Sunday, April 28, 2019: Ramapo's Harrison closing in on 200-foot discus throw

   Leading off today: Anthony Harrison continues to close in on the 200-foot barrier in the discus throw. The Ramapo senior broke his own Section 1 record with a heave of 198-5 during the Gold Rush Invitational Track & Field meet at Clarkstown South on Saturday.

   His latest monster effort -- eight feet beyond his previous sectional record -- leaves Harrison a plausible threat at any time to take down the state record of 202-9, which has stood since 1991.

   "I'm inching, I'm inching right to it," Harrison said.

    • District officials announced that Clarkstown South's track will be renamed next month in honor of coach Ray Kondracki, who is retiring this spring after a run that began in 1985.

   A sub-10 U.S. sprinter: It won't go into the books as a record because he was assisted by a tail wind that was more than twice the legal limit, but a Texas sprinter became the first American schoolboy to break 10 seconds in the 100 meters.

   Houston Strake Jesuit senior Matthew Boling won in :09.98 at the Region 6A-3 meet in Webster, Texas with a wind reading of 4.2 meters/second. Adjusted for conditions, Boling's time would translate to a :10.07 in legal wind conditions.

   The only other U.S. high school athlete to break 10 seconds was Gibbs (Fla.) senior Trayvon Bromell in 2013 with a wind-aided :09.99. The recognized U.S> high school record is :10.00, last done by Trentavis Friday in 2014 at the USA Junior Track and Field Championships.

   "My block start was pretty good and right out of the gate I knew it was going to be fast, so I decided to turn it up a little bit and ran my best," Boling said. "I was really happy with the time."

   Boling earlier had jumped 25-2 to win the long jump. He also anchored his school's 400 and q,600 relays to victory in :40.72 and 3:13.7, respectively.

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   Boys lacrosse: Bryce Johnson finished with a goal and six assists as General Brown boys edged Chenango Forks 13-10 in a matchup of state-ranked Class D teams.

   Dominic Lutz scored four goals and goalie Carson Pickeral made 17 saves for the Lions.

   Chenango Forks was ranked second and General Brown seventh by the New York State Sportswriters Association last week.

   Statue dedicated: Eastchester unveiled a life-size statue of legendary baseball coach Dom Cecere on Saturday.

   Construction began last year behind the field's backstop

as a tribute to a man who won 737 games in 52 years before passing away in 2017.

   "Coach never would've wanted it," AD Jason Karol said. "He would've yelled at us for doing this."

   Said Jesse Waters, who played for Cecere in the 1990s and was named his successor in 2017: "I think it's perfect. What they've done, it's great. There's no way to walk to our field without seeing it and it's easy to get drawn in and read about all his accomplishments."

   Good reading: I get the question two or three times a year from reporters wondering if there's any chatter at the state level about instituting pitch-count rules for high school softball. I tell them the same thing that NYSPHSAA state softball chair Cathy Allen told The Post-Star this weekend:

   "No one's brought it up from a committee standpoint," Allen said. "Until someone brings it up as a concern, this is where we're at."

   While overuse injuries in high school softball exist, the number and severity are dwarfed by the elbow and shoulder problems baseball has seen over the years. Baseball in the New York State Public High School Athletic Association now has pitch counts, which makes it impossible to replicate the 289-pitch day that Kayla Bailey of Fort Ann logged on the final day of the 2018 softball season.

   But there's ample evidence that softball pitchers with proper mechanics can easily handle 120 or more innings of work even in the compact post-winter/pre-exams season in New York.

   "It's a natural movement of the socket," said Brittney Sprague, a former Hudson Falls hurler who is the pitching coach for the SUNY Adirondack softball team. "If you're experiencing pain, you're doing something wrong."

   Fundraiser set: General Brown will host a lacrosse doubleheader Thursday as the school and community shows its support for former longtime football coach Steve Fisher, who has been diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer.

   "With over 40 years devoted to our General Brown community, we would like to honor and recognize coach Steve Fisher, a man who has done so much for so many," girls lacrosse coach Katie St. Pierre said. "... Once a Lion, always a Lion."

   General Brown's JV boys lacrosse team will play Carthage at 5:30 p.m. at Fisher Field, with the varsity girls taking on Watertown at 7 p.m. In between games, Fisher and his wife Alice will be invited onto the field for a ceremony.