 2, Sprint Cup Series, race 29 of 36; Starting time: 2 pm ET; TV: NBCSN.

Racing Trivia Question: This is the first year Kyle Larson has made the Sprint Cup Chase. Which team does he drive for?

Last Week’s Question. How many Sprint Cup championships has Jimmie Johnson won? Answer. Six, 2006, ‘07, ‘08, ‘09, ‘10, and ‘13.

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