Wednesday, May 17, 2017: Lacrosse title game scrapped over eligibility snafu

   Leading off today: The use of an ineligible player by St. Anthony's has resulted in Chaminade being awarded the CHSAA state Class AAA championship in boys lacrosse, Newsday reported Wednesday.

   "It was an administrative violation on our part, not academic-related whatsoever," Friars AD Joe Minucci said. “When I found out that we had an ineligible player on our roster, we self-reported it to the league, which felt it necessary to impose sanctions."

   The sanctions handed down at Wednesday's league meeting included stripping St. Anthony's its 11 lacrosse wins this season and declaring Chaminade the winner of Thursday's scheduled AAA championship.

   Minucci said the question about the player's status was raised Saturday.

   "Both schools are extremely disappointed but we thought it was important to make clear that we do a great job of self-policing and our league does a great job of dealing with internal issues quickly and properly," Minucci said.

   Chaminade won the teams' regular-season game last month. Thursday's game would have offered the Friars the opportunity to earn a share of the league championship and state CHSAA crown.

   Milestone: Victor's 6-1 win over Aquinas on Tuesday was No. 400 for Blue Devils baseball coach Sean Rucker. Drew Delaney recorded the win, going four innings and striking out four as the Blue Devils won their fourth straight game.

   Three and counting: Solvay senior pitcher Lauren Nichols threw her third no-hitter of the season en route to a 5-0 win over Marcellus in softball.

   Nichols struck out 15 in her fifth career no-hitter to raise her season total to 183 strikeouts.

   She opened her season April 3 with a perfect game.

   Shot record smashed: Alyssa Wilson of Donovan Catholic in New Jersey broke the girls national outdoor record in the shot put with a throw of 57-1.25 at the Ocean County Championships on Monday. .

   The UCLA recruit tacked 16 inches onto her previous career best outdoors. She'd previous set the U.S. indoor mark of 57-5.5 this year.

   Wilson also holds a New Jersey state record in the discus with a throw of 182-0.

   Somewhat related aside: I'm not completely surprised that his mark has endured for so long, but it dawned upon me over the weekend that this is the 50th anniversary season of Roger Taylor's Section 5 record in the shot put.

   Competing for Canandaigua in 1967, Taylor recorded a mark of 64-5.75.

   'Pay to play' policy? A San Diego public school is being investigated for allegedly having a "pay to play" approach to its baseball program that includes "asking" families of players to contribute $695 each season, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported over the weekend.

   The paper obtained a preseason email from the Torrey Pines High program's liaison to parents which included a

fundraising request significantly larger than other schools. Included in the email about a parent/coaches meeting was a suggestion to "Please bring your checkbooks."

   The email said it costs over $85,000 a year to run the Torrey Pines baseball program.

   Parent Wendy Gumb said she was floored by the manner in which a public school asked for money.

   "Students don't have to give that money, and I don't think people in our district understand that," she said at a school board meeting in March. "People don't want to be strong-armed to donate money. And if we're going to be strong-armed, we should know how the district is spending it. The district needs to be more accountable for how the money is coming in, and how it's going out."

   New turf fields study: A new study to determine the safety of synthetic turf sports fields containing crumb rubber infill found that the likelihood of developing cancer due to contact with the surface is less than one in a million.

   The $200,000 project funded by the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation of Baltimore consisted of tests on fields in Baltimore; Everett, Mass.; Newport News, Va.; Harrisburg, Pa.; and Hartford, Conn.

   Sports fields utilizing crumb rubber were tested along with the soil underneath and the surrounding air quality. The results showed concentrations of chemicals and heavy metals in quantities lower than what is allowed by the Consumer Product Safety Commission in children's products.

   This study's findings -- a child who plays on the fields about two hours a day, five days a week has less than one chance in a million of developing cancer -- are in agreement with the findings of a review of crumb rubber infill completed in January by the State Department of health.

   "We stand behind our conclusion and have the data to stand behind our conclusion," said Michael Cirri, president of the company contracted to conduct the study. "The analysis in the report is extensive."