By John Schiano
MaxPreps.com
No one would have faulted Luke Houston if he had decided not to suit up Thursday for Pearl River’s boys basketball game against Hastings. After all, that was the day his mother, Liz, had been buried after a five-year struggle with scleroderma, a chronic autoimmune illness that took her life five days earlier.
But rather than sit this out, the son of a legendary West Point sports hero rose to the occasion and displayed unimaginable poise and maturity in his first varsity start. Houston drained his first three shots – two of them from beyond the arc – and scored 13 points to highlight a 69-66 victory in overtime. It was a performance that’s gained national attention in the last few days, with ESPN radio talk show host Michael Kay among those giving the story a lengthy mention.
Luke's dad, Kevin – an NCAA Division I scoring champion in 1987 as a senior at the U.S. Military Academy – and uncle, Jerry Jr., played for Pearl River, and Jerry Jr. is now the varsity coach (assisted by his father). Liz cheered there in her younger days and witnessed hundreds of games in the Pearl River gym while rooting for her family members.
With one game already having been postponed last week, Pearl River turned down an offer from Hastings coach Dennis Hurley to reschedule Thursday's game. It turned out to be a great decision for reasons beyond the final score.
Indoor Track: Lancaster Ace Launches Another Record
Lancaster junior Melissa Kurzdorfer has set yet another New York state class record in the indoor shot put, this time throwing 47 feet, 9 inches to finish second the Dartmouth Relays.
Kurzdorfer's progression of records began with 37-3.75 as a seventh-grader, 40-2 in eighth grade and 45-5.5 in ninth grade. She put the exclamation mark on her sophomore season with a 46-6.75 effort last March at Section VI's state qualifier.
Next on her to-do list? Grand Island's Stacey Schroeder holds the overall state record of 48-3 as a senior in 1992.
Also at Dartmouth, Kellenberg's sprint medley relay team of Colleen Meenan, Kelsey Gardner, Candace Gibson and Kim McKay ran 4:15.53 to edge Colonie by a tenth of a second and destroy the school record of 4:21.07.
More Weekend Wonders
Sarah Johnson's 39 points broke a Carthage single-game record set by current coach Randi Smith 22 years ago and highlighted a 60-34 girls basketball victory over New Hartford. Johnson added 17 rebounds.
Sophomore Brennen Campbell scored the last five points of the game and 19 overall as Perry's boys beat Geneseo in triple overtime, 69-63. Jeremy Kingston hit a 3-pointer with eight seconds left in regulation for Geneseo, and Perry's Keith Collings (15 points, 15 rebounds) hit a basket with :07 left in the second OT to extend the game.
Senior Korye Hollingsworth scored 20 of his career-high 34 points in the third quarter to lead Roosevelt over Manhasset, 76-62.
Gloversville Coach Don Landrio posted his 400th career coaching victory with a 72-52 win over Hudson Falls not quite 15 years after winning his 200th against the same opponent by a remarkably similar 71-53 margin. Landrio was 60-7 in three seasons at Canajoharie and is 240-160 in 23 years at Gloversville, including 10-1 with a No. 22 state ranking in Class A this winter.
“I have been at this a long time and have had a lot of great athletes who have played and worked hard as a team and I think that is a credit to our kids in Gloversville," he told The Leader-Herald.
Canandaigua Changing Leagues After All
A month after turning thumbs down on the idea, Monroe County Athletic League athletic directors have granted Canandaigua an associate membership for 2009-2010.
Dennis Fries, executive director of the league, said realignment of schools along geographic lines made the change of heart possible.
“Canandaigua is the furthest east team that Monroe County teams would have to travel to," he told The Daily Messenger. "And we are currently in an economic climate where all of the schools are looking to save money any way they can. We made some accommodations with league alignments and those traveling concerns in mind."
With Canandaigua (BEDS number of 1,047 this year) and Victor (862) gone to the MCAL a year apart, the Finger Lakes League's largest schools are Wayne for football (682) and Newark (670) in other sports.
Former Football All-Star Dies in Fire
A Staten Island fire killed two former athletes over the weekend. Brothers Sha-ron and Seandale Gutter were found dead inside the home after the blaze was extinguished.
Sha-ron Gutter was a third-team all-state member of Curtis' 2002 PSAL championship team. He led Staten Island as a senior with 23 touchdowns and was second with 1,428 rushing yards, including 106 in a 30-6 win over Fort Hamilton in the PSAL title game.
Seandale Gutter ran track at Port Richmond.
Cross Country: Section V Class D Star Transfers
There was likely already going to be a state-meet showdown between Pearl River, Shoreham-Wading River and defending champion East Aurora for the girls Class B cross country championship next fall.
With news that Bloomfield's Amanda Moreland, third in Class D a year ago, transferred last month, you can add traditionally strong Honeoye Falls-Lima to the mix.
"The tradition of HF-L appealed to me,” she told the Democrat and Chronicle. “They always do well at the big meets, and I'd always been a little jealous of them because they're such a great school with great teams. For me, it's wonderful. I love the feeling of my team and how we all push each other to get better and improve."
Moreland, who skied as a "team of one" while training with Pittsford last season, joins the top nordic program in Section V, the foundation for Honeoye Falls-Lima’s record seven straight New York State Public High School Athletic Association cross country championships beginning in the fall of 1998.
Assuming all of the current underclassmen return and perform comparably to last year, HF-Lima would seem to hold a very slight edge over Pearl River and four-time defending Class B champion East Aurora next fall, with Shoreham-Wading River a very competitive fourth.
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.
