Susquehanna's Skyla Wilson, shown competing in the hurdles in a championship event at Scranton Memorial Stadium in 2017, has committed to compete in track and field at the University of Pennsylvania (Tom Robinson Photo)
Susquehanna senior Skyla Wilson won three events and the Montrose boys finished fourth out of 20 teams Saturday in the Lasagna Invitational at Wyalusing.
It was a big weekend for Wilson, who on Sunday committed to continue her academic and athletic careers in the Ivy League at the University of Pennsylvania. Her times while winning each hurdles event Saturday were faster than the previous best in the state by a Class 2A athlete this season.
Wilson won the 100-meter hurdles in 15.16 seconds, the 300 hurdles in 45.14 and the 200 dash in 26.21 seconds.
Brennan Gilhool led the way for Montrose, winning the 200 dash and running a leg on the winning 1600 relay team.
The Meteors finished with 60 points, just one behind Dallas.
Towanda outscored host Wyalusing Valley, 94-64 ½, for the boys' team championship.
Mike Henry, Henry Rogers and Evan Snyder were also part of the team that won the 1600 relay in 3:34.87.
Henry was fifth in the 200.
Rogers also joined John Herman, Tyler Dovin and Hunter Taylor for a fifth-place finish in the 400 relay.
Brandon Curley finished second in the 1600 run and was also part of a second-place finish in the 3200 relay.
Colin Spellman, Liam Mead and Collin Chidester were also part of the 3200 relay.
Spellman was also fourth in the 3200. Mead was sixth in the 1600.
Elk Lake finished 16th in the boys' standings with 14 points, Susquehanna as 17th with 13 and Blue Ridge was 19th with three.
Cody Oswald led Elk Lake by placing second in the 400. Peyton Jones was third in the 3200.
Jakub Tomczyk, in the high jump, and C.J. Stone, in the discus, each placed third for Susquehanna.
Blue Ridge's Ryan Mills was sixth in the triple jump.
Wilson led Susquehanna to an eighth-place finish out of 23 girls' teams with 35 points.
Western Wayne won the title with 90 points, nine more than Athens.
Taylor Huyck was sixth for Susquehanna in the 400.
Montrose was ninth with 33 points, Elk Lake tied for 12th with 18 and Blue Ridge was 23rd with three.
Radvile Vaiculyte and Chalice Guyette led the way for Montrose.
Vaiculyte tied for second in the high jump.
Guyette was third in the 100 and 200 while also running on the fourth-place 400 and sixth-place 1600 relay teams.
Anna Loomis and Mackenzie Newhart joined Guyette on both relay teams.
Caroline Stack completed the 400 relay lineup.
Georgia Smith was the other 1600 relay team member and was also sixth in the 800.
Lydia Ofalt was third for Elk Lake in the 400. Shyanne Bennett was fourth in the 3200 and Sadie Bosscher was sixth in the 1600.
Karris Fazzi scored all of Blue Ridge's points, taking seventh in the 800 and eighth in the 400.
Sarah Korty, a Forest City student competing for Carbondale as part of a cooperative sponsorship of the sport, won the discus with a throw of 111-8. She also finished second in the shot put.
The Lasagna Invitational also includes freshmen-only races in the 100 and 1600.
Susquehanna's Val White won the freshman boys' 1600 run in 5:05.12.
COLLEGE COMMITMENT
Wilson, the state runner-up in Class 2A in both hurdles events last season, plans to major in sociology at Penn while competing on the track and field team.
The 2017 Susquehanna County Transcript Athlete of the Year is also one of northeastern Pennsylvania's top sprinters and jumpers, leaving open additional options on the college level beyond hurdling.
WEEK IN REVIEW
Montrose clinched at least a tie for its sixth straight Lackawanna Track Conference Division 4 boys' championship when it handled Susquehanna, 104-46, Wednesday.
The meet broke a first-place tie, improved Montrose to 29-0 since the conference switched to four divisions and ran its LTC winning streak to 30 overall.
In girls' track and field, Elk Lake clinched at least a tie for the Division 4 title when it defeated Lackawanna Trail, 87-51, while former division co-leader Susquehanna was falling to Montrose, 89-59.
Montrose used the win to move into a tie for second place in the girls' standings with Susquehanna.
Elk Lake needed a win in a meet with Susquehanna, scheduled for Monday, in order to take the title outright and avoid a potential three-way tie for first place.
In softball, Montrose remained undefeated by handing Blue Ridge its first loss, 3-2, April 23. The Lady Meteors handled Lackawanna Trail, 15-4, Thursday.
Montrose is 6-0 and has outscored divisional opponents by a total of 48-9.
In high school baseball, Elk Lake handed Forest City its first loss, 9-2, Thursday.
Caleb Ely and Zach Grosvenor each went 3-for-4 in the first two spots in the batting order for Elk Lake, which has won four straight since losing its opener and moved within a half-game of the Foresters for first place in Lackawanna League Division 5.
In boys' volleyball, Forest City handed Abington Heights its first loss Thursday in a five-game match.
The Foresters (7-2) moved within a half-match of the first-place Comets (7-1).
In professional hockey, the Charlotte Checkers eliminated the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins with a three-game sweep of their American Hockey League Calder Cup Playoffs first-round series.
In professional baseball, the Lehigh Valley IronPigs swept the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders in a weekend International League series, allowing only one run in three games.
Lehigh Valley won, 6-1, Friday. After Saturday's game was rained out the Iron Pigs did not allow a run in a Sunday doubleheader, winning 4-0 and 3-0.
COLLEGE CORNER
Hannah Richner set the Keystone College women's track and field school record in the 400-meter hurdles on consecutive weekends.
The sophomore from Mountain View first set the mark with a time of 1:12.08 at Misericordia University April 21. She broke her own record Saturday in the Monarch Open at King's College in Wilkes-Barre with a time of 1:11.17.
THE WEEK AHEAD
Montrose is the defending boys' champion in the 63rd annual Jordan Relays, which is scheduled for Thursday night at Scranton Memorial Stadium.
In baseball, third-place Montrose is at first-place Forest City Thursday in a Lackawanna League Division 5 game.
In boys' tennis, the District 2 Class 2A singles tournament is scheduled to begin Tuesday, May 8 at Kirby Park at 9 a.m. Action will continue that day until down to the four semifinalists.
TOM ROBINSON writes a weekly local sports column for the Susquehanna County Transcript. He can be reached online at RobbyTR@aol.com.
Logano And Fords Dominate Talladega
A Smiling Joey Logano Wins At Talladega
TALLADEGA, Ala.--There was no shortage of fans or excitement this past weekend, as Joey Logano and a bevy of Fords showed their muscle. While NASCAR racing might be down in some parts of the country, the 155,410 seat Talladega grandstand in central Alabama had been sold out for two months. There were hundreds standing in the aisles, cheering as Ford driver "Smiling" Joey Logano held off Kurt Busch in another Ford.
"What a thrill to be able to race and win against the guys that were behind me," said Logano. "It was a great team effort. The guys gave me a great car, did their job in the pits to keep me out front, and here we are."
Logano led five times for 70 laps in the 188-lap race, but Kurt Busch, who led only five laps was right on Logano's rear bumper at the end.
"I knew it was going to be tough to get around him," said Busch. "I tried the outside and couldn't quite get it to materialize."
Six of the top seven finishing cars were Fords. Fords driven by Brad Keselowski and Paul Menard won the first two stages of the race. Overall, Fords paced the field for 102 laps. Chase Elliott, the third-place finisher was the highest finishing Chevrolet driver.
"Our car was good, not as fast as some we've had," said Elliott. "There near the end I was trying to move forward, but a couple of the other drivers were just laying back. I couldn't make the move I needed to get to the front."
Kevin Harvick was fourth, followed by Ricky Stenhouse Jr., David Ragan, Aric Almirola, Alex Bowman, Ryan Newman, and Daniel Suarez.
There were several major wrecks. The first came during lap 71. Eric Jones slipped and got bumped from behind on the backstretch, and was sent spinning into the outside wall. Jamie McMurray, Martin Truex Jr., Trevor Bayne, and Kyle Larson were caught up in it.
"I had been fighting a loose race car all day," said Jones. "I had gotten down on the apron, and it went up. It was loose on me, and I went up the track. I really hate it for the other guys."
The big wreck came on lap 165 and involved 15 cars. Jimmie Johnson's No. 48 started turning down, while his teammate William Byron in the No. 24 was going up. Johnson's car spun around creating chaos for those behind him.
Some of the drivers, including Johnson were able to continue, but for others like Brad Keselowski, winner of Stage One, his day was over.
"I don't know what happened," said Keselowski. "I guess someone got loose. That's usually what happens in a situation like this. We had a good car, but sometimes that's the way the breaks go."
Top-10 leaders after 10 of 36: 1. Kyle Busch-447, 2. Logano-417, 3. Harvick-366, 4. Bowyer-335, 5. Kurt Busch-320, 6. Keselowski-317, 7. Hamlin-314, 8. Blaney-313, 9. Truex-303, 10. Larson-280.
GALLAGHER GETS OVERTIME WIN AT DEGA
Spencer Gallagher took the lead on an overtime restart to claim his Xfinity Series race Saturday at Talladega. Gallagher passed Tyler Reddick on the final lap after previous leaders Austin Cindric and Justin Allgaier both ran out of gas. This was his first series win after competing in the Truck Series.
Brandon Jones was second, then it was Justin Allgaier, Noah Gragson, Elliott Sadler, Ryan Sieg, John Nemechek, Tyler Reddick, Cole Custer, and Garrett Smithley.
Top-10 leaders after 9 of 33: 1. Sadler-356, 2. Reddick-316, 3. Allgaier-309, 4. Bell-307, 5. Custer-299, 6. Hemric-297, 7. Gallagher-277, 8. B. Jones-269, 9. R. Truex-251, 10. Tifft-235.
KENSETH RETURNS TO ROUSH FENWAY RACING
Matt Kenseth, who lost his job at the end of the 2017 season with Joe Gibbs, will return on a part-time basis for the remainder of 2018.
Kenseth will share the No. 6 Cup Series Ford ride with Trevor Bayne, who has driven the car for the past three seasons. The exact number of races and schedule is still in the works, but his first race will be May 12 at Kansas.
Meanwhile, NASCAR announced the acquisition of the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA). Both NASCAR and ARCA, a Midwest-based sanctioning body for stock car auto racing, share a long history: ARCA founder John Marcum raced against Bill France Sr. and worked as a NASCAR official. More recently, the series has provided a valuable platform for talented drivers looking to make it to NASCAR's national series.
The series will run under its own leadership through 2019.
TOP-10 RICHEST NASCAR DRIVERS
According to Maria McCutcheon of Money Inc., NASCAR is a multi-million dollar sport with many of the drivers being some of the most wealthy sportsmen in any sport. The payouts for the wins can be extremely high and many of the top drivers have exorbitant net worth.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. tops the list with a net worth of $300 million, who far surpasses, even his hall of famer dad, who is also on the list.
Jeff Gordon is the second richest, with a net worth of $200 million. Gordon is reportedly the first NASCAR driver to reach $100 million in career winnings, which he reached in 2009.
Jimmie Johnson's net worth of $120 million puts him third. He is a six-time champion in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and his career really began to take off in 2006.
At the time of his death, Dale Earnhardt Sr. had a net worth of $70 million, which puts him in fourth position for the richest NASCAR driver, ever.
Kevin Harvick has a net worth of $70 million, and is right up there with Dale Earnhardt Sr. for being one of the richest NASCAR drivers, ever.
In sixth place is Tony Stewart. He has a $70 million net worth and an extensive career in NASCAR. Born on May 20, 1971, Stewart is not only a driver of the famous stock cars, but NASCAR team owner.
Mark Martin is the seventh wealthiest NASCAR driver of all-time with a net worth of $70 million.
Eighth-place driver is Richard Petty. Petty retired from NASCAR after 1992. His net worth is $65 million.
Matt Kenseth is ninth with a net worth of $60 million.
Carl Edwards is tenth on the list with a net worth of $50 million. Born in 1979, 35 year old Edwards started racing in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series in 2002 and retired after 2017.
Weekly Racing Joke: Landon Cassill walks into a parts store on Friday before a race. "I need a gas cap for my No. 00 Chevrolet," he said
The guy at the counter said, "Okay, sounds like a fair trade."
Weekend Racing: It's a full house this weekend at the one-mile Dover track. All three of NASCAR's major series' are in action.
Fri., May 4; Truck Series race 5 of 23; Starting time: 5 pm ET; TV: FoxSports1.
Sat., May 5; Xfinity Series race 10 of 33; Starting time: 1:30 pm ET; TV: FoxSports1.
Sun., May 6; Cup Series race 11 of 36; Starting time: 2 pm ET; TV: FoxSports1.
Racing Trivia Question: Which major corporation did Jack Roush work for before entering NASCAR racing?
Last Week's Question: Where is Kevin Harvick's hometown? Answer. He considers Bakersfield, Calif. His home.
Gerald Hodges is a syndicated NASCAR photojournalist and author. You may contact him by e-mail at: hodges@race500.com.
