Batavia's Mary Zinni is just a freshman, but might very well be the best player on the Hilbert College basketball team.
The team is 0-12, but Zinni has started all 12 contests and is averaging a team-leading 8.7 points per game and 32 minutes per game. She is also pulling down 4.7 rebounds per game.
The most recent loss was a 68-29 defeat at the hands of Mount Aloysius College.
Byron-Bergen grad Pete Loney is still a major part of the Daemen basketball team, which now has an 11-2 record.
Loney - a senior forward - is averaging 7.2 and 1.5 rebounds per game. He has started 3 of 13 games and is averaging 15.6 minutes per contest.
Daemen has moved up to No. 14 in the NCAA Division III poll and will be hosting Houghton Tuesday night.
Houghton is 4-8 overall.
Thanks to Lindsay Warner for submitting the following info on the Genesee Region League Cheerleading Tournament. We would love to have some color to go with this recap, so if you've got photos or video of this event, please post it to the site or contact me by e-mail so we can get it posted.
This weekend the JV and varsity cheerleading squads of the Genesee Region League gathered for their annual tournament. The competition travels to a different host school every few years and this year was the first for Elba High School and Michelle Merrill, their head coach.
The competition is run much like Winter Cheerleading Sectionals in that each team performs twice on the mat- once in a cheer only round and than again using the tradition cheer/dance routine. Grand Champion is determined by the squad who carries the highest total score. Since the inception of this competition that score belonged to the Holley Hawks- that is until this weekend.
Notre Dame has competed in this tournament for years and since Coach Lindsay (Rapone) Warner began coaching, grand champion was set as the ultimate goal. Holley High School, who is class B2 with nearly twice as many squad members, doesn’t make for much of a fair fight. This year Notre Dame has 14 members, 6 of which are new additions to the varsity team from last year. Nevertheless, Notre Dame was able to top Holley’s squad of 27 by 6 points in Round One which was very exciting for the squad as a last second decision was made to throw out the original cheer and learn a completely new one less than a week before the day’s performance. Overall the Irish stole grand champion by 4 points.
“My team was aware that the odds were against us in our goal to get grand champ. Holley is a great competitor and is well known for their themed routines, which this year, was Legally Blonde,” coach Lindsay Warner. The squad worked very hard to prepare for this competition, including two full practices before each of their games this week. The girls wanted it and their efforts certainly paid off. Assistant coach, Sheri Girvin, who is an alumni of Holley High School and former recipient of Grand Champion as a Hawk joined the Irish last year and was thrilled to receive Grand Champion again, now as a Notre Dame coach.
Squad captains are Stacy Squire, Kristen Francis, and Lauren DiFante, two of which are seniors and are very hopeful that this is just the start of a very successful final season for them at Notre Dame.
JV CHEER DI- Holley 177, Attica 173, Alexander 170; DII- Kendall 137
JV CHEER/DANCE DI- Holley 179,Attica 169, Alexander 156; DII Kendall 150
Varsity CHEER DI-Holley 184, Attica 179, Alexander 174, Oakfield 109; DII Notre Dame 190, Elba 173, Kendall 157, Lyndonville 150
Varsity CHEER/DANCE DII- Notre Dame 185, Kendall 166, Elba 164, Lyndonville 146
The Genesee Lancers (Chilano) took hom the Medina U19 tournament title with a 3-1 win over Alexander in the final game. The Lancers scored seconds into the final to take a 1-0 lead. Alexander scored a few minutes after that to knot the score at one a piece. The Lancers would score just before the midway mark to make the score 2-1. Just after the mdiway mark the Lancers scored a 3rd goal to go ahead 3-1 which was the final score. It was a very competitive final game with some great soccer to watch. Both teams moved the ball well and had some great chances on goal.
During the earlier games of the tournament Alexander clinched the top seed with a 3-0 record with a 1-0 win over the Lancers (Hein), a 3-1 win over the YMCA/ND team and a 1-0 win over Gananda. The Lancers (Chilano) earned the #2 seed with wins over GVBBSC and Attica and a loss to Albion. Albion was the #3 seed with a win over the Lancers (Chilano), a tie against Attica, and a loss to GVBBSC. The Lancers (Hein) earned the 4th seed with a loss to Alexander, a tie against Gananda, and a win over the YMCA/ND team. Gananda had a solid day as well with a tie against the Lancers (Hein), a win over YMCA/ND, and a loss to Alexander. The Lancers (Hein) earned the 4th seed thanks to a slight tiebreaker advantage over Gananda.
In the 1st round of the playoffs the Lancers (Chilano) avenged their loss to Albion with a 3-0 win in the 1st semi-final game. Alexander knocked off the Lancers (Hein) 2-0 to earn their spot in the final.
Alexander's roster included sophomores goal keeper Hannah Wilson, sophomore defenders Savannah VanSon, Summer Bliss, and Claire Hartl, sophomore midfielders Tessa Bigelow and Autumn Atkinson, sophomore forwards Kylie Bank, Amber Finan, and Ashley Szymanski, and 8th grade defender Gabby Kwiatek.
The S.C. Genesee Lancers United ladies u19 team went to Medina and took first place in the Medina YMCA U19G tourney on January 11.
The ladies got off to a slow start dropping a 1-0 decision to a very good Albion team. But the Lancers would bounce right back with a dominating 4-0 win over Attica. Emilie Rath (Medina H.S.) scored twice, while Emily Starowitz (FLCC/Bergen HS) and Lindsay Wellspeak (FLCC/Alexander HS) each had a goal. Julia Medwid (SUNY Fredonia/Alexander HS) chipped in with 2 assists, and Starowitz and Brittany Luckey (Leroy HS) each had one. Leslie George (GCC/Alexander HS) had the first of 3 shutouts on the day on goal.
Game three saw the Lancers defeat York 2-0 behind goals by Luckey (unassisted) and Jessie Jaszko (GCC/Batavia HS), and some fine saves by George in goal to preserve the shutout. Wellspeak assisted on Jaszko's goal.
In the semifinals, the Lancers got their rematch with Albion and defeated them 2-0 as Wellspeak scored off a great pass by Jaszko, and Luckey would take a great pass by Wellspeak to score and lead the way.
In the championship game, the Lancers defeated Alexander 3-1. Jaszko got the Lancers quickly on the board off a Wellspeak assist. A very well organized Alexander team would tie the game up, but Wellspeak would notch 2 goals to ice the win and the title. Jenna Ferrando (GCC/Leroy HS) and Audrey Rath (Alfred State/Medina HS) led a great defense all day - Great job ladies!!!
The Attica wrestling program is definitely one of the tops in the area, and they flexed their muscles yesterday at the 34th annual Robert Bradshaw Memorial Invitational Saturday.
The tournament didn't wrap up until 10 p.m. last night, but Attica wound up on top of the team standings, finishing ahead of many of the biggest and best schools from in and out of Section 5.
Bradshaw Top 20
Attica, 187
Rush-Henrietta, 174
Northport, 165.5
Queensbury, 145
Batavia, 140.5
Guilderland, 130
Canandaigua, 129
Churchville-Chili, 119
Brockport, 117.5
Greene, 108
Newark, 95
Gates Chili, 78
Geneva, 71
Irondequoit, 68
Byron-Bergen, 67
Webster Schroeder, 67
Bishop Kearney, 66.5
Palmyra-Macedon, 66
Waterloo, 62
Livonia, 56
“We were hoping to pick up a top five,” head coach Eric Romesser told the Daily Messanger, “but I didn’t expect to win. I’m happy to squeak it out.”
Lance Compton surprised everybody and won the 125-pound weight class and sectional contender Luke Pariso surprised nobody with a 171-pound title, beating Byron-Bergen's Zack Green 9-0 in the finals. Vinnie Napierski and Doug Beitz had second place finishes.
Batavia also had a champion in Ryan Darch, who beat his teammate Troy Ireland 6-1 in the finals.
You can see the complete results here.
Batavia came away with the win in the local hockey rivalry.
The Blue Devils beat Notre Dame 4-2 and improve to 7-6.
Erik Pokornowski and Corey Kocent had two goals each, with Pokornowski scoring the final goal with just over two minutes left in regulation.
Patt Finnell dished out three assists and Brandon Polito had two helpers.
Dylan Versage and Jordan DiFilipo had the goals for Notre Dame, which were both assisted by Tyler Kessler.
With the amount of students dropping at local schools, I have a thought that within the next few years we might start seeing more schools combine their programs.
The current BEDS numbers are an indication that our area schools are getting smaller and smaller. Most of our schools are Class C or D as it is right now, and there has been a rumor flying around that Attica is dropping from a B to a C next year.
I just confirmed that the Blue Devils will be playing in Class C next season, but just for football. It will probably be for all sports the year after next.
"I think it's good and it gives us an opportunity to see some different teams," Attica coach Jeff Cusmano said. "I don't think Class C is any easier (for sectionals). You still have your teams like Le Roy, Pembroke and Letchworth, but from a physical standpoint it may help us out."
This year's graduating class at Attica is 147 and Cusmano's son is in third grade, where there are only 100 kids in the class. So enrollment is going to keep dropping in Attica.
Playing in Class C is no cake-walk as Cusmano said, but will give the Blue Devils a better chance to compete. Attica has only won two sectional games in its history, playing in Class B. They knocked off East Rochester/Gananda for the second this year, but then were destroyed by Bath.
"When we go into a Class B playoff game, you have to be able to match up and we couldn't do that with Bath," Cusmano said. "You have teams like Geneva and Hornell that are (larger schools) and pretty tough. We will be able to better match up in sectionals."
With the amount of Class D schools we are going to have in the Genesee Region League and Livingston Conference, is it possible that teams are going to have to merge sports so that there are enough Class C schools to compete.
This past year we saw Elba and Byron-Bergen combine their football program, and it is likely that more athletic teams will be hooking up from those two schools.
Oakfield-Alabama and Pembroke were Class C this year, but both are expected to be Class D very soon.
Section 5 has the most amount of Class D schools in the state, and I'm just wondering if we are going to see more merging. As it is right now, Class D plays one less regular season game because they have to be divided into two classes, and have a playoff after sectionals to see which team moves on to states.
There is currently talk of making the Class D sectionals just a four team competition and allowing schools to play a full seven week regular season. While other classes have eight schools in the playoffs, Class D would only get four teams.
Will Oakfield-Alabama and Pembroke combine programs so that they can compete in Class C or even be a small B school? Caledonia-Mumford has been moved down to Class D and enrollment keeps dropping, so are they going to join up with another school so they can play in an eight team playoff?
This may or may not happen, but with Class D becoming so overloaded, I think we are going to see some major changes in Section 5 football in the near future.
Peanut butter and jelly - words you hear together a lot. Add Andrew Hoy and box-and-one to that mix.
Teams are figuring out his ability to score and are trying to take him out of games. Other players stepped up and Batavia beat host Eastridge 55-43 Friday.
"Other guys need to step up," said coach Buddy Brasky. "More teams are going to focus on Andrew. It took some time, but kids stepped up."
Andrew still scored a game-high 15 points, but brother Marcus was the star as he helped the Blue Devils turn a 34-31 halftime lead into a big win.
Marcus scored all 14 of his points in the second half and also had seven assists and five rebounds.
"They were taking away Andrew and Robert (Hoy) so Marcus started going to the basket and scoring. He got some and-1s and some threes. He came up big," Brasky said.
Batavia improves to 8-1.
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Kevin Francis went off for Notre Dame as the Fighting Irish whooped Byron-Bergen 75-46.
The senior had 24 points with 10 dimes and eight steals as ND improves to 7-1.
Greg Barr added 17 points with Vinny Zambito chipping in 10.
Bryan White reached double figures with 12 points for the Bees.
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A tight game turned into a blowout as Andrew Wright scored 12 of his 16 points in the second half to lead Pembroke to a 57-41 victory over Elba.
Ken Babcock had 13 points, Steve Moser had 12 and Kyle Stocking had nine for the Dragons (5-4).
Phil Ostroski and Sonny Giuliano had 10 each for the Lancers.
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Tate Westermeier led the way with 14 points as Attica beat Lyndonville 43-31. Bryan Thompson had 13 and Shawn Dupuis added eight. Matt Sheffield had 11 rebounds.
Nobody reached double figures for the Tigers.
Attica is now 5-3.
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Notre Dame thumped Byron-Bergen 59-39 in girls action as Jill Marshall scored 20 points with 14 rebounds and five dimes. Brittany Morelli added 10 points for the Fighting Irish.
Krista Lougheed had 11 points for the Bees.
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Elba rebounded from a tough loss to Geneseo with a 53-42 win over Pembroke.
Rachael Cook had a double-double with 12 points and 11 boards and Sarah Schwartzmeyer added 11 points. Julie Marshall had eight points for the Lancers (8-2).
Kelsey Lewis had 12 points for the Dragons (5-4).
The Batavia girls basketball team is not getting any votes in the New York State Sportswriters poll or the Democrat & Chronicle poll.
But after Brittany Wormley had a career night, leading the Blue Devils to a 46-34 win over Eastridge in a Monroe County League game. The win means Batavia is now 9-1, and would be shocked to not be ranked in the next state poll.
But Friday night was all about Wormley.
The junior guard couldn't miss. She scored a career-high 20 points, with 18 of them coming on jump shots.
It wasn't exactly a pretty game early on and the Blue Devils were on their way towards an upset loss.
Batavia was giving the Lancers many second, and third chance shot opportunities in the first half. It was 7-7 at the end of the first quarter.
Eastridge actually led 17-16 at the half as Kaela Trifiro was controlling the paint and scored a pair of buckets.
The Batavia press turned things around in the third quarter. Well, that and the 10 points Wormley scored in the frame. Batavia had opened up a 35-26 lead by the end of the third period.
Eastridge got the game within seven points in the fourth quarter, but Wormley had a basket, Jaycee Shirk hit a pair of foul shots and Shaun-Della Williams hit a free throw to wrap up the victory.
Shirk and Brittany Mazurkiewiecz had eight points each.
Almost two years ago, Section 5 Basketball officially closed a small message board on its Web site.
So a small group of die-hard local sports fans - including myself - created a forum site, so that local sports fans can talk about their sport of choice. That site was named Section 5 Talksback.
The hits grew and grew and the registered members kept coming. The site hit a milestone this morning as member No. 2,000 registered.
That member is local, using the screen name leroyfootball00.
Local sports fans know that The Batavian and Talksback are the only two real sources to get the in-depth information you won't get by traditional media, like television stations and the newspaper.
Talksback is also having a big contest where local fans can win a free pizza party. So local fans should get their video camera out and show how good local basketball cheering sections are.
While no area boys made the all-state teams, we had a few local girls make the all-state teams.
Batavia's Angela Jarvela made the fourth team for Class B.
Holley's Kristina Martin is on the fourth team for Class C and Oakfield-Alabama's Kim Mills made the first team in Class D.
The newest boys basketball state rankings are out.
Batavia is the 20th ranked team in the state in Class A with a 7-1 record. The Blue Devils have big a game at Eastridge tomorrow then big games with Greece Odyssey and Brighton next week.
Oakfield-Alabama fell to 15th in Class C after a loss in the opening round of the Cal-Mum Tournament.
Notre Dame is 5-1 - with a loss to Batavia in the Lions Club finals - and received a No. 6 ranking in Class D.
Mike Humphrey and Travis Fenstermaker from Le Roy, Chris Williams and Tim Smith from Oakfield-Alabama and Shawn Dupuis from Attica all made all-state from our area, but there is a lot of debate going on on Section 5 Talksback. Just in case you are interested in jumping in on the conversation on players you think should have made it.
Here is the thread for Class B.
Here is the thread for Class C.
Here is the thread for Class D.
The Section 5 rankings were just released and we have several local individuals that are ranked high in their perspective weight classes.
Batavia's Ryan Darch is the top ranked grappler at 160 pounds and Pembroke's Graham Jensen is tops at 189 pounds.
There are many others ranked in the top five in Section 5 through the different weight classes, which can be checked out here.
Batavia wrestling coach Rick Stewart figured the school uniforms were coming for state competition. But he thinks the possible $300 charge for Empire State Games participants is going to kill the event.
"It is what it is, but I think there must be another way the state can raise money," Stewart said. "As a coach, if my kid were to make Empires, and it cost $300 to get uniforms and stuff when it was free before, I would still encourage him to do it."
Stewart agrees with most that the hefty cost will deter many athletes from even trying out for the games, but has a good idea on how to keep the numbers up for the scholastic grapplers.
" There is an adult (open) and kids (scholastic) competition," Stewart said. "I would be more than willing to say that the state should furnish the kids, but once you are an adult and have your own job and make money, you can pay to participate - split it in half rather than everybody paying for it. When you are an adult, it is a hobby for you."
As far as schools wearing their own singlets for the state competition and the possibility of having just one champion, Stewart believes New York State is the only one that still has team uniforms for each section - and that small school wrestlers can compete with the big schools.
"Back when I was in school, that's how it was," Stewart said of having a single state champion in each weight class. "I don't think it makes that big of a deal in wrestling. It makes all the difference in the world, but it matters in dual meets. A school like Spencerport or Fairport has twice the number of kids to fill their weight classes."
The Blue Devils are 14-5 and have several potential sectional champions that could contend for a state title.
The Batavia girls basketball team won the Rotary Tournament with a 49-36 win over Pavilion in the finals.
It is the third tournament title for the Blue Devils this season.
Jaycee Shirk won the MVP, dropping in 12 points with eight rebounds and six blocks.
Stacey Hein had four points and seven blocks and Brittany Mazurkiewiecz made the all-tournament team with six points.
Brittany Wormley had 10 points.
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The Batavia boys crushed Kenmore West 65-36 as Dakota Irvin scored the first 10 points of the game and finished with 10 points.
Robert Hoy and Joe Schlossel had 12 points each with Adam Pettinella scoring 11 and Andrew Hoy getting 10.
Marcus Hoy had two points and seven assists for Batavia (7-1).
Typically I would give more highlights, but check out http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=SPORTS08
for other results tonight
The New York State Sportswriters Association announced its all-state football team today and we have several players making the team.
All-Greater Rochester first-team selection Mike Humphrey is a first-team wide receiver in Class C. Humphrey caught 63 passes for 892 yards and 15 touchdowns to help lead Le Roy to the Class C title.
Chris Williams had 60 tackles and three sacks and made the first-team on defense for Class C.
Travis Fenstermaker - the Class C Offensive Player of the Year - was named the second-team quarterback for Class C.
Tim Smith was a third-team running back for Class C. The Oakfield-Alabama senior rushed for 771 yards and 11 touchdowns this season. The only loss by the Hornets came against Le Roy in the sectional finals.
Attica wide receiver Shawn Dupuis made third-team all-state in Class B after catching 26 passes for 530 yards and six touchdowns.
There was a conference call this morning between the leaders of the New York State Public High School Athletic Association, and there could be some very bad changes coming in the near future for New York State athletics.
NYSPHSAA President began the meeting by asking members of different sections for suggestions as the state is having financial problems, like the Empire State Games, which we wrote about yesterday.
Jen Simmons of Section 1 simply noted that the section has changed the number of contests that will be held in Westchester County and will be using higher seeds to cut down the number of teams that play in the sectional tournaments.
Fred Gula of Section 2 and Dawn Field of Section 3 both had a lot of suggestions.
According to the minutes of the meeting:
Fred Gula - Expressed the need to look at quality and not quantity in the NYSPHSAA Championship events.
He had may suggestions, that many will find disturbing.
His first suggestion was that instead of the four-team format for state tournaments, only two teams should be playing for the championship.
Only the elite should be going to the Championships. Possibly restructure brackets so in team sports only two teams in each class go to the Championships.
This basically puts an emphasis on sectional tournaments and instead of teams from all over New York State going to PAETEC Park for the football semifinals, games would be more regionalized. Currently the final four teams play in Rochester and the finals are played at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse.
He also suggested using conference calls for NYSPHSAA meetings and eliminating allowing the Executive and Assistant Directors to travel to state events, to save on travel costs.
Individual sports would take the biggest hits.
Gula suggested getting rid of competitor t-shirts for track and cross country athletes and using numbers to go along with their school outfits.
Wrestling teams have worn singlets for each section for years, and Gula has proposed that in order to save money for the sections, wrestlers should wear their own school uniforms. He also says "individual sports" like skiing, swimming, wrestling and track should no longer be competing against schools their own size.
He sees no difference in a small school vs. a large school. For example, a track athlete from a Class D school like Notre Dame should be competing against an athlete from a Class A school like Rush-Henrietta.
He is also against increasing officials but does suggest that there should be investigations by each section.
Field suggested approving cheerleading as a sport, a move which I fully support. In fact, I'm pretty sure we already consider cheerleading a sport in Section 5.
My problem with Field's suggestion is eliminating the open sectional policy. Instead of all-inclusive tournaments for basketball, baseball and softball, she believes the top 40-percent should only be allowed to compete in the sectional tournaments.
Field is also for cutting down on split class tournaments (Class C1 vs. C2), putting a travel cap for teams playing during sectional competition and sharing bus opportunities for longer trips.
Julie Maney of Section 4's main concern was travel costs for officials while Section 5's Rick Admunson suggested the NYSPHSAA take a leadership role and work with school districts to reduce costs. Mark Ward of Section 6 had similar suggestions as Admunson.
Karen Lopez of Section 7 thinks there should be less NYSPHSAA meetings to reduce costs.
Section 8's Mike Mahoney speaks about a tax cap and a cut in preseason scrimmages. He also says that the state should look into reducing the amount of games each team is allowed to play during a season.
Ed Cinelli of Section 11 would like to see the number of classes in the state tournaments reduced to one. That would mean schools like Elba or Oakfield-Alabama would have no shot to beat teams like Aquinas for state titles. He also wants to reduce the number of athletes participating in individual sports and centralizing sites for state championships.
The financial problems are bad enough that Bob Munn, who is in charge of budget and finance, suggests asking congress for a bail out. He would like to see no changes in the state tournaments over the next two years and believes NYSPHSAA meetings should be done via telephone conference calls or web cam meetings.
Others have similar suggestions to ones already mentioned, but Executive Director Nina Van Erk would like to see a reduction in the number of contestants.
Sports with 24 would be reduced to 20; 20 would go down to 18; 18 would go down to 16.
Wrestling and football tournaments would also see reductions in participation.
The committee very much supports a significant reduction in the NYSPHSAA budget.
Committee members will be seeking imput from local sections and looking for more ways to reduce spending.
The next meeting is scheduled for January 20 at 9 a.m., and will be done via conference call.
Andrew Hoy had a remarkable Batavia Lions Club Tournament, and he earned Monroe County League Division III Player of the Week for that performance.
Hoy had 24 points with seven rebounds in a 76-40 win over Albion in the first round, then followed it up with a 19-point game against Notre Dame in a 59-33 title game victory.
Just a sophomore, Hoy has already been selected to the all-tournament team and now has an MVP. It was Batavia's fifth-straight title.
Oakfield-Alabama's Noah Seward won the honor for Genesee Region League Division 1.
Seward nearly had two double-doubles at the Caledonia-Mumford Tournament. He scored 14 points with nine rebounds in a two-point loss to Marion in the first round and followed it up with a 21-point, 12-board performance in the consolation game, a 68-49 thumping of York. Seward earned all-tournament honors.
Lyndonville's Erick VanWycke is the GR Division II Player of the Week, even though he had two big games in losses.
The 6-foot-5 forward had 28 points and 11 rebounds in a loss to Lima Christian, then dropped in 13 points with 16 boards in a loss to Webster Christian.
Byron-Bergen's Mary Cocking is the girls GR Division I PoW after scoring 20 points with 17 boards in an opening round win over Greece Odyssey, and she added 14 points in a loss to Notre Dame in the finals of the Byron-Bergen Tournament.
ND's Nichole Hart wound up winning the honor for Division II after leading the Fighting Irish to the victory.
She combined for 44 points in wins over Le Roy and Byron-Bergen and was named MVP of the tournament.
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