Friday, June 20, 2014: Lincoln names replacement for Tiny Morton

   Leading off today: Veteran assistant coach Kenny Pretlow has been appointed boys basketball coach at PSAL powerhouse Abraham Lincoln in Brooklyn, nychoops.net reported. Pretlow replaces the highly successful Dwayne "Tiny" Morton, who will be joining the Seton Hall University staff next month.

   Morton won eight PSAL city championships and three state Federation titles in 19 years coaching the Railsplitters. Pretlow was his assistant for 12 seasons and before that assisted at Bishop Loughlin for 12 years and Brooklyn Law & Tech for six. He's also a veteran coach with Riverside AAU program.

   "I know I have big shoes to step into but I have experience running a program and learned a lot from Tiny," Pretlow told the website.

   Gatorade award: Smithtown West weightman Benjamin Bonhurst has been selected Gatorade's New York boys track and field athlete of the year.

   The 6-foot-4, 280-pound senior threw the shot put 67 feet, 3 inches for a meet record and also won the discus (183-9) at the state Division I championship meet this month, also winning the Federation shot championship. He also won titles at the Penn Relays and New Balance Outdoor Nationals this spring.

   Bonhurst has signed with the Florida State track program.

   Former U-E coach dies: Frank Sorochinsky, who coached wrestling for four decades at Newark Valley and then Union-Endicott, dies Wednesday at the age of 82.

   Sorochinsky coached seven state champions at Union-Endicott, beginning with his brother John in 1965-66. Two of his teams finished No. 1 in the state rankings, and he led U-E to 11 Southern Tier Athletic Conference championships before retiring in 1997 with a then-Section 4 record 419 wins.

   "He was one of a kind," Cornell University coach Rob Koll, who was assisted by Sorochinsky for several years in the late 1990s, told the Press & Sun-Bulletin. "I don't remember how I met him, but what struck me every time I was with him was his willingness to do anything for the kids that he taught."

   Sorochinsky was an old-school coach who wasn't shy about getting in a wrestler's face when he thought it was needed.

   "You either loved him or you hated him because he was so tough ... but you always knew where he stood, there was no doubt about that," Koll said.

   Rankings update: Victor has moved to No. 1 in the MaxPreps.com Northeast Region baseball rankings by virtue of its NYSPHSAA Class AA championship last weekend. Shenendehowa slipped a spot to No. 3 and Roy C. Ketcham fell to eighth.

   On the move: Wing Travis Atson, eighth-team all-state last winter as a junior for the Christ the King boys basketball team that won the Federation Class AA crown, is leaving the state.

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   Rick Atson told nychoops.net his son will reclassify as a junior and enroll at South Kent, a prep school in Connecticut.

   "Another year to improve his game, and while it really was a long and hard thought out decision this was what Travis wanted and while he loves Christ the King, it was the move he believed he needed to make," Rick Atson told the website.

   Travis Atson averaged 17 points and 12 rebounds as the Royals defended their Federation championship.

   On the move: Former Notre Dame head coach Byron Abraham is the new offensive coordinator at Utica Proctor for incoming head coach Jim Giruzzi, The Observer-Dispatch reported.

   Giruzzi replaces Jerry Fiorini, who resigned with a 59-64 mark in 14 seasons after the Raiders went 1-8 (with three overtime losses) last season.

   Abraham, 55-37 in 10 seasons, resigned in the wake of controversy following his decision not to play four players who had missed a week of practice for Junior ROTC training. "There's great potential," Abraham told the paper. "It's going to be a lot of fun for these kids and for us (coaches)."

   Giruzzi, a former assistant coach at Holland Patent, has been a business teacher at Proctor for 14 years.

   Not a total loss? A North Texas school district said Thursday that its $60 million high school football stadium could re repaired in time to hold graduation ceremonies next spring.

   However, the 18,000-seat facility in Allen, Texas, that opened two years ago has design flaws throughout. Eagle Stadium was closed this year after officials determined extensive cracking in the concourse's concrete was a sign of structural problems. The school district released a summary of a forensics firm's report Thursday. The firm found problems with the concourse, the structure and support columns of the press box, and the south scoreboard, which features a high-definition video board.

   The district is expecting the original architect and contractor to pay for all repairs.