The 2016-17 school year was a winning one for the Elk Lake athletic program.

Elk Lake was the only county school to have both its boys’ and girls’ teams collectively produce winning records in the Lackawanna League.

The Lady Warriors were the only girls’ program to post a winning record for the school year when all teams’ league records were combined.

The Warriors also had a winning record, ranking behind Montrose and Blue Ridge for the most successful school years by boys’ teams.

Elk Lake teams were a combined 115-83 in Lackawanna events for a winning percentage of 58.0.

Montrose teams were 110-92 for wins in 54.5 percent of their events. Blue Ridge teams were 82-78 for 51.1 percent wins.

Other overall records were: Forest City, 59-94-1, 38.6; Susquehanna, 44-97, 31.2; and Mountain View, 46-129-1, 26.4.

The best boys’ record was compiled by Montrose with its teams going 65-45 with wins in 59.1 percent of events.

Blue Ridge teams were 53-44 (54.5 percent) while Elk Lake teams were 57-49 (53.8).

Other boys’ records were: Forest City, 32-53, 37.6; Mountain View, 35-62-1, 36.2; and Susquehanna, 18-53, 25.4.

Elk Lake girls’ teams were 58-34 (63.0 percent).

Record for other girls’ programs: Montrose, 45-47, 48.9; Blue Ridge, 29-34, 46.0; Forest City, 27-41-1, 39.9; Susquehanna, 26-44, 37.1; and Mountain View, 11-67, 14.1.

WEEK IN REVIEW

District 2 got off to an impressive start when the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association state baseball and softball tournaments got underway in the first season under the new six-classification format.

The district went 15-5, advancing six of its nine district champions all the way to the state semifinals that were scheduled for Monday. The district had 11 teams total in state play, with the only two that failed to win a game being the two runners-up, who received state tournament bids.

Baseball teams combined to go 7-2.

Wallenpaupack (Class 5A), Dallas (4A) and Holy Redeemer (3A) each won both of their games during the week.

Old Forge won before being eliminated in the Class 2A quarterfinals.

Lakeland lost in the first round in Class 3A.

Softball teams combined to go 8-3.

Hazleton Area (6A), Tunkhannock (4A) and Mid Valley (3A) all went 2-0 in the first week of state play.

Abington Heights, in 5A, and Holy Cross, in 2A, each won in the first round before losing in the quarterfinals.

Wyoming Area had a four-run lead before falling in the first round in Class 4A.

District 2 champions Forest City, in Class A baseball and softball, and Scranton, in Class 6A Hazleton Area, were not part of the state tournament because they lost in Subregional play with other districts.

Pitching and defense carried the District 2 baseball and softball champions.

Dallas was one of three baseball teams in the state to post back-to-back shutouts in the first round and quarterfinals.

After beating Athens, 9-0, the Mountaineers knocked off West York, the 2012 and 2013 Class 3A champion, 2-0, on a combined five-hitter by sophomore Darren Kerdesky and relief ace Josh Lydon.

Wallenpaupack, Holy Redeemer and Old Forge all had shutout wins.

For Wallenpaupack, the shutout came in the quarterfinals, 2-0, over Marple-Newtown.

Holy Redeemer beat Tamaqua, 5-0, on a Tony Molitoris two-hitter, before edging Oley Valley, 4-3.

Brendan Mozeleski threw a shutout and Old Forge used small ball to produce a sixth-inning run in a 1-0 win over Wellsboro. The Blue Devils then opened a 7-0 lead 2 ½ innings into their meeting with last year’s Class A state champion, Neumann-Goretti of Philadelphia, before falling, 13-10.

Tunkhannock, which shut out all three District 2 opponents, opened the state softball tournament with a 7-0 shutout of Shikellamy before blasting Eastern York, 15-4, in six innings.

Mid Valley allowed just three runs in two close, low-scoring wins.

Hazleton Area opened with a 7-1 win over Coatesville, then used a rally for two runs in the bottom of the seventh to get past Council Rock North, 6-5.

Before losing 5-2 to Minersville in the quarterfinals, Holy Cross had pounded Wyalusing, 15-0, in four innings.

Abington Heights defeated Great Valley, 3-1, then lost to Donegal, 6-5, in 10 innings.

In professional baseball, the International League-leading Lehigh Valley IronPigs had won 18 of 19 at home at Coca Cola Park in Allentown before being blown out in consecutive games by the rival Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, 10-1 and 11-4, Friday and Saturday nights.

Lehigh Valley’s hot streak had started following a May 3 loss to the RailRiders and continued through a 3-2 win in Thursday’s series opener to improve the team record to 41-19.

The RailRiders, who are second in the IL North behind the IronPigs, reached 11 games over .500 for the first time this season with the consecutive wins.

Clint Frazier hit two home runs, including a three-run shot to highlight a seven-run first inning, in Friday’s rout.

Dustin Fowler and Kyle Higashioka homered Saturday when the RailRiders broke away by scoring seven runs in the final two innings.

THE WEEK AHEAD

The high school sports season in Pennsylvania comes to an end Thursday and Friday with six championship games each in baseball and softball at Penn State University.

Six District 2 teams – three in baseball and three in softball – went into Monday’s semifinals needing just one more win to make it to Penn State.

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.

BLANEY GETS FIRST CUP WIN

Ryan Blaney Gets First Cup Win (Furnished by NASCAR)

LONG POND, Penn.--Ryan Blaney brought the Wood Brothers No. 21 Racing team back to victory lane for the first time in 122 races.

“This is a great bunch of people, and I'm so glad to be driving for them,” said Blaney after winning Sunday's Cup Series race at Pocono.

Blaney ran with the leaders for most of the 160-lap race, but it wasn't until the last restart on lap 147 that he got the opportunity to race for the lead.

Polesitter, Kyle Busch, who led 100 laps was the leader, followed by Brad Keselowski, Eric Jones, and Blaney. When the green flag was dropped, Busch shot out front, followed by Jones and then Blaney. Within a lap, Blaney had passed Jones for second.  Busch was not able to pull away from Blaney's No. 21 Ford, and he gradually caught up with Busch. The pair raced each other hard until Blaney was able to get by Busch on lap 151.

But the battle for his first Cup victory wasn't over. By the time Blaney had gotten by Busch, Kevin Harvick was coming with the accelerator mashed to the floor. Harvick cut the distance between he and Blaney, but was not able to make a pass, before Blaney took the checkered flag by .14-seconds ahead of Harvick.

“We were fast, but I made a couple mistakes,” continued Blaney. “But I can tell everyone that I was doing all I could to keep him (Harvick) behind me. I knew how close we were to winning, and I wasn't going to let him by if I could help it.”

For Kevin Harvick, it was a bittersweet day.

“I had kept him behind me for most of the race, but he got out in front of me near the end,” said Harvick. “We couldn't get in the corners like we needed to. I moved up on him, but that's all we could do before the race ended.”

Rookie Eric Jones finished third.

“I had a shot, but the car wouldn't stick,” said Jones. “We weren't able to race quite as fast as we needed to there at the end, but it was great to finish in the top-5.”

Kurt Busch, Brad Keselowski, Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, Kyle Busch, and Matt Kenseth rounded out the top-10 finishers.

An out-of-sync pit stop may have cost Keselowski a better finish, and even a possible win. He had older tires when the last caution came out with 15-laps to go. When the race restarted with 13-laps left, Keselowski was second. But with older tires, he was no match for the teams that stopped for fresh tires.

“Racing is a game,” said Keselowski. “We had a good, fast car and the team did a great job. It was a judgment call. Did we make the right call? I don't know. We'll never know. That's what racing is all about.”

Three of the four Hendrick Racing teams wound up with DNF's after hitting the outside wall.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. hit the wall first on lap-58.

“The car was fast,” said Earnhardt, who finished 38th.”I don't know what is going on. It was something about the motion of the car. I was just cruising along and got into the wall.”

Johnson finished 36th, while Kasey Kahne, the other Hendrick team to get acquainted with the Pocono wall, was credited with  a 35th place finish.

Darrell Wallace Jr., who was making his first career Cup start finished 26th in the No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford.

Top-10 leaders after 14 of 36: 1. Truex-578, 2. Larson-583, 3. Harvick-480, 4. Kyle Busch-463, 5. Keselowski-454, 6. Elliott-438, 7. Johnson-421, 8. McMurray-418, 9. Hamlin-386, 10. Bowyer-369.

KESELOWSKI POWERS TO XFINITY WIN

Brad Keselowski was running second behind Kyle Larson as the field started on the last lap. He powered off the first turn, down-shifted and blew past Larson before the cars reached the Tunnel Turn.

Justin Allgaier followed Keselowski past Larson and finished second.

Larson came home third, followed by Elliott Sadler, Daniel Suarez, Brendan Gaughan, Cole Custer, Ty Dillon, Daniel Hemric, and Matt Tifft.

Top-10 leaders after 12 of 33: Allgaier-409, 2. Sadler-408, 3. Byron-347, 4. Wallace Jr.-321, 5. Hemric-314, 6. Reed-296 7. B. Poole-291, 8. Tifft-284, 9. Custer-280, 10. Annett-272.

BELL TAKES TEXAS TRUCK RACE

Christopher Bell led 92 laps of Friday night's 167-lap Texas truck race. Johnny Sauter led 49 laps, and battled Bell for most of the race, but at the end, it was Bell who had the fastest truck.

Top-10 finishers: 1. Bell, 2. Chase Briscoe, 3. Grant Enfinger, 4. Ryan Truex, 5. Ben Rhodes, 6. Justin Hayley, 7. Noah Gragson, 8. Johnny Sauter, 9. Matt Crafton, 10. Kaz Grala.

Top-10 leaders after 7 of 23: 1. Sauter-338, 2. Bell-298, 3. Crafton-268, 4. Briscoe-257, 5. Rhodes-248, 6. R. Truex-227, 7. Enfinger-226, 8. Grala-210, 9. Peters-194, 10. Gragson-181.

KYLE BUSCH TEAM MEMBERS SUSPENDED

NASCAR has suspended four members of Kyle Busch's No. 18 Cup team for four weeks, because a tire rolled off Busch's car during last weekend's race at Dover International Speedway.

Busch's pit crew didn't attach the left rear wheel before Busch left his pit stall early in Sunday's race. The wheel rolled off the car.

The left front wheel on Briscoe's truck wasn't properly attached before he exited pit road, and his wheel soon rolled off.

Joe Gibbs Racing could have appealed the penalty, but refused to do so.

Meanwhile,  Bubba Wallace Jr. was in the Richard Petty Motorsports No. 43 this past weekend at Pocono, and is scheduled to remain in the seat until regular driver Aric Almirola returns from an injury.

“Before I would try to go out there and try to set the world on fire, and we would not get the result we needed. ... [I need to] just go out there, do the best that I can, make sure we get the best finish,” Wallace said.

“If we show up and we're a 15th-place car, make sure we run 15th all day, hopefully capitalize on 13th and 14th in the closing laps.

“There's no need for me to force a hole, end up tearing up a race car. I'm getting this opportunity because people believe in me and seen my talents coming up.”

Richard Petty Motorsports sits 24th in the series owner standings. Almirola averaged a finish of 17.3 in the first 11 points races, and Regan Smith was 22nd and 34th in the last two as the substitute for the injured Almirola.

RPM downsized from two NASCAR Cup teams to one in the offseason because of a lack of funding combined with the hope that focusing on one car would improve performance, but so far it hasn't helped. 

His tenure is expected to last for five to nine races to show what he can do. That's not many for a driver who has no experience racing a Cup car.

It's a make or break situation for Wallace. He can't go back to the No. 6 Xfinity car, because Roush-Fenway Racing has lost all sponsorship for it.

Weekend Racing: The Trucks will be at Gateway Motorsports Park, a 1.25-mile track in Madison, Illinois. The Cup and Xfinity teams will be at the 2-mile Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Michigan.

Sat., June 17; Xfinity Series race 13 of 33; Starting time: 1:30 pm ET; TV: FoxSports1.

Sat., June 17; Truck Series race 8 of 23; Starting time: 8:30 pm ET; TV: FoxSports1.

Sun., June 18; Cup Series race 15 of 36; Starting time: 3 pm ET; TV: Foxsports1.

Racing Trivia Question: Daniel Suarez is the rookie driver of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Toyota. Where is his hometown?

Last Week's Question: Which Cup team did Kasey Kahne drive for before moving to Hendrick Motorsports?   He drove the No. 9 Dodge for Ray Evernham.

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

Skyla Wilson

Skyla Wilson wrapped up her junior season by using her hurdles exploits to score more points than any other District 2 girl at the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Track and Field Championships.

Wilson, who reached states by winning both the 100- and 300-meter hurdles titles at the District 2 Class 2A Championships, singlehandedly lifted Susquehanna to a tie for eighth in the final state Class 2A girls’ standings by taking second place in both events.

For her efforts, Wilson was named Susquehanna County Transcript Athlete of the Month for June.

Wilson moved up in the state ranks after earning a bronze medal in the 100 hurdles and placing 12th in the 300 hurdles. She earned honorable mention in the 300 hurdles on the all-state team chosen by the Pennsylvania Track and Field Coaches Association, which honors the state’s best athletes regardless of school size.

“I thought I had a better chance in the 100 hurdles because I didn’t even make finals in the 300 last year,” Wilson said.

Wilson said she got stronger in the 300 hurdles by building stamina in other events.

“I ran a lot of 400s the whole season,” she said.

The grueling 400-meter dashes were part of a plan developed by Wilson’s mother and coach, Teresa Covert, the most decorated athlete in Susquehanna history with four state individual championships.

“She has me choose the events I want to focus on, then from meet to meet, during dual meets, she’ll pick events that will help me with those main ones,” Wilson said.

Wilson, who may add the long jump or triple jump to her competitive list next season, ran as a sprinter in the 100, 200 and 400 and as part of the 400 and 1600 relays while helping the Lady Sabers remain in Lackawanna League Division 4 title contention until the final day of the regular season.

It was a successful athletic season for Wilson. In the winter, she was a key reserve on the girls’ basketball team that captured the District 2 Class A title and went on to post the first state tournament win in the program’s history.

Wilson also ran cross country as a freshman and was on the junior varsity basketball team in her freshman and sophomore years.

Skyla lives in Susquehanna and is the daughter of Shawn Wilson and Teresa Covert.