Boys & Girls newcomer commits: Patrick Jackson, a 6-foot-6 small forward from Brooklyn Boys & Girls, gave an oral commitment to play basketball for Rutgers next fall,
NYCHoops.net reported.
Jackson, who averaged 15.2 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists last season at Xaverian before transferring to Boys & Girls, chose the Scarlet Knights over Virginia Tech. Jackson can sign a National Letter of Intent the week of Nov. 14.
Format change for Nike Team Nationals: Meet organizers announced Tuesday that the new Nike Team Nationals New York region will have championship cross country races after all.
Nike had originally announced that New York's reps -- two boys and two girls teams -- would be selected based on performances in key races this season as the state's teams comprised their own region for the first time.
New York's qualifier will be run at Bowdoin State Park in Wappingers Falls on Nov. 24 in conjunction with the NTN Northeast regional championships the same day and place. Top qualifiers move on to the fourth Nike Team Nationals Dec. 1 in Portland, Ore.
"Initially we had planned to have teams from New York be chosen by committee selection but have since determined it is possible to hold a separate race consisting of New York teams only," the announcement said.
With the change, there's now far less incentive for top teams to appear at the Federation race the previous weekend, also at Bowdoin State Park. Look for a number of top contenders, especially from upstate sections, to skip the Federation meet based on the additional expense and the number of consecutive weekends with high-power meets.
Going too far: A San Antonio girls volleyball team found a bloody deer carcass on its bus after a recent match against a rival. Members of the Comfort Whitetail Deer squad were the victims of the disgusting prank after playing at Blanco High.
A letter of apology was sent to Comfort High following the incident. Blanco's principal expressed disappointment and made it clear to students that such behavior won't be tolerated.
Extra points: In cross country, Smithtown's boys posted a second-place showing at the Brown Invitaional, falling to Brookline, Mass., 46-74.