Sunday, Oct. 2, 2016: Lawson, Affolder set McQuaid course records

   Leading off today: Distance stars Jess Lawson and Noah Affolder retook possessions of course records they previously held, highlighting Saturday's 52nd McQuaid Invitational in Rochester.

   Lawson's Genesee Valley Park course-record time of 16 minutes, 28.2 seconds paced Corning to the team championship in the girls Class AAA seeded race. Affolder, the former Carthage standout now running for Carlisle (Pa.) High, put up a sizzling 14:12.7 over three miles.

   Affolder won a year ago in 14:14.9. Lawson set her McQuaid mark as a sophomore but surrendered the record to Shona McCulloch of Canada (16:35.7) last season.

   Lawson took her SATs in the morning and barely made it to the start line for her race. She took charge early and easily beat Webster Thomas' Amanda Vestri (17:03.1), who was second among all girls in the seven varsity races.

   Corning won the day's large-school team title with 96 points to 110 for Niskayuna. East Aurora's girls earned honors in the Class AA seeded race and Maple Grove triumphed in the Class A seeded race.

   Corning's boys made it a team sweep in Class AAA, posting 74 points to defeat Ithaca (118) and Niskayuna (125). Corning was paced by Kevin Mosier's fifth=place finish in 15:03.9.

   Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake (Class AA) and Watkins Glen (A) won the day's other seeded boys races.

   Throw out the times by the Affolder brothers (Sam was two spots behind Noah), and the top-end talent in the Class AA race was every bit the match for the larger schools. East Aurora's Ian Russ (14:46.5) fought off fellow junior Nathan Lawler (14:51.1) of Pittsford Mendon, but EA could manage no better than fifth place. Half a dozen sophomores cracked the top 12, boding well for future McQuaid showdowns.

   Burnt Hills' 82 points topped Xavier (97) from the CHSAA, with defending champ Mendon (176) third.

   More cross country: Colonie's girls won their fourth straight Division II team championship at the 78th Grout Invitational in Schenectady. Garnet Raiders sophomore Kathryn Tenney defended her individual title in 15:48.06.

   Freshman Katelyn Touhy of North Rockland set a course record in the Division I race, finishing 2.75 miles in 14:37.59 to blow away the mark of 15:06 by Laura Cummings of Bayshore in 2002. North Rockland breezed to the team championship with just 25 points.

   Queensbury junior Kevin Bouyea led his team to the win in the Division I boys race in 13:58.85.

    • Brewster's boys and girls won Division I team crowns at the Brewster Bear Invitational, where Mamaroneck's Sam Morton and Our Lady of Lourdes' Caroline Timm posted meet records.

   Boys soccer: Omar Qadiri and Nick Guida did the scoring as Fairport, ranked second in Class AA, blanked Greece Athena, rated 13th in Class A. Nick Turturro made eight saves for the shutout.

   Stepping aside: Frontier ice hockey coach Bob Klimowicz has announced his retirement after 16 seasons. He posted confirmation on Twitter last week.

RoadToSyracuse.com football site

   NYSPHSAA news: The New York State Public High School Athletic Association has unveiled its 2016-17 Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, consisting of two representatives from each of the 11 sections. Members were chosen based on a resume which included GPA, extra-curricular activities and participation in sports.

   According to the NYSPHSAA, the SAAC will discuss topics relevant to student-athletes and develop ways to maintain a positive experience.

   Testing ... 1 ... 2 ... 3: We mentioned the SAT (Scholastic Assessment Test) above. It was a major reason that teams that ordinarily play on Saturdays during the regular season either took the day off or moved contests to other days.

   Be warned that the next SAT date is going to be pretty inconvenient since Nov. 5 falls squarely in playoff season for the state's major sanctioning bodies.

   In the NYSPHSAA, that's the Saturday typically reserved for sectional cross country championships. Most NYSPHSAA quarterfinals in soccer and field hockey are usually scheduled for that same day. In addition, it's a big weekend for sectional football title games.

   The March 11 and June 3 test dates in 2017 will also clash with some playoff action.

   The NYSPHSAA office typically gets hit with inquiries (frequently too late under the best of circumstances) about whether athletic contest dates can be changed to accommodate a school. The answer has consistently been, "No." With seven testing dates per year available, it's up to students to plan accordingly.