The scheduled opener of the spring high school season in the Lackawanna League passed Thursday without any of the seven boys’ tennis matches being played.

Riverside at Montrose was among the matches that were postponed because of weather.

The same was expected to be true of this week’s scheduled Lackawanna Track Conference crossover meets, which do not impact the division standings.

With most track facilities not yet ready for competition because of the piles of snow that remain, the conference will have decisions to make on whether those meets will eventually be held.

Lackawanna Interscholastic Athletic Association officials are facing decisions across the board on spring sports with the exception of boys’ volleyball, the only one to be played inside.

Most baseball and softball teams, along with track and tennis teams, have not been able to work out outside with the exception of a few days prior to Winter Storm Stella dumping more than two feet of snow on parts of Susquehanna County.

Field conditions were similarly impacted throughout other areas within the Lackawanna League.

Decisions are likely to be made this week on whether to move early-season contests into other open dates later in the existing schedule or to completely overhaul the schedules.

WEEK IN REVIEW

The winter high school sports season came to a close in the state when the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association conducted its basketball championships Thursday through Saturday at the Giant Center in Hershey and its diving championships Saturday and Sunday at Bucknell University in Lewisburg.

Abington Heights, in Class 5A boys, and Nanticoke, in Class 4A boys, were the last surviving basketball teams from District 2, reaching the semifinals before losing March 21.

Abington Heights essentially left the impression that it was the second-best Class 5A team in the state.

The Comets fell to Archbishop Wood, 68-57. The Philadelphia school won its other four PIAA state tournament games by a total of 115 points, including a 73-40 rout of Meadville in the finals.

Michael Bruno from West Scranton was District 2’s top diver on the state level with a sixth-place finish in Class 2A boys.

The diving competition completed the scoring for state swimming.

The Wyoming Seminary boys were the top District 2 team, placing eighth in the state in the final Class 2A standings.

COLLEGE CORNER

Lindsey Rupakus, a freshman from Blue Ridge, is a member of the Sacred Heart University team that recently won its fourth straight Northeast Conference indoor women’s track and field championship.

Rupakus opened the season as a 400-meter dash runner, including as anchor of the 1600 relay.

Sacred Heart had its first two meets of the spring outdoor season called off because of weather and track conditions.

Rupakus was a three-event state qualifier last year after leading Blue Ridge to a fourth-place finish at the District 2 Class 2A Championships. She was a big part of District 2 champion teams in the 400- and 1600-meter relays.

In high school, she was also a hurdler, taking 15th in the state in the 300 hurdles.

THE WEEK AHEAD

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton will host Lehigh Valley Saturday at 7:05 p.m. in the first of three meetings in 12 days between the American Hockey League Atlantic Division-leading Penguins and the second-place Phantoms.

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.

LARSON SWEEPS CALIFORNIA RACES

Larson Sweeps California Races (Furnished by NASCAR)

FONTANA, Calif.--Kyle Larson not only got his first Cup Series win this past Sunday, but he won Saturday's Xfinity race to sweep both weekend NASCAR races.

The 24-year-old Larson had finished second in the last three Cup races, but this week he was not to be denied the victory in either series. He led 110 laps, and overcame four restarts in the last 16 laps of the 200-lap Cup race.

The last caution came on lap 198 after Ricky Stenhouse Jr. spun, setting up a green-white-checkered finish. Larson was the leader, followed by Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski, and Martin Truex Jr.

Larson got a good jump on the field, while Hamlin and Truex had problems, and lost positions. Brad Keselowski moved in to second, but was no match for Larson in the final two laps.

“Man, what a bunch of cautions,” Larson said. “Every time I got the lead or would get a jump on someone, then here would come another caution. I don't know how many more restarts I had left in me.”

Keselowski, who finished second was caught in an incident that was not of his making on the start of the race. Ryan Newman, Kevin Harvick, and Jimmie Johnson bumped each other, then ran into the back of Keselowski's No. 2, forcing him into a spin. He pitted, changed tires on his car and returned to the track one lap down, and worked his way back towards the front.

“Man, this car is all torn up,” said Keselowski. “I don't know how we did it. I feel lucky to have just finished the race.”

The third-place finisher Clint Bowyer had his first top-five finish in the last 52 races.

“We didn't have the winning car, but we had a good car,” said Bowyer. “It felt so good to be able to run up front for a change. It's a lot easier when you're out in front than when you are in the back.”

Fourth place finisher, Martin Truex Jr. had the fastest car at times, but a poor pit crew performance, and lack of judgment on his part may have cost him the win. He lost positions four out of the six times he pitted, including the last stop when he lost five spots. He led 73 laps, and won the second segment of the race. His team was constantly putting him in a hole, that he had to fight back from. On the last restart, he got mired in traffic, was forced to drop back, and was lucky to finish fourth.

“I thought we had this race,” said Truex. “I thought we were better than what our finish shows. Sometimes you make the right call, and sometimes you don't. Today we didn't make the right ones. And that last restart was terrible. I don't know what happened, it might have been poor judgment on my part.”

Joey Logano, Jamie McMurray, Daniel Suarez, Kyle Busch, Ryan Blaney, and Chase Elliott rounded out the top-10 finishers.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. had another lackluster performance with a 16th place finish.

Matt Kenseth was running near the front when he got tapped from behind and gave the inside retaining wall a hard lick. He finished 36th.

Top-10 leaders after five of 36: 1. Larson-243, 2. Elliott-214, 3. Truex-205, 4. Keselowski-179, 5. Logano-174, 6. McMurray-162, 7. Blaney-157, 8. Bowyer-143, 9. Harvick-137, 10. Kyle Busch-136.

LARSON WINS CALIFORNIA DUEL

Kyle Larson and Joey Logano battled each other for almost the last 20 laps of Sunday's Xfinity race, but it was Larson that won the duel.

Late in the 150-lap race Larson had fresher tires than Joey Logano, and he was able to catch him with 20 laps to go. Larson tried every move for eight laps before moving ahead.

The race’s final caution came out on lap 139 and both Larson and Logano pitted for tires. Larson’s pit crew got his No. 42 car off pit road first, but he still had to fight hard to hold off Logano for the final six laps, and pick up his first victory of 2017.

“It was a total team effort,” said Larson. “The racing at the end with Joey [Logano] was awesome. I had a couple laps fresher tires than he did, and was able to chase him down. I wish that last caution hadn’t come out because it would have been a little easier for me to win. I really had to work for this win.”

Logano crossed the stripe second, followed by Kyle Busch, who led the most laps (70), Erik Jones, William Byron, Darrell Wallace Jr., Elliott Sadler, Brennan Poole, Justin Allgaier, Ty Dillon.

Top-10 leaders after 5 of 33: 1. Sadler-189, 2. Byron-172, 3. Allgaier-143, 4. Reed-143, 5. Wallace-140, 6. B. Poole-133, 7. Hemric-131, 8. Annett-113, 9. Tifft-111, 10. Koch-106.

HOW UNIFORM ARE NASCAR PENALITIES

Does NASCAR have a uniform system for penalties and fines?

Danica Patrick doesn't think so.

There was an incident during the Phoenix Xfinity race between Cole Custer and Austin Dillon that was strictly racing. Custer tagged Dillon's No. 2, and sent it spinning into the wall. Dillon got his car moving and waited for Custer to circle the track.

Dillon was upset and vented his anger at Custer by slamming into Custer's car under caution.  The only penalty Dillon received was to park his No. 2 for the remainder of the race. Since Dillon's car was damaged too heavily to continue, the penalty was meaningless.

In 2015, Patrick was fined $50,000 and 25 driver points for intentionally wrecking David Gilliland at Martinsville Speedway.

“I think NASCAR makes a really big mistake of fining for some stuff, especially something that happens in the car, because it makes for good TV, like fights and all that stuff,” she continued.

“I also got fined here last year for Kasey Kahne rear-ended me on the front straightaway. I gave him this sign, and I got fined for that, too.

“We can handle it. I think it’s a mistake. I might be speaking too much, but I’ve been fined a few times.

“After their decision last week, I would like to ask for my money back.”

NASCAR's wishy-washy attitude was evident at Las Vegas after Kyle Busch ran into Joey Logano's pit area and attempted to jump on Logano after an on track incident. Busch got the worst of the deal, and NASCAR said “there will be no penalty.”

What Patrick appears to be more concerned with is the lack of predictability in NASCAR’s officiating. She also questions the distribution of the fines. Patrick would like to see the sanctioning body establish a more uniform system, or not penalize drivers at all for confronting each other.

“Yeah, I’d rather that be the standard,” Patrick added. “I mean, what does that really do? I’m not going to not go on vacation. I would actually rather know what it did. I would actually love to see like the playground that got built for it, or homeless people that got food.

“I would like to see actually what the fine money does. It’s supposed to go to charity, right? So what does it really do? I would like to see that.”

Note: The fines collected by NASCAR go into the Betty Jane France Foundation, which provides money for children's health needs.

WEEKEND RACING:  NASCAR's three-race trip to the west coast is over. The Cup and Truck teams will be back east at Martinsville Speedway this weekend, the shortest track on the circuit. The Xfinity teams have an off week.

Sat., Mar. 1; Truck Series race 3 of 23; Starting time: 2: 30 pm ET: TV: FoxSports1.

Sun., Mar. 2; Cup Series race 6 of 36; Starting time: 2 pm ET; TV: FoxSports1.

Racing Trivia Question: Where is Ryan Newman's hometown?

Last Week's Question: Martin Truex Jr. broke into the Cup ranks in 2004. Which team did he drive for in 2004 and 2005? Answer. It was Dale Earnhardt Inc.

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