It will be a brave new world for District 4 track and field athletes, coaches, officials and fans on Saturday when, probably for the first time since the PIAA went to two classes for track, the district will run a combined AA-AAA meet, starting at 9:30 a.m. at Athens High School.

Previously, the AAA boys and girls meet was held in either mid-week or Friday night, and the AA meet was held on Saturday. But with only about a half-dozen AAA schools in the district, running a separate meet was becoming a bit of a burden. Whether moving all those athletes to the same venue as the AA athletes will prove to be less of a burden will be known at about 9 p.m. Saturday.

Other districts combine their meets, but usually in a two-day format. Trying to crown 72 event champions in a single day may prove to be trying.

According to the District 4 website's entrants list, there are a total of 1,195 entries, 683 on the track and another 512 in the field. Divided by 72 events, that's an average of roughly 17 entries per event, which means the schedule is going to be of paramount importance.

The final event, the AAA boys 4 x 400 relay, is scheduled to go off at 4:50 p.m. But what has tournament officials keeping their fingers crossed, obviously, is the weather. The forecast is for sunny skies and temperature in the mid-70s, and the meet would go with minimal problems even if there was a steady, soaking rain.

But this being May, there is always the possibility of a thunderstorm. PIAA rules mandate for all outdoor events that action must stop for a half hour at any sign of lightning. That means if a violent storm rolls through the Northern Tier for say, an hour mid-meet, the delay would actually be at least an hour and a half.

We're not even taking into account injuries, delays for athletes who are competing in two events at the same time and the other oddities that can occur at track meets, such as the high jumpers and pole vaulters all deciding to make every height.

No shortage of stars

As for the meet itself, it won't be short of stars. There will be 22 returning state placewinners, including some of the stars of Montoursville's and Lewisburg's girls and boys 3200-meter relay teams, which each won state titles. Lewisburg's boys were also second in the 1600 relay, and Lewisburg and Bloomsburg were third and fourth, respectively, in the girls 400-meter relay. Lewisburg's team was pretty well decimated in that event, but the Bloomsburg team is almost intact, including Lauren Ball, who was third in the long and triple jumps at the state meet. Williamsport's Rachel Fatherly was third in both the AAA girls shot put and discus.

The area contingent will be led by six defending district champions, including Southern Columbia hurdler Matt Moore, who won both the 110-meter highs and 300-meter intermediate hurdles last year, then placed second at the state meet in the latter event. Moore is seeded first in both events with times of 14.59 and 39.54, respectively.

Other area defending champions are Mount Carmel's Heather Bolick and Megan Van Doren in AA girls javelin and high jump, respectively, Shamokin's Alaina Petrovich (AAA girls high jump) and Shamokin's boys 3200-meter relay team, which has three of its four runners from last season back and is seeded first.

Bolick, Van Doren and Petrovich can attest how good the competition can be, though. The three defending champions are seeded sixth, fifth and seventh, respectively, this year.

Returning area runners-up include Mount Carmel's Mikael Hause (AA 1600), Southern Columbia's Tom Schetroma (AA shot put), Shamokin's Matt Gass (AAA 400), Mount Carmel's Ali Varano (AA long jump) and Shamokin's boys 1600-meter relay team. Schetroma, Gass and the Indians' 1600-meter relay team all are top seeds.

Returning third-place finishers include Varano (AA 400), Shamokin's Renea Broscious (AAA shot put), Mount Carmel's Eric Joraskie (AA discus) and Shamokin's girls 1600-meter relay.

Other area top seeds are Mount Carmel's Meyrick Lamb (AA 400) and Elijah Duran (AA triple jump).

SHAMOKIN - Blotchy bass syndrome, Pennsylvania's rising bear population and programs sponsored by the National Wild Turkey Federation were among the topics presented Thursday at the first Mini Sportsman's Expo at the Shamokin Knights of Columbus.

Approximately 40 persons attended the event, which was hosted by Rep. Kurt Masser and is hoped to become an annual affair.

"I was approached by some sportsmen in the area to have something like this so they could talk about relevant subjects that they care about," Masser said before presentations by various speakers. "The health of fish in the Susquehanna River is a hot topic lately. A large percentage of my voters are hunters or fishermen and I spend a good amount of my time dealing with these type of issues.

"We did a poll on my website about Sunday hunting and got a good response. There is only so much we can do about these issues in the House, and we depend on the commissions and wardens to let us know what's going on."

Jeff Smith, Susquehanna River biologist for the Pa. Fish and Boat Commission, talked about blotchy bass syndrome and columnaris bacteria, both of which are being seen frequently in smallmouth bass in the river basin and its tributaries.

Blotchy bass syndrome is when black spots are found on the fish. Smith said the spots are actually melanosis, very similar to freckles or sun spots on a human being, but seem to be occurring more and more for reasons yet unknown.

"Other than the spots, the fish are apparently healthy," Smith said. "They are edible. From what we know, the spots only are skin deep, so if you scale the fish, there should be nothing wrong."

Still, biologists are concerned about the frequency and range within which they are seeing the syndrome, and ultimately, with why they're seeing it. They are working with the Pa. Department of the Environment but at this time don't think the problem is necessarily linked to water quality.

Of far more concern, according to Smith, is the amount of bass being found infected with columnaris, a bacteria which is more commonly known as tail rot or fin rot because it eats away at those portions of the fish's anatomy, according to fishvet.com. Fish infected with the bacteria often die.

Smith said the bacteria first started showing up with increasing frequency in the area in 2005 and is now affecting as much as 70 percent of young smallmouth bass population in the basin, particularly in the lower West Branch of the Susquehanna and in the Juniata River, but also in larger tributaries such as Penn's Creek and Pine Creek.

"We think stressful water quality is a big factor," Smith said. "From samples we've taken, the oxygen is much lower in these areas than in the main channels. We think the aquatic plants in the water are using more and more of the oxygen in those areas, particularly in warm weather."

Rising bear population

Mark Ternent, bear biologist for the Pennsylvania Game Commission, talked about the rising black bear population in the state and in the country as a whole. Ternent said the black bear population in Pennsylvania has expanded from between 3,000 and 5000 in 1980 to about 18,000 now, for a variety of reasons.

The population declined precipitously for most of the 20th century because of loss of habitat and too much hunting, according to Ternent.

"We basically cut down most of our forests by the end of the 19th century," Ternent said. "Most of the forest you see now is second growth forest. And by the 1970s, we had about 250,000 bear hunters in the state. You didn't need a special tag to hunt bear."

The state actually had no bear hunting in 1970, 1977 and 1978, and finally issued a separate bear license in 1981. That dropped the actual number of bear hunters down to 100,000, although it is now back up to about 160,000. That number is still far more than in any other state. For example Maine, which is known for its black bear population, has only 10,000 hunters because of its relatively small human population.

Ternent displayed graphs which show that Pennsylvania black bears reproduce more often and at greater rates than bear in almost any other states, even though the annual kill rate by hunters has remained stable. Ternent said the increased population needs to be watched closely.

"They've done so well because bears are so adaptable to living with people," Ternent said. "The problem we have is knowing how many bears people will put up with. When we do surveys, most people say they like the bear population where it's at. Then there are smaller numbers of people who want either fewer bears or more bears."

Turkey federation programs

Walt Bingaman, regional director for the National Wild Turkey Federation, talked about that group's various programs, many of which have little to do with turkey hunting.

One of those is Women In the Outdoors, which encourages women to take part in various outdoor activities such as pistol shooting, self-defense, fly rod fishing and kayaking.

"There's a photo at our table of a lady at one of our programs who was in a wheelchair, and she said all she wanted to do was shoot a revolver," Bingaman said. "She grew up on a farm in the midwest with several brothers. They all shot but they never included her. She shot a revolver at our program and she cried when she was done."

Bingaman said the group also has outreach programs for children and handicapped people, and is working on having a pheasant hunt for injured veterans as part of the Wounded Warrior project.

"Of course we're best known for getting the turkey population up to the point where you can drive down the road and see turkeys just about anywhere," he said.

Other vendors and presenters included the Keystone Fish and Game Association, the Pa. Trappers Association District Seven, woodcarver Tom McCollum; Bait, Barrel and Bows, and Central Susquehanna Opportunities.

CATAWISSA R.R. - When the invitations go out for the District 4 baseball playoffs this weekend, there'll be none with Southern Columbia's name on it.

And that's rare. In fact, 1988 was the last time the Tigers missed out.

A 4-0 loss at Central Columbia on Wednesday put Southern on the ropes, leaving it two games to play and in need of two victories.

A 13-1 loss to Bloomsburg Thursday at home was the knockout punch. The best the Tigers (8-11) can finish, and for this they need a victory today at Montgomery, is a win away from qualifying.

Against the Panthers, the Tigers were their own worst enemy, committing seven errors and managing only three hits. Their pitchers uncorked three wild pitches, two that allowed runners to score from third.

"Seven errors, and we didn't hit," Southern coach Randy Young said. "That's pretty much it.

"I've never had this happen (missing the playoffs), so, yeah, I'm disappointed. This is the first time I'll read about it in the paper instead of being a part of it."

Bloomsburg was out of the gates quickly and never let up. Consecutive RBI doubles by Anthony Stone and Colton Hock provided a two-run cushion in the top of the first, and the Panthers added to that with two in the third, five in the fourth and four in the fifth. Casey Ward's bases-loaded triple was the big blow in the fifth.

The Tigers' lone run came in the bottom of the third when Taylor Young reached on a fielder's choice and scored on Nate Hunter's double to left field, the Tigers only solid hit. The other two were a bloop single by Hunter in the bottom of the first, and an infield single by Garrett Sosnoski in the fourth.

Much of their lack of offense can be attributed to the pitching performance of Bloomsburg's Andrew Gottstein, who worked all five innings, utilizing a good fastball and a biting breaking ball. In addition to allowing only the three hits, he struck out six and walked only two.

The Tigers, with only one senior in the starting lineup and a large number of sophomores, fielded a fairly youthfull team. Young, however, refused to use that as an excuse for missing the playoffs.

"We're young, but that's no excuse," he said. "We've taken young teams to the playoffs before.

"We didn't do the things we had to do to win the games we needed to win. These are great kids, and I like them a lot. We have some good athletes, but maybe they lacked confidence a little bit."

Game Summary

BLOOMSBURG (AB-R-H-BI) - C. Klingerman 3-3-1-1, Ward 3-1-1-3, Thrush 3-1-0-0, 3-3-1-2, Hock 3-1-2-3, Gottstein 3-0-1-0, Vincent 3-0-0-0, Miller 1-2-0-0, R. Klingerman 3-2-2-0. Totals 25-13-8-9.

SOUTHERN (AB-R-H-BI) - Peters 2-0-0-0, Young 1-1-0-0, Levan 1-0-0-0, Hunter 3-0-2-1, Behrent 2-0-0-0, Klock 0-0-0-0, Zigarski 2-0-0-0, Sosnoski 2-0-1-0, Kiessling 2-0-0-0, Lupold 1-0-0-0, Wilson 2-0-0-0. Totals 18-1-3-1.

Bloomsburg 202 54 - 13 8 1

Southern 001 00 - 1 3 7

Extra-base hits: 2B - Stone, Hock, Hunter. 3B - Ward.

IP H R ER BB K

Bloomsburg

Gottstein (W) 5 3 1 1 2 6

Southern

Klock (L) 3.1 6 9 6 3 1

Young .2 1 3 2 0 0

Zigarski 1 1 1 1 0 2

KULPMONT - Austin Hornberger and Matt Smarcanic combined on a 3-hitter, leading North Schuylkill to a regular season ending 7-0 non-league baseball victory over Mount Carmel on Friday.

Jake Rakowsky paced the Spartans with three singles.

For Mount Carmel, Cody Shustack, Danny Lesko and Zeke Zsido all hit safely.

NORTH SCHUYLKILL (AB-R-H-BI) - Rakowsky 4-2-3-0, Kovalewski 4-1-2-0, Damiter 4-1-1-1, Green 3-0-1-1, Blanchek 0-1-0-0, Anczarski 1-0-0-0, Hornberger 3-0-1-1, Caputo 1-0-0-0, Reed 3-1-0-0, Sanayka 1-0-0-0, Smarcanic 3-0-1-2, McCloskey 2-0-1-1, Murray 3-0-0-0, Hummel 0-1-0-0. Totals 32-7-10-6.

MOUNT CARMEL (AB-R-H-BI) - McFadden 2-0-0-0, Shustack 2-0-1-0, Lesko 3-0-1-0, Johnson 3-0-0-0, Wasilewski 2-0-0-0, Bettleyon 1-0-0-0, Stellar 2-0-0-0, Gilger 0-0-0-0, Pennypacker 2-0-0-0, Zsido 1-0-1-0, Tocyloski 2-0-0-0, Fletcher 1-0-0-0, Langton 1-0-0-0, Melick 2-0-0-0. Totals 24-0-3-0.

N. Schuylkill 103 030 0 - 7 10 1

HOME 000 000 0 - 0 3 3

IP H R ER BB K

North Schuylkill

Hornberger (W) 4 2 0 0 0 7

Smarcanic 3 1 0 0 1 3

Mount Carmel

Johnson (L) 7 10 7 4 0 2

Softball Danville 2 Line Mountain 1

MANDATA - Diedre Long ripped a double and single, and Sarah Lahr added two singles for Line Mountain in the tough non-league loss to Danville. Lahr drove in the Eagles' only run.

DANVILLE (AB-R-H-BI) - Knight 4-0-1-0, Shaul 4-1-2-0, Herman 4-0-0-0, Fritz 4-0-1-0, Beaver 3-0-1-0, Watkins 2-0-0-0, Walter 2-0-0-0, Yacko 3-0-0-0, Betz 3-1-1-0. Totals 29-2-6-0.

LINE MOUNTAIN (AB-R-H-BI) - D. Long 4-1-2-0, Lahr 4-0-2-1, Wheary 3-0-0-0, Bradigan 2-0-0-0, Masser 3-0-1-0, Copson 3-0-0-0, B. Long 3-0-0-0, Menko 3-0-1-0, Dreibelbis 1-0-0-0, Reed 0-0-0-0, Giordani 1-0-0-0. Totals 27-1-6-1.

Danville 100 010 0 - 2 6 0

Line Mountain 100 000 0 - 1 6 1

Extra-base hits: 2B - D. Long.

IP H R ER BB K

Danville

Fritz (W) 7 6 1 1 6 9

Line Mountain

Wheary (L) 7 6 2 1 2 4

FORESTVILLE - New Jersey driver Neil Williams captured his first Big Diamond feature victory Friday night in the 25-lap main event for the 358 modified.

Also a heat winner on the program, Williams beat Ray Swinehart and Danny Hieber to the checkers. Swinehart and Hieber also won heat races.

Finishing fourth through tenth, respectively, in the feature were Craig Von Dohren, Rick Laubach, Kevin Albert, Ron Haring, Gary Hager, Sammy Piazza and Colt Harris.

There were 29 modifieds in the pits.

MOUNT CARMEL - Peyton Klembara drove in two runs with two singles, leading Lourdes Regional to an 8-3 non-league softball victory over Nativity on Wednesday.

Nikki Komara also had two singles, driving in a run. CharLee Rosini had a double and drove home a run.

Rosini struck out three in earning the victory.

NATIVITY (AB-R-H-BI) - Palko 3-0-0-0, Donlin 3-0-0-0, Luckenbill 2-0-0-0, Parobek 3-2-3-1, Killian 3-1-1-0, Kaladas 3-0-0-0, Kuperavage 3-0-1-2, Nush 3-0-0-0, Goodman 2-0-0-0, Walaconis 0-0-0-0. Totals 25-3-5-3.

LOURDES (AB-R-H-BI) - Klembara 2-2-2-2, Darrup 3-0-0-0, Rosini 2-1-1-1, Raybuck 3-1-1-0, Long 3-1-1-1, Chapman 2-0-0-0, Funk 3-0-0-0, Shamus 2-1-1-1, Frasch 0-0-0-0, Komara 3-1-2-1. Totals 23-8-8-6.

Nativity 010 000 2 - 3 5 0

Lourdes 103 004 X - 8 8 2

Extra-base hits: 2B - Rosini.

IP H R ER BB K

Nativity

Walaconis (L) 6 8 8 8 4 3

Lourdes

Rosini (W) 7 5 3 2 1 3

Southern 16, Millville 0

MILLVILLE - Southern scored 13 runs in the first inning and Mallory Tomaschik threw a no-hitter as the Tigers finished the regular season with an 18-2 record.

Taylor Hoffman drove in three runs, and Kirsten Blass, Kayla Lavella, McKenna Lupold and Erin Troup drove in two runs each for Southern.

SOUTHERN (AB-R-H-BI) - Blass 3-1-1-2, Kremser 1-0-0-0, Yoder 3-2-2-0, B. Harter 1-0-0-0, Tomaschik 2-2-1-0, Lavella 1-2-1-2, T. Hoffman 2-2-1-3, Levan 1-1-1-0, Lupold 2-1-1-2, Welker 1-0-0-0, Troup 2-1-1-2, Slagle 1-0-0-0, N. Hoffman 3-1-1-0, McGinley 2-1-0-0, S. Harter 1-1-1-0, Chaundy 0-0-0-0. Totals 26-16-11-11.

MILLVILLE (AB-R-H-BI) - Morris 2-0-0-0, Brewer 2-0-0-0, Cook 2-0-0-0, Fought 2-0-0-0, Eck 2-0-0-0, Laubach 2-0-0-0, Danilowicz 0-0-0-0, Fought 1-0-0-0, Watts 1-0-0-0. Totals 15-0-0-0.

Southern (13)00 3 - 16 11 0

Millville 000 0 - 0 0 5

IP H R ER BB K

Southern

Tomaschik (W) 4 0 0 0 2 11

Millville

Cook (L) 4 11 16 11 5 `1

Shamokin 1 Montoursville 0

MONTOURSVILLE - Shamokin's Bri Bonshock scored a run in the top of the seventh inning when a ball hit by Erin Duganitz was bobbled by Montoursville in their Heartland Conference game.

Steph Pancher struck out 11 Warriors for the win..

SHAMOKIN (AB-R-H-BI) - Wolfe 4-0-0-0, Supsic 4-0-2-0, Pancher 3-0-1-0, O. Bonshock 2-0-1-0, McGrath 3-0-0-0, B. Bonshock 3-1-1-0, Hornberger 3-0-0-0, Forbes 2-0-0-0, Templar 2-0-0-0, Duganitz 1-0-0-1. Totals 27-1-5-1.

MONTOURSVILLE (AB-R-H-BI) - Weltmer 3-0-0-0, Cioffi 3-0-1-0, Berger 0-0-0-0, Entz 3-0-0-0, Steinbach 3-0-0-0, Yocum 3-0-0-0, Phillips 2-0-0-0, Lynch 3-0-0-0. Totals 23-0-1-0.

Shamokin 000 000 1 - 1 5 2

Montoursville 000 000 0 - 0 1 4

IP H R ER BB K

Shamokin

Pancher 7 1 0 0 3 11

Montoursville

Entz 7 5 1 0 1 5

North Schuylkill 3 Danville 2

FOUNTAIN SPRINGS - Madison Newhouser hit a walk-off RBI double in the eighth inning to lead the Spartans to a non-league win over Danville. Johnna Cappel added a hit and an RBI for North Schuylkill.

Baseball Central Columbia 8 Mount Carmel 7

ALMEDIA - Central Columbia scored a run in the bottom of the seventh inning to beat Mount Carmel (4-14) in a game that originally suspended because of rain.

Anthony Pennypacker went 3-for-4 with a double for the Red Tornadoes, and Danny Lesko and Trevor Johnson had two hits each for Mount Carmel.

MOUNT CARMEL (AB-R-H-BI) - McFadden 3-2-1-0, Shustack 3-2-1-0, Przekop 3-1-0-0, Lesko 4-0-2-1, Johnson 4-0-2-0, Stellar 3-0-1-0, Pennypacker 4-1-3-0, Tocyloski 3-1-1-0, Langton 4-0-1-0. Totals 31-8-11-1.

CENTRAL COLUMBIA (AB-R-H-BI) - Novack 4-1-2-0, McDanel 4-0-0-0, Bowman 4-3-1-0, Kovalski 4-0-0-0, Thivierge 4-2-1-0, Barrett 4-0-2-0, Shike 3-0-1-0, Crumb 3-1-1-0, Parr 3-1-2-0. Totals 33-8-10-0.

Mt. Carmel 320 002 0 - 7 11 3

Central 005 020 1 - 8 10 1

Extra-base hits: 2B - Pennypacker, Shike. 3B - Novack.

IP H R ER BB K

Mount Carmel

Przekop 7 10 8 5 1 2

Central Columbia

Novack 2 8 5 4 1 1

Plick 5 3 2 1 4 4

Track Green captures D-11 discus

WHITEHALL - North Schuylkill sophomore Carter Green grabbed her second straight Class AA championship in the discus with a throw of 134 feet, 1 inch Wednesday to beat Shenandoah Valley's Ahna Huss (116-6) on the first day of the District 11 track and field championships.

She'll be joined by boys teammates Daniel McSurdy, who finished second in the 300 hurdles with a time of 40.60 seconds and Brendan Shearn, who repeated as District 11 champ in the 3,200-meter run by setting a district record with a time of 9:21.13.

"I just wanted 9:20," Shearn said. "That was really my goal," he said. "I was pretty much right there. I was surprised just how hot it actually was when I was running. A couple of laps in I was dripping sweat and that usually never happens. I was happy with how I ran in the heat because that is how it is going to be at states."

Spartans' runners who made it through the heats to race in today's finals were McSurdy and Ethan Motsney in the 100. Motsney also qualified for the 200 final and Tyler Matunis and Ryan Evanousky will run in the 110-meter high hurdles finals and 100-meter hurdles, repsectively, today.

Green also qualified for the state championships in the shot put with a sixth-place finish at 36-5¾ but beat the state qualifying standard of 36-0.

Green, who was fifth at states last year in the discus, is pretty happy with where she is at right now, too.

She entered districts coming off a meet- and overall league-record performance of 138-1 at last week's Schuylkill League meet. She was hoping to crack 140 on Wednesday but had little to complain about.

She is also throwing over 10-15 feet further than the 122-9 she got at states last year.

"I feel pretty ready, almost there, like 93 percent of the way," Green said.

The meet continues today.

At this point in the spring we are left with three softball teams that will be playing in their respective district playoffs which start next week - Southern Columbia, Lourdes and North Schuylkill. All three played hard and earned it.

Speaking of the playoffs, let's switch gears for today and talk about baseball.

After a spring which had more sunny and 70 days than not and spoiled the schedulemakers a little bit, the last three weeks have been dotted with rain clouds. Untimely losses have also had a factor in what remains as the three most important days for three area hardball teams.

Shamokin, Line Mountain and Southern Columbia are still alive in their quests, but just barely.

The Indians are at 7-10 and have a game today at Lewisburg, Thursday at Mahanoy Area and Friday at home against Milton.

Shamokin lost to the Dragons 8-6 the first time through the schedule, have not played a 5-13 Mahanoy Area team yet this year and have not played Milton (12-4) either.

The Eagles are also 7-10 with a game at home against Midd-West today, at home against East Juniata Thursday and back at home Friday against Williams Valley.

Midd-West is well below .500. East Juniata won the first meeting between the Eagles and Tigers, 14-8, while Line Mountain beat Williams Valley 12-8 in early April.

The Tigers have a little bit more wiggle room as far as their record is concerned at 8-9. Southern's final three games are at Central Columbia today, at home against Bloomsburg Thursday and at Montgomery Friday.

Central Columbia has already qualified for the playoffs, but the Blue Jays have to finish their suspended game with Mount Carmel before starting one with the Tigers today. Bloomsburg is 12-4 and the rivalry between the Panthers and Tigers spills into every sport, and Montgomery is 15-2 after ending South Williamsport's perfect season last week.

All three schools have won three in a row at different points this season, but if any want a turn in the playoffs they'll surely have to earn it this week.

Blane Heimbach of Selinsgrove passed Pat Cannon on lap nine and went on to win the 32nd annual Jack Gunn Memorial for sprint cars at Selinsgrove Speedway on Saturday night. The win was worth $3,500 for the 2011 track champion.

It was his first win of the season and 34th of his career at the Snyder County oval. He also became only the second driver to win the race four times. Todd Shaffer is the other.

Cannon settled for second with Davie Franek third, Nate Snyder fourth and Jason Shultz rounding out the top five.

Sunbury's Tony Adams won the main event for the late models. He is the fourth different winner in as many races this season. He won by just 0.69 seconds over Jim Bernheisel, Coleby Frye, Jeff Smith and Steve Campbell.

John Fowler Jr. of Montandon scored his first career win in the 12-lap roadrunner race.

Selinsgrove presents the 6th annual Roadrunner 20, plus 358 sprints and late models this Saturday at 7 p.m.

The World of Outlaw sprint cars were in the area this weekend. Danny Dietrich of Gettysburg kicked things off on Thursday night with a win at Lincoln Speedway. It was his first career win versus the Outlaws. He took the lead early in the 30-lap main event was went unchallenged to the $6,000 win.

The Outlaws moved to Williams Grove on Friday night and it was Fred Rahmer picking up the $8,000 win for his first win of the season. Rahmer was as far back as fourth

place before rebounding in the last 10 laps to drive back to the front and get the win.

On Saturday night, it was 20-time Outlaws champion Steve Kinser getting his first Grove win since 2008. He earned $12,000. It was his first win of the season and the 39th of his career at the Grove.

Greg Hodnett had a good weekend at the Grove with a third on Friday and a runner-up to Kinser.

Jacob Allen, the son of Hall of Fame sprint car driver Bobby Allen, won the 358 sprint car feature at Trail-Way.

Racing Recap

Friday

Trail-Way Speedway

358 Sprints, 25 laps: 1. Jacob Allen. 2. Ryan Wilson. 3. Austin Hogue. 4. Kyle Moody. 5. Cris Eash. 6. Keith Prutzman. 7. Tim Wagaman. 8. Randy Whisler. 9. Zach Euculano. 10. Wes Irwin.

Heats: Jeff Rohrbaugh, Wilson, Whisler.

358 Limited Late Models, 25 laps: 1. Pat Beard. 2. Cam Zeigler. 3. Travis Mease. 4. Gene Knaub. 5. Grant Adams. 6. Larry Baer. 7. John Baker. 8. Randy Stoudt. 9. Bernie Beard. 10. Bobby Beard.

Heats: Carl Billet, Zeigler, Bernie Beard.

Central PA Legends, 20 laps: 1. Scott Houdeshell. 2. Tim Henry. 3. Lucas Montgomery. 4. Scott Gobrecht. 5. Robert Stough.

Limited Stocks, 15 laps: 1. Terry Hartlaub. 3. Cory Weishaar. 3. Kyle Rohrbaugh. 4. Shane Miller. 5. Chad Weaver.

Williams Grove Speedway

World of Outlaw Sprints, 25 laps: 1. Fred Rahmer. 2. Daryn Pittman. 3. Greg Hodnett. 4. Danny Dietrich. 5. Steve Kinser. 6. Stevie Smith. 7. Don Kreitz Jr. 8. Sammy Swindell. 9. Craig Dollansky. 10. Lucas Wolfe.

Fast Time: Craig Dollansky, 17. 118.

Heats: Danny Dietrich, Greg Hodnett, Stevie Smith, Lucas Wolfe.

C-main: Paul McMahon.

B-main: Steve Kinser.

Dash: Jason Sides.

Saturday

Selinsgrove Speedway

Jack Gunn Memorial

A-main, 30 laps: 1. Blane Heimbach. 2. Pat Cannon. 3. Davie Franek. 4. Nate Snyder. 5. Jason Shultz. 6. Mark Smith. 6. Mark Smith. 7. Robbie Stillwagon. 8. Cody Keller. 9. Ryan Bohlke. 10. Colby Womer.

Fast Time: Franek, 17.621.

Heats: Robbie Stillwaggon, Tim Berkheimer, Pat Cannon, Jessica Zemken, Cody Keller.

B-main: Josh Beard, Derek Locke.

Late Models, 20 laps: 1. Tony Adams. 2. Jim Bernheisel. 3. Coleby Frye. 4. Jeff Smith. 5. Steve Campbell. 6. Jeff Rine. 7. Jim Yoder. 8. Matt Cochran. 9. Bryan Bernheisel. 10. Brett Schadel.

Heats: Steve Campbell, Tony Adams, Jeff Rine.

Roadrunners, 12 laps: 1. John Fowler Jr. 2. Bob Bussey. 3. Curtis Lawton. 4. Jeremy Kline. 5. Brandon Shultz.

Williams Grove Speedway

World of Outlaw Sprint Cars

A-main, 30 laps: 1. Steve Kinser. 2. Greg Hodnett. 3. Danny Lasoski. 4. Lance Dewease. 5. Craig Dollanksy. 6. Aaron Ott. 7. Daryn Pittman. 8. Stevie Smith. 9. Danny Dietrich. 10. Adam Wilt.

Morgan Cup, 12 laps: 1. Kinser. 2. Pittman. 3. Justin Henderson. 4. Dollansky. 5. Dewease. 6. Fred Rahmer. 7. Donny Schatz. 8. Wilt.

Fast Time: Wilt, 16.936.

Heats: Lasoski, Sheldon Haudenschild, Hodnett, Pittman.

B-main: Donnie Kreitz.

Dash: Lasoski.

Another TNA pay per view, the return of Paul Heyman and the corresponding storyline disappearance of Brock Lesnar, as well as a regional WWE appearance for Smackdown are among the major headlines this week In This Corner.

Rob Van Dam won a four-way on Impact Thursday evening to secure his spot as the number one challenger to TNA champion Bobby Roode for tonight's Sacrifice pay per view. It will be a Ladder Match, which is somewhat of an RVD specialty. Also on the card, Samoa Joe and Magnus defend the tag titles against Christopher Daniels and Kazarian.

Austin Aries faces Bubba Ray. Kurt Angle tangles with A.J. Styles, and Jeff Hardy squares off with Mr. Anderson. Devon defends the TV Title in a three-way with Robbie E and Robbie T. The Knockouts title is up for grabs with Gail Kim being challenged by Miss Tessmacher.

With Brock Lesnar reportedly getting huge money for a limited engagement in WWE and already having appeared several times in recent weeks, former ECW head honcho and Lesnar advisor Paul Heyman made a surprise appearance at Raw this past Monday night to announce that Brock had "quit" WWE due to the company going back on the contractual amendments he had gotten from John Laurinaitis.

That had led to Brock snapping the arm of COO Triple H the previous week. It appears Heyman will have a role going forward, a logical choice as a mouthpiece, with Lesnar eventually coming back at some point down the road as they begin a slow build for a SummerSlam main event between Lesnar and HHH.

It would seem like Lesnar would have to go over in that one to recover some of the luster lost when he was defeated by John Cena at Extreme Rules after brutalizing Cena most of the bout. Rumors abound that it will eventually be Lesnar vs. Undertaker at next year's Mania, but we are getting way ahead of ourselves with all of that.

Heyman and Lesnar have had a professional relationship for a while, and Heyman was instrumental in working with Lesnar on his book. He will probably handle a couple of long promos during the absence of Lesnar on television that will lead to his return at some point in time to promote SummerSlam.

Raw and Smackdown have been the setting for the development of the OTL match-ups and tomorrow night will undoubtedly continue that trend with a live Raw from Pittsburgh. Tuesday evening, there will be Smackdown tapings in Hershey for Friday's usual airing. There is also a Smackdown taping coming to Wilkes Barre on May 22, so area fans have two big opportunities to be there live for all of the action.

Wrestling's living legend Bruno Sammartino was a fascinating guest once again on Wrestling Observer Radio this past week. The popular Internet site www.wrestlingobserver.com provides a couple of new newsletters each week and several audio shows that make it a steal at $10.99 a month. Not only that, the archive section can provide you with back issues of newsletters and radio shows that feature everything an inside wrestling fan could ever dream of finding, a genuine weekly history of the business going back decades for the newsletters.

(Shamokin's Bill Gilger "arranges" the interview each week with The Insider)

SUNBURY - Shamokin's Matt Gass doesn't look like a 400-meter runner. He's about half a foot smaller than all the others, so small that his coach, Mike Rogers, kidded him that his prom photo looked like his First Communion photo.

But then the race starts.

Gass, who last week set a Shamokin school record of 49.98 seconds in the event at the West Chester Invitational, didn't match that time Saturday at the Heartland Coaches Invitational, but he ran a pretty impressive race just the same. Starting in lane three with the fastest seed time, Gass had a tremendous start and had the stagger made up about 100 meters into the race on the way to winning in 50.83 seconds, with his teammate Brandon Nash, coming in second.

Then, in the 1600-meter relay, Gass, running second leg, ran a sub-49 second split as the Indians broke a 35-year-old school record with a time of 3:25.14 to win, with Mount Carmel finishing second. The 1977 team of Rodney Boyer,

Dave Zielinskie, Bob Janaskie and Brian Adams had the record of 3:26.0.

Gass, as part of two wins, was the only area double winner, but he got strong competition from Mount Carmel's Mikael Hause, who won the 1600 and was part of the Red Tornadoes' runner-up 1600-meter relay team. The other area winner was Southern Columbia's Tom Schetroma, who easily won the shot put.

There likely would have been more winners, except for those pesky proms. Shamokin's boys would have been likely favorites in the 3200-meter relay but basically ran a backup team because most of the main guys were at the prom Friday night and just weren't ready to go that early in the morning.

Southern Columbia's Matt Moore easily won his heat of the 110-meter high hurdles in 14.72 seconds, but didn't run in the final or in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles, reportedly to get a head start on Southern's prom, which was Saturday night, although that wasn't confirmed by any Southern coaches. Schetroma didn't compete in the discus after the shot put, and some of the other Tigers seemed to be using the meet more as a tuneup for next week's district championships. Several other schools either had proms Friday or scheduled for Saturday night.

Gass said he felt a little sluggish after the big night.

"I was a little tired from the prom, dancing and all that stuff," he said, chuckling. "But I had a real good start (in the 400). I usually try to go get out as fast as I can."

That's because he admittedly worries that the longer, lankier guys might run him down.

"I do worry that I'm going to get caught in the last 100 meters," he said.

In the 1600 relay, Gass took the baton from Zach Santey running about fourth in a heat of six teams, but gave his team a lead over Mount Carmel by the end of the lap, with one infield timer getting his split at 48.6 seconds unofficially. David Williams maintained the slight lead but a bad handoff between him and anchor runner Nash forced the latter runner to go into high gear to catch Mount Carmel's Jacob Kleman. Nash took the lead with a burst at the far turn and maintained it down the stretch.

"Williamsport (which finished eighth) didn't run their best team but we knew we'd get a real good race from Mount Carmel," Gass said.

Hause, who ran with Cody Haupt, Meyrick Lamb and Kleman on the 1600 relay team, said beating the Indians was going to be tough, considering they had the one-two finishers from the 400, but the Tornadoes finished in a strong 3:27.22, which should make them a team to beat at the District 4 AA meet next week.

"I'm going to run these events (the 1600 and relay) the rest of the season," said Hause, who will likely not run the 3200 or 800 at the district meet. "I want to medal at states in the 1600. Last year you had to run 4:29 to get into the final, and that's what I did today."

Hause won the 1600 in 4:29.13 and had the lead the whole way, beating Central Columbia's Andrew Hess (4:32.31) for the second time in four days.

"I felt good the whole way but I wish someone would have pushed me more at the end so I'd have had a faster time," he said.

Schetroma had a throw of 53 feet even in the shot put, winning by more than four feet over runnerup Devante Oliver of Hughesville.

In addition to Mount Carmel's 1600-meter relay team and Nash, there were four other area runners-up. Southern's Joe Kleman was second in the 100 (11.46) and teammate Luke Rarig was second in the high hurdles (15.64). Mount Carmel's Rob Varano tied for second in the pole vault, going 13 feet, 6 inches, and the Red Tornadoes' Gabby Engelke was second in the girls javelin with a throw of 124 feet.

Mount Carmel's Elijah Duran had thirds in both the long (20-8¾) and triple (43-4) jumps. Shamokin's David Williams was third in the 100 (11.49), and Mount Carmel's Eric Joraskie was third in the discus (140-1). On the girls side, Southern's Samantha Bressi was third in the 100 (12.97), Shamokin's Renea Broscious was third in the shot put (34-8) and Mount Carmel's Megan Van Doren was third in the high jump (5-0).

Other area placewinners were:

Fourths - Ray Heromin, Mount Carmel, javelin; Teanna Shutt, Southern Columbia, 1600; Mount Carmel's girls 3200-meter relay; Bailey Bzdak, Southern Columbia, long jump; Brooke Adamski, Southern Columbia, pole vault.

Fifths - Andrew Steely, Southern, 3200; Southern's boys 3200 relay; Joraskie, shot put; Engelke, pole vault.

Sixths - Justin Skavery, Mount Carmel, 1600; Jacob Kleman, Mount Carmel, 300-meter intermediate hurdles; Mount Carmel'sd girls 1600-meter relay; Broscious, discus; Heather Bolick, Mount Carmel, javelin; Ali Varano, Mount Carmel, long jump.

Sevenths - Meyrick Lamb, Mount Carmel, 100; Mount Carmel's boys 3200-meter relay; Josh Tripp, Southern, discus; Alec Zsido, Mount Carmel, pole vault; Ali Varano, Mount Carmel, 200 and 400; Bolick, discus.

Eighths - Rarig, Southern, 300 hurdles and long jump; Cody Pavlick, Southern, shot put and discus; Cathy Fletcher, Mount Carmel, 3200; Bzdak, triple jump.

Mount Carmel finished fourth in the boys team standings with 64 points, with Shamokin and Southern tied for eighth with 40 points each. Williamsport, which had six firsts, won the team title with 99 points. Devon Fisher won the 100 and 200 and paced the Millionaires' winning 400-meter relay team.

Mount Carmel finished eighth in the girls standings with 40 points. Montoursville won the title with 107 points. The Warriors had three champions. Central Columbia's Ellen Shepard won the 100 and 200, and anchored the Blue Jays' winning 1600-meter relay. Williamsport's Rachel Fatherly won the shot and discus, Bloomsburg's Lauren Ball won the 400 and long jump; Danville's Alison Billas won the 1600 and 3200, and Central's Virginia Lamacchia won the high jump and pole vault.

TAMAQUA - Jonathan Green, Austin Hornberger and Derek Reed drove in a run apiece in the top of the seventh inning to spark a 3-run rally that broke a scoreless tie, lifting North Schuylkill past Tamaqua 3-0 in Schuylkill I baseball on Saturday.

Winning pitcher Jake Damiter finished off the shutout in the bottom half of the seventh.

Each team managed only three hits. Green started on the mound for the Spartans, working the first four innings before giving way to Damiter. They combined to strike out five without issuing a walk.

NORTH SCHUYLKILL (AB-R-H-BI) - Rakowsky 3-0-1-0, Kovalewski 2-1-0-0, Damiter 3-1-0-0, Green 3-1-1-1, 25-3-3-3.

TAMAQUA (AB-R-H-BI) - B. Rottet 3-0-1-0, Kosciolek 3-0-0-0, Roberts 3-0-2-0, Matsago 3-0-0-0, DeJay 3-0-0-0, D. Rottet 3-0-0-0, Reinhardt 3-0-0-0, Nicholls 2-0-0-0, Miller 2-0-0-0. Totals 25-0-3-0.

N. Schuylkill 000 000 3 - 3 3 1

Tamaqua 000 000 0 - 0 3 1

Extra-base hits: None.

IP H R ER BB K

North Schuylkill

Green 4 2 0 0 0 4

Damiter (W) 3 1 0 0 0 1

Tamaqua

Zahner (L) 7 3 3 3 1 5

Softball Jersey Shore 7 Shamokin Area 4

JERSEY SHORE - The Bulldogs scored all their runs in the first three innings, winning the Heartland I matchup and eliminating the Indians (7-11) from the possibility of a District 4 playoff berth.

Helena Supsic had a good day at the plate for Shamokin, belting a double and two singles and driving in a run. Olivia Bonshock added two singles, and Natalie Wolfe contributed a triple.

Steph Pancher worked the first three innings, suffering the loss. Supsic didn't allow a run while pitching the final three frames.

SHAMOKIN (AB-R-H-BI) - Wolfe 3-1-1-0, Supsic 4-1-3-1, Pancher 4-1-1-0, O. Bonshock 4-1-2-1, McGrath 4-0-1-0, B. Bonshock 3-0-1-1, Hornberger 3-0-0-0, Templar 3-0-0-0, Augustitus 2-0-0-0, Duganitz 1-0-0-0, Demsko 1-0-0-0. Totals 32-4-9-2.

JERSEY SHORE (AB-R-H-BI) - Allen 4-0-2-1, Larson 2-0-0-0, Stopper 2-0-0-0, Peacock 4-1-3-1, Bubb 1-1-0-0, Millard 4-0-0-0, Kemmerer 4-0-0-0, Yost 3-2-1-0, Martin 2-0-0-0, Harsted 3-2-1-1, Smith 1-1-1-1, Cuputo 1-0-0-0. Totals 31-7-8-4.

Shamokin 000 021 1 - 4 9 6

Jersey Shore 232 000 X - 7 8 3

Extra-base hits: 2B - Supsic. 3B - Wolfe.

IP H R ER BB K

Shamokin

Pancher (L) 3 6 7 1 2 4

Supsic 3 2 0 0 0 0

Jersey Shore

Stopper (W) 4 7 2 2 2 6

Cuputo 2 2 2 0 1 0