Susquehanna’s Skyla Wilson catches Lakeland’s Madison Harding on the way to the District 2 title in the 100-meter hurdles. Susquehanna’s Alexia Presley is in the background. Wilson is seeded second in the event for Friday and Saturday’s state championships at Shippensburg University (Tom Robinson Photo)

SCRANTON – Susquehanna junior Skyla Wilson swept the high-profile hurdles titles and the Montrose boys remained in team title contention all the way to the final event Wednesday at the District 2 Track and Field Championships.

Wilson won a close race in the 100-meter hurdles and blew away a strong field in the 300 hurdles while going head-to-head with fellow returning state medalist Madison Harding from Lakeland. The wins by Wilson came a week after being disqualified for a false start in the 100 and finishing second to Harding in the 300 at the Robert Spagna Lackawanna Track Conference Championship Meet.

Montrose had won the Class 2A team title at the Spagna Championships and carried the lead through 17 of 18 events at the district championships before Lakeland won the closing 1600 relay to pull out the victory, 88-86 ½.

Wilson won the 100-meter hurdles in 15.10 seconds. Her time of 43.97 in the 300 hurdles was 2.83 seconds better than the field.

Carbondale’s Jenn Korty, a Forest City cross country runner who competes for the Chargers as part of a cooperative sponsorship of track, won the 800 run.

Montrose’s Zach Mead won the 1600 for the only boys’ title by a Susquehanna County athlete.

Montrose freshman Hannah Perkins, in the girls’ 1600, qualified for the state championships by meeting the state standard while finishing second.

Harley Mullins advanced to the state meet in the boys’ 110 high hurdles while placing fourth because he also met the state standard.

Montrose’s Chalice Guyette, in the girls’ 200, and Blue Ridge’s Hunter Conklin, in the boys’ 200, were each awarded state berths when district champions scratched from the 200 to concentrate on other events.

Western Wayne beat out Lakeland, 101-94 ½, for the girls’ team championship.

Montrose led county teams, placing ninth with 37 ½ points.

Perkins was second in both the 1600, where she qualified for the state meet in 5:18.08, and the 3200.

Guyette made the state meet with her third-place finish in the 200 in 27.14 because both sprinters ahead of her are concentrating on other events. She was also fourth in the 100.

Radvile Vaiciulyute tied for third in the high jump and Anna Loomis was fourth in the 400.

The top six finishers in each event earned medals and the top eight scored team points.

Wilson led Susquehanna to 36 points and 10th place.

In addition to her two titles, she anchored the 400 relay team to a third-place finish and the 1600 relay to fourth place.

Taylor Huyck and Mackenzie Rhone were on both relays.

Alexia Presley led off the 400 relay and placed seventh in both the 100 hurdles and long jump.

Bethany Maby completed the 1600 relay lineup.

Lauren Soden was eighth in the javelin.

Jenn Korty won the 800 in 2:22.66 and was fourth in the 3200. Her sister, Sarah Korty, was third in the shot put while also competing for Carbondale.

Elk Lake finished 13th with 17 points, Blue Ridge was 16th with six points and Mountain View was 17th with 3 ½.

The Elk Lake 3200 relay team of Eliza Bosscher, Sadie Bosscher, Keri Jones and Lydia Ofalt finished third.

Keri Jones was also fifth in the 3200. Ofalt was fourth in the 400. Sadie Bosscher was eighth in the 1600.

Grasyn Bushnell placed fifth in the long jump.

Isabella Cosmello was the only Blue Ridge girl to score, taking third in the 400.

Mountain View’s points came from Brianna Spriggs placing seventh in the 100 and Lauren Schmidt finishing tied for seventh in the high jump.

The Montrose boys scored points in 14 of 18 events.

Mead’s title in 4:30.77 led three Meteors in the top five in the 1600.

Brandon Curley was second and Liam Mead fifth in the 1600.

Zach Mead was also fourth in the 800.

Colin Mondi placed second in the pole vault, fourth in the discus and tied for seventh in the high jump.

The Meteors took third in both the 3200 and 1600 relays and also finished eighth in the 400 relay.

Brennan Gilhool led off the 400 relay and also placed third in the 200. He also ran on the 400 relay.

Harley Mullins was on both the 1600 and 400 relays in addition to his fourth-place finish in the 110 hurdles.

Owen Brewer ran on the third-place 3200 relay and was fourth in the 3200.

Collin Chidester was on the third-place 1600 relay while also placing fifth in the 110 high hurdles, sixth in the 300 hurdles and eighth in the triple jump.

Nick Coy was on the third-place 3200 relay and was eighth in the 3200.

Eric Bixby led off and Colin Spellman anchored the 3200 relay.

Mike Henry was also on the 1600 relay.

John Herman and Tyler Dovin were the other 400 relay members.

Devin Nash was fifth in the shot put and Maverick Tims was sixth in the pole vault.

Blue Ridge was 16th of 20 teams with 13 points, followed by Elk Lake 17th with eight, Mountain View 18th with five and Susquehanna 19th with 4 ½.

Conklin led Blue Ridge with his 23.84-second, runner-up finish in the 200.

Travis Hickling was fifth in the 400 and eighth in the 1600.

Cody Oswald placed sixth in the 400 and was part of the seventh-place 1600 relay for Elk Lake.

Peyton Jones was seventh in the 3200 and Dakota States was eighth in the long jump.

Brett Carney, Noah Cusatis and Seth Owens were also on the 1600 relay.

Jeff Virbitsky had Mountain View’s top finish, placing sixth in the 1600.

Discus thrower Colton Traver and the 3200 relay team of Isak Cook, Travis Getz, Ryan Martin and Jon Master were eighth.

Susquehanna had Mason Deakin finish sixth in the long jump and Canyon Stone tie for seventh in the high jump.

WEEK IN REVIEW

Madelynn Guinane threw shutouts on three straight days, including a no-hitter in a first-place battle, to lift Montrose to the Lackawanna League Division 4 softball title.

Guinane struck out 15 and walked three May 16 when she threw a four-hitter in a 9-0 win over Blue Ridge.

The no-hitter came Wednesday in a 2-0 win over Elk Lake in which Guinane struck out 12 and walked three to help the Meteors break a first-place tie.

Guinane threw a one-hitter with 13 strikeouts and no walks in a 5-0 win at Susquehanna to clinch the title outright. She went 3-for-4 and scored three times.

Final Division 4 standings: Montrose 11-1, Elk Lake 10-2, Lackawanna Trail 9-3, Forest City 6-6, Blue Ridge 4-8, Susquehanna 2-10, Mountain View 0-12.

In baseball, Tyler Clift had a pair of three-hit games as Forest City won back-to-back home games to lock up a Lackawanna League Division 5 title.

The Foresters needed nine innings to get past Mountain View, 4-3, May 15 and clinch at least a tie for the division title, then scored eight runs in the second inning Wednesday to take control early on the way to a title-clinching, 10-1 rout of Lackawanna Trail.

Clift, who drove in two runs, and Dakota Knehr-Cook, who scored twice, each had three hits against Mountain View.

Clift went 3-for-4 with three RBI and R.J. Kuruts struck out 11 in 6 1/3 innings against Lackawanna Trail.

Final Division 5 standings: Forest City 10-2, Blue Ridge 9-3, Elk Lake 9-3, Montrose 6-6, Lackawanna Trail 4-8, Susquehanna 2-10, Mountain View 2-10.

The District 2 Class 3A playoffs opened Friday and Montrose was eliminated in the first round with a 9-5 loss to visiting Riverside.

The Meteors were seeded eighth and the Vikings were seeded ninth.

In boys’ tennis, Montrose’s Chris Lewis and Liam McGranahan won two matches, including upsetting a seeded opponent, before being eliminated in the quarterfinals of the District 2 Class 2A doubles tournament.

Lewis-McGranahan opened with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Honesdale’s Eli Harvey-Jason Demers. They defeated eighth-seeded Chris Kocon-Russell Kutish from Holy Redeemer, 6-3, 7-5. Top-seeded Eamon Gibbons-Andrew Schukraft from Wyoming Seminary beat Lewis-McGranahan, 6-1, 6-0, in the quarterfinals on the way to the title.

Montrose’s other team, Billy Hotaling-Zeb Swartley, went out in the first round with a 6-0, 6-2 loss to Holy Redeemer’s Zach Petterson-Dominic Marchese.

In boys’ volleyball, Mountain View and host Blue Ridge were eliminated during a Wednesday District 2 Class 2A quarterfinal doubleheader.

Abington Heights downed Mountain View, 25-14, 20-25, 25-19, 25-14.

North Pocono knocked off top-seeded Blue Ridge, which went unbeaten in the Lackawanna League, 19-25, 25-17, 25-16, 13-25, 15-11.

THE WEEK AHEAD

Forest City and Blue Ridge are the top seeds, earning the only byes for a pair of seven-team baseball playoffs.

Forest City will play Wednesday against the MMI Prep-Lincoln Leadership winner Wednesday in the District 2-11 Class A Subregional semifinals.

The Foresters will play again Sunday at 1:30 at PNC Field in Moosic, either hosting the Subregional championship game or, if they lose in the semifinals, facing Susquehanna for the District 2 Class A title.

Blue Ridge will host the Holy Cross-Lackawanna Trail winner in Thursday’s District 2 Class 2A baseball semifinals.

The Mountain View-Elk Lake winner, from a game which was scheduled to be played Monday, will play the Northwest-Old Forge winner in the other semifinal.

The championship game is scheduled for Monday, May 29 at PNC Field in Moosic at noon.

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

All of the Susquehanna County participants are on the track where qualifying is held Friday to try to get into Saturday’s finals. In the case of the 100- and 110-meter high hurdles, there are both semifinals and finals Saturday.

The Friday schedule for those events is 100 hurdles, 10:30 a.m.; 110 high hurdles, 11 a.m.; 1600-meter run, noon; 800 run, 3:30 p.m.; 200 dash, 4 p.m.

The semifinals are at 10 a.m. Saturday in the 100 hurdles and 10:15 in the 110 hurdles.

Finals are scheduled Saturday, as follows: 100 hurdles, 12:15 p.m.; 110 hurdles, 12:25 p.m.; 1600 run, 12:45 p.m.; 800 run, 2:35 p.m.; 200 dash, 2:45 p.m.

Susquehanna’s Wilson is seeded second of 28 in the 100 hurdles and fourth of 28 in the 300 hurdles.

Carbondale’s Korty is seeded 12th in the 800; Montrose’s Perkins is seeded 13th in the 1600; and Montrose’s Guyette is 26th in the 200.

Montrose’s Mullins is seeded 11th in the 110 high hurdles; Montrose’s Mead is seeded 17th in the 1600; and Blue Ridge’s Hunter Conklin is 25th in the 200.

In softball, Montrose is the third seed in the 10-team District 2 Class 3A tournament and will host Lakeland Friday at 4:30.

If the Lady Meteors advance to the Tuesday, May 30 semifinals, they will either play at Mid Valley or be home against Wilkes-Barre Meyers or Wilkes-Barre GAR.

The District 2 Class 2A semifinals are Friday, but Elk Lake or Blue Ridge needed wins in quarterfinal games that were scheduled for Tuesday in order to get that far.

Elk Lake, seeded second in the eight-team field, would be home against the Riverside-Lackawanna Trail winner if it advanced.

Blue Ridge, which played at top-seeded, would be at the Wyoming Seminary-Northwest winner if it opened with an upset.

The District 2-11 Class A Subregional semifinal is Thursday. Forest City, the fifth seed in the six-team field, would have needed a win at Mahanoy Area Monday to earn a game at top-seeded Williams Valley.

TOM ROBINSON writes a weekly local sports column for the Susquehanna County Transcript. He be reached online at RobbyTR@aol.com or followed on Twitter at @tomjrobinson.

NASCAR'S HOTTEST AND COLDEST

Brad Keselowski and family at Martinsville in 2017

NASCAR racing is not a game of constants. Each driver and team has their ups and downs. It's like the old adage, “What goes up must come down”. When you climb a ladder, you might reach the top, but sooner or later, you come back down.

That's the way it is. Not only in racing, but life in general.

After one race you might be a hot dog. The following race, you could be the fire plug.

Currently, several NASCAR drivers and teams are on the rise, while others are like a fallen star.

Penske Racing with Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano have thrilled their fans after 11 races into the 36-race season.

Keselowski is one of three drivers that have two wins. The other two are Martin Truex Jr. and Jimmie Johnson.

If you’re looking for an early favorite, it would be really difficult to not put Keselowski at the top of the list. He has finished seventh or better in nine of the 11 races this season, including two victories. What his No. 2 team did Saturday night was quite remarkable, coming from two laps down to finish second at Kansas.

Keselowski sits third in the points right now, but what really matters come playoff time are race wins, and now stage wins, too. It would be a surprise if he didn't win several more races this season and make the final four at Homestead.

You can call it luck, or just plain, hard racing, but Keselowski showed a strong desire and determination at Kansas.

“Every time we started to pass cars and cycle up to the front, we had some kind of issue, which was a real bummer to not be able to showcase the strength that we had,” Keselowski said. “Towards the end we were able to get some runs and make the most of it, and I think we went from probably 20th with 100 to go to second, which was a pretty big climb in the sport. That’s something to be proud of, but I kind of feel like I would have liked to have seen if we might have had a shot at him.”

 In the past Truex has been one of those “up and down” drivers. He has always put on a good driving show, but simple mistakes, bad luck, or being at the wrong place at the right time has cost him. This year the driver of the No. 78 has put together more good finishes than bad, and it shows. He is second in the points standings.

Truex's victory at Kansas was a redemption of sorts for him. In 2012, he dominated the Kansas spring race, leading 173 of the race’s 267 laps. But was passed by Denny Hamlin with 31 laps to go and finished second.

This year his luck held. Maybe the key was to lead fewer laps. He led 104 laps in this year's Kansas race, and passed Ryan Blaney with a great restart move on the third-to-last restart of the race. Afterward, Truex called his second win of the season “sweet redemption.”

While Ryan Blaney was a little frustrated because he didn’t get the Kansas win, he’s certainly joined the category of “when” is he going to win rather than “if” he is going to win. Blaney, after leading 83 laps and winning the second stage at Kansas, ended up fourth to break a string of three straight finishes of 33rd or worse. The driver of the No. 21 has finished well in several stages this season, putting him 11th in points standings. And during the post-race interview, if you had closed your eyes and just listened, you might have thought it was the Buckeye Bullet, (Ryan’s dad Dave) speaking. The point is, the maturity is there for Blaney now, and the wins won’t be far behind.

Kyle Larson’s consistency is continuing. He didn’t have the outright speed that others had at Kansas, but he stayed near the front of the field and ended up finishing sixth. It was his second sixth-place finish of the season. He is the current points leader, along with one win.

Jamie McMurray, Larson's Chip Ganassi teammate doesn't have any wins, but is seventh in points.

I think the biggest “have not” is Dale Earnhardt Jr.

But it shouldn't be surprising. After a series of concussions, a brand new wife, and at age 42, his interests have shifted from racing to other things.

  Forty used to the be age when drivers hit their peaks. Now it’s a time when drivers consider moving to the television booth, a tractor or a rocking chair.

Earnhardt will be 43 when he hangs up his helmet at the end of the season. He plans to devote his golden years to being a husband and owner of his Xfinity Series race team.

“You’re wondering why I reached this decision, it’s really simple,” Earnhardt said. “I just wanted the opportunity to go out on my own terms.”

  “I told [wife] Amy I might slip off and run a 40-lapper at Hickory one night,” he said. “So, if I’m missing on a Saturday night, she might know where I’m at.

“But other than that I don’t have any plans.

“I can stand here healthy, and that’s a testament after all the racing I’ve done and all the stupid stuff I’ve done in a race car. That is a true testament to NASCAR, to the tracks, to the people who have built my race cars, to my competitors, and to the drivers who have come before me who haven’t been so fortunate.

“Having said that, though, it’s a risky sport. I’m aware of the risks. I don’t like how it feels to take the hits that we take. I’m a sharp guy and I want to be a sharp guy in 30 years.”

Smart guy.

After 11 races, he has no race wins, no stage wins and is 25th in points, 302 back of the leader.

Thanks for the memories.

And last, there is Danica.

But I want to be fair to her. Not all the wrecks she's been in have been of her making. She was involved in that fiery three-car crash at Kansas with Joey Logano and Aric Almirola. She was tagged by Logano, who conveniently said a part on his car broke, and sent her into the wall. If you will notice real close during a race, the wrecks seem to happen between cars that are running in the middle of the pack, not with the front runners.

Patrick's problem has been that she hardly ever runs with the leaders. She's always in the middle or back-of-the-pack, with the also rans. These are the guys that mix it up the most. That is why she gets caught up in so many accidents.

She was frustrated after the Kansas wreck, because she was finally having a decent run, being in 12th at the time of the accident, only to have a freak thing cause it to go bad.

I'm sure that after looking her car over, she felt pretty fortunate to walk away from that one. But back to the results. Patrick has five finishes of 33rd or worse this season, with a season-best finish of 17th. So, yes, she’s allowed to be a little frustrated. What kind of competitor wouldn’t be?

What's going to happen with Patrick? I don't know, but I think her frustration might force her out of NASCAR after this year. Remember, she is not a little “Orphan Annie.” Her net worth is estimated to be over $30-million dollars.

The team that is experiencing the biggest let down of the 2016 season is Joe Gibbs Racing. Neither of the four Gibbs' cars has won a race. Kyle Busch is the only JGR driver among the top-10 points leaders. It was at this time last year when everyone was talking about how to catch up to the Gibbs cars. Kyle Busch said their cars simply didn’t have the speed now. But before Gibbs fans get all out of sorts here, we’re talking about picking up hundredths of a second on a lap.

I wouldn't give up on the Gibbs teams. They might be on the down side now, but they are a strong, race-savvy organization that should bounce back before too many more races.

You may contact the Racing Reporter at: www.hodges@race500.com.