Thursday, April 20, 2017: Fairport sends Ithaca lacrosse to first loss

   Leading off today: T.J. Hendricks and Reese Burek registered hat tricks as Fairport upset host Ithaca 9-4 in a boys intersectional lacrosse game Wednesday.

   Ithaca, ranked 10th in Class A by the New York State Sportswriters Association, had its season-opening seven-game winning streak snapped. Fairport is ranked 18th this week. (Full rankings here.)    Red Raiders senior goalie Jake Santini made nine saves in the win. Senior Nick Miller scored all four Ithaca goals.

   An all-around effort: Ellenville's Teresa Baudendistel recorded her 100th career hit at the plate and also pitched a three-hitter in leading the Blue Devils to a 9-2 softball win over Dover.

   Baudendistel got the milestone hit in the first inning to drive in a run in Ellenville's five-run inning. She struck out eight batters.

   Double-digit day: Ai Iwamoto scored 10 goals for Keio Academy in an 18-5 girls lacrosse win over Yonkers. Moeka Ikeda added a hat trick.

   Family ties: Their marks weren't especially noteworthy, but you have to give them bonus points for synchronization.

   Wellsville's Kameron Pettit broke the school record in the boys pole vault by clearing 13-2 during a triangular meet vs. Bolivar-Richburg and Portville. The old mark had stood for six years.

   Meanwhile, Kam's sister Jordyn, in her first season in the event, broke the school mark in the girls pole vault by clearing 8-6.

   McQuaid makes hire: Jeffrey Lovier, well known in the Rochester-area youth hockey community, is the new varsity coach at McQuaid, where all-time Section 5 victories leader Al Vyverberg recently retired.

   Lovier had been an assistant at Fairport since 2013.

   "The McQuaid Jesuit hockey program has a strong history of passionate, dedicated coaches who not only teach the sport but instill the values the school expects from our young men." AD Matt Thomas said in the announcement. "We are confident that Jeff will do the same for our current and future Knights and are excited about what he brings to our program."

   Vyverberg coached McQuaid for 30 seasons, winning 411 games, six sectional titles and a pair of NYSPHSAA championships.

   Following up, Part 1: Section 5 intends to keep the University Prep boys basketball team in Class AA for the 2017-18 season, the Democrat and Chronicle reported Wednesday.

   UPrep, which played for a sectional championship last month, losing to eventual NYSPHSAA tournament finalist Fairport, is projected to return a veteran roster next season led by all-state selection and coveted Division I prospect Jeenathan Williams.

   The placement decision was made recently by the Section 5 Classification of Non-Public and Charter School Committee at its postseason meeting. In its 2016 wrapup meeting, the committee assigned UPrep to Class A, only to move the charter school up in October based upon the arrival of three transfer students.

   UPrep appealed that decision to Section 5 and then the

New York State Public High School Athletic Association, seeking to be placed in Class B in accordance with its actual enrollment figure. After losing those appeals, UPrep took its case to the New York State Education Department. (See earlier blog here.) Commissioner MaryEllen Elia declined to grant relief to UPrep in time for the 2017 postseason but has yet to render a final decision on the merits of the UPrep argument.

   "I'm a public school and I wanted to be treated like a public school," school founder and President Joe Munno told the paper.

    • In the committee's other classification decisions for boys basketball, Aquinas and Bishop Kearney were moved from Class AA to A-1. Northstar Christian, a state semifinalist last month in the state's second-smallest class, will play in C-1 again for sectionals. C.G. Finney has been moved from D-1 to C-2.

   Following up, Part 2: Supporters of ousted basketball coach Michael McCarthy met with the Mount St. Mary's board of trustees but came away without any new light being shed on the April 5 announcement of his departure, wnyathletics.com reported.

   "I think everybody was looking for some answers," player parent John Meegan told the website. "Most of the things that had been said are things that had already been said. I don't want to say (they were) hiding behind the law, but it was, 'We can't divulge this. We can't divulge that.' We really tried to pin them down. And here's the million dollar question: Is there any chance that you're gonna re-hire coach McCarthy? Is it a possibility? Anything is possible. ... They did the best they can as a board."

   McCarthy, who spent one year as the JV coach, took over varsity at the start of the 2014-15 season and guided the Thunder to the Catholic High School Athletic Association state Class B championship, a first in school history. He also steered the team to its first-ever win over league power Sacred Heart this season.

   Extra points: The Buffalo News has renamed its girls basketball player of the year award in honor of Sister Maria Pares, the pioneering scholastic and college coach who died in January.