There’s no need to shut down high school sports in the state at this point, but the head of the New York State Public High School Athletic Association says her organization is watching the swine flu outbreak closely and is ready to take the appropriate actions in light of decisions by officials in Texas and Alabama to suspend competition this week.
"The staff and I are looking at our spring championships to be pro-active rather than reactive," NYSPHSAA Executive Director Nina Van Erk told the New York State Sportswriters Association on Thursday. "We're gathering the facts so that we can make informed decisions."
The H1N1 (or "swine flu") will be discussed Friday and Saturday at a regularly scheduled meeting of the NYPSHAA Executive Committee outside Syracuse, but Van Erk said the organization has not reached the point of needing to suspend schedules or change dates for its championship events. Officials in Texas and Alabama did just that this week, but those states conduct their championships earlier in the spring than New York does.
Fabius-Pompey in Section III apparently became the first NYSPHSAA member to close down its school, calling off classes Thursday and Friday. Maple Grove in Section VI also announced Thursday afternoon that classes and sports were being canceled through the weekend. In New York City, CHSAA member St. Francis Prep has been shut down all week after numerous students came down with flu-like symptoms.
Van Erk has been monitoring those and other developments.
"We will continue to keep the health and safety of our students as the top concern," she said while en route to the Executive Committee meeting. "We will take action as warranted."
For the moment, preparation is the key. The state staff has assembled educational materials to distribute to member schools and Van Erk has also met with Todd Nelson, the NYSPHSAA assistant director who heads the safety committee.
In addition, officials have begun studying agreements they have with facilities scheduled to host state tournaments early next month and checking on the availability of hotel rooms in case playoff dates need to be changed.
Baseball: Home-run ends classic pitchers duel
* Marvin Pawlowski hit a walk-off, opposite-field home run with two outs in the eighth inning to conclude a great pitchers duel and give Grand Island a 1-0 victory over Kenmore East on Wednesday. Grand Island left-hander Joel Klock pitched a no-hitter with 18 strikeouts en route to the win, and Scott Whitehead of Kenmore East threw a three-hitter with 19 strikeouts.
"It was the most dominant pitching performance by two guys that I’ve ever seen,” Grand Island coach Dean Santario told The Buffalo News.
* Oneonta won only two of its first six games but has picked up the pace despite the suspension of several players on April 20 for undisclosed reasons. The Yellowjackets won their fourth straight game on Saturday, 17-7 over South Royalton (Vt.). Freshman Mike Caulkins, an emergency recall from the JVs, homered in his first varsity at-bat to jump-start a seven-run first inning. James Carson won his first varsity start, going four innings.
Softball: And all-around performance
* Jennifer Sansano pitched a perfect game with 18 strikeouts for Clarence in a 7-0 win over Hamburg in ECIC softball. The Junior helped herself with a pair of doubles as Clarence, ranked 11th in Class AA by the New York State Sportswriters Association, improved to 5-0.
* Keio Academy has undoubtedly seen enough of Chelsea Lisikatos. The Haldane sophomore threw her first perfect game en route to a five-inning, 18-0 rout of Keio one day after throwing her third no-hitter of the season against the same opponent. Lisikatos struck out nine in the perfect game a day after fanning 15.
* Maddie Coneys' varsity debut at Troy Catholic Central was a success. The sophomore fired a perfect game during a 6-0 victory against Schenectady and struck out 11 batters.
"In my 27 years of coaching, I swear this is the first perfect game I’ve ever seen," Catholic Central coach Jack O’Grady told The Record in Troy. "This was really something and she was impressive."
* Arlington freshman Samantha Ferris threw her second straight no-hitter during a 5-0 win against Lakeland.
Boys Lacrosse: Corning East stays unbeaten
* Devin Grimaldi's goal with 10:34 to go closed out the scoring and gave Corning East an 8-7 victory in a clash of unbeaten Section IV teams. Grimaldi and Matt Tobia scored hat tricks for Corning East (10-0). The Trojans led 6-3 at halftime, but Ithaca (9-1) scored four goals in the third quarter to force a 7-7 tie. Riley Lasda scored three goals for the Little Red.
"They were very physical, and I don't mean that in a bad sense," East coach Bob Streeten told The Star-Gazette. "We started the game with eight healthy midfielders and finished with about four and a half.”
Girls Lacrosse: Hommel connects for 11 goals
* Makenzie Hommel scored a season-high 11 goals and added an assist to lift Ward Melville over Smithtown East, 24-14. Jenny Granger added four goals and two assists for the Patriots.
Track And Field: New shot put king at Ithaca
* Ithaca's Bryan Small threw 55 feet to break Gary Hunter's 39-year-old school record in the shot put at the Waverly Invitational, where the Little Red won both team titles on Saturday. Hunter, whose 1970 mark was 53-6, coaches throwers for the Little Red.
* Schuylerville sophomore Sarah Palmer, the state indoor champ, tied the meet record at the 38th Schenectady Invitational by clearing 5-6 in the high jump.
Boys Tennis: Perry team hits the century mark
Perry won its 100th consecutive match dating to June 6, 2001, with a 5-0 sweep of Warsaw in Livingston County action. The Yellowjackets are 5-0 this season.
According to the National Federation, Long Island power Bay Shore won 173 in a row from 1965-74 and the PSAL's Cardozo High won 141 straight from 1987-94.
Some 29 players have taken part in the streak for Rick Steiner, who is in his 27th season as coach.
Ten added to NYSPHSAA Hall of Fame
Daryl "Moose" Johnston, who led Lewiston-Porter to Section VI football championships in 1982 and ’83 before going on to ply for Syracuse University and the Dallas Cowboys, will be among 10 people inducted into the New York State Public High School Athletic Association Hall of Fame on Aug. 6.
The seventh annual induction ceremony will take place at the Crowne Plaza in Lake Placid.
The class also includes administrators Theodore A. Bondi (Section V), Jack D. Jones (Sec. IV), Ronald A. Montalto (Sec. IX) and Bernie O’Brien (Sec. VIII); coaches Gary Montalto (Arlington boys soccer), James A. Pinkerton (Ogdensburg football, baseball and volleyball), Howard C. Vogts (Bethpage football); girls basketball great Susan Wicks of Center Moriches and official Robert M. Garrow (Sec. VII).
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
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