The Montrose boys and overall sports programs had the most collective success among Susquehanna County schools in Lackawanna League play during the 2017-18 school year.

Susquehanna and Blue Ridge tied for the best record in girls' sports during the school year.

Montrose had the only boys and only overall sports program to post a winning record within league play. The boys went 63-46, winning 57.8 percent of their contests as part of the school's overall record of 106-95 (52.7 percent).

Runners helped Montrose to that success. The boys' track and field team was 5-0 while the boys' cross country team was 21-1.

Susquehanna and Blue Ridge each went 24-23 (51.1 percent) in girls' events.

The basketball team's unbeaten record of 12-0 led Susquehanna while Blue Ridge got a big boost from its 16-2 volleyball team.

Susquehanna had the biggest improvement, climbing from fifth in 2016-17 to third among county schools in overall winning percentage while Elk Lake had the biggest drop, slipping from first to fifth.

The Montrose boys were followed by: Blue Ridge, 42-54-1, 43.8; Susquehanna, 31-42, .42.5; Elk Lake 42-62-1, 40.5; Forest City, 33-51, 39.3; and Mountain View, 28-68-1, 29.4.

The Susquehanna and Blue Ridge girls were followed by: Montrose, 43-49, 46.7; Forest City, 24-30-1, 44.5; Mountain View, 21-38-1, 35.3; and Elk Lake, 22-62-1, 26.5.

Montrose led the overall record, finishing in front of: Blue Ridge, 66-77-1, 46.2; Susquehanna, 55-65, 45.8; Forest City, 57-81-1, 41.4; Elk Lake, 64-124-2, 34.2; and Mountain View, 49-106-2, 31.8.

League records only were counted in each sport except football where overall regular-season records were used because of the fewer games and limited divisional competition.

LOOKING BACK

The Lackawanna Interscholastic Athletic Association Scholar-Athlete Scholarship Awards honored one male and one female athlete from each school.

The county athletes honored were Susquehanna's Eric Lee and Skyla Wilson, Blue Ridge's Garrett Mansfield and Abby Hartman, Elk Lake's Dakota Oswald and Eliza Bosscher, Forest City's Ian Bailey and Erin Urban, Montrose's Romey Washo and Radvile Vaiculyte and Mountain View's Alex Showalter and Samantha Jones.

WEEK IN REVIEW

The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders and host Lehigh Valley IronPigs split a four-game series in the International League June 25-28.

The RailRiders earned the split with a 6-3 win in Thursday's series finale.

Nestor Cortes allowed only two runs (one earned) on three hits while striking out five and walking two in seven innings.

Billy McKinney homered for the 11th time since May 29, tied for the most in Minor League Baseball during that stretch.

The teams had alternated wins in the first three games of the series.

Rey Navarro went 2-for-4 with a game-winning RBI double in the eighth inning June 26 when the RailRiders won, 3-2. He also homered in a 3-2 loss in the series opener.

Lehigh Valley won Wednesday's game, 4-2.

The RailRiders had two players selected to play for the International League against the Pacific Coast League in the Triple-A All-Star Classic July 11 in Columbus.

Pitcher Cody Carroll and infielder Brandon Drury were selected as reserves.

Carroll is 3-0 with a team-high seven saves, a 2.76 earned run average and 44 strikeouts in 32 1/3 innings.

Drury is batting .311 with four home runs and 27 RBI. He set a team record this season by reaching base in 32 straight games.

In the Eastern League, former Heisman Trophy winner and National Football League quarterback Tim Tebow was batting over .300 for June when the Binghamton Rumble Ponies moved him into the cleanup spot in the batting order for the first time.

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

"ROWDY" KYLE OUT DUELS LARSON

"Rowdy" Kyle Out Duels Larson (Furnished by NASCAR)

JOLIET, Ill.-- "Rowdy" Kyle Busch out dueled Kyle Larson on the last lap to win Sunday's Cup Series race.

Busch had taken the lead from Kevin Harvick on the race's last restart during lap 211 of the 267-lap race, and appeared to be headed to an easy victory, but Kyle Larson had other ideas. Very slowly Larson cut into Busch's lead. Right after the white flag was given, signifying one more lap, Larson went low and pulled alongside Busch, who was running the high side of the track.

Larson was unable to make the pass, and as Busch started to pull away, Larson gave Busch a love tap, causing Busch to check up and brush the outside wall. Larson was not able to put any distance been him and Busch, and within about a quarter mile, Busch had caught back up and bumped Larson hard enough to make him spin down on to the grass.

Busch was able to continue on and take the checkered flag for his fifth victory of the season.

"We had a horrible race car at the beginning," said Busch. "It was really slow, but it got faster as the race went on. He (Kyle Larson) tried to pull a slide job, but couldn't make it. I just raced him like he raced me. When someone leans on you, then you lean back on them."

Larson was able to regain control of his car and finish second.

"I'm not upset. I had an opportunity there to slide in front of him," said Larson. "I thought it was fair game. That's got to be one of the best NASCAR finishes of all time."

Kevin Harvick won Stage 2, but had to settle for third.

"It was a tough weekend," said Harvick. "We would have a good car, then we would have a bad car. Don't know what the problem was, we'll let the guys back in the shop figure it out."

Martin Truex Jr. was fourth, followed by Clint Bowyer, Erik Jones, Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski, and Alex Bowman.

Top-10 leaders after 17 of 36: 1. Kyle Busch-736, 2. Harvick-674, 3. Logano-617, 4. Truex-594, 5. Keselowski-592, 6. Bowyer-579, 7. Kurt Busch-560, 8. Hamlin-537, 9. Larson-524, 10. Blaney-495.

Aric Almirola won Stage 1 of the race.

With Kyle Busch winning his fifth victory this season, 2018  is just the fourth season in series history to have two drivers with five or more wins in the first 17 races. Harvick is the other 2018 driver. In 2010, it was Denny Hamlin and Jimmie Johnson. In 1974 and 1977 it was Richard Petty and Cale Yarborough.

LARSON GETS CHICAGOLAND XFINITY RACE

Kyle Larson charged from the rear of the pack to beat out Kevin Harvick in Saturday's Xfinity Series race at Chicagoland Speedway.

Larson also won the pole, but the Cup Series regular was sent to the back of the field because of an unapproved tire change after qualifying. It was his second win in three starts on the Xfinity Series this season, joining his victory at Las Vegas in March.

Harvick finished second, followed by Cole Custer, Daniel Suarez, Daniel Hemric, Elliott Sadler, Justin Allgaier, Paul Menard, Chase Briscoe, and Chase Elliott.

Top-10 leaders after 15 of 33: 1. Custer-541, 2. Hemric-538, 3. Sadler-537, 4. Bell-513, 5. Reddick-491, 6. Allgaier-488, 7. B. Jones-463, 8. R. Truex-430, 9. Tifft-400, 10. Cindric-372.

Results of the NASCAR Truck Series race held Fri., June 29 at Chicagoland Speedway: 1. Brett Moffitt, 2. Ben Rhodes, 3. Johnny Sauter, 4. Noah Gragson, 5. Brandon Jones, 6. Justin Haley, 7. John Nemechek, 8. Grant Enfinger, 9. Austin Hill, 10. Myatt Snider.

Top-10 leaders after 11 of 23: 1. Sauter-508, 2. Gragson-443, 3. Moffitt-423, 4. Friesen-368, 5. Enfinger-367, 6. Haley-362, 7. Crafton-356, 8. Rhodes-349, 9. Snider-307, 10. Coughlin-290.

NOT EVERYTHING IS ROSY WITH NASCAR TEAMS

Former Xfinity Series driver Brennan Poole has filed a lawsuit against his former team owner, Chip Ganassi Racing, as well as Spire, a talent agency that represented Poole.

In the suit, Poole alleges that DC Solar, which was his primary sponsor for all 83 of his Xfinity Series starts, 17 of which were made with Harry Scott, Jr. as the car owner and the final 66 with Chip Ganassi Racing (CGR) – was brought in to the mix by himself and his father Tom Poole. Poole also retained the services of Spire to represent him and his interests in the NASCAR community.

Poole claims there was a non-solicitation provision written into his contract with CGR, which essentially retained DC Solar's sponsorship for Poole in the event of his departure from CGR.

The lawsuit also alleges that "CGR and Spire diverted DC Solar to CGR through deception, misrepresentation and the manipulation of the sponsor/driver relationship between Brennan Poole and DC Solar."

Since Poole's departure from Ganassi at the end of the 2017 Xfinity Series season, DC Solar has been a major sponsor of CGR driver Kyle Larson and, to a lessor extent, Jamie McMurray. This scenario leaves Poole without a sponsor, and without a ride for the 2018 season.

The lawsuit also alleges that Poole was promised by Spire that he would have a ride in the Cup Series because Jamie McMurray was going to retire at the end of the 2016 season, neither of which came to fruition.

Poole also claims that he was approached personally by team owner Richard Childress as part of an inquiry to have Poole drive in the Cup Series for Richard Childress Racing with DC Solar as the primary sponsor.

He says that Spire told him he was chasing "fool's gold" with Childress and downplayed the teams interest in him. Poole claims that Spire in turn started a rumor that he was being considered to pilot the No. 5 car for Hendrick Motorsports, after it was vacated by Kasey Kahne following the 2017 season. The suit alleges that DC Solar was kept in the dark about these negotiations by Spire, as they told DC Solar that RCR wanted too much money for the ride.

Furthermore, the lawsuit alleges that Spire informed Poole and his father in 2017 that they had developed a relationship with Poole, CGR and DC Solar and were actively consulting with CGR.

Meanwhile Jamie McMurray, one of the older Cup Series drivers can't catch a break this season. The Chip Ganassi Racing driver qualified fourth at Sonoma, but an oil pump failure ended his day on lap 33, putting him 37th in the final results.

 He's sitting about 80 points out of playoff position at 21st in the standings. More concerning? He only has four finishes in the top-15 through basically 16 races.

With John Hunter Nemechek in the Xfinity Series for CGR, how much longer does McMurray have behind the wheel of the No. 1?

Racing Joke: Ryan Blaney brings the child home from kindergarten. As soon as he enters the house, he asks his wife, "He's been crying all the way home. Is he sick or something?"

"No, replies his wife, he was just trying to tell you he isn't our little Robert."

Weekend Racing: The Xfinity and Cup teams will be at the 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway for two night races.

Fri., July 6; Xfinity Series race 16 of 33; Starting time: 7:30 pm ET; TV: NBCSN.

Sat., July 7; Cup Series race 18 of 36; Starting time: 7 pm ET; TV: NBC.

Racing Trivia Question: Which driver has the most wins at Daytona?

Last Week's Question. Who are the principal owners of NASCAR? Jim France and Lisa France Kennedy.

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