Leading off today: Led by Carly Wynn's victory in the girls individual race, Queensbury's nordic ski teams raced to the lead yesterday on the first day of the New York State Public High School Athletic Association skiing championships.

   Wynn, a freshman, led three Queensbury girls in the top four at Lake Placid and was the school's second consecutive state champion on the heels of Cara Sprague's victory in 2007. Spartans boys Alex Benway and Matt Flint took second and third, respectively, in their race.

   In first-day alpine action at Whiteface Mountain, Queensbury's Tim Hughes and Jon Bennett were sixth and seventh, respectively, in the boys giant slalom to cap a strong day of performances for the school.

   Wynn finished the 7.5-kilometer course in 22 minutes, 35 seconds to beat New Paltz's Natalie Busby by 50 seconds, followed by Queensbury's Shannon Mulshine (23:48.4) and Danielle Winslow (24:07). In the 10-kilometer boys race, New Paltz's Nick Mancuso won in 25:47.2, followed by Queensbury's Benway (26:48.4) and Flint (26:51.8).

   In the giant slalom, Ben Jesmer of Canandaigua won the boys crown in 1:54.84 after standing fourth entering the second run. Burnt Hills' Erika Swits won the girls title 1:58.76.

   Jesmer barely held off Pittsford Sutherland’s Denny Halligan (1:54.92) on a day in which Section 5 racers nailed down the top four spots. Swits blew away the field, as silver medalist Kim Gerrir of Irondequoit was 2.22 seconds behind and Catherine Helming of Canandaigua was third, 4.15 seconds behind the champion.

   Empire State Games: Victor senior Zach Rivers earned his third scholastic gold medal in the 5,000-meter snowshoe competition at the Empire State Games in Lake Placid. Rivers, third in the state in Class A cross country in the fall and heading to Syracuse University later this year, finished in 17:59. His previous medals came in 2005 (22:44) and 2007 (19:27).

Winter tournament brackets NYSPHSAA boys basketball NYSPHSAA girls basketball NYSPHSAA boys ice hockey

   Working extra hard: Stephanie Farnsworth scored 18 points to spark Romulus to a 69-63 win over Fillmore in a triple-OT Section 5 girls Class DD basketball semifinal.

   Romulus trailed by five with under a minute to go in the second OT when Farnsworth was fouled by Megan Sampson. Fillmore's Susie Black picked up a technical for her reaction to the call, and both Fillmore players fouled out on the same play. Farnsworth made four free throws and a subsequent basket to help force the third extra period.

   Football rules revisions: Penalties were on everyone's mind last month when the National Federation of State High School Associations Football Rules Committee met in Indianapolis.

   Probably the most notable rule change is one that won't be enforced much. Rule 8-2-2 will now allow a penalty to be enforced on the opening kickoff of the third quarter if the violation took place during a scoring play to end the first half. However, there will be no carryover from the end of regulation to the state of overtime.

   In another change, unused timeouts cannot be carried over into overtime. Also, the head coach can now designate one of his assistants before the game to call timeouts.

   Extra points: Virginia-bound Sylven Landesberg has eclipsed the 2,000-point mark in boys basketball for Holy Cross. . . . Ryan Pericozzi of Lancaster broke the Section 6 indoor pole vault record over the weekend by going 15-2 at Fredonia State. The previous mark of 15-1½ by Andy Hillburger of Sweet Home had lasted since 1979. . . . Bolivar-Richburg softball pitching ace Jordan Ingalls was diagnosed with mononucleosis. It's unclear if she'll be cleared to return by openind day, but she's definitely done as a basketball player.

©2011 New York State Sportswriters Association.
All rights reserved. Contact us via e-mail.

HOME | BLOG | BRACKETS | REFERENCE | LINKS | SUBSCRIBE | ABOUT US | CONTACT US