Leading off today: First-year Marathon girls basketball coach Keith Mosier died unexpectedly on Tuesday morning, school officials told the Ithaca Journal.

   He was 48 and is survived by his wife Donna, son Josh and daughter Jessica.

   Marathon's basketball games were postponed Tuesday because of the death according to AD Todd James, who said Mosier went to a hospital Monday complaining of back pains and a blood clot was discovered.

   Mosier was to make his varsity debut in a home game aganst Dryden. He had previously coached JV baseball and modified boys basketball.

   "He was a very ambitious person," James said. "He worked very well with kids, very dedicated and enthusiastic in anything he did."

   Funeral services will take place tomorrow, and Marathon's games against Newark Valley have been postponed.

   Tightening the belt: Section 1 is making substantial changes to its sectional basketball tournament as a cost-saving measure, The Journal News reported this week.

   "Championship Week" at the Westchester County Center is being cut from seven days to two because of budget cuts, and that may be just the start of belt tightening at the sectional, league and school levels.

   "Even though athletics is only about 1 percent of

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the overall budget, it still cannot be the only untouched thing," Section 1 executive director Jennifer Simmons said. "Everybody has to pay their price and do their share to cut."

   One of the expenditures likely to be scrutinized by schools is for athletic trainers. The newspaper reports that about two-thirds of local districts employ such staff at a typical cost of $30,000-$50,000 per year.

   "So far, believe it or not, we haven't felt it. However, that doesn't mean I don't feel the breathing down the back of my neck," said Peter Montpelier, co-owner of Forme Health and Fitness. "I'm feeling that this is inevitable with these cuts that we know are coming from Gov. David Paterson."

   Section 1 approved a plan last month to reconfigure conferences based on geography to cut down on travel. There's a push to reorganize modified sports, and varsity schedules have been chopped to 18 games (from 20) in basketball and 20 (from 24) in baseball and softball.

   The greatest fear is that more schools will be in the same position Mount Vernon was in this summer. The district had its budget voted down, adopted an austerity budget that eliminated athletics and relied upon $950,000 in donations to fund the sports program for the entire year.

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