Leading off today: New York is finally getting an official dual-meet wrestling tournament championship beginning with the 2017-18 season.
Meeting Wednesday in Troy, the Executive Committee of the New York State Public High School Athletic Association gave the final OK for 12-team competitions in two divisions that will be worked into the competitive calendar in January of each season.
The Executive Committee also gave approval to sending sectional team champions to compete in its annual girls golf championship tournament and adding a second division to the NYSPHSAA boys and girls bowling tournaments beginning in 2018 when the event is staged at the OnCenter in Syracuse in conjunction with the U.S. Bowling Congress Open Championship.
The committee, which met for nearly 5&189; hours, also approved the use of 3-point shots in modified boys and girls basketball subject to section and league approval.
This one's complicated: I started getting messages on the topic last month and the drum beat grew louder over the weekend when knowledgeable observers noticed a roster change.
There was definitely the appearance that something was not right. But there was more conjecture than evidence as the story picked up steam on social media and talk radio. Finally, the Democrat and Chronicle addressed the elephant in the room by quoting Section 5's executive director as saying Pittsford's football team, which started the season ranked No. 1 in Class AA by the NYSSWA, has not been under investigation at any point this season for using an ineligible player.
In fact, Ed Stores told the paper that the school district followed State Education Department law to the letter in handling a player transfer.
"Pittsford had done absolutely nothing wrong," Stores said. "In fact, the kid was eligible the whole time until Pittsford pulled the plug on him when the residency situation fell through."
The player's status was a matter of intense speculation in the past several days because an eligibility glitch could have cost the Panthers four victories and their spot in the postseason.
You can get some of the specifics of the situation from the newspaper's story. Some of the information doesn't quite jibe with what I've learned along the way and I'm still looking for guidance on one question that's been gnawing at me, but I think it's a pretty good summary of the specifics.
