Leading off today: Minisink Valley's wrestlers earned their third NYSPHSAA Division I Dual Meet Championship in six seasons on Saturday by downing Farmingdale 51-13 in the final at Onondaga Community College's SRC Arena.
The Warriors rolled past Niagara Wheatfield, 57-7, and Briarcliff, 54-14, in pool play, then posted a 56-12 triumph against Webster Schroeder in the semifinals.
In Division II, 2024 finalist John Glenn downed Plainedge, 38-29, to score the day's other title as Ashton Presti scored a technical fall at 124 pounds to wrap up the meet.
"I'll never forget that feeling. That was amazing," Presti told Newsday. "Coach (T.J. Brocking) said at the beginning of the year that this is a business trip. We have one of the best teams in the state. We just showed it."
Hours earlier, Glenn trailed Unatego/Unadilla Valley/Franklin by 24-4 in the semifinals before rattling off seven straight wins for a 39-24 victory.
Coaching news
Sayville football coach Reade Sands has stepped down to spend more time with his family, Newsday reported.
Sayville won the Suffolk Division III title in 2024 and just missed a perfect season, finishing at 11-1 after a 31-28 loss to four-time defending champion Garden City in the Long Island Class III championship.
"I want to have the freedom to spend quality time with my family and that's just not possible when you pour your life's work into coaching," Sands said.
Sands went 74-11 at Sayville, qualifying for the Section 11 postseason all eight years. He began there in 2006 as an assistant coach.
Milestones and records
Holy Names coach
Steve Gigliello picked up his 300th career win over 19 seasons with a 51-45 victory on Friday over Voorheesville in a matchup of state-ranked teams.
Holy Names began the week No. 15 in Class A and Voorheesville was rated No. 20 in Class B.
• Latrell Evans eclipsed a 54-year-old Whitehall boys basketball record by scoring 53 points in an 89-44 victory over Argyle on Saturday.
He broke the mark of 52 in 1971 by Joe Greco.
Meeting preview
There's not much in the way of action items on the agenda for Wednesday's NYSPHSAA Executive Committee meeting in Saratoga Springs, but updates on pending business could lead to changes down the road.
Chief among the expected reports will be an update on the Three-Region Concept and a progress report on the work of the Schools Without Boundaries Ad Hoc Committee.
If you're not up to speed on the Three-Region Concept, which introduces at-large berths to more sports and restructures state tournament hosting rotations for early-round action, I dove into some of the details last month on the
WNY Athletics website.
As for the latter, the NYSPHSAA is once again delving into the topic of what (if anything) to do about private and charter schools with respect to postseason participation. Recommendations for avenues to explore were due six weeks ago, and Wednesday should be the first chance to hear if any of them have the potential to change the status quo.
Representatives from the 11 sections will also have the opportunity to air thoughts on a potential revision to the NYSPHSAA Constitution that would expand committees in order to add members from some of the state's largest public school districts, which historically have not been well represented despite accounting for a large percentage of the state's high school students.
Finally, additional discussion is expected on a consistent policy for championship awards at state competitions, likely paving the way for a vote later this year.
As for actual votes, the Executive Committee will be asked to approve recommendations to held the 2026-28 competitive cheerleading championships at Visions VCU Veterans Memorial Arena in Binghamton and the boys and girls individual championships in wrestling at MVP Arena in Albany. As I wrote last week, Cicero-North Syracuse (2027) and Icahn Stadium on Randall's Island (2028) are up for votes for outdoor track and field championship meets.
