Leading off today: Whether it's pros, colleges or high schools, it's pretty hard these days to do a Google search of "sports" and not have stories related to concussions and player safety show up within the first few pages of results.
Given the number of legal actions initiated by past pro and college athletes, "lawsuit" also shows up in a whole bunch of those results. And now we're beginning to see that trend emerge at the high school level. The latest development along those lines in the state of New York came to light last week, and it's safe to say a lot of people will be watching to see how this particular issue is resolved.
In a suit filed last week in State Supreme Court in White Plains, a lawyer representing Lily Basile alleges the former White Plains girls soccer player was subjected to unreasonable risk following a likely concussion, resulting in additional harm, The Journal News reported. At the heart of the claim: Basile, now 20, scored a goal in the second half against of a game vs. Mamaroneck in September 2012 and doesn't even remember the play.
Here's the background:
Basile's lawyer, Daniel Kalish, says the player suffered a concussion in the first half the Mamaroneck game Sept. 29, 2012, and asked coach Carlos Mejia to remove her from the lineup. The lawsuit alleges that Mejia instead urged her to finish the half, and she ended up blacking out after a head-to-head collision in the second half.
Basile says she continues to suffer from fatigue, memory loss, headaches and other ailments as a result of that day's injuries. "I believe this is a coach with poor judgment," Kalish told the paper, adding that the incident may have contributed to the coach's resignation following an incident this fall in which a player suffering from a possible concussion may have been left without adequate supervision on a bus.
Acting Superintendent Timothy Connors told the paper Friday he had not yet seen the court papers and could not comment, and Mejia could not be reached for comment.
All-state cross country: Corning freshman Jessica Lawson, who won the NYSPHSAA Class B and Federation individual championships, has been selected 2013 New York female cross country runner of the year by the New York State Sportswriters Association.
Warwick's Megan Reilly, the top 10th-grader a year ago, was named junior of the year after winning the NYSPHSAA Class A championship, and Penfield's Katie Lembo was selected the outstanding senior.
The complete all-state team can be seen here.
Rankings progress: West Genesee (Division I) and Irondequoit (Division II) are the No. 1 teams in the first NYSSWA boys ice hockey rankings of the season, which were released Tuesday.
