District 2 of the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association has set the schedules for its spring championship events.

Susquehanna County teams, along with the rest of the Lackawanna League and schools from the Wyoming Valley Conference make up District 2.

Boys' tennis will be the first championships decided in District 2, with each tournament scheduled to start at Kirby Park in Wilkes-Barre.

The team event is May 2-3, the singles tournament is May 8-9 and the doubles tournament is May 15-16.

The Class 2A track and field championship is set for May 15 at Scranton Memorial Stadium, beginning at 3 p.m.

Boys' volleyball, where all the county teams compete in Class 2A, has quarterfinals set for May 16 with semifinals May 22 and the final May 24.

The top eight teams make the tournament. Forest City and Blue Ridge are currently on path to do so while Mountain View and Susquehanna each have to make up ground to make the field. Elk Lake is unlikely to qualify.

Baseball and softball begin May 21 and 22.

Montrose is Class 3A in both; while Blue Ridge, Elk Lake and Mountain View are 2A; and Susquehanna and Forest City are Class A.

The Class 3A and 2A tournaments are open with all teams allowed to participate.

District 2 and 11 are combined into a subregional for Class A baseball and softball. In both, Forest City, Susquehanna and MMI Prep are chasing one automatic berth and a possible second wild-card berth in six-team fields. Finishing .500 or better guarantees a berth, even if it means expanding the field.

There are also plans in place for potential District 2 championships after the District 2-11 Subregional in Class A.

Class 3A baseball is scheduled for May 21, 23, 25 and 29. Class 2A is set for May 22, 24 and 30. Class A has quarterfinals May 21 and semifinals May 23 with the final either May 28 or 29.

Class 3A softball will be played May 22, 24 and 29 to set up the June 1 final. The Class 2A tournament is planned for May 21, 23, 25 and 31. Class A is scheduled for May 22, 24 and either May 29 or 30.

WEEK IN REVIEW

Mary Ann Lawrenson from Thompson finished well into the top half of the women's field April 16 in the 122nd Boston Marathon.

Lawrenson, 54, completed the 26.2-mile run in 3:48.46, placing her 4,517th among the 12,063 women finishers. She wound up in 13,050th place overall.

A total of 26,948 runners started the race and 25,746 finished.

Paula Fitch, a 68-year-old from Brackney, finished in 4:25.01, putting her in 11th place out of the 112 women ages 65-69 who completed the course. She was 19,861st overall.

In high school track and field, the Montrose boys finished third in the 3200-meter relay Friday night in the 12th annual Red & Black Invitational.

The event drew teams from 28 schools to East Stroudsburg University.

Liam Mead, Nick Coy, Colin Spellman and Brandon Curley finished in 8:37.56.

The Meteors finished 18th in the team standings with seven points.

Brennan Gilhool was sixth in the 400-meter dash in 53.93 seconds.

The top six finishers in each event scored points for their team.

Peyton Jones was sixth in the 1600-meter run for the Elk Lake boys in 4:40.72.

The Montrose girls got a sixth-place finish in the 400 relay from the team of Anna Loomis, Chalice Guyette, Caroline Stack and McKenzie Newhart.

In high school softball, Montrose and Blue Ridge used the pitching of Madelynn Guinane and Danielle Goff to remain undefeated heading into the week.

Both teams were allowing less than a run per game in Lackawanna League Division 4 play going into their scheduled meeting Monday.

In professional hockey, the Charlotte Checkers took the first two games of the American Hockey League's first-round Calder Cup Playoff series at home over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.

The Checkers won, 3-2, in overtime Friday. They took the two-game lead with Saturday's 4-1 victory.

COLLEGE CORNER

Lackawanna College's Dylan O'Dell shot a 76 April 13 to win the Lehigh-Carbon Community College Invitational at Olde Homestead Golf Course in New Tripoli.

The sophomore from Forest City had opened the season with a second-place finish when he shot a 79 in the Delaware County CC Invitational.

Lackawanna won the Eastern Pennsylvania Athletic Conference Division II title last season when O'Dell tied for the team's best score with a 76.

THE WEEK AHEAD

Susquehanna is at Montrose Thursday in a Lackawanna Track Conference Division 4 meet between the two teams that entered the week with the division's only unbeaten records at 2-0.

The North Pocono Invitational for boys' and girls' teams was postponed from last week and is now scheduled for Friday.

In girls' track and field, Elk Lake is at Susquehanna Monday, April 30 in a meet between the two LTC Division 4 teams.

In baseball, Forest City is at Elk Lake Thursday. The Foresters entered the week as the Lackawanna League Division 5 leaders with a 4-0 record while Elk Lake was one of two teams tied for second at 2-1.

In professional hockey, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins host Game Three of the first-round American Hockey League Calder Cup Playoff series with the Charlotte Checkers Thursday at 7:05 p.m.

The Penguins trail the series, 2-0, and need three straight wins to advance. If they extend the series, Game Four will be Saturday at 7:05. If the series goes to a fifth game, it will be Sunday at 3:05.

FURTHER AHEAD

Lackawanna Interscholastic Athletic Association officials reviewed a three-division plan, then decided to stick with the same four-division format that had been in place.

The six county schools and Lackawanna Trail will remain in Lackawanna League Division 4 boys' and girls' basketball for the next two seasons.

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.

"ROWDY" KYLE PULLS AWAY FOR THIRD WIN

Kyle Busch At Richmond (Furnished by NASCAR)

RICHMOND, Vir.--Kyle Busch pulled away from the rest of the field on a late restart, beating Chase Elliott to the checkered flag in a green-white-checkered finish to record his fifth victory at the .75-mile short track and the 46th of his career.

Busch started 32nd after a poor qualifying effort. That was the deepest in the field a winner had ever started at Richmond. Pit stops were a crucial part of his victory. While he avoided trouble, it was his pit crew that put him in position to win the race. During four pit stops in the last 40 laps of the 400-lap race, his team got him back on the track either in the order in which he came in, or advanced his position.

Fast work by his team moved him up to second behind Martin Truex Jr. on lap 365.  There was another caution on lap 378. He came in second, and went out first. He led for the remainder of the race.

"We just had to work, man," Busch said in Victory Lane. "All these guys, everybody on this No. 18 M&Ms team, they do a great job for me. I can't say enough for (crew chief) Adam Stevens and my guys.

The pit crew crew won this race for us tonight. They got us off pit road first those last two times we came down for tires. They got us where we needed to be."

  Elliott finished second for the eighth-time in his career, improving from seventh to second over a succession of restarts, passing Denny Hamlin for the runner-up spot after a Lap 401 restart in the GWC finish.

"Just very fortunate circumstances there at the end for us, with the way the restarts went," Elliott said. "Having a short run there at the end was definitely in our favor. So it was nice to be on the good end of things for the first time in a while."

Denny Hamlin was third, followed by Joey Logano, who won both the first and second stages before the handling on his car went south. Kevin Harvick ran fifth, overcoming a penalty when one of his crewmen threw pit equipment across his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Fusion during a stop under caution.

Jimmie Johnson ran sixth after brushing the outside wall early in the race, losing a lap on the track and suffering through a lengthy pit stop that sent him to the back of the field. Kyle Larson, Brad Keselowski, Clint Bowyer and Daniel Suarez completed the top-10.

It was an especially disappointing night for Truex, who led a race high 121 laps. His pit crew operated the exact opposite of Kyle Busch's. Each time Truex would pit, he lost positions. He came in first on lap 378 and went out in 11th. The slow pit stops probably cost him the win. He wound up finishing the race back in 14th.

Top-10 leaders after 9 of 36: 1. Kyle Busch-415, 2. Logano-359, 3. Bowyer-329, 4. Harvick-324, 5. Keselowski-302, 6. Hamlin-286, 7. Truex-284, 8. Blaney-282, 9. Kurt Busch-282, 10. Larson-279.

GIBBS DRIVERS FINISH 1-2 IN XFINITY RACE

Christopher Bell and Noah Gragson,  two Joe Gibbs' Toyota drivers finished first and second, respectively in Friday's Xfinity Series race at Richmond. Elliott Sadler was third, followed by Matt Tifft, Austin Cindric, Cole Custer, Ryan Truex, Jeremy Clements, Ryan Reed, and Brandon Jones.

Top-10 leaders after 8 of 33: 1. Sadler-311, 2. Bell-282, 3. Reddick-280, 4. Hemric-273, 5. Allgaier-263, 6. Custer-263, 7. R. Truex-242, 8. Gallagher-228, 9. B. Jones-227, 10. Tifft-213.

STEWART AND WARD FAMILY SETTLE

Tony Stewart settled a wrongful death lawsuit this past week brought by the parents of Kevin Ward Jr. for an undisclosed amount.

Kevin Ward Jr., died on Aug. 9, 2014 from injuries he sustained following an accident with Tony Stewart . During the race, Ward's car was spun out by Stewart. Ward climbed out of his car and walked back on the track. The rear end of Stewart's car struck Ward and dragged him across the track.

. The Wards alleged that Stewart recklessly handled his race car and maneuvered toward their 20-year-old son, who had gotten out of his car and approached Stewart's car under caution during the race at Canandaigua (New York) Motorsports Park.

While neither Stewart or the Ward family would comment on the actual dollar settlement, it likely exceeded $1-million.

Pamela Ward said in court that they didn't have the financial means to proceed toward trial, and she felt she had no choice but to settle.

Attorney Mark Lanier told USA Today that the settlement would have been more than the family could have expected to receive if it had won the case and then expenses were deducted.

If the family had won at trial, Stewart would have appealed the verdict based on liability waivers, Ward and his father, as the car owner, signed prior to the race. U.S. District Court Judge David Hurd ruled the waivers as unenforceable, but if an appeals court reversed that controversial ruling, a new trial could have been conducted -- and could've put the Wards on the hook for Stewart's legal fees.

Meanwhile, Charlotte Motor Speedway announced a new format for the May 19 non-points All-Star race at Charlotte.

The 80-lap race will feature four stages of 30, 20, 20, and 10 laps respectively.  While the format has changed practically every season since the first one in 1985, this one also includes some new twists.

For the first time, teams will use restrictor plates. In the past, the only two tracks where the plates are used is at Daytona and Talladega. The cars will also have modifications to the air ducts and rear spoilers.

By restricting air flow through the engine and creating more drag with the rear spoiler, NASCAR hopes to create a drafting dynamic similar to Daytona, where drivers can be three-wide or four-wide and run a similar speed.

"From a fan's perspective, it's a home run," said Ricky Craven, former driver and now ESPN racing analyst. "These new changes have already created an intrigue and curiosity around an event that has been lacking in excitement for years. I think it will satisfy the fans, because it will be different from anything we've seen at Charlotte. With the reduced horsepower and significantly increased drag, we have the potential for full-throttle racing, increased drafting and three-wide racing. I truly believe the fans will win with this package, and I expect to hear some moaning and groaning from drivers throughout the All-Star weekend. Let's give it a chance, I'm all in."

Weekly Racing Joke: Denny Hamlin was jogging down the sidewalk one day when his friend, Aric Almirola, rode up in a shiny new sports car.
Hamlin was stunned by his friend's sweet ride and asked, "Wow Where did you get such a nice car?"
Almirola replied, "Well, yesterday I was walking home, minding my own business, when a beautiful woman rode up to me. She threw open the driver's door, took off all her clothes and said, 'Take what you want!'"
Hamlin nodded approvingly, "Good choice. The clothes probably wouldn't have fit."

Weekend Racing: It's on to the 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway, the longest track on the circuit. The Truck Series does not race again until May 4.

Sat., Apr. 28; Xfinity Series race 9 of 33; Starting time: 3 pm ET; TV: Fox.

Sun., Apr. 29; Cup Series race 10 of 36; Starting time: 2 pm ET; TV: Fox.

Racing Trivia Question: Where is Kevin Harvick's hometown?

Last Week's Question: Which Cup team does Ricky Stenhouse drive for? He drives the No. 17 Roush Fenway Ford.

Gerald Hodges is a syndicated NASCAR photojournalist and author. You may contact him by e-mail at: hodges@race500.com.