Monday, June 12, 2017: Onteora's Lane wins Federation golf tournament

   Leading off today: Onteora High senior Justin Lane shot a 2-over-par 73 on the Bethpage Black course to capture the state Federation boys golf championship Sunday.

   Lane made three birdies and five bogeys on his way to a four-stroke victory.

   Last week, Lane tied for sixth in the New York State Public High School Athletic Association championships, shooting 73-78--151 at Cornell University's Robert Trent Jones Golf Course.

   Lane will attend Binghamton University in the fall.

   Finalizing his plans: After running square into a major detour on his way to Division I basketball earlier this spring, Nahziah Carter's career is back on course.

   Carter, who graduated from Bishop Kearney in Rochester this month, has committed to the University of Washington and new coach Mike Hopkins, the former Syracuse assistant.

   Carter had committed to Dayton before his senior season and signed a National Letter of Intent. But he was granted his release after Flyers coach Archie Miller left for Indiana.

   At one time it appeared Carter would go the prep-school route this fall. But Indiana, Georgetown (with new coach Patrick Ewing), Boston College and Washington all quickly emerged as suitors to gibe Carter an attractive list of options.

   Hey, what about me? I've seen podium confusion in state meets from time to time as officials have had to sort out the order of finish for the NYSPHSAA and Federation awards at wrestling or track meets.

   This weekend's track meet at Union-Endicott at least ties for first on the all-time glitch list.

   Warwick Valley's Greer Liguori won the girls Division I 400-meter hurdles title on Friday by running a 1:01.23 in the first of two heats seeded on time.

   When it came time for the medals ceremony, The Times Herald-Record reported, officials put second-heat winner Vanessa Watson of Spencerport atop the podium. Watson and the other medalists were posing for pictures when it was left to Liguori to pipe up that she was the actual winner.

   After what the paper described as some "uncomfortable" moments, it was verified Liguori had actually won, requiring a recall and redistribution of the medals.

   "I said I was sorry," Liguori said. "It was weird. It was something else."

   There was no overlooking Liguori in Saturday's Federation race. Her 1:01.05 was comfortably ahead of Bryann Sandy (1:01.74) of Paul Robeson.

    For what it's worth, the NYSSWA's Neil Kerr says he can recall Tully great Lopez Lomong going through the same sort of situation at a state meet early last decade as a result of running in a slow heat.

   Not a good first impression: When the most recent contracts were awarded by the NYSPHSAA, St. John Fisher College very nearly won the right to host this year's track meet. Had the college been able to find space for the discus throw on the main campus rather than across a street too dangerous for pedestrian traffic, Fisher might well have been given the right to host.

   In retrospect, it's a good thing that the NYSPHSAA picked Union-Endicott. A track meet is much more complicated than the boys lacrosse championship quadrupleheader.

   And my alma mater underwhelmed a lot of us on Saturday as the lacrosse host, beginning with the main campus road being torn up for construction, rendering hundreds of convenient parking spaces inaccessible.

   The in-stadium glitch most readily apparent to most people was the scoreboard going dark a few minutes before Ward Melville and Pittsford faced off in Class A to start the finals.

   Now, issues like that are bound to happen from time to time, so no one deserves to get aired out over that. But where Fisher failed was the fact that there was no one from the school on site to oversee mechanical/electrical stuff. Someone had to be contacted by phone and brought in from off campus to resolve the problem. Consequently, time had to be kept on the field for the first quarter of the Class A game, which is truly embarrassing.

   What really boggles the mind, however, is that there was no Wi-Fi access until early in the first game -- and that was only because Robert Zayas and Chris Watson from the NYSPHSAA rigged up a solution with their own equipment.

   Stunning for a college campus (or a high school campus or an elementary school ...) in 2017, there's no secure Wi-Fi in the Fisher press box, which is only a few hundred yards from dorms and academic buildings on the campus. An open-access network was shut off halfway through the second game of Wednesday's state semifinals (I took that as a cue to leave rather than try tweeting updates on my phone) and apparently never restored, not that it would have

NYSPHSAA boys lacrosse brackets 2017 statewide boys lacrosse playoff summary NYSPHSAA girls lacrosse brackets NYSPHSAA baseball brackets NYSPHSAA softball brackets Past years' brackets

held up under the weight of reporters live-blogging and photographers attempting to transmit large photo and video files while also being accessible to spectators with mobile devices.

   Page 9 of the request for bids that Fisher's facilities manager would have had to sign off when the paperwork was submitted inquires about the availability of Wi-Fi. I'd bet the ranch that the "yes" box was checked despite evidence to the contrary.

   I'll also wager that the issue will be addressed and resolved before the 2018 tournament as the NYSPHSAA drags Fisher unwillingly into the 21st Century. If not, Middletown has a nice ring to it.

   Speaking of complaints: Every bit as predictable as the sun rising in the east, critics came out swinging in the aftermath of Syracuse CBA's victory in the boys Class D lacrosse tournament Saturday. The reader comments beneath the game story Syracuse.com were largely misinformed and critical -- no coincidence there, by the way -- of CBA.

   Without setting off a new round of the holy war, let me say this:

   I stand by my belief that most private schools should not be playing in the smallest class in sports that have four or five state classes. I'd make exceptions for some very small and non-competitive schools out there, but I'd also be stern about private schools in large metro areas like Syracuse or Rochester, where there are more students to draw from.

   By existing criteria, however, CBA belonged in Class D this season, the first year of the expansion to four classes. Given the school's actual enrollment (yes, I realize there are no district boundaries to abide by) and lack of success in sectionals for most of the past decade, there was no reason under Section 3 criteria to move the Brothers up.

   On the other hand, the CBA girls have been a significant force in the sport at the sectional and state level and have been moved up accordingly over the years. Winning the state crown in 2011 and reaching the final the next year got the girls moved up to Class B in 2013. Getting to the state semifinals the following season earned them a move to Class A.

   Living at ground zero (i.e., Section 5) of most public vs. private controversies, I think high school sports would be better served by having people actually read the rules before they spout off -- using aliases, no less -- on newspaper websites.

   Extra points: One year of data does not constitute indisputable evidence, but the switch to a two-day baseball championship resulted in a 3-2 split of a closely watched indicator.

   Over recent years of the one-day format, teams winning the 10 a.m. semifinal were going on to capture almost twice as many championships as the 1 p.m. semifinal winners.

   In this year's Friday/Saturday format, winners of the early semifinals won three of five finals the next day. Again, one year of data means nothing -- especially since this year also marked the start of the pitch-count rule. Let's revisit the numbers in two or three years and see where we are then.