There's a school of thought in show business that the smart entertainer always leaves the audience wanting more.
Put on a great show, but hold back just a little bit of your best work so that there's room for fans to love you even more the next time around.
It's worked for years for Chris Rock and Robin Williams in stand-up comedy and why after all these years tickets a Dave Matthews concert still sell out in less time than it takes Brett Favre to change his mind about whether to retire or return.
And it's why distance-running fans in New York cannot wait to see what Aisling Cuffe will do for a finale as a senior at Cornwall (New Windsor) beginning this fall.
Last week we assembled the top 10 New York male athletes from the just-concluded school year. Today, we offer up the list of top female competitors, led by Cuffe.
1. Aisling Cuffe, Cornwall distance running – Her sophomore season showed enormous promise in the form of second- and third-place finishes at state meets in all three seasons plus 12th place at Foot Locker Nationals in the fall and a triumphant 16:43.58 in the 5,000 meters at the USATF Junior Nationals. Her junior season was all that and more, winning the NYSPHSAA Class A and Federation cross country titles and the indoor and outdoor 3,000 races.
And it was more than just winning that made her stand out. The 17:00.1 clocking at the state cross country meet in Plattsburgh was the day's best by 24 seconds, and she hacked 9.5 seconds off her indoor time from three months earlier when she won outdoors at Vestal in 9:27.15.
As for leaving the crowd wanting more, Cuffe has given herself reachable targets for 2010-11. She's coming off fourth place at Foot Locker, third in the two miles at Nike Indoor Nationals, and second outdoors at New Balance in the 3,000. And even her victories leave room for improvement: She defended at the USATF Junior Nationals in 16:52.25. It was nine seconds slower than a year ago, but also achieved in brutal heat. Give her another shot at the distance in less oppressive conditions and she could end up on the all-time U.S. high school list.
2. Bria Hartley, North Babylon basketball – Here’s everything you need to know about the senior standout: She scored 76 goals and 104 points on the lacrosse field this spring – and that sport was only her second-best. Hartley, a University of Connecticut recruit, is first and foremost a basketball player. She finished her career with 1,978 points and back-to-back Gatorade New York player of the year awards, a feat last pulled off in 2002-03 by Shay Doron of Christ the King.
3. Emily Lipari, Roslyn (Roslyn Heights) distance running – How close was the Villanova recruit to beating Cuffe for top honors this year? Let’s put it this way: When the two swapped one-two-finishes outdoors last month (Lipari won the 1,500 and Cuffe the 3,000), their cumulative times for the two races were three-tenths of a second apart. Lipari was also the state indoor 1,500 champ and won the mile at the recent New Balance meet in 4:48.20 after setting a meet record at that distance at Nike Indoor Nationals. Who knows what this list would have looked like had she not lost the end of her cross country season to a foot injury.
4. Crystal Dunn, Rockville Centre South Side soccer – Dunn saved her best for last, scoring four goals in the New York State Public High School Athletic Association final against Greece Arcadia to finish her season with 20 goals and 11 assists. Dunn, who only played three games as a junior due to commitments to national age-group teams, capped her senior season with selections to the Parade All-American team and as Gatorade’s state player of the year. The North Carolina recruit plays primarily on defense for the national Under-20 team, for which she was on the field every minute as the squad won the 2010 CONCACAF U-20 Women’s Championships in Guatemala to qualify for the U-20 Women’s World Cup.
5. Alyssa Leonard, Bay Shore – One gets the impression that Leonard could pick up a tennis racket on Tuesday and be competitive against an experience opponent by the weekend. After four seasons as a highly accomplished softball player, she traded in that sport as a junior to give lacrosse a try. The experiment succeeded, and she'll play for national Division I power Northwestern next spring. She was also all-Long Island twice and all-county four times in volleyball, and returned to the basketball court as a senior captain after volleyball was moved to a fall sport in Section XI.
6. Melissa Kurzdorfer, Lancaster track and field – The 5-foot-7 senior set state records in two events (shot put and hammer) this spring and won NYSPHSAA Division I and Federation championships in another (discus) to cap a stellar track career that began as a rehabilitation assignment from a softball injury in junior high. The straight-A student's efforts in the shot put (49-9.5) and hammer (192-8) placed her in the top three nationally in both events. She’ll attend Kent State in the fall.
7. Tammy Wray, Somers (Lincolndale) softball – The .623 batting average was eye-catching enough this spring. But when you add in her 29 walks, the LSU-bound senior reached based 74.4 percent of the time. Wray hit 10 home runs and drove in 34 runs as a senior and ended her career with 14 school records and five straight all-league honors to confirm scouts had it right when they tabbed her one of the top prospects in the country and made her one of the few New Yorkers ever to be invited to the Under Armour All-America game.
8. Stefanie Dolson, Minisink Valley (Slate Hill) basketball – Her height – 6-foot-5 -- made her hard to miss. Her skills made her someone you didn’t want to miss. Dolson dominated high school competition again as a senior, averaging 22.8 points, 17.6 rebounds, 5.6 assists and 5.2 blocks a game. She then concluded the school year by joining Hartley, her future teammate at Connecticut, as a member of the U.S. Under-18 team. She averaged 6.2 points and 4.2 rebounds in about 15 minutes per game as Team USA cruised to gold in the FIBA Championships last month.
9. Liz Weber, Bay Shore softball – One shudders to think what the world might be like right now if Napoleon had as much success at Waterloo as Weber did to cap her pitching career. Weber put the wraps on a 17-1 season by pitching Bay Shore to the NYSPHSAA Class AA championship in the tiny upstate community. The LeMoyne-bound right-hander pitched a two-hit shutout to beat Cicero-North Syracuse 4-0 in the title game as was selected large-school player of the year by the New York State Sportswriters Association.
10. Bre Hudgins, West Genesee (Camillus) lacrosse – The Wildcats senior midfielder concluded her career with another memorable season, scoring 32 goals and 13 assists to go along with 61 draw wins as West Genesee went 18-2. She’ll play for Brown University next season.
Next best: Madalayne Smith (sr., Saratoga Springs, track and field), Lia Bellizzi (soph., Rye, soccer), Taylor D’Amore (sr., Canandaigua, lacrosse), Courtney Chapman (sr., Fayetteville-Manlius, distance running), Brittany Kinmond (sr., Spencerport, soccer).
