Leading off today: Let me digress, if that's possible since I haven't even started.
A Newsday notebook item on Shoreham-Wading River athlete Patrick Shea noted that his status as a two-sport athlete this fall is possible because of the school's "low student population." I looked at the NYSPHSAA website and learned that the school's enrollment number for classification purposes in 491. That puts S-WR in the vicinity of Edgemont in Section 1, Cohoes in Section 2, Honeoye Falls-Lima in Section 5, or Iroquois in Section 6 -- none of which feel particularly smallish within their respective regions.
As I said, though, I digress.
The real point here is that Shea, a senior student-athlete, is quite the story.
Shea competes for both the soccer and cross country teams. He's scored four goals in nine matches and is the captain of the group of harriers that won the county championship in its division.
Making the story that much more compelling is that Shea has Type 1 Diabetes, which means managing blood sugar with insulin. Experience has taught him how to balance the insulin with snacks before competitions to maximize results.
"It's difficult with cross country because if you get low blood sugar during the race or right before it, you're in a really bad position and you feel really weak," he explained. "Last year during states, I went low during it and I wasn't able to run a good time."
At the Manhattan Invitational two weekend ago, Shea covered the 2.5 kilometers in 14:00.6.
On top of everything else, Shea is a star in the classroom and scored 1510 on his SATs.
"'Unbelievable' doesn't begin to describe him," soccer coach Rob Mancuso said. "He's an exceptional soccer player. I have the pleasure of knowing him, not only as an athlete, but as a student. He is beyond brilliant, and he really is an incredible kid."
More on the NYSPHSAA playoff classifications
A large piece of an annual process the NYSPHSAA Executive Committee handles concluded last week during its quarterly meeting when the members
approved the enrollment numbers that will be used to slot schools into playoff classes for the 2025-26 school year. The original data comes from the State Education Department and then gets double-checked at the local level, and
I wrote yesterday about how the changes will affect football in 2025.
Those numbers become the foundation for developing the cutoffs used to sort schools into their respective playoff classes, a process that is rolled out on a sport-by-sport basis in phases over the course of the preceding year. Thursday's meeting ratified the cutoffs for a number of sports; three months earlier, the NYSPHSAA similarly OK'd cutoffs for outdoor track and field.
Because there are varying numbers of participating schools in every sport, it's not a one-size-fits-all structure. In fact, it's normal for the boys and girls cutoffs in the same sport to differ by a little bit because of a slight difference in the number of participating schools.
You can see some of those disparities for the 2025-26 school year in the table below, which covers Thursday's actions and also shows the cutoffs from the previous and current school years:
| Boys soccer | | | |
| Classification | 2023-24 | 2024-25 | 2025-26 |
| Class AAA | 1090-up | 1090-up | 1096-up |
| Class AA | 719-1089 | 711-1089 | 691-1095 |
| Class A | 412-718 | 412-710 | 407-690 |
| Class B | 261-411 | 249-411 | 247-406 |
| Class C | 144-260 | 138-248 | 144-246 |
| Class D | 143-down | 137-down | 143-down |
| | | | |
| Girls soccer | | | |
| Classification | 2023-24 | 2024-25 | 2025-26 |
| Class AAA | 1082-up | 1087-up | 1065-up |
| Class AA | 703-1081 | 694-1086 | 681-1064 |
| Class A | 406-702 | 402-693 | 382-680 |
| Class B | 251-405 | 244-401 | 237-381 |
| Class C | 141-250 | 144-243 | 129-236 |
| Class D | 140-down | 143-down | 128-down |
| | | | |
| Boys basketball | | | |
| Classification | 2023-24 | 2024-25 | 2025-26 |
| Class AAA | 1105-up | 1084-up | 1085-up |
| Class AA | 692-1104 | 661-1083 | 657-1084 |
| Class A | 391-691 | 376-660 | 364-656 |
| Class B | 222-390 | 217-375 | 221-363 |
| Class C | 119-221 | 120-216 | 120-220 |
| Class D | 118-down | 119-down | 119-down |
| | | | |
| Girls basketball | | | |
| Classification | 2023-24 | 2024-25 | 2025-26 |
| Class AAA | 1113-up | 1090-up | 1093-up |
| Class AA | 699-1112 | 666-1089 | 655-1092 |
| Class A | 397-698 | 378-665 | 364-654 |
| Class B | 237-396 | 229-377 | 224-363 |
| Class C | 129-236 | 126-228 | 127-223 |
| Class D | 128-down | 125-down | 126-down |
| | | | |
| Baseball | | | |
| Classification | 2023-24 | 2024-25 | 2025-26 |
| Class AAA | 1087-up | 1087-up | 1072-up |
| Class AA | 704-1086 | 687-1086 | 675-1071 |
| Class A | 398-703 | 397-686 | 382-674 |
| Class B | 245-397 | 236-396 | 241-381 |
| Class C | 144-244 | 144-235 | 138-240 |
| Class D | 143-down | 143-down | 137-down |
| | | | |
| Softball | | | |
| Classification | 2023-24 | 2024-25 | 2025-26 |
| Class AAA | 1082-up | 1090-up | 1065-up |
| Class AA | 692-1081 | 680-1089 | 670-1064 |
| Class A | 403-691 | 397-679 | 379-669 |
| Class B | 240-402 | 236-396 | 235-378 |
| Class C | 142-239 | 136-235 | 133-234 |
| Class D | 141-down | 135-down | 132-down |
| | | | |
| Girls volleyball | | | |
| Classification | 2023-24 | 2024-25 | 2025-26 |
| Class AAA | 1141-up | 1125-up | 1041-up |
| Class AA | 747-1140 | 753-1124 | 733-1040 |
| Class A | 470-746 | 459-752 | 453-732 |
| Class B | 290-469 | 286-458 | 283-452 |
| Class C | 182-289 | 169-285 | 174-282 |
| Class D | 181-down | 168-down | 173-down |
| | | | |
The result of the boys and girls numbers within the same sport not quite synching is that the school's teams might play in different sectional and state classes, barring a compelling reason to more the team in the lower class up a notch.
(It becomes moot if a school caught in the middle combines its team with another school. Also, private and charter schools can be subject to being bumped up one or more classes regardless of enrollment.)
Out of boredom (more accurately, procrastination to avoid putting my deck furniture away for the season), I went searching for teams caught in the middle of a disparity.
One that stands out immediately is Amityville. With an enrollment figure of 656, Amityville will be in Class A in boys basketball but Class AA in girls basketball next school year.
Herkimer, Walton, and Canisteo-Greenwood, each with an enrollment of 222, will land in Class B for boys and C for girls. There are eight schools, including three upstate private schools, caught in the gap between Classes C and D.
Other schools and other sports will have the same issues, and it's certainly nothing new. But it likely will create a little bit of confusion here and there.
Milestones
Niagara Wheatfield senior
Marisa Rickard reached 100 career goals on Thursday with her second goal during a Section 6 girls soccer playoff victory against Orchard Park.
The effort gave the midfielder 28 goals on the season, one more than she totaled as a junior.
