Elk Lake emerged from last week’s weather-reduced schedule with three of its teams in first place.

The boys’ basketball team was 2-0 for the only unbeaten record in Lackawanna League Division 4 play. The girls’ basketball team was 3-0, one-half game ahead of defending champion Forest City, the only other unbeaten in Lackawanna Division 4. The boys’ swimming team was 3-0 to share first place with Delaware Valley.

Elk Lake knocked Montrose out of first place Friday night with a 50-46 boys’ basketball victory in its only game of the week. The Meteors had been 2-0.

Reirdan Reyan had a game-high 21 points for the Warriors, who rallied from a 39-28 deficit with a 22-point fourth quarter. Ben Woolcock added 16 points.

Evan Snyder and Brennan Gilhool each had 11 points for the Meteors.

The Warriors have won three of their last four after an 0-5 start under first-year coach Rich Emmons. The only loss during the recent stretch was a two-pointer to Blue Ridge in the Susquehanna County Christmas Tournament.

The Lady Warriors have won five straight to improve to 8-2 overall and take over the lead in the race for the top seed in the eight-team District 2 Class 2A playoffs.

Elk Lake won twice last week, beating Blue Ridge, 55-36, Jan. 9, then topping Montrose, 47-36, Thursday. It has outscored opponents by an average of 19 points in the winning streak.

The Blue Ridge game avenged the most recent loss, a 39-38 defeat in the Denise Reddon Memorial Tournament.

Justine Johns had 16 points. Keri Jones and Rose Warner added 10 each.

Johns had 16 points, Jones 14 and Whitney Tyler 11 against Montrose.

Annalise Ely and Radvile Vaicluyte had 11 points each for the Lady Meteors.

The boys’ swimming team won at West Scranton, 90-55, Thursday.

WEEK IN REVIEW

The Elk Lake boys are not the only county basketball team to turn things around.

Susquehanna has won three of its last four girls’ games, including going 2-1 in the division last week, after starting the seven with seven straight losses.

The Lady Sabers defeated Montrose, 41-29, for their second straight win Jan. 9 in their division opener.

After losing to Blue Ridge, 45-37, Thursday, Susquehanna bounced back to defeat Mountain View, 48-36, Saturday.

Taylor Huyck led the Lady Sabers in their win over Montrose with 10 points.

Ely led Montrose with 19.

Kalynne Myers had 18 points and Isabella Cosmello 15 for Blue Ridge against Susquehanna, which got 12 points from Lauren Soden.

Bethany Maby had 13 points, Huyck 12 and Mackenzie Steele 11 for the Lady Sabers in their win over Mountain View.

Devin Burney had 13 points when Mountain View rallied to edge Lackawanna Trail, 35-34, to start the week.

In boys’ basketball, Blue Ridge continues to lead the District 2 Class 2A playoff race with the highest rating in the district’s new playoff formula.

The Raiders got their first Lackawanna Division 4 win Friday when Jeff Morris scored 17 of his 21 points in the first half of a 58-46 win over host Susquehanna.

Kyle Donovan had 10 of his 12 points in the second half to help the Raiders gradually pull away after leading by just four at the half. Donovan had three of his team’s eight 3-pointers.

The Raiders are 7-3 overall and 1-1 in the division.

Eric Lee and Garret Grausgruber had 12 points each for the Sabers.

Forest City was routed by Old Forge, 80-31, Saturday in a rematch of last season’s District 2 Class A final that the Blue Devils also won.

Jared Paulin had all eight first-quarter points for the Foresters and finished with a team-high 12.

In professional hockey, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins defenseman David Warsofsky was named American Hockey League Player of the Week for the period ending Jan. 8.

Warsofsky helped the league’s top team win four straight games by scoring two goals, assisting five others and going plus-6. He had two assists in a 5-4 win over the Binghamton Senators and capped his week by scoring the overtime game-winner in a 6-5 victory over the Hershey Bears the next night.

CLARIFICATION

More information became available, clarifying the format for the District 2-11 Class A subregional basketball playoffs.

Both the boys’ and girls’ tournament fields will be limited to six teams unless the unlikely event of having a seventh and/or eighth team with a .500 or better record would invoke a clause that would expand the field.

According to the District 11 website, Forest City was leading and Susquehanna was sixth in the eight-team Class A girls’ race, as of Sunday night.

MMI Prep was seventh and Susquehanna eighth in the 10-team Class A boys’ race.

COLLEGE CORNER

Meghan Gilhool had six points and six rebounds in Western New England’s most recent women’s basketball victory, 73-47, over Endicott Jan. 7.

The sophomore from Montrose has helped the team to a 10-4 record by averaging 4.0 points, 2.4 rebounds and 2.4 assists.

The team is coached by another Montrose graduate, Nicole Chaszar.

THE WEEK AHEAD

Montrose hosts two of the top Lackawanna League Division 2 wrestling teams for a triple dual Wednesday.

The Meteors will host Western Wayne and Valley View, who will also wrestle each other.

In girls’ basketball, defending champion Forest City faces two of its top challengers in consecutive games when it hosts Blue Ridge Thursday, then plays at Elk Lake Monday, Jan. 23.

Forest City beat Elk Lake in a playoff for the all-season championship last season. The two teams entered this week as the only unbeatens in Lackawanna League Division 4 play.

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.

A Tale Of Two Drivers

Martin Truex Jr. at Talladega in 2016

Martin Truex Jr. failed to win the NASCAR Cup Series title last year, but he was named Driver of the Year by NASCAR.com, and also Driver of the Year by the Eastern Motorsport Press Association (EMPA).

He earned those titles the hard way: with a single car, underfunded team and a lot of hard-nosed driving.

NASCAR’s vacation is about over. Within a couple weeks, drivers will be donning their fire suits for test sessions, and then practice in preparation for Speedweek and the 2017 Dayton 500.

While there is always lots of talk about drivers when fans gather, the biggest driver topic going into the new year won’t be Truex, but Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Earnhardt missed half the season last year while recovering from a concussion but won the sport’s most Popular Driver Award again, which shows how much he means to NASCAR’s success.

His marriage to Amy Riemann on December 31, 2016 further highlighted his career.

Earnhardt came into the sport with name recognition, since his father had won the title in NASCAR’s top division seven times. Unlike Earnhardt, who gained zillions of fans just by being an Earnhardt, Truex came into the sport in an entirely different manner.

But from the start of Truex’s career in the NASCAR big leagues, he has remained close friends with Dale Jr.

Truex was born in Trenton, New Jersey, and graduated from high school in 1998. His father, Martin Truex Sr. was a former driver in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series, then called the NASCAR Busch North Series.

The younger Truex began racing in the NASCAR Camping World East Series in 2000, and won five races in four years with a family-owned team. After moving south, Truex rented a house from Dale Earnhardt Jr. in Mooresville, North Carolina, before purchasing his own home.

In 2000, Truex, following in his father’s footsteps, began racing in the K&N Pro Series East. He ran three full seasons (2000 to 2002) and made limited starts in 2003. During his time in the Busch North Series, Truex claimed 13 poles and 5 wins driving his family-owned car.

He made his first start in the Xfinity Series in 2001 in his family’s No. 56 Chevy.

He began the 2003 Xfinty season with his father’s team, before he was hired by Dale Earnhardt Jr. to drive his Chance 2 Chevy at Richmond, where he qualified sixth and led eleven laps before transmission failure forced him to a 31st-place finish. He split time between Chance 2 and his father’s team for the balance of the season. He had a sixth-place finish at Bristol and ended the season with two consecutive second-place finishes. He ran a total of ten races that season.

Truex continued to drive for Chance 2 and won the title over Kyle Busch in 2004. He was able to drive in the Atlanta Cup race as a relief driver for Earnhardt, who had suffered burns while in a sports car wreck the week before in California.

He won the Xfinity Series title again in 2005.

In 2006, Truex moved to a Dale Earnhardt Inc. Chevy full-time in the Nextel Cup Series. He had two Top-5 finishes and finished 19th in points. Dale Earnhardt Jr. was his teammate in the No. 1 Chevy.

Dale Jr. and his stepmother Teresa Earnhardt did not see eye-to-eye, and their relationship reached a breaking point in 2007. Earnhardt, with his name and recognition, had his choice of driving for almost any team in the Cup Series. In 2008, he moved to Hendrick Motorsports. He cited the move as, “The best possible choice for me to win a championship”.

Truex remained at what was then called, “Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing”.

At the conclusion of the 2009 season, Truex left Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing to drive for a new Toyota team that Michael Waltrip was putting together. His car number was 56, the number his father drove during his time in the Grand National Division and is considered the “family number”.

In October, 2013, it was announced that Michael Waltrip Racing’s No. 56 had lost its sponsor, and it would become a research and development team in 2014. Truex was told he could offer his services as a driver to other teams. Truex announced he would move to Furniture Row Racing and drive the No. 78 Chevrolet being vacated by Kurt Busch.

Truex’s 2014 season started with an outside pole qualifying run for the Daytona 500, Furniture Row Racing’s first front row start in the 500. However, Truex’s engine failed on lap 31. Truex did poorly in the spring but rebounded with four top-tens in the latter part of the season. He only led a single lap (at Talladega in the October race) and finished 24th in the final points.

In 2015 Truex made the Chase for the Sprint Cup and advanced through the first two rounds of the Chase. He also advanced to the final four at Homestead-Miami and went on to finish 4th in the final standings, a career best for both FRR and for Truex.

In 2016 his team ran the entire 36 race season. They had four wins, five poles and finished 11th in points.

By comparison, Dale Jr ran 18 races with no wins or poles, finished 32nd, and was named, “NASCAR’s Favorite Driver”.

Overall, Truex has only seven wins to Earnhardt’s 26.

Neither driver has won a Cup championship, even though Earnhardt has been with Hendrick Motorsports since 2008.

Every time Earnhardt enters the track area, fans stand and cheer.

The only way that Truex receives a standing ovation is when he wins a race.

But the fans’ attitude doesn’t reflect how the two drivers view each other.

“I think it is amazing how Martin and his team have done so well,” said Earnhardt. “I think he is really a great driver. If I had a car right now and he was available, I would put him in it.”

In a 2006 interview, Truex recalled his first encounter with Earnhardt.

“Making the move to the Charlotte area was a big one for me,” said Truex. “Didn’t have much money and no place to live. Someone suggested that I go see Dale, because he had a small place in Mooresville that he might rent me.

“He didn’t know anything about me. I wasn’t a southern boy, or anything like most of his other buddies, but we developed a friendship that’s lasted ever since.”

One driver is at the top of the racing game in popularity.

The other will never reach the heights that his friend enjoys.

But that’s just racing.......and life.

Unlike some stories, this tale has a happy ending.

After 15 years of competing against each other, these two drivers are still great friends, both on and away from the track.

In other racing news, Kevin Harvick is scheduled to return to the FOX television booth as a race analyst for eight races in 2017, beginning with the Xfinity Series season opener from Daytona on February 25th.

He said he agreed to eight races, in part, to gain experience for what he hopes could become his post-racing career. “I really enjoy calling races. I enjoy the perspective of sitting up there and trying to figure out what’s going on. I also want to be a part of watching these young guys come up through the different series’ and have the experience of having been in the booth when they raced, because, ultimately, it’s something I want to do down the road with when I’m done driving.”

Racing Trivia Question: What new business is Danica Patrick attempting to create?

Last Week’s Question: Which driver has the most Daytona 500 wins? Answer. Richard Petty with seven.

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

Justine Johns

Justine Johns led Elk Lake to two championships in 2016 and within the slightest of margins of two more.

By the time the year ended, she was working on pursuing another.

For her efforts as a distance runner and on the basketball court, the Elk Lake senior has been named Susquehanna County Transcript Athlete of the Year for 2016.

Blue Ridge’s Isabella Cosmello, like Johns, a backcourt standout in basketball who excelled as a runner in track and field season, also received consideration. Cosmello did her running as a state-qualifying sprinter in relays and also qualified for the individual district tournament as a golfer.

Johns remained among the state’s best cross country runners, earning her fourth consecutive state medal at the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Championships while leading Elk Lake to a tie for the best score. The Lady Warriors lost out on a state championship on a tiebreaker, but their second-place finish was the best on the state level by any Susquehanna County high school team during the calendar year.

Elk Lake lost just once in the regular season and avenged that loss by beating Lackawanna League champion Holy Cross for the District 2 Class A championship to earn its state title shot.

Johns placed third in the district and 18th in the state, giving her four straight finishes between 17th and 20th.

In the spring, Johns was one of the key performers on Elk Lake’s Lackawanna League Division 4 championship team. She was fourth in District 2 Class AA in the 800-meter run and was part of relay teams that finished second and sixth in the district.

Portions of two basketball seasons also fell in the calendar year.

Elk Lake lost to Forest City in overtime in a playoff game to decide the 2015-16 Lackawanna League Division 4 title and is in the division lead in the 2016-17 standings.

Johns’ running ability and endurance comes in handy in transition and playing defense, but she brings much more to the basketball court. She is a playmaker, setting up teammates from her point guard position along with scoring. Johns leads this season’s team in scoring and was second on last season’s team.

The combination made her a first-team division all-star choice by coaches as a junior.

Johns plans to run in college on the NCAA Division II or III level. Her high school career includes five state medals, counting one as part of the 3200-meter relay team as a sophomore.

Justine, is the daughter of Thomas and Heather Johns of Meshoppen.