With roughly 1,000 high schools offering more than 30 sports, it’s little wonder that New York has its share of memorable moments throughout the school year.
But the trifecta of memorable efforts witnessed this weekend was off the scales, even more so because none of the "Oh, wow" moments took place in any of the 39 New York State Public High School Athletic Association basketball quarterfinals.
Rather, two distance runners went the extra mile, a hockey team preserved its perfect season with an implausible comeback in the state semifinals and a pair of CHSAA boys basketball rivals played possibly the greatest championship game in their organization’s history.
Indoor track: Making a run at history
Alex Hatz of Fayetteville-Manlius set the Nike Indoor Nationals and state record by winning the mile in 4 minutes, 5.50 seconds at Northeastern University’s Reggie Lewis Center on Sunday.
The previous state mark was set by Monroe-Woodbury great John Trautmann and the meet mark was set by Reston, Va., star Alan Webb, who went on to run 3:53.43 outdoors the following year to break Jim Ryun’s all-time U.S. schoolboy record.
Hatz, a University of Wisconsin recruit who underwent abdominal surgery in August that cost him his cross country season, sat back in third place for much of the race before moving on eventual runner-up Kirubel Erassa of Loganville, Ga., Grayson High (4:07.28).
"Alex ran the perfect tactical race," F-M coach Bill Aris told The Post-Standard. "He stayed patiently behind the two leaders until it was time to go. He went 2:05 for the first half-mile and came home in two-flat according to my watch. He was picking up speed the whole last lap — his closing 800 meters was 28-flat."
The fact that he took down Webb's meet record will ramp up talk that Hatz, the reigning state outdoor 1,600-meter champion, can make a run at a sub-4:00 mile outdoors. Just before he ran the No. 3 indoor mile ever, Roslyn senior Emily Lipari climbed to No. 4 on the all-time girls list by winning her mile in 4:42.64, another meet record.
Basketball: They could have played all day
Junior guard T.J. Curry's only points of the game, a layup with 40 seconds to go in the third overtime, held up as Christ the King (Middle Village) edged Bishop Loughlin (Brooklyn) 81-78 in the CHSAA Class AA intersectional title game.
It was believed to be the first triple-OT final in the event's 83-year history and advanced the Royals to the Federation tournament semifinals March 27 against Half Hollow Hills West or Rochester East in Glens Falls.
"It was the best game I’ve ever played in my life," Maurice Barrow told The New York Post after scoring 24 points and grabbing 13 rebounds. "I’ve never played in a three-overtime game in my life."
Curry’s layup came after Anthony Givens tied the score at 78 for Bishop Loughlin. "As soon as I saw them score the basket, I looked at the clock and said, 'I gotta go, I can’t waste no time,'" he said. "I brought it up the court and I saw it, it was right there in front of me."
Kareem Canty tied the game late in the first OT and Bishop Loughlin led 76-72 with :24 left in the second extra session before CTK's Kareem Thomas made a 3-pointer with :14.3 left and Barrow made a free throw with :09.6 remaining.
Christ the King was minus junior point guard Corey Edwards, who dislocated his left foot during practice last week. Villanova recruit Jayvaughn Pinkston scored a game-high 34 points and grabbed eight rebounds for Loughlin.
It was a great day for CTK all around, as the girls basketball team knocked off St. Michael’s Academy 61-48 in their final to get back to the Class AA Federation tournament for the first time in four years. Ariel Edwards and Nia Oden scored 19 apiece for the Royals to offset 22 from McDonald's All-American Jennifer O'Neill, who was playing with a sore right ankle.
Hockey: Climbing out of a steep hole
West Genesee capped a 25-0 season with a 3-0 victory against Saratoga in the NYSPHSAA Division I hockey final in Utica on Sunday. Adam King scored in the first period and Anthony Militello made 11 saves for the Wildcats' 15th shutout of the season and their first state championship since 2001.
On Saturday, West Genesee pulled off an amazing rally in the semifinals by scoring twice in the final 31 seconds of regulation and then advancing when Casey Schattner scored a power-play goal 4:24 into overtime for a 4-3 triumph against a Suffern squad riding a 21-game winning streak.
The Wildcats, ranked No. 1 all season by the New York State Sportswriters Association, lost a triple-OT game to Massena in 2008 and a semifinal to unbeaten and eventual state champ Greece Athena/Odyssey last March.
"We had to give it everything we had left in the tank," Schattner told The Observer-Dispatch. "We didn't want to leave Utica upset again."
West Genesee coach Frank Colabufo pulled Militello for an extra attacker with 1:39 left in regulation. Senior Zach Lewis scored with :31 left, and a tripping penalty with 17 second to play opened the door for Tim Bubnack's goal with :07.2 remaining. In OT, the Wildcats kill off a Suffern power play early before Lewis and King set up Schattner's gamer to send West Genesee up against Saratoga the following day.
Odds and ends
* Maple Grove senior Chris Secky scored 24 points in a win vs. Houghton in the NYSPHSAA boys Class D basketball quarterfinals, sending him over 2,000 points for his career.
* UConn-bound guard Bria Hartley from North Babylon has been named the Gatorade New York Player of the Year for the second straight season. Hartley averaged 28.8 points per game as a senior, scoring 51 in her career finale. She finished with 1,978 career points.
* The New York State High School Hockey Coaches Association released its annual all-state team, which features trios of first-team picks from West Genesee and New Hartford.
Suffern junior forward Jake Jaeger is the only first-team non-senior in Division I. He's joined by West Genesee defender Ryan Michel and forwards Erich Haney and Zach Lewis; Canton goalie Dakota Sharp; Suffern defender Kevin Norwin; and Saratoga forward Cody Nizolek.
The Division II first team includes the New Hartford trio of defender Chris Luker and forwards Clayton Whittemore and Jason Fitzgerald. The other honorees are defender Anthony Soprano and forward Kevin Valenti, both of Queensbury, and Webster Thomas forward Matthew Casillo and Ogdensburg goalie Chris Harper. Valenti is the only junior.
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.
