We’re all familiar with "Rain, rain, go away. Come back another day."
Somehow, "Heat, heat, go away. Come back another day" doesn’t have the same ring to it.
But that doesn’t mean soaring temperatures can’t be every bit the problem that precipitation can be as the spring high school sports season winds down.
With sectional competitions scheduled to kick into high gear this week, the combination of temperatures and humidity brought the action to a screeching halt in several regions Wednesday, with Section II action particularly hard-hit by new safety measures that were put in place May 1.
A policy approved by the New York State Public High School Athletic Association’s executive committee mandates that no game or practice may be held when the "RealFeel'' heat index is 96 degrees or higher. That index measures heat and humidity.
In the Albany area, that meant Queensbury's Class B girls lacrosse final versus Niskayuna was postponed on Wednesday, as was the Section II Class A girls track and field meet at Queensbury. Two girls lacrosse games that did go on as scheduled were stopped once per half for water breaks.
Multiple softball games were also pushed back 45 minutes to allow the heat to dissipate sufficiently while players waited inside the adjacent Adirondack Sports Complex dome.
In Section VII, Bolton had its softball playoff postponed a day. Further downstate, the Section IX Class C baseball semifinal between Seward and Rhinebeck was pushed back an hour from its scheduled 4 p.m. start due to a heat index of 104.
When temperatures are 80 degrees or higher, the new rule requires school officials to check conditions an hour before game time by logging into AccuWeather.com to verify the heat-index conditions. If the heat/humidity number is 96 or higher, outdoor practices and competitions are banned and inside activity is supposed to be limited to facilities with air conditioning.
A reading of 90 or higher requires a re-check midway through the contest, at which time a high reading could cause the event to be suspended. When readings are in the 91-95 range, the NYSPHSAA recommends water breaks every 15 minutes and suggests postponing or paring back practices.
The track meet at Queensbury was supposed to start at 4 p.m., but was doomed almost immediately because meets can run deep into the early evening even under optimal conditions. The heat index actually climbed from 100 to 103 between the two checks, causing officials to reschedule for Friday.
Veteran Queensbury coach Bob Underwood said it was the first time in his 15 years that a meet has been postponed because of heat.
"It's a new rule, and you've got to go by the rule," he told The Post-Star in Glens Falls.
The rule is new to most of the state, but Nassau and Suffolk counties had used a variation of it for several years to address sometimes-brutal heat that can roll in to Long Island starting in mid-May.
There is also a corresponding wind-chill rule that covers all outdoor winter activity except alpine skiing.
Girls track: Upon further review...
They didn’t need instant replay to clear up the results of the Mid-Hudson Athletic League girls track and field championships, just better handwriting.
The New Paltz athletes left the meet last week thinking they had lost the team title to Rondout Valley by a point. It turns out they actually won by that same narrow margin.
A clerical error in the pentathlon scoring resulted in a faulty order of finish that affected points awarded in that event, and the mistake was brought to the attention of officials within the 48-hour window following the meet.
Ellenville pentathlete Nicole Thayer was originally credited with a time of 2:31.5 in the 800 meters instead of her actual 2:51.5, a mistake discovered by her coaches. That cost Thayer 226 points in the scoring table, dropping her to 2,238 and behind Naomi Bouchard of New Paltz (2,400). Moving Bouchard up to first place gave her team the two additional points it needed to win the meet by a 119-118 margin.
Boys tennis: Tough choice for Section I star
Top-seeded singles player and defending champ Cameron Silverman of Fox Lane pulled out of the Section I tennis tournament Tuesday shortly before the event began. The senior has been playing in a USTA tournament in Georgia since Saturday and reached the consolation final scheduled for Tuesday, forcing him to have to make a decision on which tournament was more important.
"USTAs take precedent over high school tennis," Fox Lane coach James Spector told The Journal News. "His college coach came to see him play. I don't see it as a selfish thing — in fact, it's quite the opposite. He's doing what he has to do."
Silverman was a surprise second-round loser as the No. 3 seed last spring in the NYSPHSAA championships and now will not be eligible to return to that event next month.
Boys basketball: All-state pick on the move
Maurice Harkless, who has already said he will enroll at UConn in the fall of 2011, will not return for his senior basketball season at Forest Hills in the PSAL. The 6-foot-8 swingman has told friends he will attend South Kent this fall. Arizona’s Kevin Parrom and former St. John’s guard Omari Lawrence are among the numerous New York stars who have opted to attend that school in preparation for college.
Harkless, who averaged 16.8 points and 11 rebounds as a junior, was a 2010 ninth-team pick on the New York State Sportswriters Association all-state squad.
Rice senior Kadeem Jack, who briefly flirted with North Carolina this month, says he will stick to his original plan and attend prep school in the fall.
Heroes and highlights
* Clarence senior Jen Sansano pitched a shutout in a 1-0 win over Williamsville South, giving her a school-record 63 career victories. In moving past Stephanie Wydra on that list, Sansano also fanned 18 to reach 899 for her career and break the 2006 graduate's school mark.
* Wellsville's Hans Zlomek struck out 23 batters and delivered the game-winning single in the bottom of the ninth as Wellsville beat Allegany 7-6 in baseball. After Allegany loaded the bases in the top of the ninth, Zlomek got his 23rd strikeout to end the threat.
* Clemson recruit Whitney Fountain of Christopher Columbus in the PSAL eclipsed the state record for the girls pentathlon at the PSAL Bronx track and field championships. Her mark of 3,783 points at DeWitt Clinton last week easily passed the 3,614 posted by Alyissa Hasan of Williamsville South in 2005.
Fountain came up huge in all five events: 33-3.75 in the shot put, 5-7 in the high jump, 19-4 in the long jump, :14.8 in the hurdles and 2:26.8 in the 800 meters.
John Schiano, who has written about high school sports in western and central New York for more than 25 years, covers New York for MaxPreps. He may be reached at johnschianosports@gmail.com.