Leading off today: A Long Island state senator is developing legislation to prevent athletes with bacterial diseases from participating until they are cleared by a doctor, Newsday reported.

   Sen. Lee Zeldin (R-Shirley), would also require wrestling mats to be cleaned before school practices and meets.

   "Even at the junior high level, the practices would really make you sweat," said Zeldin, a former wrestler at William Floyd Middle School. "The people around me, you'd see them catching ringworm. This is not a problem that just popped up now."

   Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureas (MRSA) has become a substantial concern in the last five years, and Hauppauge wrestler Nick Mauriello Jr. contracted the life-threatening bacterial disease after competing in a series of wrestling tournaments in January.

   There are no regulations governing the hygiene of wrestling participants or the cleanliness of mats, the paper reported, though the State Department of Education offers "comprehensive guidance" to prevent the spread of MRSA in schools.

   State Health Department spokesman Jeffrey Hammond said existing regulations are sufficient and the department is "not planning to change the rules and regulations or public health law" in the wake of Mauriello's illness.

   Earlier this week, the newspaper reported some schools do not properly clean mats and have potentially dangerous sanitary protocols. Spokesmen for the Suffolk, Nassau and state departments of health said additional requirements would have to come from the state Department of Education.

   "I believe the whole state should have a hand in this issue because we're seeing herpes and ringworm and impetigo," East Islip wrestling coach Guy Leggio said. "It's a nationwide issue and we really need to tackle this problem."

   State meet leftovers: Nick Gwiazdowski completed what may have been the greatest season-long effort in any New York sport in at least 20 years when he pinned his way to a state wrestling title.

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   The Duanesburg senior 215-pounder finished his season with a 50-0 record consisting of seven wins by forfeit and the remaining 43 by pin.

   "I knew I was the favorite to dominate a lot of the competition," the Binghamton recruit told The Times Union. "I figured, why not pin everyone? You can't get more dominant than that."

   Speaking of champs, it's hard to imagine anyone being too shocked that Chenango Forks sophomore Kyle Kelly won the Division I 96-pound title in Albany. He's the nephew of Troy Nickerson, who won five NYSPHSAA championships beginning in 2001 and was selected the tournament's outstanding wrestler three times.

   Knee injuries: The Times Herald-Record reported this week that female athletes are 2 to 10 times more likely to suffer an ACL injury than their male counterparts.

   “It's become apparent that females have significantly higher risk than males, and that's adjusted by how much time they spend playing sports,” said Dr. Robert Marx, attending orthopedic surgeon at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City and professor of orthopedics at Weill Cornell Medical College. “They are less common before puberty and more common in the junior and senior year of high school.”