Leading off today: Bishop Ludden teammates Connor Sweeney and Daquan Grobsmith share Class C football player of the year award honors on the all-state team announced today by the New York State Sportswriters Association.

   The complete selections in Classes B, C and D were announced this afternoon.

   Sweeney, a senior quarterback, and Grobsmith, a senior running back, helped Ludden to a NYSPHSAA championship in November. They led four Ludden players onto the all-state first team.

   The other players of the year announced today were Rye junior quarterback Jordan Eck in Class B and Walton running back Richard Fletcher in Class D.

   The Class AA and A all-state teams will be announced Jan. 16.

   Pittsford swimmers keep rolling: Pittsford extended its dual-meet swimming win streak to 55 yesterday with a 113-70 victory over visiting Fairport.

   Nine Panthers swimmers hit state qualifier times.

   Lane to Penn State: Greenwich senior Caitlin Lane says she will continue her distance-running career at Penn State.

   Lane visited Penn State in the fall and was offered a full scholarship. She also visited Providence and Syracuse. She won the past two Class C sectional and state championships, leading Greenwich to titles each time. Last spring, Lane was a state Division II champion in the 1,500 meters.

   Mid-game wisdom: Kevin Devaney Jr. of The Journal News did a good feature this week on the goings-on

during halftime of basketball games.

   He asked a number of coaches about what they try to accomplish during those 10 precious minutes between the end of the second quarter and the start of the third.

   Near the end of the story, Devaney notes that some coaches like to spring surprises in the third quarter — slapping a full-court press on the opposition, for instance — because the other coach won't have time to make adjustments.

   For some reason, that reminded me of a nugget I learned from St. John Fisher College women's Coach Phil Kahler a long time ago.

   When assembling fields for in-season tournaments that Fisher hosted, Kahler always tried to schedule his team against the strongest opponent in the first round. His reasoning was that he didn't want the coach of a talented team to get a look at his squad in the semifinals and then have a full day to make adjustments.

   Extra points: Norwich bowler Kyle Ewen rolled a perfect game Monday in a win over Oneonta a year after his brother Chris also rolled a 300. . . . Karen Funk, who coached Marathon to the state Class C championship, was selected Dita/National Field Hockey Coaches Association National High School Coach of the Year. Funk was one of six nominees for the national honor. . . . CSG/SportsCoatings in Michigan says approximately 10 million square feet of synthetic turf will be treated with its TurfAide antimicrobial coating in 2008 — up from 1.5 million square feet in 2007. It's a reflection of research in the Journal of the American Medical Association that found MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphlycoccus aureas) is responsible for more than 94,000 serious infections each year. According to three studies by the Texas Department of State Health Services, the MRSA infection rate among football players is 16 times higher than the average person, and it may be related to the rapid increase in the number of artificial-turf fields.

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