Boys Basketball
Girls Basketball
Hockey
The Fighting Irish traveled to Geneseo Tuesday night to take on Geneseo-Livonia. Notre Dame dominated the first two periods, entering the third with a 2-0 lead. Geneseo rallied a comeback attempt in the third, but despite several scoring opportunities were unable to overcome the two-point deficit, leading to a 2-1 victory for the Fighting Irish.
Photos by Destin Danser Photography. Click here to view more or purchase prints.
Boys Basketball
Girls Basketball
We've not reported on the dismissal of Rick Rapone as head coach of the Le Roy boys varsity basketball, a story first reported by Batavia's Best, in part because we wanted to try and get a better idea of what happened.
We checked with sources and couldn't get even a hint of what might have happened and the school never replied to an email seeking comment or even confirmation.
Today, another news outlet threatened to boycott coverage of the Le Roy High School athletic program because reporters and editors there feel the school district hasn't been forthcoming with information and they expect the school to apologize for firing Rapone.
Though some might like us to join such a boycott, we are not going to engage in such theatrics.
So, we will continue to cover Le Roy athletics in the same manner and frequency we always have (which is to make it part of our rotation of coverage of trying to provide some coverage to all the schools with our limited resources).
NOTE: As a matter of transparency, I read the column in question at about 12:30. There's a timestamp on it now that it was last updated at about 1 p.m., I posted this just before 4 p.m., but, frankly, did not think at that time to check to see if the column had been altered. The threat to boycott coverage has been removed.
The visiting Pembroke Dragons defeated the Oakfield Hornets Monday in a game that was hard fought to the bitter end. The first half ended tied at 26 and both teams traded baskets through the second half, leading to a 57-57 tie with less than 30 seconds remaining in the game. Pembroke went on to score two points with just over 20 seconds left on the clock, followed by a huge stop on defense to secure the Dragons' victory.
Leading scorers for Pembroke were #15 Kyle Ludwig (pictured above) with 14 points, and #10 Ried Miano (pictured below) with 13 points.
Photos by Destin Danser Photography. Click here to view more and purchase photos.
Batavia High School senior Lexi Wahr took First Place in the individual routine competition this weekend at the Empire Cheer Competition. She competed against 15 other cheerleaders and had the highest all-around score. The individual routine is judged on jumps, dance and cheer.
Info and photo submitted.
Press release:
The Batavia Ramparts Squirt Travel Hockey Team won Bronze competing in the Empire State Winter Games in Lake Placid this last weekend.
The team is made up of 9- and 10-year-olds from the Batavia area.
They include; Owen Bentley, Bronx Buchholz, Chase Cummings, Francesco Falleti, Jake Hutchins, Brady Johnson, Andrew Jursted, Orion Lama, Jameson Motyka, Sammy Pies, Evan Schwerthoffer, Anna Stevens, Justin Valyear, Noah Whitcombe and Mac Wormley.
The team is coached by Jeff Whitcombe, Pete Stevens and Chad Valyear.
On Friday, Feb. 3rd Batavia played the Tupper Lake Lumberjacks and won 9 to 2.
On Saturday, Feb. 4th Batavia played two games, the first one was against the Saugerties Mustangs and they tied 4 to 4. The second game of the day was against Sara Placid, which was also played to a tie of 2 to 2.
On Sunday, Batavia played the Cortland Flames and won 14 to 0.
The Batavia Ramparts completed round robin play and ended up tied for second place but lost the tiebreaker and ended in third place which set them up to play the fourth-place team in the Bronze Medal game. Batavia faced off against the Oswego Buccaneers and won 4 to 2, clinching the Bronze Medal for the weekend.
The Ramparts ended the weekend undefeated with a record of 3-0-2.
Alexander's Dane Heberlein will have a chance to advance toward a third state title after beating Chase Runfola, of Letchworth, 8-6 in the 132-pound division of Class BB of Section V championship wrestling yesterday.
Heberlein was one of a dozen wrestlers from Genesee County to win sectional titles yesterday at the tournament hosted by Byron-Bergen, including four from Byron-Bergen and two others from Alexander.
Below, after photos of Heberlein's match, Alexander's Nicholas Young defeated Canisteo-Greenwood’s Zach Flaitz, 7-3, and Byron-Bergen’s Chad Toal pinned Le Roy’s Andrew Englerth.
For more results, visit Batavia's Best.
To purchase prints, click here.
Maggie Cecere, who set a school record in her senior year in soccer, made it official yesterday by signing her letter of intent to attend Kutztown University in Pennsylvania.
Kutztown is coming off a season where the soccer team was ranked #4 among Division II schools.
Photo: Zach, Kathy, Maggie and Peter Cecere; back row, Victor VanVliet and Roger Hume.
Handicap bowling tournaments have much to offer in the way of competition, prize money, charitable fundraising, social bonding, etc., etc.
For those who run these events, however, the process of determining handicap – additional pins given to bowlers based on their averages – can be difficult and, at times, contentious.
Not only do tournament managers have to come up with a fair handicap formula (for example, 90 percent of the difference in the bowler’s average and 220) but they also have to be aware of bowlers who have compiled tournament scores and/or exhibit skill levels above and beyond their recorded league averages.
And, more importantly than awareness, tournament directors must not be afraid to adjust a bowler’s average when necessary in order to ensure the fairness of the tournament.
As someone who runs several tournaments each year, I adhere to the “big picture” philosophy: It is better to possibly upset one or two people whose averages need to be adjusted (hopefully they will agree with the “rerate”) than to tee off the majority and destroy the tournament’s integrity.
In the course of promoting handicap regular and no-tap tournaments through this column, I take note of the variety of handicap formulas that are used. The percentage varies from 70 to 100 percent, and the average base varies from 200 to 230.
A closer look at these handicap schemes shows that a tournament using 80 percent of 200, for example, favors the higher average bowler.
Most good bowlers today have 210, 220, 230 and even 240 league averages. When they bowl in tournaments with a 200 average base, they are getting free handicap pins in two ways – they’re not penalized for averaging over 200 and the bowlers averaging less than 200 are not receiving as many pins as they would have if the base was higher.
Thus, I am not surprised when the higher average bowlers continue to win and place high in these handicap tournaments.
Then there’s the “sandbagging” factor or the art of keeping one’s league average at a level less than the bowler’s true ability.
Tournament directors should be aware that they have the backing of the United States Bowling Congress to adjust (rerate) averages through Rule 17a and 319 of the USBC Playing Rules. And just recently, the USBC established an online directory of bowlers who already have been rerated, and welcomes tournament directors to submit names of bowlers who they have adjusted or rerated.
Per Rule 17a, information that can be used by tournament managers for average adjustment prior to the start of competition includes, but is not limited to:
-- Average bowled on a Sport/Challenge condition in a league was not marked as such;
-- Bowler has multiple league averages which are significantly higher, all with less than 21 games;
-- Bowler shows a big decrease in average in consecutive years;
-- Bowler has had his/her entering average adjusted by another tournament.
Bowl.com lists averages for all USBC-certified bowlers, including those in leagues with less than 21 games (as long as the secretary of the league forwards these averages to their local association office). It is not uncommon to find bowlers who have much higher averages in leagues where they have bowled less than 21 games (the number primarily used for consideration in tournament play) than they do in leagues where they have bowled a full season.
Additionally, there are those who bowl in houses with tougher lane conditions and, generally speaking, their league averages prove to be less than their tournament averages.
Rule 319c requires tournament bowlers to report any previous average rerates or adjustments, whether the bowler accepted the adjustment/rerate or not, at the time of bowling. If a bowler refuses an adjustment or rerate, he or she can appeal to the USBC Rules Department or choose not to bowl and, if applicable, receive a refund of his or her entry fee.
Tournament directors owe it to all of their bowlers to run the fairest events possible by carefully considering the handicap formula and by using the average adjustment/rerate tools at their disposal.
Through detailed record-keeping, sharing data with and obtaining data from local association officials, and utilizing the national rerate database, tournament managers will be better equipped to conduct fair and equitable tournaments.
February may be the shortest month, but there is no shortage of local tournaments scheduled over the next four weekends.
Feb. 11-12, GRUSBC Masters, Mancuso Bowling Center, Batavia
Batavian Paul Spiotta once again will be directing the Genesee Region USBC Masters, a scratch singles tournament featuring a four-game qualifier, four-game semifinals and (for the top eight finishers) eight-game Peterson Point finals.
Qualifying squad times (four games) are 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Saturday, with the semifinals to follow. The top eight will return at 1 p.m. Sunday for head-to-head match play with bonus points awarded for victories and scores in relation to 200.
Scott Culp of Lima is the defending champion. The lane condition will not be a “house” shot.
First place, based on 80 entries, is $500 plus a ring. One in five entries will cash. To enter, contact Spiotta at 585-303-6458.
Feb. 17-19, Strike Out for Crossroads House, Mancuso Bowling Center, Batavia
The 21st annual Betty Ellison “Strike Out for Crossroads House” fundraiser has already sold out two of its four squads – on Friday night and at 6 p.m. Saturday.
Openings for the five-person team event do remain, however, for the 3 p.m. squad on Saturday and the 1 p.m. squad on Sunday. The entry fee is $100 per team and all proceeds – there is no prize money – will go to benefit Crossroads House, a comfort home for the dying.
This year’s tournament is dedicated to the late Joe Gerace, a lifelong Batavian who organized many teams over the years. Gerace passed away on Nov. 17 at the age of 80.
To enter, contact Tara Lowder at 585-409-0136.
Feb. 18, Valentines Luv’em or Hate’em Mixed Doubles, Medina Lanes
This is a man-woman doubles handicap event with a guaranteed first prize of $500.
Squad times are 1 and 3:30 p.m., with match play to follow. The entry fee is $55 per team.
Handicap is based on 80 percent of a 440 team average and the 10-pin rule is in effect, meaning that a bowler must use this season’s highest average if it is at least 10 pins more than the 2015-16 highest average.
To enter, call Medina Lanes at 585-318-4474.
Feb. 18-19, Nunda Fire Company Three-Person No-Tap, Letchworth Pines, Portageville
A $700 first prize (based on 40 teams) awaits the winner of this fundraising tournament that lists squad times are noon, 2 and 4 p.m. on Saturday and 1 and 3 p.m. on Sunday.
The entry fee is $60 per team. An optional singles tournament and 300 game jackpot also are available.
Prize money will go to one out of every 10 entries. Handicap is based on 100 percent of 200, using last year’s highest USBC league average, with a maximum of 75 pins per game per bowler.
To enter, contact Dana Cotton at 585-261-5799.
Feb. 24-26, Ron Riggi Memorial Four-Person, Legion Lanes, Le Roy
Squad times for the 15th annual Riggi Memorial handicap event are 6:30 p.m. Friday, noon and 3 p.m. Saturday and noon and 3 p.m. Sunday.
First place, based on 40 entries, is $1,000. The entry fee is $100 per team. Handicap is based on 80 percent of 210 and the 10-pin rule is in effect.
Proceeds will go toward two scholarships in Ron Riggi’s name to a junior bowler at Legion Lanes and in Rochester.
To enter, contact Mark Brown at 716-474-7960 or Legion Lanes at 585-768-8597.
Three no-tap tournaments took place over the past couple weeks at area bowling centers, and here are the results of two of them.
The team of Aaron Verheyn, Jeanette Sease and Scott Allis captured the $500 first prize at the “Knock Cancer to the Gutter” event at Medina Lanes, posting a 2,600 score with handicap to edge the second place team of Jeremy Herman, Shannon Parker and Chris Bacon by five pins.
The top 10 teams earned prize money at the tourney, which raised several thousand dollars for the family of Shaun Ayrhart, who has an incurable brain tumor.
The foursome of Shayne Herold, Mike Hackett, Tom Rohl and Mark Brown split the $600 top prize at the Help-R-Heroes event at Legion Lanes in Le Roy. Twenty-one teams entered, raising $2,200 to support wounded soldiers returning home.
Calls and emails to obtain results of the Curt Haight Memorial four-person no-tap event were not returned.
Many area bowlers, especially those in the Warsaw and Bergen areas, will remember Ken Raley who passed away on Jan. 1 at the age of 73.
Raley managed the former Valley View Lanes in Warsaw in the 1990s, and in later years pushed through debilitating illness to bowl in leagues and tournaments at Rose Garden Bowl in Bergen.
As I recall, he was proud of his golf simulator during his time at Valley View and would make an occasional trip to Mancuso’s in Batavia (when I was the manager there) to obtain a part for a pinsetter.
A Vietnam Vet, he was a unique and a bit eccentric individual, who often would display his gift of gab by sharing an amusing story.
The Genesee Region Youth Travel League is in action at 1 p.m. this Sunday at Mancuso Bowling Center.
Currently, Scopano’s I holds a 5 ½ point lead over Batavia Strike Force, with Perry Bowling Center another seven points back.
In recent action, Trevor O’Dell of Scopano’s led the way with a 253 game and 648 series while Corinne Saluste of Strike Force led the girls with a 204 game and 545 series.
The GRUSBC board of directors will be meeting at 1 p.m. at T.F. Brown’s on Sunday as well.
Two former Genesee County football stars have been selected for induction into the Section V Hall of Fame.
David Boyce, of Le Roy, and Mark Shardlow, of Elba, will both be inducted during the 20th-anniversary ceremony April 6.
Joining the 2017 class are:
Three coaches from Section V and two others who have contributed to Section V football will be inducted:
The ceremony will be at RIT Inn and Conference Center. Tickets to the induction ceremony and dinner are $40 per person or $350 for a table of 10. They may be ordered before April 1 with checks payable to Section 5 Football by mailing to: Frank Marafino, 4 Georgetown Drive, Apt. C, Rochester, NY, 14617.
Daemen College men's basketball player Jeff Redband has once again been named the East Coast Conference Rookie of the Week, picking up the honor for games played Jan. 23-29. It's the fourth time this season and the third straight week that Redband has earned the honor. The official announcement was made via the league's weekly men's basketball report, which was released this afternoon from conference headquarters in Central Islip.
Redband, a 6-foot-7 redshirt freshman forward, helped Daemen to a pair of victories last week by averaging 16.5 points, 2.0 assists and 1.5 blocks per game, while shooting 66.7 percent overall (12-for-18) and from three-point range (8-for-12). The Wildcats downed Long Island University Post (88-66) at home on Jan. 25, and followed up with an 82-72 come-from-behind victory at Mercy College on Jan. 28. Daemen has now won nine of its last 11 games overall, and eight of their last nine league contests dating back to mid-December to sit at 14-6 overall and 8-4 in league play this season.
Redband opened the week by scoring a career-high 22 points and snagging a career-best three steals in the blowout win over LIU Post. During a game-opening 39-9 run, Daemen knocked down nine of their first 12 three-point field goal attempts, four of which came from Redband. At one point in the spurt, he scored 14 consecutive points, helping Daemen get out to a 30-point lead just 12 minutes into the game. Redband ended the contest shooting 8-for-12 from the field and 5-for-8 from downtown. The victory moved Daemen to 11-1 this season, 67-9 since the start of the 2011-12 season and 31-5 all-time in ECC games played at Lumsden Gymnasium.
Later in the week, Redband shot 4-for-6 from the field and 3-for-4 from three-point range, totaling 11 points, two rebounds and two assists in the win at Mercy. Redband's efforts helped the Wildcats erase a 17-point deficit in the game as they held the home-standing Mavericks to just 3-for-19 shooting with seven turnovers in the final 12+ minutes of the contest. His three-pointer with 2:40 remaining pushed the Wildcats' lead back to nine points (76-67) after the Mavericks pulled within six on the previous possession.
For the season, Redband has started all 20 contests thus far, and is producing 11.7 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game with 15 blocked shots. His 59 three-point baskets leads the team and ranks second among the ECC leaders. Redband is shooting 49.1 percent from the field (85-for-173) and 48.8 percent from behind the arc (59-for-121), and he leads all ECC freshmen in scoring.
With four ECC Rookie of the Week selections, Redband has more than any other player in the league this season. He previously earned the accolade for games played Nov. 21-27, Jan. 9-15 and Jan. 16-22. In the last three weeks, Redband is averaging 13.2 points per game and shooting a blistering 59.5 percent from three-point range (22-for-37).
Redband and the Wildcats return home for an ECC showdown with the University of Bridgeport this Thursday, Feb. 2. The game features the second-place Purple Knights (11-8, 7-3 ECC) against the third-place Wildcats as both teams jockey for position in the hunt for an ECC Tournament berth. Tip-off Thursday is slated for 8 p.m.
Boys Basketball
Girls Basketball
Boys Basketball
Girls Basketball
Hockey
GR Swimming Championships
Notre Dame High School celebrated on Saturday by thanking Mike Rapone for his outstanding dedication to the students of Notre Dame and his achievement of being inducted into the Sec V Basketball Hall of Fame.
He was inducted as the all-time winning coach in history. Not bad at all, some might say downright impressive. Rapone wouldn’t. He would tell you it’s the players' achievement not his. Notre Dame celebrated the fete with basketball, fittingly with four games against Rapone’s hometown of Le Roy.
The Lady Irish varsity team dominated Le Roy and finished with a score of 41 to 33.
The Notre Dame boys varsity fought a playoff-intensity fight against Le Roy, that was back and forth for the first three quarters of the game. Notre Dame lost by a score of 48 to 65 when the game got away from them in the fourth quarter.
Eight teams from the Genesee Region League met at Gates-Chili High School on Saturday for their regional championship meet. Results are listed below:
Boys:
Girls:
Photos by Destin Danser. Click here to view more or purchase prints.
Boys Basketball
Girls Basketball
Hockey
Wrestling
Despite the 15-point differential in the final score, this game was a nail-biter through the first three quarters. Pembroke lead by 2 at half time; however, Elba's defense came up big, holding the Dragons to just 11 points in the second half.
Leading scorers for Elba were Emily Reynolds with 21 points and 15 rebounds, and Madison Howard with nine points.
Elba has now won 14 games in a row.
Photos by Destin Danser. Click Here to view more and purchase prints.
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