Sunday, Feb. 21, 2016: First look at state wrestling brackets

   Leading off today: Hilton and Holland Patent each have two wrestlers top-seeded in the first draft of brackets for next weekend's NYSPHSAA wrestling championships in Albany.

   In Division I, Hilton's Yianni Diakomihalis (138 pounds) and Louie DePrez (170) hold down No. 1 seeds. In Division II, Holland Patent's Hunter Richard (145) and Alex Herringshaw (170) are No. 1 seeds.

   Diakomihalis is a three-time defending state champion, including at 120 pounds last season as a sophomore. DePrez was the 160-pound champ a season ago. Richard and Herringshaw were Division II champs at 138 and 160, respectively, in 2015.

   The other top seeds as well as the full brackets are available here in PDF format.

   Long days on ice: Hockey playoff games went through four overtimes and into shootouts on back-to-back nights.

   On Saturday in Section 5, Rush-Henrietta advanced to the Division I semifinals with a 4-3 win vs. McQuaid. Cameron Kuzniar stopped five of six attempts in the shootout and recorded 62 saves for the game for the Royal Comets. Keegan White scored the deciding goal.

   A day earlier in Section 6, Kenmore West eliminated Lewiston-Porter 2-1 in another shootout after 45 minutes of regulation and 30 of overtime failed to resolve the matter.

   Another mile record: Virginia teen sensation Drew Hunter lowered his high school national record in the indoor mile by finishing in 3:57.81 at the Millrose Games on Saturday. The Virginia native finished fourth in a professional and college-level field Saturday at the Armory in New York City after opting not to enter the headlining Wanamaker Mile.

   Hunter ran a 3:58.25 mile on the same track two weeks earlier.

   Having already led the Temecula (Calif.) Great Oak High boys cross country team to a Nike Cross National championship in December, Stanford recruit Isaac Cortes added a Millrose Games championship in the high school mile to his trophy case by the narrowest of margins.

   Cortes sat fifth entering the bell lap and won in 4:09.87, a hundredth of a second better than Carthage's Noah Affolder. Aidan Tooker of Saratoga (4:10.20) and Conor Lundy of Fordham Prep (4:10.68) rounded out the top four.

   Cortes opted to travel east after this season's California indoor state meet was canceled.

   Making up for lost time: The new football staff at Syracuse University got off to an awkward start earlier this month by not using any of its scholarships on New York seniors, instead concentrating on Midwestern prospects the staff had been chasing while still at Bowling Green.

   This weekend, the Orange started making inroads toward luring New Yorkers by inviting several prospects to a big recruiting weekend for underclassmen.

   Scout.com's preview indicated at least five players from the state were scheduled to attend. One of them was Buffalo Bennett linebacker Isaiah McDuffie, who already committed in 2015 while Doug Marrone was still the head coach.

   Dino Babers' staff brought in four others to take a look around and check out the men's basketball game vs. Pittsburgh: Fairport offensive guard Kyle Schreiner, Shoreham-Wading River offensive tackle Ethan Wiederkehr (whose father played on the line for SU), and Syracuse CBA prospects Noah Jordan-Williams (wide receiver) and Dan Damico (linebacker).

   Two soccer changes OK'd: The soccer rules committee of the National Federation of State High School Associations has approved a new interpretation of the sport's offside rule for next season.

   Previously, an attacking player who was in an offside position at the time that the ball was played by a teammate, could be ruled offside when the ball was deflected by or rebounded from a defender to the attacking player even though the defender tried to play the ball.

   The new rule makes that same player legal. An attacking player in an offside position when the ball was kicked by a teammate who gets a rebounded or deflected ball after it was deliberately played by the opponent (except from a deliberate save), is no longer offside.

   Theresia Wynns, NFHS director of sports and officials and liaison to the soccer rules committee, explained further in the statement announcing the change:

   "An example of this new rule would be if attacking player A1 kicks the ball to teammate A2 who is in the offside position behind defender B, and defender B jumps to play the ball but is unable to control the ball as it touches the top of his/her head and deflects to Player A. In this situation, since B played the ball, A2, although in an offside position, is not offside. One important point to remember about offside is that being in an offside position does not mean that a player is offside. To be offside, a player must be involved in active play, interfering with play or an opponent, or seeking an advantage."

   Another change will clean up how violations during a penalty kick are handled. The rule will now make the penalty for a violation by the kicker prior to taking the kick to be the same as a violation by any other member of the attacking team.

   In the past, the kicker would just be warned about an interruption of movement in the approach to the ball and the kick would be re-taken. Now, if the goalie saves the penalty kick and holds the ball despite the infraction, play will continue.