Tuesday, July 17, 2012: Roscoe, Downsville cross boundaries to team up

   Leading off today: A pair of schools will be forging an unusual alliance beginning this fall as Roscoe and Downsville will combined teams in 12 sports.

   Roscoe, with a BEDS figure of 56, plays in Section 9 and Downsville, with an enrollment of 65, in Section 4. Roscoe will be ending its seven-year-old agreement with Livingston Manor, which will go it alone in several sports including football this fall.

   Without Downsville, which hasn't played football in at least half a century, Roscoe likely couldn't field a football team this fall according to The Times Herald-Record. Roscoe's 18 players will be supplemented by 10 from Downsville. Livingston Manor has about 35 prospects and may still be able to field both a varsity and a JV team.

   When it comes to the postseason, the combined Roscoe and Downsville squads will play in sectional tournaments based on which school is the home base for the particular sport.

   Football and golf will be hosted at Roscoe. Soccer, cross country, baseball, softball,, track and girls basketball will originate out of Downsville. The schools will field separate boys basketball squads for at least the first year.

   "We want to make this work for the long term," Roscoe AD Fred Ahart told the paper. "Both schools are committed to following through with this. I think this will provide more opportunities for more kids. We are adding JV programs, which is important, so kids can play at an age-appropriate skill level."

   The intersectional aspect of combining programs is unusual but not unprecedented in recent times. St. Johnsville from Section 2 and nearby Oppenheim-Ephratah of Section 3 began fielding a single team in several sports in 2009.

   Amazing run: Though she only placed sixth in the 1,500 meters final at the IAAF World Junior Championships in Barcelona, Bronxville rising junior Mary Cain posted a record-setting time that may stand awhile.

   Her 4:11.01 destroyed the U.S. high school record of 4:14.50 by Jordan Hasay of San Luis Obispo, Calif., in 2008. While it's true that Cain, 16, was helped by competing against older runners -- including many college track standouts, consider this: Hasay was also helped in her big race last four years ago -- she was competing in the U.S. Olympic Trials following her junior year of high school.

   The Barcelona race was won in an amazing 4:04.96 by

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Faith Chepngetich Kipyegon, 18, who will represent Kenya in the London Olympics. Cain's previous PR has been 4:14.74 at the U.S. Junior Championships last month.

   Coming Wednesday: We've finished scoring the fourth annual New York State Sportswriters Association Kerr Cup All-Sport Championship and will unveil the boys, girls and combined results tomorrow.

   Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake, the outright champion the first two years and co-champ with Cazenovia for the 2010-11 school year, will be seeking its fourth title in combined scoring. Jamesville-DeWitt's boys and Garden City's girls are in the hunt for their third championships in four years.

   Extra points: Robert Alexander has stepped down as athletic director at Carthage to take a job as assistant high school principal at Indian River, where he had previously taught for 12 years.

   Sixth-year Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake baseball coach Paul DeLuca has stepped down. He directed the Spartans to five Section 2 playoff appearances and a 2011 NYSPHSAA championship -- their first in the sport. The state crown came via a seven-game win streak after Burnt Hills had gone 10-10 during the season.