Leading off today: Honeoye Falls-Lima senior Alex Deir defended his championship yesterday in the 2,000-meter steeplechase in the New Balance Nationals at Greensboro, N.C.

   Deir, who'll attend the University of North Carolina in the fall, finished in 5:53.02 to beat Connor Martin of Westfield, Ind. (5:54.87).

   "For the most part I didn't recognize too many people, but this is nationals, so I knew it would be a good pack," Deir told the Democrat and Chronicle. "My strategy was to stick with the leaders and kick at the end. Anybody who tried to make a move to get away, I stayed with them."

   Deir's winning time in 2009 was 5:53.13.

   In the girls steeplechase, Ward Melville's Mary Kate Anselmini took top honors in 6:42.78.

   In the boys mile, Alex Hatz recognized the slow early pace and exploited it by sitting back in seventh through three laps for a 3:10.5 split and then roaring to victory. The Fayetteville-Manlius senior kicked home with a :56.1 split and won in 4:08.09 over Elias Gedyon of California (4:08.42) to add to a list of titles including the mile (4:05.5) at Nike Indoor Nationals. Gedyon's closing quarter was an impressive :57.6.

   "Alex was a bit disappointed with his time, but happy and relieved to win,” F-M coach Bill Aris told The Post-Standard. “Not to make excuses, but the temperature soared to 95 degrees with very high humidity here today. It was very uncomfortable and it affected everybody. Alex wanted a faster time, but how can any of us be disappointed with Alex? All he did was win six state titles and two national titles over the past two years.”

   In the girls mile, Roslyn's Emily Lipari also kicked hard after a plodding pace, winning convincingly in 4:48.20.

   Saratoga's girls four-mile relay also ended the season in style even after missing its connecting flight out of Washington, D.C. The squad of Brianne Bellon, Keelin Hollowood, Margaret MacDonald, and Cassie Goutos won in 20:04.34 after an overnight drive, with Cicero-North Syracuse fourth (20:23.40) and Shenendehowa clocking 20:46 for fifth place in the event. Saratoga's time is good enough to hold down third place on the all-time U.S. list.

   Newburgh Free's Randy Patterson anchored the 800 sprint medley to victory in 1:30.76 with a :47.45 split and topped it off with a :46.69 effort to wrap up the 1,600 relay title in 3:13.40. The Cardozo girls triumphed in the 1,600 in 3:40.65 with the help of Chamique Francis' :53.47 anchor. Francis also defended in the 800 meters with a time of 2:07.30.

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   In the girls distance medley relay, Shen (third), F-M (fourth) and Saratoga (seventh) all placed in the top seven.

   The boys DMR was better than expected as Hamden, Conn., triumphed in 9:56.50 over second-pace Warwick (9:59.03) and fourth-pace Liverpool. Hamden also won the DMR at the Nike Indoor Nationals.

   Former Medger Evers runner Jermaine Brown, who was too old to compete scholastically this spring, won the 200 meters by qualifying in :21.07 and taking the final in :21.10. Marcellus senior Mike Quercia placed fifth in the 800 meters with a 1:50.54 effort.

   Prime viewing: Cardozo boys basketball coach Ron Naclerio will be going national in the fall in a reality TV show on SNY.

   Naclerio revealed over the weekend at the fifth annual Cardozo Basketball Reunion that the unscripted show will roll out in between eight and 16 episodes. The unscripted show documents the 2009-10 season at Cardozo.

   "Not only will it be funny, entertaining and sad, but it will show some teaching lessons other kids and coaches can benefit from,” said Naclerio, who has developed a well-deserved reputation for being colorful and unconventional in nearly 30 seasons at Cardozo.

   The most recent season concluded with a 55-50 loss to Boys & Girls at Madison Square GArden.

   “It’s going to be real interesting,” forward Ryan Rhoomes told The New York Post. “We went through a lot of stuff. I want to see what everybody thought about it. We had a lot of difficulties on the team other than basketball.”

   An amazing coach: Alex Matthews of The Post-Star told the fascinating and moving story of Greenwich's Bob Dunlavey this morning.

   Dunlavey has been battling colon cancer -- his third bout with cancer in about five years -- for more than a year and recently started chemotherapy. His position as an assistant track coach was abolished last summer, but he worked as a volunteer assistant this spring anyway.

   Those elements alone make it a story worth reading, but other details -- including his undiagnosed broken neck -- put it over the top as a story worth reading.

   Check it out here.