Leading off today: Olivia Galati of St. John the Baptist, sophomore Anna Arceneaux of Mechanicville and junior Jess Winans of Afton are repeat selections as softball players of the year, the New York State Sportswriters and Coaches Organization for Girls Sports announced today.

   Galati was a senior pitcher and the Gatorade state player of the year. Arceneaux pitched and played second base in leading Mechanicville to the New York State Public High School Athletic Association Class B championship this month in Waterloo. Winans was the shortstop on Afton's Class D title team.

   The complete list of players of the year includes:

Class AA — Olivia Galati, pitcher, St. John the Baptist.

Class A — Samantha Giovanniello, pitcher, Floral Park.

Class B — Stephanie Caso, shortstop, Poly Prep-AIS, and Anna Arceneaux, pitcher/second base, Mechanicville.

Class C — Megan Michie, pitcher, Rhinebeck.

Class D — Jess Winans, shortstop, Afton.

   The complete list of coaches of the year includes:

Class AA — Cathy Morano, Tottenville, and Brian Lynch, Brentwood.

Class A — Dan Dackman, Floral Park, and Mike Carlacci, Pearl River.

Class B — Don Arceneaux, Mechanicville, and Jonnah O’Donnell, Marlboro.

Class C — Steve Boucher, Rhinebeck.

Class D — Cindy Bostelman, Afton.

The full list of all-state selections from NYSSCOGS, the sister organization of the New York State Sportswriters Association, can be found here.

   From bad to worse: Just when you thought the Lance Stephenson situation couldn't get worse ... it did.

   The all-everything guard from Abraham Lincoln in the PSAL being shunned at epic levels by Division I college may now be less of a recruiting priority for Memphis, possibly the last major program that was highly interested, because of a development today.

   Sophomore guard Elliott Williams is leaving Duke for what's being termed "family medical reasons" and may seek to play closer to his hometown of — drumroll, please — Memphis. FoXSports.com reports Williams will file an appeal for a waiver in a bid for immediate eligibility and that the Tigers loom as the logical place for him to land.

   Williams averaged 4.2 points in 11 starts as a sophomore but would have been an important part of the Duke lineup next season following the the departure of Gerald Henderson to the NBA.

   Tragedy in Iowa: A teen gunman shot and killed a prominent Iowa high school football coach in the school's weight room early today, authorities said.

   The gunman shot Aplington-Parkersburg coach Ed Thomas, an almost 300-game winner in 37 seasons, at about 8 a.m. with about 50 students in the school, including several in the weight room. No other injuries were reported.

   Thomas was airlifted to a hospital and died, his family said in a statement. Authorities would not say if the gunman, being held in Butler County Jail, attended the school in Parkersburg, 80 miles northeast of Des Moines.

   Thomas was 292-84 in 37 seasons, 34 of them at Aplington-Parkersburg. He was selected NFL High School Coach of the Year in 2005.

   Post-prom bomb: If you're gonna dance, you're taking a chance ... of losing your varsity letter or other team honors.

   Seven Clarkstown North boys lacrosse players were reminded of that recebtly. The players, all seniors, skipped a May 18 game because they were at a beach resort in Wildwood, N.J., as part of a long weekend that started with the prom three days earlier.

Spring tournament schedules NYSPHSAA boys lacrosse NYSPHSAA girls lacrosse NYSPHSAA baseball NYSPHSAA softball

   The players informed coach John Fitzgerald of their intention, and captain Brian Clifford told The Journal News Fitzgerald warned them that they would forfeit any awards, such as all-league and MVP. At the annual spring awards dinner, however, they discovered that their names had been stricken from the team roster and they would not receive a varsity letter or a pin signifying their participation.

   The rule is in the school policy manual, though players say they were not informed of this by their coach. AD Tess Brogan says Fitzgerald did not tell the players they could have their varsity letter.

   Parents have met with several school and district administrators, who reiterated that the rules will be enforced.

   Trust me on this: If the prom is on Friday but you can't see your way to making it to the game three days later, then you don't deserve to be recognized by your school.

   Xaverian defender picks SU: Syracuse University received an oral commitment from receiver/cornerback Mario Tull of Brooklyn Xaverian, The Post-Standard reported.

   The 6-foot-1, 205-pound Tull will be a senior in the fall and is expected to fit in the following year at Syracuse as a strong safety or outside linebacker.

   "They were the only school really interested in me," Tull told the paper. "I didn't want to let an opportunity like that go to a waste. I wanted to hold onto it, which is why I committed."

   Tull said he plans to attend head coach Doug Marrone's camp next week. He was recruited by John Anselmo, the former Nassau Community College head coach who now handles the Orange defensive backs.

   Trainers want to limit two-a-days: The National Association of Athletic Trainers wants high schools to eliminate two-a-day football practices during the first week of August because of the risk of heat stroke.

   NATA also recommended last week that coaches give longer breaks between practices and more time for players to ease into contact drills.

   They pointed to the death of a Kentucky 15-year-old on the first day of practice last August. Prosecutors charged his coach with reckless homicide.

   "Things aren't going very well at the high school level. We've had a couple very bad years," said Douglas Casa, director of athletic training education at the UConn and co-author of the latest NATA report. "This wasn't done for the convenience of coaches."

   At least 39 players across all levels of football have died from heat-related causes since 1985 and most of those cases happened in early August, said Dr. Frederick Mueller, director of the National Center for Catastrophic Injury Research at the University of North Carolina.

   Sub-four speculation: Alex Hatz's late-season work — a state-record of 4:06.11 to win the 1600-meter race at the state meet and 4:07.28 at the Nike Outdoor Nationals over the weekend in Greensboro, N.C. — has started speculation that the Fayetteville-Manlius junior could break four minutes in the mile next spring.

   The state record is 4:02.7 by Matt Centrowitz of Power Memorial in 1973.

   F-M coach Bill Aris told The Post-Standard he doesn’t want to hear the hype.

   “We almost never talk publicly about our future running goals at F-M,” he said. “However, at the rate Alex is improving, an assault on the four-minute mile is definitely a possibility for next year. With another year to grow and mature physically, there’s no question that Alex has a shot at it. My concern is, I don’t want this four-minute talk to get blown out of proportion. Alex doesn’t need that kind of pressure.”