Sports

One at a time, Elk Lake sports teams entered competition last week in three-way ties for Lackawanna League leads and won head-to-head battles that trimmed the list of league unbeatens to two.

First up was the girls' swimming team, which ended Scranton Prep's 73-meet winning streak with a 98-84 victory at home Wednesday.

The boys' basketball team was next with a 53-39, home-court victory over Mountain View Thursday.

The girls' basketball team then matched the girls' swimming team's feat of knocking off the defending champion when it went to Mountain View and beat the Lady Eagles, 40-32, Friday.

Hannah Howell won the 200- and 500-yard freestyle races and was part of the team's only relay win in the 400 freestyle.

Brynn Warriner, Aleece Greenley and Allison Grosvenor joined Howell on the winning relay; Lily Rauch led a 1-2-3 sweep of diving and Elk Lake outscored Scranton Prep in points for second- through fifth-place finishes.

Scranton Prep has won the last eight Lackawanna League girls' swimming titles.

John Heitsman scored 23 points to lead the Elk Lake boys.

Elk Lake's Noah Gesford and Mountain View's Jackson Gesford each scored 17 points.

Madisyn Casselbury hit 3-pointers in the third and fourth quarter while leading Elk Lake with 11 points in Friday's girls' game.

Marissa Horn hit two 3-pointers in the third quarter when Elk Lake held Mountain View to one field goal and stretched its lead from 13-10 to 30-17.

Aubrey Sanders had 11 points and Addison Kilmer added 10 for Mountain View.

The Lady Eagles had won five straight by an average margin of 30.6 points.

Elk Lake entered this week tied for the Lackawanna Division 3 leads with Montrose at 4-0 in both boys' and girls' basketball. Both Mountain View teams were 3-1 and alone in third place.

The Elk Lake basketball teams each won one other game during the week.

The boys, who are on a 10-game winning streak overall, won at Blue Ridge, 43-37, Jan. 6.

The girls, who have won seven straight by an average margin of 59.7-26.7, routed visiting Blue Ridge, 75-29, Jan. 7.

Elk Lake trailed Blue Ridge going into the fourth quarter of the boys' game before Chase Pond scored 12 of his 15 points with the help of 7-for-10 free throw shooting.

Noah Gesford scored all eight of his points as part of the 22-11, fourth-quarter advantage and Heitsman finished with 10 points.

Paxton Pingarelli led Blue Ridge with 14 points.

Leah Traver scored 22 points and Kylie Shingler added 16 for the Elk Lake girls against Blue Ridge.

WEEK IN REVIEW

Montrose kept pace with Elk Lake in the Lackawanna Division 3 basketball races when both teams won twice.

The boys improved to 8-4 overall with a 61-26 win at Carbondale Jan. 6 and a 56-39 victory over Blue Ridge Thursday.

The girls won their third straight and fifth in the last six games by beating Carbondale, 65-42, Jan. 7 and winning at Blue Ridge, 53-46, Friday.

Connor Flynn and Lucas Cokely each scored 15 points while Jack Russell hit three 3-pointers to add 13 against Carbondale.

Russell scored 16 of his 21 points in the second half when Montrose broke open a three-point game.

Flynn added 10 points.

Pingarelli led Blue Ridge with 15 points.

Sadie Jones scored 22 points and Carly Frey added 20 for the Montrose girls against Carbondale.

Myckenna Kublo scored all 10 of her points and Jones added eight in a 27-point fourth quarter.

Jones had 17 points and Hailey Aukema 10 in the win over Blue Ridge, which got 17 points from Abigail Gelinger.

In other boys' basketball, Forest City broke an eight-game losing streak and won twice while Susquehanna snapped a six-game skid.

The Foresters defeated Susquehanna, 45-42, then topped Carbondale, 43-29.

John Conlogue scored 21 points against Susquehanna, which was led by Griffin Fisk with 13.

Mountain View knocked Lackawanna Trail out of a four-way tie for first, 56-34, Jan. 6, then Susquehanna handed the Lions another loss, 53-49, Thursday.

Jackson Gesford scored 22 points and Jordan Jagger added 17 in Mountain View's win.

Fisk scored 18 points and grabbed 12 rebounds when Susquehanna defeated Lackawanna Trail.

Rykin Hobart added 13 points in the team's first league win.

Jaxon Downton, who made two 3-pointers, had nine points. Linden Baker contributed eight points, six rebounds and four assists. Jordan Burke had seven rebounds and Hudson Stengel four assists.

Both Carbondale and Blue Ridge teams and the Forest City girls remained winless in the division.

In other girls' basketball, Mountain View knocked Lackawanna Trail out of what was a four-way share of the lead with a 61-20, road romp Jan. 7.

Addison Kilmer scored 23 points and Sanders added 12.

Susquehanna earned its first league win, 46-29, over Forest City before falling at Lackawanna Trail, 44-29.

Lauren Huyck led a balanced attack with 10 points in the Lady Sabers' win. Madyson Beach and Mandolay Velez had nine each while Marley Smith had eight.

In wrestling, Blue Ridge defeated Elk Lake, 42-28, Wednesday to improve to 2-0 and hold down first place in Lackawanna League Division 3.

Brice Woodruff (121), Giovanni Annesi (127), Richard Lord (133) and Nathan Oropallo (152) had pins for the Raiders.

COLLEGE CORNER

Jackson Maby shined in a trip to northeastern Pennsylvania Jan. 6 when the Oneonta State freshman 141-pound wrestler posted a 16-0 technical fall of Justin Santiago during a 55-0 shutout of Keystone College.

The Susquehanna graduate and former Blue Ridge wrestler takes a 15-1 record into Saturday's SUNYAC Championships.

Maby won four straight SUNYAC Wrestling Rookie of the Week honors in November and December.

THE WEEK AHEAD

The three Elk Lake teams with unbeaten league records will meet the teams that they shared first place with entering this week in events scheduled for Monday and Tuesday, Jan. 20 and 21.

Montrose is at Elk Lake in boys' basketball Jan. 20.

Elk Lake is at Abington Heights in girls' swimming and at Montrose in girls' basketball Jan. 21.

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.

Connor Cranage wrapped up a record-setting career at Blue Ridge with the rare achievement of earning all-state recognition in two sports.

Cranage, a 2024 graduate, received that honor in Class 2A from Pennsylvania Sports Writers in basketball in the winter and followed it up with a selection by the Pennsylvania High School Volleyball Coaches Association in the spring.

For his individual efforts and leading a pair of championship teams at Blue Ridge, Cranage has been selected as the Susquehanna County Transcript Athlete of the Year in 2024.

Cranage received the honor by the narrowest of margins over Addison Kilmer, who gained top state individual honors in one sport at Mountain View while playing a major role in making her team a state factor in another.

Kilmer was the state Class A Player of the Year honoree by sports writers in basketball after leading the Lady Eagles to the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association championship game in Hershey. In the fall, she was a driving force behind a District 2 championship, followed by a PIAA Tournament win and state quarterfinal appearance in volleyball.

Cranage recently transferred to Misericordia University for the second semester of his freshman year with the intention of picking up his basketball career with the Cougars in the 2025-26 season.

Kilmer, a junior, continues her efforts in keeping Mountain View in contention for division, district and possibly state honors now that the team has moved up to the Class 2A level.

Cranage, the school's all-time leading scorer, led Blue Ridge to a repeat of its Lackawanna League Division 4 basketball title and an appearance in the District 2 basketball final at Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza.

In volleyball season, he led the Raiders to an overall Lackawanna League title, a District 2 championship and a state tournament win that put the team in the quarterfinals.

The Kilmer name was prominent in selections for the Athlete of the Month, the first step in consideration for Athlete of the Year.

Addison was one of three siblings to earn the award during the year. She received the monthly award for February. Bronson Kilmer was honored for his July performance for the Montrose American Legion baseball team. Ryleigh Kilmer, also a basketball starter with her sister, was selected for her play in the state volleyball tournament in November.

Following are all of the Athletes of the Month for 2024.