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John Moriello's NYSSWA blog
Saturday, April 7, 2007: Cooperstown three-sporter dies in SUV crash
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Cooperstown sports standout Christopher Gentile died Thursday night after his Jeep Grand Cherokee veered off a Middlefield road and rolled over several times.
The 18-year-old senior was an Oneonta Daily Star all-area pick in soccer the past two seasons and an honorable-mention basketball player.
Gentile was also a member of the school's tennis team. He won the 2006 Center State Conference and Section 3 singles championships as a junior.
Dept. of second chances: Kansas State has promoted assistant Frank Martin to replace Bob Huggins as men's basketball coach, capping an amazing climb to the top.
Martin, 41, was an assistant at Northwestern for four years and Cincinnati for two more before following Huggins to Kansas State last year. Before that, though he spent 15 years coaching high schools in Miami.
Miami High went 0-37 in Martin's last season there. Well, not really . . .
The Stingarees actually won a Florida state championship
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that season. Well, not really . . .
As Miami New Times explains, the school was caught in one of the biggest scandals in Florida scholastic history and had the second of its back-to-back championships expunged from the books.
It seems that Udonis Haslem, now a member of the NBA's Miami Heat, and another player used a phony address set up by a booster to falsely extablish residency within the school's boundaries. Fellow NBA player Steve Blake was also on that team and was also reported to have used a phony address.
New Times exposed the fraud, and the Florida High School Activities Association (FHSAA) in Gainesville stepped in. Officials fined Miami High $2,500, demanded reimbursement of $5,000 in expenses for the investigation and banned five players, including Haslem, from playing for Miami High again.
Martin was fired, as was the school's athletic director.
All in all, it looks as though Kansas State has found the right man to replace Huggins. Congratulations.
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Friday, April 6, 2007: Stupidest arrest of the month contest is now closed -- we have our winner
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A 16-year-old New Lebanon cheerleader spent part of Thursday in jail, charged with stealing her own uniform.
Terry Kindlon, the lawyer for Amber King, said the youngster lost her uniform and offered to pay $60.95 to replace it, but that did not satisfy the authorities, and she was arrested and brought to town court to be charged with petit larceny.
Kindlon quickly moved for dismissal, which the prosecutor did not contest.
"I think that's shameful, I think it's tantamount to child abuse," Kindlon told WTEN-TV in Albany.
The TV station reported that the uniforms are not owned by the school but rather by cheerleading coach Penny Black and her husband, who is also the Director of Emergency Management for Columbia County.
Kindlon said he's considering taking action against the coach and her husband, and he hiinted at impropriety in the process.
"Apparently, the deputy sheriff and Mr. Black, the
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complaintant, are fishing buddies, and there appears to be more behind the curtain than there should be," Kindlon told Time Warner Cable's Capital News 9.
Friendly advice for Mr. and Mrs. Black: Next time, go the civil court route instead. Generally speaking, criminal court is for, um, criminals.
Flynn earns another honor: Niagara Falls senior Jonny Flynn has been named Gatorade's New York player of the year in boys basketball.
The guard averaged 26.7 points, 5 assists and 5 steals per game as a senior.
Christ The King guard Loren Dixon was named the state's girls winner earlier in the week.
This week's question: Stop back at the home page and participate in this week's unscientific poll. We want to know which boys lacrosse team stands the best chance of defending its 2006 state championship.
Remember, it's not intended to be scientific, just fun.
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Thursday, April 5, 2007: We cram too many lacrosse games into the final week
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The New York State Public High School Athletic Association added brackets for the spring state tournaments to its site this week, reminding me of one of my pet peeves about sports in this state:
Out of necessity, the spring season is just too short, which means that the most important games get jammed into the first week or so of June in rapid-fire sucession. And that means bad news for boys lacrosse teams, again.
As has been the case for as long as I can remember, state finalists in that sport will play three games in five days. Additionally, a few finalists could come from sections that have to play pre-quarterfinal rounds, making for a stretch of four games in eight days.
I don't think we put a greater demand on athletes in any sport, but there's not much that can be done. Understand- ably, officials want to wrap up the season ahead of final exams in June.
Most teams are starting their season in the first few days of April these days thanks in large part to the proliferation of turf fields across the state. That helps spread some of the load to the front of the schedule, but it's not yet enough to build in some space at the end so that we can get away from the Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday playoff format that leaves teams no time to prepare for the next round.
No deal in Crespi case: Prosecutors are not offering a plea deal to Jasmin Crespi, the Times Herald-Record is reporting this morning after her brief appearance in court on Wednesday.
Crespi, a Wallkill junior, is accused of punching Ashley Thorpe of Cornwall as they were lining up to shake hands at the end of a Wallkill-Cornwall girls soccer game Oct. 31.
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Prosecutor John Polinsky told Judge Robert Freehill that he will accept nothing less than Crespi's plea to a felony charge of second-degree assault, which carries a maximum sentence of seven years in prison if Crespi, 17, is sentenced as an adult.
Her lawyer, Brandon Ozman, contends that the felony assault charge, filed under a section of state law that makes an assault on school grounds a felony, should be dismissed because the soccer game wasn't an education-related event.
Malverne moving up: Jason Molinet at Newsday is reporting that Malverne will play a Class A boys basketball schedule next season -- with the blessing of coach Darrol Lopez.
Malverne cruised to the Federation Class B title this season blowing past 11 regular-season opponents by 24 or more points. Closer calls -- and even an additional loss or two during the season will make the Mules better in the playoffs, which Lopez understands.
Huge early effort by Daigle: How about Tim Daigle's performance Tuesday? He scored nine goals and added three assists as Columbia improved to 2-0 in lacrosse by edging Bethlehem, 15-14. The school record-trying goals total more than offset the seven goals by Bethlehem's Matt Johnson.
Extra points: We hear that the PAETEC Park staff is having trouble filling its Friday night football schedule for the upcoming season. Though players and coaches love the new Rochester facility, no one is eager to give up a home football game when the regular season is only six or seven weeks long to begin with. At last count, only two of the seven possible Fridays were booked.
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Wednesday, April 4, 2007: (Breaking news): Staten Island track star found dead
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Police are investigating if foul play caused the death of a Staten Island high school track standout.
Police say Arielle Newman, a 17-year-old senior at Notre Dame Academy, was discovered in her bedroom by her mother around 1:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Newman qualified for three indoor and two outdoor state meets in distances ranging from 800 to 1,500 meters. She twice placed 10th in the state indoor Division II 800 meters and recently won the CHSAA Intersectional title in the 1,500. She also ran cross country, twice winning Staten Island championships and placing 81st in last fall's federation meet.
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She had been captain of the outdoor track team since her junior year.
Police believe Newman had gone out Monday night to a nearby restaurant, but her mother said the girl may have been at a nearby park instead. When she returned home some time after midnight, she reportedly told her parents that unidentified males had accosted her. There are no classes this week at the private, all-girls school because of the Easter break.
Newman's death has been tentatively attributed to "natural" causes, and investigators are awaiting the results of a toxicology report. The girl's mother said Newman had recently started using an asthma inhaler.
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Wednesday, April 4, 2007: Eden cheerleaders accused of shoplifting in Florida
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The Buffalo News reports this morning that some members of the Eden High School cheerleading squad stand accused of shoplifting last month at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla.
School district officials are mum, but the alleged incident resulted in at least two girls being arrested and charged. The Orange County, Fla., district attorney has not identified the girls because they are under the age of 18. They will be required to return to Florida for their court date.
Other girls reportedly received warnings.
The Eden squad was in Florida to compete in the AmeriCheer InterNational Competition at Disney’s Wide World of Sports on March 17-18. They placed seventh out of 10 teams.
Now available: Add another site to my daily list of must-reads.
LoHud.com has unveiled Lax to the Max, its new high school lacrosse blog. Joe Lombardi and Rod Boone will be blanketing the Hudson Valley region with coverage this spring as Gannett's Westchester/Rockland operation continues to charge full-steam ahead into the digital age.
Wiggins extends two streaks: Susquehanna Valley senior pitcher Beckah Wiggins extended her scoreless streak to 76 innings over two seasons with her fourth straight no-hitter on Tuesday.
The latest masterpiece was a perfect game in a 6-0 win against Chenango Forks to open defense of the Class B state championship. She struck out 13 batters.
Everyone's All-American . . . or is everyone an All-American? In the course of building our site's reference
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section I've been scouring the Internet for information on regional and national awards, such as the Gatorade players of the year mentioned yesterday.
My journey took me to US Lacrosse, and what I found was a monument to excess. While it's nice to honor the best of the best, that organization is a little too generous in dishing out accolades.
The short story is that local chapters are allowed to select one All-American for every five teams in the area with a member coach. As the popularity of the sport grows, so too does its roster of honorees. New York went from 47 boys All-Americans in 2000 to 59 last spring. The girls count soared from 19 to 35 in the same span.
A combined 59 All-Americans from a single state in one year is a bit silly. Think about it. That's almost an entire starting lineup for the Empire State Games. While I'd hope that every player on an ESG roster has either already made his league all-star first team or likely will, the All-America list really should consist of the cream of the crop -- maybe one selection for every 12 to 15 (or 20) schools.
At the other extreme, the American Volleyball Coaches Association imposed some pretty tight restrictions when it announced its inaugural girls Senior All-America Team this spring.
As the name indicates, only seniors were eligible for recognition, and the AVCA limited the team to 36 players. The only New York selection was Alyssa D'Errico, an outside hitter for Byron-Bergen.
The selection process began with one delegate from each state feeding nominations into 10 regional chairmen. Those 10 then hammered out the final list.
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