Sunday, Sept. 22, 2910: Mendon's Lawler torches state meet course

   Leading off today: The New York high school cross country community throws a soiree known as the pre-state meet each season as a dress rehearsal for the annual NYSPHSAA championships held at the same venue in November.

   Judging by the results, Pittsford Mendon senior Sam Lawler is probably of the opinion that meet officials shouldn't change a thing. The Section 5 star blasted through the setup at SUNY Plattsburgh in an attention-getting 15:32.4 on Saturday to post the day's fastest time.

   (Eagle-eyed Bill Meylan of TullyRunners.com noted that the results file shows the course distance as 3.03 miles, but the meet data strongly suggests the layout was the standard 3.1 miles.)

   Behailu Bekele-Arcuri was second in 16:06.0 to help Warwick Valley edge Mendon 63-76 for boys team honors in the Division 2 race.

   Sophomore Colton Kempney of Beaver River took Division 1 honors is 15:57.3 as his school placed a respectable second to large-school power Corning. In Division 3, the top of the podium belonged to LaSalle Institute sophomore Gitch Hayes (16:11.6) and team champion Arlington.

   Brooke Rauber ran the fastest time on the distaff side of the ledger. The Tully junior was first individually in 17:38.3 in Division 2, which saw a highly competitive team battle between Mohonasen (73), Mendon (84), Camden (89), Tully (93) and Warwick Valley (103).

   The Division 1 top showings were by South Lewis sophomore Lexi Bernard (18:35.9) and the Corning girls. Division 3 honors went to Delaney Brewer (18:57.7) of Vernon-Verona-Sherrill in a close call and Arlington in a romp.

   More cross country: Saratoga's Ella Kurto (17:15.74) and Duanesburg's Andrew Drescher (15:30.22) had the top times over 4,600 meters at Tawasentha Park in the Guilderland Invitational.

    • The leading performances in the Suffern Invitational at Bear Mountain State Park came from North Rockland's Daniel Shephard (15:49.2) and Bergen (N.J.) County Tech's Shannon Clancy (18:37.7).

    • Preliminary race assignments for Saturday's McQuaid Invitational at Genesee Valley Park in Rochester have been announced.

   Uncertainty in Sec. 6: The future of the 2019 girls soccer season at Williamsville East is uncertain following multiple long-term player suspensions over unspecified violations of the school's athletic contract.

   The team, ranked 12th in the state in Class A, forfeited games against Niagara-Wheatfield and Starpoint last week, The Buffalo News reported.

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   "Recently, allegations involving the Williamsville East varsity girls soccer team were brought to the attention of Williamsville East administrators," the district announced in a statement. "These allegations have been investigated and as a result, it has been determined that a number of student athletes violated the interscholastic athletic contract signed by both parents and students. Those student athletes found to be in violation of the athletic agreement have been suspended from practice and competition for five weeks. The

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future of the 2019 Williamsville East Girls soccer season is currently under review."

   Coach Chris Durr, who is also the Section 6 coordinator in the sport, declined comment, and AD Nicholas Suchyna did not return a message from the paper.

   Williamsville East, the defending Section 6 Class A-1 champion, had opened the season with a 4-0-1 record. Even if the team returns to the field, a five-week suspension could leave the discip- lined players short of the minimum six games required to participate in the postseason, the paper reported.

   Boys soccer: Clarence (8-0-1), ranked No. 2 in the state in Class AA, travel to Section 5 and was held to a 1-1 tie by Brighton, which went ahead when Thomas Rich cashed in a corner kick in the second half.

   A Brighton penalty kick with under 2:00 to do caromed off a post and Clarence's Aiden Steck sailed home a free kick from midfield that was mishandled with :30 to go.

   Goodbye, old friend: Canandaigua's moving its home football games onto the high school campus, so Saturday's 28-0 win over Brighton was its farewell to Evans Field after 67 seasons.

   Bob Chavez of The Daily Messenger wrote a nice column leading into the game.

   Following up: Officials in a North Carolina school district canceled this weekend's football game at a school where cheerleaders were placed on probation for displaying a Donald Trump campaign banner.

   Stanly County Schools administrators scrapped the game due to what was termed "additional information that could compromise safety measures" for sporting events. They did not elaborate, though it may have been related to supporters urging fans to attend the game to protest the North Carolina High School Athletic Association's decision to put the squad on probation.

   Extra points: Former Glens Falls girls basketball star Sophie Tougas has verbally committed to play basketball at Cal State-Bakersfield. The 1,000-point scorer at Glens Falls left for prep school after her sophomore year and now attends Bradford Christian Academy in Haverhill, Massachusetts.