Leading off today: Mark Storm, one of the most versatile and long-tenured coaches in Section 5, has been cast aside by the school board at Honeoye -- reportedly under pressure from disgruntled parents.
The board of education voted 5-2 last week to not appoint Storm to a third season as boys basketball coach. He had previously served 29 seasons as the girls basketball coach, winning 405 games.
Storm has also coached nine years of varsity softball, 10 years of varsity baseball and boys varsity soccer, and six years of JV girls soccer, The Daily Messenger reported.
"He is truly the epitome of a model coach," former player Andi Kaufman said. "He respects everyone on the team regardless if they are the star player or last person off the bench and treats each person equally."
Storm took over the boys program following a hazing incident that ended the 2012-13 season before sectionals.
"I've met several times with the superintendent," Storm said. "There were some parents who were unhappy."
Honeoye Superintendent David Bills emailed a statement to the Democrat and Chronicle:
"Due to confidentiality, we are unable to release any specific information regarding personnel matters at Honeoye Central School District," the statement said. "As always, students' best interest of safety and education remain our number one priority."
Wrapping up the past school year: Well, it finally happened. I finally delivered the annual wrap-up of New York high school sports.
Should you choose to read the 2014-15 recap, just be warned ahead of time that it's roughly 10,500 words -- a 45-page college term paper, give or take a few footnotes -- and spread over 12 pages.
Now that's a road trip: A PSAL all-star squad of 12 girls volleyball players is heading across the Atlantic Ocean to train and play in Helsinki, Finland, for 10 days.
"When the PSAL called and asked if I wanted to coach, there was no way I could have turned it down," Susan Wagner coach Marco Altieri told The Advance. "This is truly a once in a lifetime opportunity and it truly solidifies what an amazing job I have."
While the focus will really be on learning about another culture, the team is taking the volleyball portion of the trip seriously.
"We don't know what the competition is going to be like except they will probably be taller than us," Susan Wagner middle hitter Caitlin Esposito joked. "We've been working really hard to build chemistry and I think we're going to do well."
Said Altieri: "We don't know what the other team's skill level is like, but we're going to have to just assume they're good. Either way we have a tremendous amount of talent and are going to give it our best shot."
Seeking volunteers: The Niagara Track & Field Hall of Fame is looking for people interested in the sport to become involved with the organization. The organization is highly active, selecting athletes of the month, athletes of the season and -- of course -- hall of fame inductees. They also operate a virtual museum containing collections from members of the hall as well as information and materials collected in support of the nomination process.
The Niagara Association consists of Western New York as well as Oswego, Onondaga, Cortland, and Broome counties, though volunteers need not live in the region.
