Valley welcomes back ESGs

POUGHKEEPSIE — Just three days after the 2008 Empire State Games concluded in Binghamton, the 51-week countdown to the '09 Games kicked off today.

Fred Smith, the Games' executive director, joined local officials in unveiling the logo for next year's event, seen here.

Standing under a gazebo-type structure at Marist College's Longview Park, Smith and others talked about the great job Hudson Valley did in 2005, the first time the region hosted the Games.

“There wasn’t anything I wasn’t impressed with, and I’m very serious about that. We really had no problem,” said Smith, adding the local organization and execution of the 2005 Games sped up the event’s return to the region. “I think that we’re back — or going to be back — four years later kind of speaks to that directly. It wouldn’t have happened so quickly if we weren’t so impressed by everything that went on.”

"Good night, Binghamton!"

BINGHAMTON — The 2008 Empire State Games have officially concluded, as executive director Fred Smith just presided over the closing press conference here at Binghamton University.
"We couldn't be more pleased about our event here in Binghamton this year," said Smith, seen here at right, next to local organizers.

Not that the work is over.

Smith and ESG officials will hold a press conference later this week at Marist College, when they'll unveil the logo for next year's Games, which will be centered at our area.

“I’ve got a meeting down there Wednesday,” he said. “I’ve already had meetings with folks in Hudson Valley. … The work starts easily two years in advance, sometimes more.”

Valley 2nd in team medal count

BINGHAMTON — Hudson Valley has won 13 totals in team sports during these Games, the second-most of any of the six regions.

Western is tied with the Valley, having also won 13 team medals.

While Long Island's 18 total team medals leads the standings, Hudson Valley has won seven gold medals in team events, the most of any region.

Breaking down the team standings, Hudson Valley has won seven gold medals, a silver and five bronzes.

Open soccer teams take 4th place

BINGHAMTON — Both the men's and women's open soccer teams lost in today's bronze-medal games.

The men fell to Long Island, 2-1, using a goal from Wayne Storms.

Hudson Valley's women lost to Adirondack, 3-1, as Lauren Trinkoff's goal thwarted the shutout attempt.

Men's hoops falls short of bronze

BINGHAMTON — Marist forward Ryan Schneider scored 14 points, but his open men's basketball team lost to Central, 78-76, in the bronze-medal game.

Schneider (seen here) hit four three-point field goals in the close game. He's participated in previous Games, representing his native Yorktown.

Brett Harvey's 22 points led Hudson Valley, while teammate Jonathan Huffman matched Schneider's 14 points.

In addition to hosting a sports-talk show on the campus radio station, Schneider also broadcasts many Marist women's hoops games on the Red Foxes' on-campus radio network.

Open women hoopsters take 3rd

BINGHAMTON — Marist College guard Julianne Viani scored 16 points as her Hudson Valley open women's basketball team beat New York City in the bronze-medal game.

A graduate of Our Lady of Lourdes High School, Viani (seen here with the Red Foxes) sank a trio of three-pointers to help her team win.

A future teammate of Viani's, Marist recruit Emily Stallings, scored three points in the victory.

Marist forward Maria Laterza poured in six points toward the winning cause.

Scholastic women win hoops gold

BINGHAMTON — Hudson Valley defeated Central, 69-62, in the gold-medal game of the scholastic women's basketball tournament.

Hudson Valley needed overtime to win gold, taking its first lead in the extra minutes.

Beacon High School's Kara Tancredi (seen here driving to the hoop for the Bulldogs in a sectional matchup) scored nine points in the win.

Poughkeepsie's Teneka Whittaker added six points.

Central led, 28-24, before Hudson Valley mounted its comeback en route to the gold medal.

JJ's Dennett helps HV win gold

BINGHAMTON — John Jay High School's Jade Dennett scored an insurance goal for the Hudson Valley's field hockey team, which won the gold-medal game, 2-0, at Vestal High School.

Scholastic men play golden soccer

BINGHAMTON — John Jay High School's Jake Keegan, Arlington's Cody Farrier and Spackenkill's Josh Maley each helped Hudson Valley win the gold medal by scoring goals in the second half of the championship contest, in which Hudson beat Long Island, 4-2.After leading Spackenkill to the state Class B crown last fall as a senior, Maley said Hudson Valley's teamwork — not to mention its ability to rally late — led to Sunday's win.

“We came back every game,” the team's captain said, “but on top of everything, this team is made up of guys from seven different high schools around the Hudson Valley. It’s just a bunch of amazing guys; we all clicked. You’ve got state championships, all kinds of characters on this team.

“We really came together, a lot of team chemistry, and that’s really what it’s all about.”

LaGrangeville resident takes silver

BINGHAMTON — Rachel Pierantozzi was part of Hudson Valley's scholastic women's 400-meter relay team which took second place in Saturday's finals.

The LaGrangeville resident teamed up with runners from Mount Vernon, Yonkers and Spring Valley to finish the race in 48.93 seconds.

Central just edged out Hudson Valley to win the gold medal in 48.85 seconds.

For more on Rachel, who will return to Millbrook High School in the fall, here is a preview story we ran in the Journal leading up to the Games.

More on HV/Adirondack baseball

ENDICOTT — Here's another view of the field that greeted players, coaches, officials and spectators when the storm at Union-Endicott High School died down.Parts of the field were actually under, thus rendering the diamond unplayable tonight and, officials said, tomorrow until noon at the earliest.

With that in mind, ESG officials called off the game and awarded the gold to Hudson Valley, though Steve Greller had another idea.

Even before the final decision was announced, Greller told me he was in favor of awarding each team gold — this despite the fact his team was ahead by two runs at the time the game was stopped.

“I liked the idea of giving both teams medals,” said Greller, a LaGrangeville resident, “but the state has decided that is not an option and they will base it on the seeding.”

As a result, Hudson Valley, which had lost the past two ESG gold-medal games against Long Island, returns home as the only team to receive gold, as Adirondack was awarded silver.

Valley baseball takes home gold

ENDICOTT — Officials have conferred and awarded Hudson Valley's baseball team gold medals following tonight's dangerous storms.In short, tonight's weather left the field here at Union Endicott High School (not to mention most around the area) unplayable and ESG officials determined under the circumstances, the tournament could not continue at a reasonable time tomorrow.

As a result, Hudson Valley, which claimed the top seed in the standings following several tie-breakers, was awarded the top award.

"Hudson Valley wins the gold. Adirondack takes the silver, based upon the field conditions," said state baseball chairman Drew Marino, a Mahopac resident. "What happened was, we had a three-way tie for first (between Hudson Valley, Adirondack and Central) and then all the teams were 1-1 and then it went to run differential.

"So that's what happened. We had a rain-shortened tournament."

Gold-medal baseball weather update

ENDICOTT — Big thanks to my colleagues in the information center (you might know it as the newsroom) for passing along the message: The gold-medal baseball game is currently delayed because of weather.As you can see, the tarp is on the mound and home plate here at Union-Endicott High School, as the rain continues to pour.

There was a delay in an earlier game here today due to thunder and lightning; and we've got that, too, here this evening to accompany the precipitation.As you can see from the above map, compliments of the Weather Channel, much of the state is experiencing showers. On their Web site, the Weather Channel announced a severe thunderstorm warning until 8 p.m.

You know you're in for it when the Weather Channel Web site tells you this: IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM... SEEK SHELTER INDOORS AND STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS! (And that's a direct quote — capital letters and all — copied and pasted from their site.)

So sit tight, baseball fans, as we may be in for a long night!

Hudson Valley baseball team in rain delay

The Hudson Valley baseball team leads Adirondack, 2-0, in the second inning, but are in a rain delay.

Hudson Valley scored twice in the first on a bases-loaded hit by pitch, and a bases-loaded walk.

For more updates, please check this blog later.

Baseball tries for gold

BINGHAMTON — As Lorac was kind enough to point out before I could post it, Hudson Valley reached this evening's gold-medal baseball game.
Speaking to Hudson Valley coach Steve Greller, though, he said the game will likely start a little after tonight's scheduled 6 p.m. first pitch, as the earlier Adirondack-New York City game ran a tad late.

More updates will be coming as warranted...

Masters swimmer passes away

BINGHAMTON — Rockland County's Joel Schwartz, a 72-year-old swimmer, passed away Friday while competing in the 1,500-meter race.

The Nyack resident suffered a heart attack while swimming his race.

Schwartz is believed to be the first ESG competitor to pass away during the Games in the event's 31-year history.

They are 'masters' on the track!

Some really excellent and inspiring results from the past 24 hours in masters track competition, on both the oval and in the field ...

-- James Kiseda of Hopewell Junction was first in the 80-over long jump with a leap of 1.77 meters. He also earned gold in the shot put with a toss of 9.25 meters.
-- Kelly Thompson of Hopewell Junction earned gold medals in the women's 40-44 hammer (26.40 meters) and discus (26.87 meters).
-- Peter Van Aken of Poughkeepsie earned gold in the 50-54 hammer throw with a hurl of 36.54 meters. He notched a bronze in the shot put (11.78 meters).
-- Bill O'Neill of Fishkill got the gold in the 40-44 pentathlon with 1,964 points.
-- John Seto earned silver in the 45-49 hammer throw (30.40 meters).
-- Harry Owens and Gil Anderson teamed up for gold in the 40-44 4x800 relay (12:02.6). Owens also got bronze in the 50-54 10,000-meter run (47:13.7), an event in which Anderson grabbed gold for the fourth consecutive ESGs.
-- More on Anderson and Owens: The Mid-Hudson Road Runners Club teammates went 1-2 in the 50-54 800 run. Anderson won gold in 2:45.5; Owens won silver in 3:00.3.

Softball falls short of bronze

BINGHAMTON — Hudson Valley gave up three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning, the final two on a single to center field, to lost to Central, 6-5, in the bronze-medal game.

"I'm very happy with the team," said Hudson Valley infielder Lexi Garbowski, a graduate of Our Lady of Lourdes High School seen here. "We're a very young team, and the girls who are younger really stepped up."

Hudson Valley rebounded from a pair of losses on Thursday to win three straight games to earn its berth in the bronze-medal game.

Orange County's Melissa Oliphant hit a two-run home run to left in the top of the seventh that broke a 3-3 tie — Arlington's Amy Weinberg scored ahead of her — only to see Central rally in the bottom of the frame.

Johnson sprints to medals

FDR-Hyde Park graduate Erica Johnson, a Poughkeepsie resident, grabbed two medals in the open women's sprinting:

-- She won silver in the 100-meter dash, in 12.55 seconds.
-- She was part of the gold-medal winning 4x100 relay team that clocked a first-place time of 48.85 seconds. Team members included Keshia Butts, Sasha Richards and Heidy Palacios.

Check back for more results and updates ...

Bolstad wins diving gold

Brian Bolstad of Highland earned the gold medal in men's open 1-meter diving with 437.70 points.

He continues a strong lineage of diving in his family: His mom, Melanie Bolstad, was a championship-caliber diver in college and continues to compete in the masters ranks; she is the associate head swimming coach/diving coach at Marist College.

Mitchell Katz of Wappingers Falls was sixth in the men's open 1-meter, with 363.60 points.

Paterson gets bronze in bowling

Jamie Paterson of Hyde Park earned a bronze medal in the all-events bowling with 1,761 pins, as the competition wrapped up Saturday afternoon at Owego Bowl. Dan Dunleavy of Staten Island was the gold medalist.

Check back for more results and updates.

Valley softball plays for bronze

BINGHAMTON — Hudson Valley will pursue a bronze medal at 1 p.m., having beaten Adirondack this morning, 6-5.

Arlington High School's Amy Weinberg (seen here) will be one of the local players on the team, looking to finish in third place overall for the tournament.

Playing for the bronze is quite an accomplishment for Hudson Valley, which lost its first two games on Thursday.

Softball's gold-medal game will follow the third-place game at the Binghamton Area Girls Softball Association Inc. complex at 3 p.m.

Big inning boosts HV baseball

BINGHAMTON — Hudson Valley put up nine runs in the fourth inning, turning a 2-1 deficit into a 16-9 victory.

Arlington High School's Nick Camastro gave Hudson Valley a 4-2 lead with an RBI single with the bases loaded, and Ketcham's Mike Orefice (seen here) later made it an 8-2 game with his high pop to shallow right field which no one fielded.

The Games' bronze-medal contest will be played today at 3 p.m. at Union-Endicott HS; the gold-medal game will follow there at 6 p.m.

Hudson Valley now stands at 3-2 for the tournament. Adirondack and New York City began play at noon; if New York City wins, Hudson Valley would move into the gold-medal game. An Adirondack victory would place Hudson Valley into the bronze-medal game.

Further scores

Hudson Valley beat Adirondack, 3-0, in scholastic field hockey. Hudson Valley outshot Adirondack, 29-5.

In open men's basketball, New York beat Hudson Valley, 84-76.

Some soccer results

• The Hudson Valley Open men's soccer team lost to Central, 3-1. Matthew Daum of New Paltz scored the only goal for Hudson Valley.

• The Hudson Valley Open women's soccer team defeated Western, 2-1. Nicole Burke of Fishkill was on of the goal scorers for H.V. Rachel Silverman of Rye Brook was the other goal scorer for H.V.

Valley men's crew captures gold

Hudson Valley's men's four and men's eight won gold at the Empire State Games.

• Ross Tremblay, James Olson, Kyle Peabody, Greg Smith and Stephanie Hartmann (coxswain) comprised the men's four.

• The men's eight was comprised of those above five in addition to Ben Smith, Giancarlo Incorvaia, Brandon Clark and Mike Masci.

Reilly wins high jump gold

Sean Reilly of LaGrangeville and Arlington High School won the gold medal in the high jump with a winning jump of 1.95 meters or about 6 feet, 4 inches for our non-Metric System readers.

Michael Scott of Red Hook won bronze at 1.85 meters.

Western beats HV in hockey

BINGHAMTON — Three Western goals the third period led to a 4-2 victory over Hudson Valley here at Broome Community College.

Zac Hiller, of Suffern, gave Hudson Valley a 1-0 lead against Western here at Broome Community College; and Chester's Connor Leen just made it a 2-1 Valley advantage.

Hiller (seen here in a Journal News file photo) scored his goal from inside the right circle came 6 minutes, 12 seconds into the second period. It was just Hudson Valley's third shot on goal.

But with 4:48 left in the second, Western's Stu Wilson tied the game with a goal before Leen took a pass from Highland resident Chris Cerbino and scored the goal with 1:52 remaining that put Hudson Valley ahead again.

Hudson Valley and Western skated to a scoreless tie after the first 20 minutes of play.

Hudson Valley was called for seven penalties in the stanza, compared to one for Western. As a result, Hudson Valley was outshot, 18-1, in the opening period.

Coming off a breakaway, North Rockland HS's Sean O'Connor came up with Hudson Valley's first official shot on goal with 4:12 to play before the break. By then, Western had amassed 12 shots.

From there, though, Western scored thrice in the final period to win.

Baseball team wins

The Hudson Valley baseball team blanked New York City, 3-0, this morning. The two locals on the roster — Mike Orefice and Nick Camastro — didn't figure in the scoring. The team is 2-1. They're playing Long Island right now.

Field hockey rolling

The Hudson Valley field hockey team beat arch-rival Central, 4-2, this morning.

The defending champs have two local players on the roster — Nicole Bachelet of Pine Plains and Jade Dennett of Fishkill.

If they win against Adirondack this afternoon, they'll play for gold Sunday at 11 against Long Island.

Golden Gil

Gil Anderson of Highland — you may remember him as the last of our 30 Empire State Games profiles — won gold this morning in the 10,000-meter run in the 50-54 category. Beacon's Harold Owens won bronze in the same event.

In the 10,000 for men in the 60-64 age group, Michael Sheets of Poughkeepsie won gold; and in the same event for men 65-69, Norman Goluskin of New Paltz was the winner.

Tennis teams still in it

The Hudson Valley women's tennis team is 2-0, and Milton's Elora Benfer — a Marlboro High School student — and her teammate are 2-0 in doubles competion. Hudson Valley beat New York City, 4-1, this morning.

On the men's side, the team is 1-1 after this morning's 3-2 win over New York City. Wappingers Falls' Connor Witty improved to 2-0 in singles play; Poughkeepsie's Jarrett Sears is 1-0 after a win at No. 1 singles this morning.

Johnson in medal contention

Poughkeepsie Erica Johnson, a graduate of Franklin D. Roosevelt High School, placed second in heat in the women's Open 100 meters this morning.

Going into the finals, Johnson has the third-best qualifying time (12.75).

In the Scholastic women's 100, Lagrangeville's Rachel Pierantozzi placed fourth in her heat (12.94.)

Scholastic women's soccer scores win

BINGHAMTON — Arlington's Lindy Sefcik scored to tie the game for Hudson Valley, 1-1, at halftime before Leanne Benson's goal after the intermission earned the region a 2-1 triumph over Western.

"It's very big," Sefcik, who will be a senior for the Admirals next season said of the win which evened Hudson Valley's record to 1-1 at the Games. "We lost our first game, but now we have our momentum and we're really excited. We want to win gold, so that's just our goal."

Benson, a Cortlandt Manor resident seen here in a Journal News file photo, scored the game-winner in the 25th minute of the second half.

Hudson Valley is now 1-1 for the tournament, and will next play Central at 9 a.m. Saturday at Binghamton University.

“I think that we’re all really excited about it,” Benson, at Hendrick Hudson HS standout, said of the Central showdown. “If we can play the same, we can beat anyone.”

An early Friday result

Jorge Rojas of Beacon placed seventh in the men's Open 10,000-meter run this morning.

It's halftime

Sean McMann just called from the Hudson Valley/Western Scholastic women's soccer game. It's tied 1-1 at halftime.

Melinda Sefcik of Poughkeesie has Hudson Valley's lone goal. HV could really use this win. They lost to Long Island, 2-0, yesterday.

More later.

Catching up to do

If you've spent any time on the ESG site to get results, then you know how painfully slow they are about putting them up there.

• Last night the Hudson Valley women's Open basketball team beat New York City, 72-53. Marist's Julianne Viani scored 11 points, Marist's Maria Laterza scored three points, and Marist recruit Emily Stallings scored two points.
• Poughkeepsie's Joe Rodriguez took the silver medal in weightlifting in the 150-pound class.
• Mike Meck of Hyde Park won silver in the Scholastic 100-meter breaststroke. Kevin Walsh of Lagrangeville was sixth in that final. Later, Meck won another silver in the 200-meter individual medley. Brenna Munz was sixth in the 800-free final. She's from Poughquag.
  
• The Hudson Valley baseball team, which beat Adirondack in the afternoon, 14-2, lost to Central, 3-2, in 11 innings last night.
• In Scholastic wrestling, Hopewell Junction's Todd Mueckenheim lost both his matches. Lagrangeville's Chris Cuzzola went 1-1, so he's still alive. Tom Oddo from Wappingers Falls went 0-2 on Day 1 in the Open class.
• In Masters bowling, Hillar Adamson of Hopewell Junction shared silver in the men's 50-plus trio.

More later. Sean McMann is out at women's soccer this morning and he'll be at men's ice hockey later.

Ice hockey team rolls

The men's Hudson Valley ice hockey team ripped New York City, 8-0, tonight.

Highland's Chris Cerbino scored twice, Hopewell Junction's Mike Chiacchia added a goal and two assists, and Milton's Michael Beck made 12 saves. Conor Frei of Hopewell Junction chipped in with an assist.

Sean McMann will go out to see those guys on Friday afternoon.

Women's soccer swept

Both Hudson Valley women's soccer teams lost to Long Island today.

The scholastic team fell, 2-0.

The open team lost 2-1 in overtime. Fishkill's Nicolle Burke scored the only goal for Hudson Valley.

Softball loses pair

The Hudson Valley softball team lost to Central, 6-1, this morning - then to Western, 9-5, this afternoon.

Sean McMann was at the second game; read more about it in tomorrow's Journal.

Baseball team rolls

The schedule got a little screwed up, but Hudson Valley crushed Adirondack, 14-2, in baseball and is playing Central right now.

More later.

Bennett fourth in high jump

Marlboro's Tiffany Bennett placed fourth this morning in the women's scholastic high jump.

Bennett jump 1.57 meters (about five feet), finishing just out of medal contention. Sarah Palmer of Adirondack won the event with a jump of 1.62 meters.

ESG baseball delayed

Wet conditions have prompted ESG officials to move all the baseball games back three hours.

Hudson Valley will play Adirondack at 3 p.m. Nick Camastro (Lagrangeville) and Mike Orefice (Wappingers Falls) are the two local players on the roster.

Check back later for a score from that game.

Scholastic men's soccer falls in PKs

BINGHAMTON — It took two rounds and a dozen penalty kicks but Adirondack defeated Hudson Valley 2-1 in PKs following a 1-1 tie at the end of regulation.

In the 24th minute of his team's opening-round game, Arlington High School's Eric Fortier scored off his own rebound to give Hudson Valley a 1-0 lead against Adirondack.

"It was nice," Fortier said. "I shot the ball, like, four times and luckily, one time it got in."

Officials credited fellow Admiral Cody Farrier (seen here against John Jay last October) with the assist.

Fortier, who will be a senior for Arlington next season, emerged from a scrum in front of the net to break the scoreless deadlock following a restart.

But 14 minutes after the break, Adirondack knotted the game to force the extra drama.

Games about to kick off

BINGHAMTON — Hudson Valley's scholastic men's soccer team is about to open the Empire State Games with its first game, a matchup against Adirondack here at the Binghamton University soccer stadium.Of the 16 players on the Hudson Valley roster, 11 are from local schools, representing Red Hook, Arlington, Lourdes, Roosevelt, Spackenkill, John Jay, Beacon and Poughkeepsie.

Even Hudson Valley's coaches, Paul Maley and Chuck Wilder, are from Poughkeepsie.

The Bearcats' field here is an artificial turf, so we can likely expect a quicker pace than on grass.

The Games have begun!

BINGHAMTON — Well ... at least they've begun in spirit, as we just had the Opening Ceremonies to kick off the 2008 Empire State Games.As you can see, Binghamton University's Events Center was packed with thousands of participants and fans, jamming the arena for the opening events.

“It’s absolutely amazing,” said soccer player Josh Maley, who just graduated from Spackenkill High School last month. “It’s almost like the Olympics.”

The ceremonies were originally scheduled to take place in the school's soccer stadium, but a day full of rain pushed the event inside.
Hopefully, the weather will cooperate the next four days, as the actual games begin tomorrow morning.

Rain, rain, go away

BINGHAMTON — After having battled downpours all the way from Poughkeepsie to here in lovely Broome County, I finally arrived at Binghamton University, ready for the ESGs to begin.

Because of the weather, tonight's Opening Ceremonies will be held inside at the school's Events Center, as opposed to the outdoor soccer stadium, as originally scheduled.

The Games have arrived

The 30 profiles in 30 days are over, and the Games begin tonight.

Journal sportswriter Sean McMann will be in Binghamton all week, beginning with Opening Ceremonies tonight. Check back here frequently to see how things are going up there.

A problem

It's bad enough that I'm having to scramble to put together these ESG profiles. Now I've got another problem.

The nominations I'm getting so far are mostly connected to Arlington High somehow. Connor Witty — Arlington student. Amy Weinberg — Arlington student. Now Richie Kinnear — Arlington student.

To be more specific, people, I need nominations from ALL OVER Dutchess and Ulster counties, not merely from Arlington High. Still, at this point I'll take what I can get.

Profile nominees trickling in

I realize some ESG tryouts aren't over yet — but I'm counting on you to help me fill up these 30 spots for our ESG profiles.

Connor Witty — a tennis player who is a student at Arlington High — is going to be our first profile subject on June 24.

Kara Tancredi, Beacon High basketball star, will be next.

Who will follow? You tell me.

2008 ESGs are coming

The 2008 Empire State Games run from July 23-27 in Binghamton. We'll have a lot of local people participating.

As has become something of a tradition here at the Journal, we will publish 30 profiles of local ESG athletes — one a day — for the 30 days leading up to Opening Ceremonies.

Here's the catch. I'm no math wizard, but I was able to figure out using a giant-sized calendar that in order to make these profiles work, I need to start publishing them on June 24. ESG rosters won't be released until probably July 7.

Do you see my dilemma here? We need about half of the profile subjects to come to us by word of mouth. So open your mouth and tell me who we should profile. Once the rosters are made public, I won't have a problem, but right now I do have a problem and you have to help me solve it.

You have to.