Wednesday, June 12, 2019: MaxPreps selects Girard as national athlete of year

   Leading off today: Just when you thought he'd rolled up every imaginable honor after leading his football and basketball teams to state championships, Joe Girard III has added one more.

   MaxPreps has named the Syracuse-bound senior from Glens Falls as its 2018-19 male high school athlete of the year on Wednesday.

   After quarterbacking the Indians' football team to a NYSPHSAA Class B championship, Girard averaged nearly 50 points a game for the second consecutive season as Glens Falls captured a Federation basketball crown in front of the home crowd. He concluded his basketball career with 4,763 points, a state record that could potentially stand for decades.

   Tuohy done for the season: North Rockland junior Katelyn Tuohy, one of the most accomplished athletes in state history, will have to wait awhile to add to her remarkable list of distance-running accomplishments.

   On the heels of scratching from the 1,500 meters at last weekend state track and field championships, she will forego this weekend's New Balance Outdoor Nationals and likely shut down for the summer.

   Citing fatigue, North Rockland outdoor track coach said Tuesday that Tuohy will also not try to qualify for this summer's USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships, which was considered a test drive for her ambitions to qualify for the 2020 Olympic Trials.

   "It just seems like the right time to end the season with a lot of things going on," Murphy said. "It was a mutual decision between me, her and Brian (Diglio, the cross country and indoor track coach) and her family -- everybody involved.

   "Junior year there's a lot of things outside track that made her more fatigued and took her focus off running."

   That's consistent with what Tuohy said after winning the 3,000 meters at the state meet, capping a season in which she once again dominated but couldn't match the times posted in her sophomore year.

   Following up: Our previous blog had the who. what and where about Sunday's Federation boys golf championship. And now we know a bit more about the "how."

   Luke Sample of Trevor Day School won by one stroke thanks in large part to carding an albatross on the par-5 seventh hole, depositing his approach in the cup. The sophomore's spectacular second shot came from 185 yards out on the Bethpage Black Course on Long Island.

   Getting together: The combining of the Saranac Lake and Lake Placid boys hockey teams could be finalized by early July. A previously studied combining of the alpine ski teams has been put off until next year.

   The anticipated hockey merger comes on the heels of shrinking participation at both schools.

   Saranac Lake's school board has a resolution to approve combining the boys hockey teams on the agenda for its June 19 meeting. Lake Placid school officials plan to vote July 2.

   If both boards approve, it's likely that Section 7 will also sign off on the combined team.

   Saranac Lake and Lake Placid already have a combined girls hockey team.

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   Good reading: This was already a big weekend on the Ballston Spa schedule since the prom is on deck for Saturday.

   And then the Scotties' baseball and softball teams made it a bigger deal by winning NYSPHSAA quarterfinals last weekend, advancing them to state semifinals.

   The softball team has a prom-and-play scenario that begins with the semifinals at Moreau Recreation Park at 9 a.m. and the potential championship game is at 1:30 p.m. The baseball team travels to Broome County for a Friday semifinal, and Saturday's Class A title game would start at 10 a.m.

   Wrapping up: Greg Kaszubski began teaching physical education at Clarence 36 years ago and has been the athletic director for the past 30. His tenure draws to a close at the end of the month when his retirement commences.

   "I was talking with my wife the other day about how this September will be the first time since I was in kindergarten that I don't get up and go to school," Kaszubski said. "I think it's starting to sink in that I'm going to be retiring soon, but at the same time it hasn't really sunk in that from here on out, whenever I watch a Clarence team compete it'll be as a fan and not as the director of health, physical education and athletics. I'm looking forward to doing some different things, but at the same time I'm really going to miss what I've been doing for the last 30 years."

   He will be replaced by Jason Lehmbeck, for whom Kaszubski has some sensible advice.

   "First, this job takes a lot of energy so be ready to be on-the-go from morning to night," he said. "Maybe more importantly, to be successful in this position you can't go up and down with everything, you've got to stay even keeled. In the end, if you put your best foot forward and give all the energy you have every day -- but also find that balance so as to not let the job consume you, because that's when stress sets in and makes the job a little harder -- then you'll be fine.

   Also making a change: John Leone, is giving up the varsity wrestling job at Penfield after a 305-62 record in 18 seasons in order to coach the modified program.

   "I still love to teach and coach, but in my opinion, we're in a nice position here, and I think it's time," Leone said. "Since the eighth grade, when I fell in love with this game, it's been good to me."

   Leone, a 1983 Penfield graduate, won an NCAA Division III championship in 1987 at Brockport State.