Newark senior Alyssa Fenyn has earned first-team all-state honors in girls basketball from the New York State Sportswriters Association for the third straight year.
Fenyn, a guard-forward who was a sixth-team pick as a freshman, was also selected the player of the year in Class A after completing her career with 2,499 points. Fenyn will attend Virginia Tech in the fall.
She is one of just five repeat first-team selections spread across five classes. The two-time picks are Buffalo Nichols senior guard Kaitlin Donohoe and Averill Park junior guard-forward Katie Duma in Class A, and Sherman senior forward Rachel Ottaway and Davenport junior forward Sam Meyerhoff in Class D.
Joining Fenyn as players of the year are two other girls who also led their teams to New York State Public High School Athletic Association championships last month in Glens Falls: senior guard Porshe Gavin of Nazareth Academy in Rochester (Class C) and junior guard Taylor Leonard of Coleman Catholic (Class D).
The other players of the year are senior guards China Crosby of Manhattan Center (Class AA) and Porsha Postell of Woodlands (Class B).
Apache Paschall (center) of St. Michael's Academy is the coach of the year.
Photo by Lonnie Webb
Apache Paschall, whose St. Michael's Academy girls dethroned longtime New York City powers Christ the King and Murry Bergtraum on the way to a Federation championship, was selected coach of the year in Class AA.
The other coaches of the year are Diane Kirnie (Newark. Class A), Carlos Fidalgo (Nanuet, B), Chris Belmont (Nazareth, C) and Guy Leonard (Coleman Catholic, D). Fidalgo’s squad earned NYSPHSAA and Federation championships in Glens Falls. Kirnie, Belmont and Leonard brought home NYSPHSAA titles.
The full list of first-team selections:
Class AA
G -- China Crosby, sr., Manhattan Center-PSAL
F -- Shukurah Washington, jr., Murry Bergtraum-PSAL
G -- Jennifer O’Neil, jr., St. Michael’s Academy-CHSAA
G -- Shanee Williams, sr., Murry Bergtraum-PSAL
G -- Ieasia Walker, sr., Copiague-IX
Class A
G -- Alaina Walker, sr., Albertus Magnus-I
F -- Tori Jarosz, jr., Lakeland-I
G/F -- Katie Duma, jr., Averill Park-II
G/F -- Alyssa Fenyn, sr., Newark-V
G -- Kaitlin Donohoe, sr., Buffalo Nichols-AIS
Class B
G -- Porsha Postell, sr., Woodlands-I
G -- Maggie Blair, sr., Briarcliff-I
G -- Lauren Kahn, jr., Nanuet-I
F -- K.C. Jentzen, jr., Nanuet-I
G -- Madie Harlem, sr., Oneonta-IV
Class C
F -- Carolyn Houston, sr., Hoosic Valley-II
F -- Hannah Kimmel, soph., Harpursville-IV
G -- Porsche Gavin, sr., Nazareth Academy-V
C -- Marcy Manning, sr., Avon-V
G -- Rebecca Monteith, sr., Tuxedo-IX
Class D
F -- Sam Meyerhoff, jr., Davenport-IV
G -- Tara Bailey, sr., Clymer-VI
F -- Rachel Ottaway, sr., Sherman-VI
G -- Taylor Leonard, jr., Coleman Catholic-IX
G/F -- Cassie Cunningham, sr., Hammond-X
Lacrosse: More information than ever now available
MaxPreps.com and LaxLessons.com are now collaborating to provide lots of new statistics and content for coaches, players and fans in New York. LaxLessons.com has begun maintaining data for boys and girls teams in Westchester, Putnam, Rockland, Dutchess, Nassau and Suffolk counties utilizing MaxPrep software and content widgets. That makes scores and statistics readily available to fans, players and coaches.
LaxLessons.com was developed by former Somers and Loyola (Md.) players Jordan and Ryan Rabidou. Joe Lombardi, previously the local sports editor of The Journal News in White Plains, is blogging extensively for the site. Lombardi was named man of the year in 2008 by the Lacrosse Coaches Association of Section 1.
Football: Benefit for injured Sweet Home player a success
More than 450 people showed up at Classics V Restaurant in Amherst for a weekend fundraiser for Sweet Home football player DeShanaro Morris, who suffered a spinal injury in a December car accident, The Buffalo News reported.
Proceeds will be used to assist the Morris family with medical expenses. Morris, who ran for 1,500 yards, scored 25 touchdowns and made 137 tackles for Sweet Home’s state Class A championship team last fall en route to second-team all-state honors as a junior, is undergoing outpatient rehab therapy at Erie County Medical Center and is now able to walk short distances with assistance.
"He’s got major movement on the left-hand side, in the lower extremities on the left-hand side," Sweet Home administrator Rob McDow told the newspaper. "It’s his right side that hasn’t fired up as much. He has total movement in his hips. Everything above his hips is perfectly fine. And his left leg, not too many major issues. He doesn’t have a ton of strength in it yet but we foresee him -- and the doctors have said that -- he will someday walk again."
More football
* Players from Richfield Springs and Mohawk will be on the same team next fall after the Richfield school board voted to approve a merger. Richfield Springs, 0-7 last fall, has suffered from low turnouts in recent years, often barely meeting the minimum state requirement of 16 varsity players. Mohawk qualified for the Section 3 Class D playoffs and finished 4-4 in 2008.
Richfield Springs' wrestling program combined with Mohawk this past winter.
* Monroe-Woodbury football player D.J. Young, who thought he had a Division I scholarship lined up at Eastern Michigan, will now play cornerback on full scholarship for Division II C.W. Post.
Young had made a verbal commitment last summer, but Eastern Michigan coach Jeff Genyk was fired after the season and was replaced by Ron English, who didn't honor the scholarship commitment. Young hadn't yet signed scholarship papers, so he was left without any recourse, The Times Herald-Record reported.
"They told me they weren't honoring it, but that they still were looking at me and that they would get back to me," Young told the paper. "I never heard back from them."
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.
