Sunday, Jan. 7, 2018: Ellis, Tuohy set national class marks in track

   Leading off today: Erica Ellis set a girls national junior class pole vault record Saturday in Ohio at the sixth annual University of Akron Pole Vault Convention.

   Ellis, a Gates Chili student who is not competing in high school meets this indoor season, cleared 14 feet, 1½ inches at Stiles Fieldhouse to eclipse the mark of 14 feet by Katie Veith of Indiana in 2006.

   The height broke the New York record for juniors by Tiffany Maskulinski of Iroquois, who cleared 13 feet in 2004. It also put her within an inch of the overall state record of 14-2 by Mary Saxer of Lancaster in 2005.

   Ellis, who used two new poles, missed the first two tries at the record height but cleared the bar on her third attempt.

   "I was hesitant with the new pole, and I had to regain my confidence after the first jump," Ellis told the Democrat and Chronicle. "The second jump proved I could do it on the new pole. I just had to gain my confidence back."

   More track: North Rockland sophomore Katelyn Tuohy nearly broke Mary Cain's national high school record in the 3,000 meters at the Ocean Breeze Freedom Games on Staten Island.

   Tuohy clocked 9:05.26, a sophomore record and No. 2 overall to Cain's 9:04.51, recorded en route during a two-mile race in 2013. It was an indoor personal best by 37.37 seconds for Tuohy, undefeated during the 2017 cross country season.

   "Today's race was definitely a little bittersweet," she told The Journal News. "It was my first race back and it was the first time I was oxygen-deprived in a while. Now I know what to work on.

   Hockey: Jack Brosgol tipped the puck into the net 50 seconds into the overtime as Scarsdale defeated North Rockland 3-2. North Rockland was ranked No. 8 in the state in Division I by the New York State Sportswriters Association.

   Goaltender Sam Seltzer made 31 saves.

   "It's a huge confidence boost for us," Brosgol said. "We lost a bunch of good players, but this shows everybody we can compete with the best in the section."

   Wrestling: Vincent Mercogliano of The Journal News worked up an insightful feature off of the results of the 54th annual Murphy-Guccione Shoreline Classic wrestling tournament, where Colin Realbuto captured the 138-pound title.

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   The Realbuto family is well known in the local -- and statewide, for that matter -- wrestling community. Four older brothers wrestled at Somers, with Brian Realbuto becoming the winningest wrestler in Section 1 history and a three-time NCAA All-American at Cornell. Dylan Realbuto was also a New York State champion who later wrestled for the Big Red.

   Colin Realbuto, a now a senior, has taken a different path, enrolling at Iona Prep and admittedly not having as much of a passion for the sport until last season, in no small part due

to expectations thrust upon him because he carried the Realbuto name.

   "I was constantly comparing myself to my brothers, and I knew I was far out of competition with them," he said. "I hated the sport because I hated what it represented, which was me failing."

   He's finally begun to emerge and build a reputation as a wrestler with his own credentials rather than the next in a long line of competitors from the same family. He's gunning for a CHSAA championship and a spot in the state tournament in Albany. After that he'll be finishing up his studies and heading off to Brown.

   "I'm OK with it now," he said. "I've stopped comparing myself to them. We're different people. I've finally gotten past that, and I think that's what really helped me grow in this past year."

   Girls basketball: Susan Wagner had its 10-game winning streak snapped by defending PSAL Class A champion James Madison, 49-46.

   Sara James hit a long 3-pointer for ninth-ranked Madison with :03.3 remaining to snap a 46-46 tie.

   Schedule change: The release of the all-state football teams in Classes AA and A has been pushed back two days to Friday to give editor Steve Grandin a chance to finish up work on the compilation.

   We announced the all-state team in the small-school classes last week.