Prep Talk

Some updates from today's high school action -- review it all, as well as the Section VI track and field championships at the buffalonews.com high school home page:

Panama beat Pine Valley, 7-2, in the Class D softball final.

Westfield beat Randolph, 4-3, in the Class C softball final thanks to a walkoff RBI single by Rachel Quagliana.

Olean beat Depew, 4-0, in the Class B final for the Huskies' first sectional title.

In the boys lacrosse state Catholic final downstate, Bishop Timon-St. Jude loses, 10-9, at Iona Prep.

Silver Creek held off a furious Raiders' rally to win its second straight Section VI Class C title, 17-16. The game was suspended Friday night due to lightning with Silver Creek leading, 13-9, late in the third quarter.

In the girls lacrosse Far West Regionals at Amherst, Lancaster got off to a quick, 4-1 start in the A game before Pittsford surged back, scoring 12 unanswered goals in a 16-6 victory over the Red Devils. 

In Class B, superpower Canandaigua dominated West Seneca East, 23-4.

Amherst fell in the Class C game to Honeoye Falls-Lima, 18-6.

It was a fantastically sunny day for the All-High championships in track and field, an event I've covered the last few years just because it works out that way with my schedule -- this year I covered it before the weekly live chat.

This year I had my first track and field experiment with video, which went OK. I should have realized that if I'm shielding my eyes against the sun looking in a particular direction, then the camera is going to have the same issue.

The details can be fuzzy on some races -- particularly the full-lap look at the boys 400 relay -- but part of what I like about the videos is that you get the sounds of the event, too.

As I wrote in my story, it was a big day for Hutch-Tech -- in particular seniors Donte Ettipio and Ondrea Barker. 

We'll start with probably the highlight that is the most fun: Hutch-Tech coach Dave Sardo getting a celebratory soak from his team -- twice.

Next up are interviews with a trio of Techsters -- my apologies for not holding the iPhone straight sometimes, I guess I'm still working on that.

Here is Barker finishing off her first sub-minute 400 of the season.

* * *

Below are a few more highlight videos:

Hutch-Tech's Sam Harris wins the 100.

Bennett's Brandon Davis wins the 200.

Davis is back to anchor Bennett's 400 relay victory.

Andrea Marion of Riverside wins the girls 100.

Shontai Moye of East wins the girls 200.

Hutch-Tech wins the girls 400 relay.

* * *

One great tradition at the meet is the seniors' final lap -- all seniors from all events go for one last trip around the All High Stadium track after competing there all spring.

It's a fun finish and a nice touch as there is a final round of applause for the athletes. It's not a race -- a group of Hutch-Tech girls even went skipping around the track -- but Antae Miller of Tech burst ahead of the pack and then sprinted home to the finish, which was a neat moment since he's a three-time boys shot put champion.

---Keith McShea

It's a great day for some postseason high school action, and there is plenty of it going on today.

We'll have plenty to talk about for our chat tonight. I have the starting time at 10 but it may get pushed back to 10:15 since I'm reporting on today's All-High Championships in track.

As always, anything in the world of high school sports or our coverage of it is up for discussion.

If you won't be around for the chat, feel free to ask some questions in the comments section below and we'll throw them out during the session.

Here is our last chat (May 19) as well as previous spring chats on May 12, May 5 and April 21. 

Here is the archive from the winter season: last chat (April 14), March 31, March 24, March 17, March 10, Feb. 24, Feb. 11, Feb. 3, Jan. 28, Jan. 20, Jan 14, Jan. 6, Dec. 15.

---Keith McShea

He's got a lot of races ahead of him, but Saturday's Carl Roesch might someday be looked at as Wayne Gordon's coming-out party in high school track circles. The Sweet Home sophomore earned MVP honors at the prestigious boys track meet held at Clarence.

Competing against a field of 27 teams, Gordon swept the sprints winning the 100 meets in 11.13 and the 200 in 22.65.

This is just his second outdoor season. Sweet Home coach Brian Lombardo said watching Gordon mature from when he first started working with him last November to now had been pretty impressive.

"Anything over 100 meters he was afraid of at the start of the year," he said. "He's gained a lot of strength, he's seemed to develop a different gear now. For a while he wouldn't run a curve on a 200 and [today] he ran that curve and pretty much had a lead coming off the curve. He's starting to deal with every single phase of a race. You hear a lot of 100-meters runners who say I'm never running a 400, and now he's starting to discuss the possibility of running a 400."

---Mary Jo Monnin

Lancaster senior Melissa Kurzdorfer set the state record in the shot put during an outstanding performance Saturday at the Hartford Public High School Invitational.

Kurzdorfer's shot put of 49 feet, 9-1/2 inches at Veterans' Stadium in New Britain, Conn., broke the 26-year-old record in the event.

She went 1 inch farther than the 49-8-1/2 mark set by Cheryl Klein of Long Island's Bellport in 1984. The Western New York record of 49-5 had been held by Stacey Schroeder of Grand Island (1992).

Kurzdorfer not only won three events, the Kent State recruit broke meet records in all three in the 39th edition of the competition (see all meet results here). She won the discus in 159-08 (the state mark is Schroeder's 172 feet) and she took the hammer throw in 192-08.

According to dyestat.com, Kurzdorfer's Saturday marks are are among the very best in the nation this season. Her shot and hammer throw are both second-best this year while her hammer throw is sixth.

Kurzdorfer is the reigning state champion in the shot put and discus; the hammer throw is not an official event in New York State.

---Keith McShea

I had trouble crossing the street on my way to One News Plaza today, and we were wondering how the high school sports schedule would be affected today. 

I thought the games would go on in lacrosse, and they did, but not without some troubles. West Seneca East beat rival West Seneca West in girls lacrosse, 8-5, in a game in which one of the goals was knocked over by the wind twice.

Several boys games were played -- all the games reported that the fairly heavy lacrosse ball was being moved around by Mother Nature, while communication between players as well as to coaches was all but impossible.

The Pioneer Invitational track meet started in conditions described by Panthers coach Jim Duprey as "sunny and near 70" but was cut short when the wind and rain became too much. They got 13 events in as the host Panthers won.

Here's today's scoreboard, which will be updated later tonight if we get more calls.

Anyone out there who has a windy sports tale to tell from today?

---Keith McShea

Inspired by the showing of Section VI at the New York State Track and Field Championships in June, I decided to do a little microfilm research. For fun, let's try and find the results of every Section VI track meet starting from the beginning. But where is the beginning?

That would require finding out when Section VI was formed. And that would require cashing in a favor. An e-mail to Walt Eaton yielded a jackpot. The retired Assistant Executive Director of NYSPHSAA just happens to be working on a book on the NYSPHSAA.

"I am in the editing stages now for the entire history of the NYSPHSAA and hope to get a rough draft published in the next few months ahead," said Eaton.

Here's part of his e-mail replay. Check out what a major player the Buffalo City Schools were during those early years.

Thanks Walt! We'll look for your book here in Section VI, and I owe you a favor.

TIMELINE INTO THE CREATION OF SECTION VI

1921-22: Eight sections were created to form the NYS Public High School Association of Basketball Leagues - the Buffalo area was one of these Sections.

1923: The NYSPHSAA was formed to sponsor other sports - track and field, skating, swimming, tennis, etc.

Note: The Buffalo City Schools team won the first track and field State Championship held on May 30, 1923 at Union College, Schenectady.

1924: The NYSPHS Assoc. of Basketball Leagues merged with the NYSPHSAA. Lafayette High School won the first NYSPHSAA Basketball State Championship held at Syracuse University.

1925: The Buffalo-area team won the first Swimming State Championship held at RPI in Troy.

Oct. 1925: The doubles team from Hutchinson High School of Buffalo won the first State Championship in tennis held at Hamilton College in Clinton.

1928-29: Eight Sections were formed with the same boundaries for all sports. Section VI as we know it today was called Section VI.

---Mary Jo Monnin

Recent Hamburg grad Joe Whelan took second in the 3,000-meter Steeplechase at the USA Junior National Sunday at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.

Whelan ran a time of 9:09.97, second to Sean Soderman (Appalachian State) in 9:05.82.

The top two finishers in each Junior National event qualify for the Pan American Junior Games, however those games maybe be canceled (thanks to dyestat.com for the link).  

Here's a link to a post by the Syracuse University -- where Whelan will be competing for the Orange next year.

---Keith McShea

A accident with a lawnmower almost cost Robby Seyler more than a chance to compete at this weekend's state track and field championships in Syracuse.

Last month the Lew-Port pentathlete sliced the last three fingers on his right hand while reaching into the family lawnmower to dislodge a twig. He received 34 stitches. "It happened in a split second. I'm lucky to have my fingers," he said.

He got the stitches out earlier this week and was able to represent the Lancers at the state meet. He said it was difficult to hold the shot put, he could only use three fingers, but that didn't prevent him from throwing his personal record 34-11.25. In fact, he did his PR in four of the five events: shot, 110 hurdles, high jump and 1,500 meters. He was rewarded with a career best 3,010 points.

"It's the state meet and you've got to bring it," said Seyler, moments "Everyone else is at a high level so I had to bring up my game a notch."

Seyler will attend Niagara County Community College in the fall and will play basketball.

---Mary Jo Monnin

Ashley Fields stole the show on the girls’ side of the state track and field championships on Saturday.

The Amherst sophomore captured four golds -- two each in Division I and Federation. She broke her own Section VI record in the 200 meters with a time of 23.66. In that race, Fields made an improbable comeback on Columbus’ Whitney Fountain, who was a good five strides ahead of Fields with 50 meters to go.

With two years of high school still to go, Fields is the fastest girl in the state. “I was expecting this in maybe my junior or senior year,” Fields said. “Before this season, I was hoping to set PR’s and break school records -- not even the section record. I never would have thought I’d be a state champion in the 100 and the 200.”

Be sure to check out tomorrow’s paper for more on Fields’ miraculous day.

As Fields caught her breath and soaked in a refreshing breeze from the mist fan near the finish line after winning the 100, she saw Nichols’ Adele Jackson-Gibson in the corner of her eye. Fields walked over and fist-bumped her fellow Section VI sprinter.

Continue reading "Live from the state track meet: Four wins for Amherst's Fields" »