Leading off today: The Shoreham-Wading River community is in mourning following the death of championship-winning girls soccer coach Adrian Gilmore in school.
Gilmore, married and the mother of three children, collapsed at the district middle school, where she taught sixth-grade students, shortly before 3 p.m. on Tuesday and was transported to a hospital in Port Jefferson.
In a statement Thursday to the school community, schools Superintendent Gerard W. Poole said Gilmore was "not only a dedicated and passionate educator, but an outstanding coach, mentor and source of inspiration to many generations of SWR colleagues, families and students. For 20 years, Adrian served as a dedicated educator, most recently teaching sixth grade with unwavering commitment and care."
Gilmore's SWR team won the NYSPHSAA Class A championship in 2019 with a 2-0 victory over Spencerport in the final. The team returned to the championship match in 2023, falling to Rye, 2-0. She earned recognition as the United Soccer Coaches East Region High School Coach of the Year in 2019.
Gina Bettenhauser, president of the Shoreham-Wading River Wildcat Athletic Booster Club, told Newsday that Gilmore took personal interest in her players and gave "everything she had to her students" and the community.
"Each one of these kids was like her own child," Bettenhauser said.
A GoFundMe account created to assist the Gilmore family had raised more than $138,000 as of noon on Saturday.
Port Byron pitcher fans 21 in baseball victory
Port Byron pitcher Connors Usowski issued a walk and hit a batter in between striking out the side in the first inning of Tuesday's 8-0 victory over defending Section 3 Class C champion Pulaski.
Then the left-hander got down to business. He finished with a seven-inning no-hitter, recording all 21 outs via strikeouts. The 21 whiffs tied Usowski for fifth place in the NYSPHSAA record for strikeouts in a seven-inning game.
The current record for a seven-inning game is 25 by Jim Chenevey of Levittown Memorial in 1983.
Usowski, a two-time first-team All-CNY selection, has fanned 55 betters in his first 23 innings this spring.
"The ball was just coming out of his hand differently," Port Byron coach Angelo Biondo told Syracuse.com. "Off-speed was working, but it was fun to watch, I'll tell you that. When someone strikes out 21 people, it doesn't matter who it is; it's interesting."
Much-anticipated Iona Prep-Somers game will be played in Albany
A football game that jumped off the schedule the moment it was announced will be a road game for both schools.
Three-time defending NYSPHSAA Class A champion Somers will play defending state CHSAA champion Iona Prep on Sept. 6 at Albany CBA as part of a showcase tripleheader.
The other games in the New York State Tunnel to Towers Football showcase ill be Monsignor Farrell against the host school and Cardinal Hayes vs. St. Joseph Collegiate.
According to LoHud.com, Iona Prep was committed to be a part of the Tunnel to Towers event before Somers inquired about playing and was unable to get the game moved locally. The original plan had the Gaels playing defending NYSPHSAA Class AA champ Syracuse CBA.
