Sunday, Sept. 8, 2019: DQs cost tops six finishers in V-V-S meet race

   Leading off today: I like to tell folks that I never get lost because people are always telling me where I should go.

   Runners in the next-to-last girls race at the 15th annual Vernon-Verona-Sherrill Cross Country Invitational could have used some of that guidance on Saturday when the six leading finishers in the Girls Varsity 3 race were disqualified for running off the course.

   Once the scoring was adjusted, West Genesee came away with the victory en route to becoming one of three schools on the days to score boys/girls sweeps.

   Some quick highlights from upstate's first big invitational of the season:

    • Fayetteville-Manlius came out of the gate strong. Claire Walters (18:30.1), Hannah Kaercher, Phoebe White and Grace Kaercher swept the first four places as the girls rolled past Shenendehowa 16-43 in Girls Varsity 1. The boys also coasted to victory as Peyton Geehrer (16:15.7), Sam Otis and Geoff Howles took the top three spots on the podium.

    • Tully junior Brooke Rauber opened in style with an 18:11.6 showing to win the Girls Varsity 4 race. Jenna Schulz took second in 18:41.0 to help Liverpool to a team triumph.

    • Beaver River edged Liverpool 46-53 in Boys Varsity 4 behind a devastating one-two punch by Colton Kempney (16:21.3) and Cory Demo (16:26.6).

   McQuaid beats deep field: A long day of work paid off for McQuaid in the form of the championship in the 44th annual Eden Can-Am boys volleyball tournament.

   The Knights cruised through pool play with a 6-0 mark, then defeated West Seneca West 25-18, 25-16 in the semifinals and Clarence 27-25, 25-23 for the title. Clarence was also unbeaten in pool play and then eliminated Fairport 25-22, 22-25, 25-11 in the semifinals.

   McQuaid placed Keeler Thomas and Ryan McRae on the all-tournament team.

   Details emerge: The parents of an Islip football player told Newsday that suspended Shoreham-Wading River coach Aden Smith "grabbed" their son "in the neck area and started shaking him back and forth" during a scrimmage skirmish Aug. 30.

   Smith, in his second season as the head coach, was removed from his position by S-WR Superintendent Gerard Poole hours before Friday's opening game.

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   Richard and Adele Valenzuela told the paper they were not at the scrimmage. Senior lineman Richie Valenzuela told his parents afterward that he was suddenly grabbed by Smith during the scuffle.

   "Out of nowhere he said the coach came running toward him, grabbed him in the neck area and started shaking him back and forth, back and forth. My son said he was in shock," Richard Valenzuela said. "Total shock."

   "Then while the coach was holding him ... (an S-WR) player came and knocked him to the ground."

   The Valenzuelas said they reported it to a school official, who told them the matter was being addressed.

   Welcome back, maybe: Monsignor Martin Athletic Association Executive Director Pete Schneider declined

RoadToSyracuse.com football site

comment on Friday on the question of whether John Ese Orogun will be eligible to play basketball for Park School in the upcoming season.

   The 6-foot-11 center with seven Division I offers thus far confirmed to The Buffalo News that he has returned to Park after spending his junior year at St. Benedict's Prep in Newark, New Jersey.

   The hitch is that MMAA rules prohibit students who transfer in as seniors from participating in athletics, barring exten- uating circumstances.

   "I just wanted to be closer to my family and friends and finish it up where it started," Orogun told the paper.

   Orogun averaged 5.4 points and 6.8 rebounds as a sophomore as Park captured the Federation Class A championship.

   The first of many: You're apt to see a lot of stories this school year on overuse injuries. The Boston Globe did one such story last week, highlighting a study by the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons saying that 28 percent of football players 14 years old and younger are hobbled by overuse injuries. Baseball (25 percent) and soccer (22) are not far behind.

   "In middle school and high school kids, 50 percent of injuries we are seeing are preventable if these kids weren't playing year-round," said Dr. Elizabeth G. Matzkin, chief of women's sports medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital and an associate professor at Harvard Medical School.

   Matzkin attributed the issue in part to the pursuit of college scholarship money. She said she encourages youths to play multiple sports throughout high school rather than specializing in one.

   "These kids and parents, they all live the dream," Matzkin said. "I see it every day in my clinic, and I get it. I have three kids and they all play sports. It's their life. It's their identity."

   Sports medicine specialists cite a risk of osteoarthritis, particularly in the knees, before single-sport athletes beach middle age. Of particular concern are knee injuries involving the anterior cruciate ligament.

   "ACLs, we can reconstruct them, and they will be out on the playing field again and do great," Matzkin said. "But 25 to 30 years from now, you will have degeneration in the knee."