Tue POST : Sunday, August 15, 2004 7. OTe WILKES-BARRE TRIATHLON Robbins leads local contingent Staff report LEHMAN TWP. — Sean Robbins of Shavertown was the top area finisher at 2:13:47, third overall and first in his age group. “I felt good. e had perfect weather. at’s good because you can go faster, but everyone else goes faster, too,” he said. “The run is always tough. This course has tough hills in bad spots.” Only two professionals competed in the event. The lack of pros in the triathlon, ‘which included 248 individ- ual finishers, is a result of a scarcity of major sponsors, which forced race officials to stop awarding prize money last year. Ryan Jones of Paoli, Pa., and New Zealand native Fiona Docherty each finished first. Jones had the top overall time at 2 hours, 9 minutes, 48 seconds; Docherty, who now lives in Chadds Ford, Pa., had the top female time at 2:17:16. Diane Levandoski of Dallas won the Female 45-49 catego- ry in 2:53:44, and William Fisk of Dallas finished second n the Male 45-49 category in :29:46. Eleven other local competi- tors finished in the top ten of their category. They are iden- tified within the listing of all local finishers. 2004 Wilkes-Barre Triathlon results for local competitors Overall 3. Sean Robbins, PATI 2; 13 47 (First, Male 30-34) 26! John McGurk, Dallas, 2:26:59 (Sixth, Male 35-39) 34. William Fisk, Dallas, 2:29:46 (Second, Male 45-49) 57. Joseph Boyd, Shavertown, 2; 34: 48 (Seventh, Male 40-44) 73. Mark Belenski, Dallas, 2:39: 06 (Eighth, Male 40-44) See TRIATHLON, pg 8 11-YEAR-OLD GIRLS SOFTBALL Sarah SKammet scored Back MOAI s first run after a passed ball through the Hatboro catcher. Back Mountain takes winners bracket Staff report Aug. 10 — Back Mountain recovered to win after giving up five early runs. Sarah Konopki’s infield single with two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning scored Danielle Shaver and gave Back Mountain a 9-8 victory over Mifflin County in the Pennsylvania State 11-year-old Softball Championship winners bracket final played at Lack- awanna Little League Field. Back Mountain played a team to be ioriinodt in the championship at 6 p.m. Thursday. Results were not available in time for this issue. Mifflin County, which fell to the losers bracket, led 5-0 after the first inning but couldn’t hold on. Back Mountain scored twice in the bottom of the sixth to pull out the win. Sara Skammer was the winking pitcher, striking out five. Offensively, Konopki had three hits, Mary Kate Osick had two hits and three RBI and Alexa Decker had two hits. i477} — a a FOR THE POST/CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK Alexa Decker, Sara Skammer, and Sara Kohli cheered on their teammates in Back Mountain's 13-6 over Hatboro in the winners bracket of the Pennsylvania State 11-year-old softball tournament Aug. 8 at Christy Mathewson field in Fleetville. Back Mountain 13, Hatboro 6 Aug. 8 — Winning pitcher Sarah Konopki pitched a See 11 GIRLS, pg 8 Hennigan/Musto win Irem Potentate DALLAS TWP. — The team of Ed Hennigan and Bill Musto Jr. defeated the twosome of - Wally Kuharchik and Ron Pieczynski 4-and-3 = Sunday, Aug. 8 in the finals of the cham- pionship flight of the Potentate Golf Tournament at Irem Tem- ple Country Club. The winning duo knocked off Jim Hoover and Bill Gaylord in the semifinals Sunday morning while Kuharchik and Pieczyns- ki ousted John Kotis and Mark Kopec. Hennigan and Musto entered Saturday’s match play tourna- ment as the 10th seeds, com- pared to the No. 1 status of . Kuharchik and Pieczynski. ~ Winning pitcher Steve Ruch scattered six hits and struck out eight to lead American. Kevin Muldoon, Mark Malloy and Travis DeBona had two hits apiece for Back Moun- tain. Muldoon, Malloy and Ruch all doubled. ~ Adam Goeringer singled and scored. Losing pitcher Bryan Mathers struck out five for Northwest, and Dylan Wasylyk dou- [ | 7 Consistency played a huge le in the match-play rounds or the winners. They didn’t bo- 3. Kevin Fisher/Lou Belgio (71) 4. ron Pokrinchak/Mike Metz (72) 2. Brian Hampel/B. Evans (148) 3. Dave Kaschak/Carl Kaschak (150). 4. Don Cragle/Jason Pozniak (150) 5. Mike Pocceschi/Brian Pocceschi (154) 6. Dave Sutton/Mike Harper (155) gey any hole the entire week- end and shot 5-under-par 68 in each match with the exception of the finals, when they fired 3- under 70. Flight One 1. Jim Breck/John Mulhern (135) 2. Roy Smith/Mike Lazevnick (139) 3. Rom Kilduff/Bob Jones (142) 4. Jeff Allen/Joe Allen (145) 5. Ryan Holthaus/Tom Motovidlak (145) 6. Phil Lipski/Bob Lipski (147) Championship Flight ¢ " Flight Four Aug. 8 matches Championship Final — Hennigan/Musto def. Kuharchik/Pieczynski 4-and-3. 1. Joe Marut/George Marut (154) 2. George Conklin/Mark Jones (159) 3. Bob Bolton/Steve Skammer (160) 4. Jim Carr/John McCarthy (161) 5. Charlie Hampel/Ron Orkwis (163) 6. Bob Roberts/Jack Bonczewski : Flight Two Semifinals — (1) Walt Kuharchik/Ron Pieczynski def. (5) John Kotis/Mark Kopec; (10) Ed 1. Ky Saitta/Tony Clapps (145) 2. Glenn Johnson/Jack Serafin Hennigan/Bill Musto def. (6) Jim (147) (163) Hoover/Bill Gaylord. 3. Don Stein/Rollie Schmidt (149) 4. A.J. Bittner/Frank Lombardo Flight Five Final Results (153) 5. Ralph Brown/Chet Blazick (153) 1. Jack Yaple/Joe Perugino (159) Beaten 12's 6. John Bittner/Derrick Tamburo 2. SD.L. Saedvary/Seltzer (160) (155) 3. Ed Maier/Ralph Tamarantz (167) 1. Dr. Chuck Brand/Tom Bevevino 4. Bill Race/Randy Mark (170) (71) Flight Three 5. Howie Sengston/James Shandra (170) 2. Charles Gelso/Tony Kondracki 6. Jim Cocolin/Bill Cocolin (170) (71) 1. Steve Federici/Pete Pitarra (146) BMT American captures Kubis championship The Back Mountain American 11-year-old all-star team came out of the losers brack- et to capture the Kubis Tournament cham- pionship with a 6-3 win over Northwest in the championship game. bled. Shown are team members, from left, kneel- ing: Aaron Perez, Travis DeBona, Steve Ruch, Marc Malloy, Jim Youngman, and Brandon Harding. Standing: John McCarthy, Brandon Roberts, Kevin Muldoon, Bobby Saba, Adam Goeringer, and Scott Napkora. Ab- sent from photo: Zack Dirsa. 0 baseball SIgnups Back Mountain Baseball will hold registration for the fall instructional league Sunday, Aug. 15, at the Little League field, from 4 to 6 p.m. The league is for boys ages 8-11. The registration fee is $15 per player. Play begins in late August. For more information, call 696-1472 or 696-5974. KEYST E STA TE GAMES Local players share field hockey gold Staff report SCRANTON — Seven Back Mountain area players shared a special experience when the Pocono scholastic female field hockey team dominated the Keystone State Games compe- tition. Pocono won the gold medal by beating Lehigh Valley 3-0 at the University of Scranton’s Fitzpatrick Field. Pocono ad- vanced earlier in the day with a 6-1 victory over Blue Moun- tain. In five games in the tourna- ment, Pocono outscored its op- ponents 24-1 and never trailed. Many of the players were also on the Pocono junior squad that dominated that di- vision two years ago. The jun- ior division is for players enter- ing 9th and 10th grade, and the scholastic division is for players entering 11th and 12th grade. “We all moved up together.” said Tam Morris, of Dallas, who plays for Wyoming Semi- nary. “We were saying if we were all on one team, we'd be amazing.” Other local meiibers of the team were Allison Boris of Shavertown, Amanda Sagan of Dallas, Traci Ragukas of Sweet Valley, Laura Eckman of Shavertown, Lois Kaschenbach of Sweet Valley and Shannon Prescott of Harveys Lake. Every Pocono player seemed to have at least one shining moment through the final day as the team took control of both games quickly. Pocono led Blue Mountain 4-1 at half- time, and scored all three goals against Lehigh Valley in the first 30 minutes. “We've been competing with each other for so long,” Morris said. “We know these are the best players on each team. We were unselfish because we knew we could count on each other.” Pocono won a pair of shutout games to advance to the semifinals. Traci Ragukas of Sweet Val- ley had a goal in the 3-0 victory over Lehigh Valley. Ragukas, Boris and Morris Dallas had goals in a 4-0 victo- ry over Allegheny. JUNIOR FIELD HOCKEY Lipski’s effort not quite enough for Pocono Staff report SCRANTON — Jaime Lipski of Lehman scored twice in reg- ulation for Pocono, which then fell in overtime, 3-2, to Lehigh Valley in the gold medal game See HOCKEY, pg 8 KEYSTONE GAMES GOLF Matt Franko wins Keystone gold Staff report BEAR CREEK — Matt Franko, a junior at Tunkhannock, shot 75-76-76—227 to win the 11th grade division at the Keystone State Games youth golf competition at Wilkes-Barre Golf Club and finish second overall. It’s his second consecutive gold medal. “I tried not to watch my opponent and just do my own thing, make a lot of pars,” he said. “It helps me a lot going into the sea- son. I got three good rounds together. It’s good for my confi- dence.” In the junior female division, Brittany Prater took the bronze medal with a 286. In the 8th/9th grade division, Greg Nothistein placed second at 284. Area Keystone Games medal winners These were local medal win- ners in the Keystone State Games: BOWLING Gold — Karen Laskowski, Dallas; Travis Doty, Hunlock Creek. Silver — Constance Doty, Harveys Lake; Leonard Laskowski, Dallas; Kristen Borger, Dallas. Bronze — Lori Piazza, Dal- las; Willy Parsons, Harveys Lake; Matthew Piazza, Shaver- town. KARATE Gold Amanda Roche, Dallas; David Benkoski, Dallas; Cody Sabecky, Shavertown (plus 3 silver); Susan Trombet- ta, Shavertown. Silver — Pat O’Brien, Har- veys Lake. POWERLIFTING Bronze — Phil Bullock, Dal- las. TABLE TENNIS Gold —Merritt Saxe, Sweet Valley (plus 1 silver). Silver — Phil Saxe, Sweet Valley. MASTERS SWIMMING Gold Mark O’Brien, Shavertown (3 gold); Keith Au- gustine, Shavertown (2 gold plus 1 bronze); Marion Austin, Tunkhannock (2 gold); Jodi Crimmel, Tunkhannock (plus 1 silver); Sam Piccolotti, Shaver- town (3 gold); Gary Taroli, Dallas (2 gold plus 1 silver and 1 bronze). Bronze — Tim Mislevy, Tunkhannock (2 bronze). SWIMMING Gold — Abigail Berger, Dal- las, Stacey Stepniak, Dallas. Silver — Sara Crimmel, Tunkhannock, Abigail Berger, Dallas; Tommy Runscavage, Shavertown; Courtney Austin, Tunkhannock; Ashley Emer- shaw, Shavertown (plus 1 bronze); Kira Szulborski, Shavertown (2 silver); Lucy Reilly, Shavertown. DIVING Gold — Alaric Eby, Dallas. Bronze — Mike Glicini. WRESTLING Gold -— Neil Dierolf;- Har- veys Lake. TRACK Gold — Brandon Burkhardt, Dallas. Silver — Jim Post, Dallas. Bronze — Austin Thomas, Tunkhannock; Annie Sorchik, Harveys Lake. CROSS COUNTY Gold — Robert Opel, Dallas; Janis Winter, Shavertown. Silver — Scott Webb, Dal- las; John Sobocinski, Dallas; Sarah Austin, Sweet Valley. Bronze — Joe Perry, Falls; Russ Susko, Trucksville; Randy White, Tunkhannock; Jerry Pitkus, Tunkhannock.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers