Sports

Montrose junior tennis player Cara Evans and the Elk Lake boys' cross country team each made successful trips to Hershey, returning from Saturday's Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association events as state champions.

For Evans, the PIAA Class 2A girls' singles tournament was a first-time experience after being stuck behind two-time state champion Ilana Rosenthal from Wyoming Seminary in District 2 as a freshman and sophomore.

Elk Lake continued a history of success as one of the state's strongest small school cross country programs.

The Warriors won the Class A boys' championship.

Elk Lake previously won Class 2A boys' titles in 2008 and 2010 before the PIAA switched from two enrollment classifications to three in cross country. The Elk Lake girls won Class 2A in 2010 and Class A in 2012.

Evans defeated Gabriela Dusi from Belle Vernon, 6-2, 4-6, 6-1, in the state championship match at the Hershey Racquet Club.

The route to the final included three straight-set victories.

Evans topped Quaker Valley's Avery Allan, 6-1, 6-0, then Lower Moreland's Kahaya Lukov, 6-3, 6-3, in the quarterfinals and Biglerville's Paytyn Plank, 6-1, 6-0, in the semifinals.

Evans finished up hours after Elk Lake had won its title across town.

The Warriors had three of the top-six finishers in a 257-runner field and a fourth finish 26th, one spot out of a state medal.

Kendel Jones was second in 16:05, six seconds behind Michael Fritz from Northwest, a former District 2 school.

Cody Adams took fourth in 16:29 and Parker Upright was sixth in 16:35 over the Hershey Parkview Cross Country Course.

Susquehanna County had a fourth medalist with Susquehanna's Maxx Kelly taking 14th in 17:13.

In all, District 2 had six medalists and 12 of the top 45 finishers.

Elk Lake freshman Trevor Upright just missed joining the group of medalists with his time of 17:36 coming up one place and three seconds short.

Blue Ridge's Paxton Pingarelli and Susquehanna's Evan Beamer were among the other high finishers.

Other county places and times: Pingarelli, 38th, 18:01; Beamer, 45th, 18:06; Sean Larkin, Mountain View, 77th, 18:28; Matt Schell, Susquehanna, 160th, 19:41; Whalen Kinney, Elk Lake, 97th, 18:44; Matthew Buffington, Elk Lake, 199th, 20:43; Brody Crissman, 208th, 20:55.

Kinney's finish completed the Elk Lake team score and secured the title.

Kendyl Weisgold made sure Elk Lake also had a Class A girls' medalist.

Wesigold finished ninth in 20:18 and helped Elk Lake to a fourth-place finish.

Shady Side Academy won a tight team race, 122-128, over Our Lady of Sacred Heart.

Winchester Thurston was third with 135 and Elk Lake fourth with 163.

Montrose placed 14th out of 22 teams with 339.

Avery Kerr led the Lady Meteors, also missing a state medal by one place with a time of 20:56 for 26th.

Madison Kerr from Elk Lake was 32nd in 21:16.

Other county finishers: Kiera Burke, Susquehanna, 37th, 21:22; Kylee Pond, Elk Lake, 40th, 21:27; Ava Rebello, Montrose, 47th, 21:46; Addison Stephens, Montrose, 72nd, 22:14; Azlyn Gazzillo, Elk Lake, 86th, 22:15; Faith Tracy, Elk Lake, 118th, 22:58; Corinne Flynn, Mountain View, 140th, 23:15; Trinity Lord, Blue Ridge, 23:53; Chelsea Grosvenor, Elk Lake, 205th, 25:06; Lauren Hollister, Montrose, 218th, 26:08; Emma Geertgens, Montrose, 234th, 27:22; Addison Sena, Montrose, 238th, 27:57.

WEEK IN REVIEW

Addison Kilmer had 23 kills Wednesday night when Mountain View swept MMI Prep in the District 2 Class A girls' volleyball championship match at North Pocono.

Aubrey Sanders had 31 assists in the 28-26, 25-17, 25-18 victory.

Kilmer added three blocks and two assists.

Mountain View reached the final with another sweep during the Oct. 27 semifinal doubleheader that it hosted.

The Lady Eagles avenged a regular-season upset loss to Lackawanna Trail by handing the Lady Lions a 25-16, 25-14, 25-14 defeat.

Kilmer had 12 kills and Karley Norton added six.

Sanders had 21 assists and nine service points, five of which came from aces.

Kilmer had five blocks.

Susquehanna won the first two sets of the other semifinal, but lost to MMI Prep, 22-25, 22-25, 25-21, 25-14, 15-11.

Mountain View (12-12) advanced to the PIAA state tournament, which was scheduled to open Tuesday.

Blue Ridge, the top seed, was upset on its home court in the District 2 Class 2A semifinals, losing to Lake-Lehman, 25-18, 22-25, 25-20, 25-19.

Abigail Gelinger had 17 kills, seven digs and two blocks in the loss.

Mckenna Zick had 29 assists, 16 service points and three aces. Lynndee Barbour had 11 digs and six kills. Payton Perrington had 22 digs and four aces. Emily Gorham had seven kills.

In boys' soccer, Wyoming Seminary shut out Mountain View, 2-0, in Friday's District 2 Class A championship game.

The Eagles reached the final with a 3-1 victory over Old Forge in the Oct. 28 semifinal.

Blake Norton, Ben Millard and Josh Tigue scored the goals.

In girls' soccer, Holy Redeemer routed Blue Ridge, 7-0, in the District 2 Class A championship game Wednesday at King's College.

In football, former Susquehanna Saber Weston Yannone led Dunmore to a 27-7 win at Riverside in the District 2 Class 2A semifinals.

The Bucks avenged a season-opening, overtime loss.

Yannone ran 72 yards for the first touchdown in the first quarter. His 74-yard pass to Jacob Costanzo set up his 1-yard touchdown run in the second.

Yannone carried 12 times for 93 yards and hit two of three passes for 81 yards.

THE WEEK AHEAD

The high school football playoffs continue with district and subregional championship games Friday.

Last week's predictions were 10-1 (90.9 percent), making our season record 110-28 (79.7 percent).

This week's picks, with home teams in CAPS: ABINGTON HEIGHTS 29, Delaware Valley 28 … NORTH POCONO 33, Dallas 16 … BERWICK 27, Scranton Prep 18 … LAKELAND 24, Dunmore 22 … LACKAWANNA TRAIL 35, Tri-Valley 10.

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.