Leading off today: Gibson Donnan won the giant slalom title Tuesday to complete the
alpine skiing individual sweep and lead Mercy from Section 5 to its first girls team crown at the New York State Public High School Athletic Association championships at Bristol Mountain.
Donnan, who won the slalom the previous day, posted a two-run time of 1 minute, 52.46 seconds to edge defending champ Maggie Gilligan of Honeoye Falls-Lima.
Mercy finished with 87 points, 18 ahead of second-place Shenendehowa.
Donnan, 17, spent the past three years training at Burke Mountain Academy in Vermont, where she told the Democrat and Chronicle she “spent all day, every day thinking about skiing and improved a bunch.”
She trailed Gilligan by three-quarters of a second after the first run but tamed the mountain in 56.63 seconds in her second run, more than 1.5 seconds ahead of Gilligan.
On the boys side, senior Kieran Mottau of Saratoga took individual honors in 1:50.29 to edge Hunter Doyle of Pittsford Mendon (1:50.33).
Windham-Ashland-Jewett earned the boys alpine championship by two points over Webster.
In the nordic half of the meet, the Pittsford Mendon boys and Honeoye Falls-Lima girls defended their team championships in the two-day event at Harriet Hollister Spencer State Park.
HF-L's team of Jordan Reed, Hannah Cole and Riley Douglas completed the 9-kilometer course in a first-place time of 29:37.08. Cole, who finished first Monday in the individual race, had the fastest split with a 9:45.04.
Mendon clinched its boys title by winning the relay. Josh Eidem, Tommy Ernst and Gavin Hess finished first in 25:57.01.
Schedule change: Despite an unexpected overtime loss to Manhattanville in the ECAC Semifinals on Saturday, the Utica College men’s hockey team is in the running to host an NCAA playoff game March 6 at the Utica Auditorium.
The problem with that, of course, is that the NYSPHSAA has four semifinals scheduled in the same building that day. In a preemptive move, organizers of the high school event have moved up their start times, freeing up the ice for an evening college game if necessary.
March 9 games will begin at 9:30 a.m., and the state hockey committee moved their hall of fame induction ceremony to between games the following afternoon.
The last berth was to be decided Wednesday night when Beekmantown and Plattsburgh were scheduled to meet in the Section 7 final at the Stafford Ice Arena. The winner draws a first-round bye and moves into the Division II semifinals in Utica.
