Leading off today: Given the number of schools in the state and the variety of sports offered, headline-generation success by a transgender athlete was destined to arrive in New York scholastic sports at some time.
There have been instances of transgender participants in the past, but it's believed none had won a state individual championship until this weekend in the track and field championships at Webster Schroeder.
Cicero-North Syracuse senior Julia Arnold completed a successful senior season in the weight throws by winning the girls Class A shot put with a throw of 39 feet, 9.25 inches. The only competitor with a better throw in the girls meet was Beaver River senior Hannah Roggie, who took Class C honors with a 41-5 effort.
Arnold's participation flew largely under the radar this season until reported by Outkick, a division of Fox News, on Monday.
Arnold reportedly won the shot put in nine of 10 meets this spring, including the Section 3 Class A-1 championships, and was also a sectional discus champion. Reduxx.info noted those performances earlier this month in a story that went largely unnoticed.
The New York State Public High School Athletic Association follows the guidance of the State Education Department, which has maintained that athletes should compete based on gender identity rather than biological sex.
The agency and the attorney general reaffirmed that guidance following President Donald Trump's February 2025 executive order directing federal agencies to interpret Title IX protections on the basis of biological sex.
The State Education Department opinion is reiterated to athletic directors across the state each year in meetings conducted by the NYSPHSAA office, and the athletic association's handbook also reminds school administrators that the Dignity for All Students Act prohibits discrimination based on a student's actual or perceived sex and gender identity and expression.
Section 1 schools approve postseason ban on private schools
Section 1 administrators have voted to amend the organization's constitution to alter the postseason by relegating non-public schools to a separate class that cannot lead to participation in NYSPHSAA playoffs.
The proposal required two-thirds approval of member schools and passed by 69-4 margin with the only opposition coming from the four affected schools: Albertus Magnus, Keio, Leffell and Ursuline.
The policy change takes effect in the 2027-28 school year.
"The non-public schools will retain the option to compete in a separate non-public contest and then the wonky thing will be the winners of those separate non-public regional contests will not advance to the (state) tournament unless NYSPHSAA acts on this within that time period," said Section 1 President Marc Baiocco.
Baiocco said the section has discussed potential next steps with the four schools, encouraging them to push the NYSPHSAA for a "more equitable" statewide policy.
However, the NYSPHSAA Executive Committee wrapped up nearly two years of work in the spring by reaffirming its opposition to abandoning a recently adopted classification policy that allows non-public and charter schools to continue participating in state championships.
"I couldn't be any more disheartened by the lack of action taken by NYSPHSAA,' Baiocco told LoHud.com. "I'm really disappointed, personally, and I believe they should be doing more to lead these efforts because I think we could do a lot with the Catholic High School Athletic Association.
"I played in that league. I attended Fordham Prep. There's a lot of partnership that could happen there and we could easily create a nice system, almost like a New Jersey model, but NYSPHSAA has its heels dug in and it seems they want to prove a point to Section 1."
While others have also suggested a model incorporating the CHSAA, that organization consists almost exclusively of schools from downstate and the Buffalo area. Critics have warned assigning the NYSPHSAA's non-public and charter schools to a separate system would increase travel, obliterate the postseason in sports like field hockey, and create competitive imbalances or safety concerns in contact sports. Additionally, a collaoration with the CHSAA would by definition leave charters schools on the outside looking in.
Family ties at Niskayuna
The agenda for Tuesday's Niskayuna school board meeting shows defensive coordinator Pete Furey as being recommended as the next head varsity football coach,
The Daily Gazette reported.
Furey, the son of former 22-year head coach John Furey, replaces Brian Grastorf, who retired after nine seasons in charge.
Niskayuna finished 10-2 last fall and won the Section 2 Class A championship -- the squad's third in four seasons.
An unfortunate perfect storm may be in the football forecast
The adoption of the Three Region Rotation for playoff brackets in the 2025-26 school year led to a few rematches of sectional finals courtesy of at-large berths, but we escaped the most nightmarish of travel scenarios, such as potentially sending Long Island Championship winners to Section 4 for a pre-quarterfinal and then back to Buffalo or Rochester a few days later with a trip to the final four on the line.
We may not be so lucky this fall. Although football is not subject to the Three Region Rotation, the sport does use at-large berths. As the NYSSWA's Steve Grandin points out, however, Section 6 holds the at-large berths in Classes AA and A this year.
Under the playoff format, the Western New York losers in those two sectional championship games will move on to NYSPHSAA quarterfinals in Section 1 -- a trip that could easily be six-plus hours each way in winter weather.
Winning that game would earn the Section 6 school another marathon round trip the following weekend for a semifinal in Middletown.
Grandin suggests it makes more sense for the Section 6 at-large teams to play Section 3's champions in the quarterfinals while moving Section 4's champions into the eastern side of the bracket.
That would take cooperation across the board from members of the football committee and have to be slammed through the Central Committee meeting in late July and/or the Executive Committee meeting in October but it would certainly seem reasonable.
