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SyiacwHerald-Journal, Friday, December 1, 1989 011

WINTER SCHOLASTIC SPORTS '89 - 90 «*•»

Bulldogsto keepwinning11 players returningto federation champsBy Andrew MilnerContibuting Writer

In 11 seasons at Nott ingham, girls' basket-ball coach Willetta Spease ha s crafted a 210-99TO.'̂ fC«cl*-JTV"-- —•__• _

centage of .901.T he Lady Bulldogs won the State Federa-

t i on Class B C h a m p i o n s h i p l a s t M a r c h .That 's af ter beating not jus t the best publicschools in New Y ork sta te , but the best pri-vate ones as wel l

T he Lady Bulldogs w on t h e i r f ina l 21

games.Nottingham's dominance in Metro League

Metro poll

Ranking Team Pts

1. Nottingham 81(9)

Z. Cortland 55

3 East Syracuse-Minoa 52

4. Corcoran 48

5. Fulton 46

6. Jamesville-DeWitt 43

7. Central Square 28

8. Fowler 22

9. CB A 17

10 Whitesboro 11

(Note: League poll results were deter-

mined by a vote of the league coaches,with coaches not allowed tovote for ther

own teams. First-place votes in parenthe-ses.)

File photo

IN 11SEASONS at Nottingham, WillettaSpease's Lady Bulldogs havewon 90.1percent oftheir games, including last seasons State Federation Class B crown.

competition is the s t u f f of legend. Whether

th e Lady Bulldogs can win a f i f t h state titleis the big question in the league.

Nott ingham (18-0, 26-2) is the u n a n i m o u schoice of Metro League coaches for f i r s t inth e league.

One of last year 's keys to Nottingham'ssuccess, a l l-sta te guard Vanessa Brooks( M V P of both th e Class B and Federationtournaments), graduated.

Bu t seniors Uhssa Mallory, Pam O d o m an dLauren T ownes lead 11 re turning playersfrom l ast 's yea r dream season, inc ludingf r e s h m a n R a s h e a d a Caldwell , w h o s a waction last year as an eighth-grader.

• C o r t l a n d — Accord ing to coach L e nDiloia, the strength of the Tigers (12-6,15-7)this season w i l l be the experience of threejuniors .

"The three juniors who played varsity lastyear (guard A m y M e l d n m a n d f o r w a r d sAm y Sherry an d Jessica Wellings), playedquite a bit," Deloia said.

S h e r r y averaged 16.7 points and 13.1rebounds a g a m e , a n d w a s n a m e d M e t roLeague MV P and w as a first-team all-lea-guer.

• East Syracuse-Minoa — T h e Lady Spar-tans lost only two gam es last year, (17-1,21-2 ) bu t suffered eight m a j o r se tbacks whentha t many players graduated.

"We're going to be a second-half team,"coach Karen K east said, noting that "a lot of

kids ar e moving up " from last year 's 18-0.IV team.

• Corcoran — After a disappointing 1988-89 campaign, coach Jim Marsh expects hisCougars (8-10,8-12) to con ten d this season.

"The majority of my players back knowm y sys tem and h av e more exper ience,"Marsh said. "We have th e potential to bea tanyone"

The top returner is unior shooting forwardRhuyki a Walker, a second-team all-leaguer,wh o averaged 16.5 points a game last season.

"She ca n score on anyone," Marsh said.• F u l t o n - T h e R ed Raiders (10-10,10-11)

lost no starters to graduation.As a resul t , coach Larry Callahan said,

"We'll play pretty m u c h the same style aswe did last year."

The Red Raiders will be led by all-confer-ence senior center Robin V erSchneider, whoaveraged 18.9 points and 11.1 rebo und s agame. She is likely to reach the career 1,000-pomt plateau this season.

• J a m e s v i l le - D e W i t t — T h e loss o f f o u rseniors makes the current c rop of Red R ams(15-3,17-5) no t only young, bu t , coach RickEllison said, very inexperienced,

"Because of our youth , we ' l l be a l i t t leshaky in the beginning, an d we're going tobe playing ou r best as the season ends," Elli-s o n said. "By the las t th ird of the season,we're g o i n g to be very respectable "

Players back f r o m last year includ e seniorcen t e r DeDe Sull ivan, senior guard Mary

HerLzog an d s o p h o m o r e g u a r d - f o r w a r dJennifer Passonno, last year's second-lead-ing Re d Rams scorer .

• C e n t r a l Square — W ith si x membe rs oflast year's Lady Redmen team (7-9,9-10) lostto graduat ion, coach K evin Brazell plans ad i f f e r e n t playing style

"We' ll be smalle r and quicker," Braze l lsaid. "We'll have more man-to-man defense ,

an d we'll press more. W e'll us e some quick-ness because we don't have any of the bigpeople anymore."

Only on e s t a r t e r , gua rd J enn i fe r Ash,remains f r o m last year's squad.

• F o w l e r —Falcons coach April Wertheimhopes to maintain a positive atmosphere onher team (4-13,5-14).

'I just want to explain to them that if theydon't stay with it, they won't be successful,"Wertheim said.

Returning f r o m last year's squad are juniorforward Bernice Temple an d senior forwardYolanda Jones, both selected third-team all-Metro.

• C h r i s t i a n B r o t h e r s A c a d e m y — In theirfirst year of existence, th e Brothers (2-16)were com posed ent i re ly of f r e shmen an dsophomores. Coach To m C p l u c i hopes for astronger year with a returning squad

"In the second half of last year, we becamemore competitive," C o l u c i said.

For example, after Corcoran rolled by theBrothers by more than 50 points in their firstmatchup , they lost by only e ight in the i rsecond game . "

Returning ar e sophomore guards AdetoneA d e n l j i - A d e l e an d Erica Speach (13 ppg, an da third-team All-Leaguer), an d junior centerAdnenne Pollichemi.

• W h i t e s b o ro — N ew Warriors coach B obFenton's hopes for an improved season werelifted by the response of the W arriors (0-12,0-18) at early practices.

"They had a very goo'd spiri t ," Fentonsaid. "Everybody's en thus ia s t i c . They ' r ewilling to give all they have."

Returning f r o m last year ar e senior guardKristen Shuemaker , senior forward DebbieM acner , and senior foward-center FeliciaBuble, complemented by f r e s h m a n forwardHeather Daniels an d sophomore guards ErinBrooks and Michel le Dwyer.

Onondaga considered class of tne leagueBy Michael FlamCon t r i bu t i n g Writer

T h e A l L m a r - P a n s h - W i l l i a m -s t ow n girls' ba s k e t b a l l t e a m h a slost a ll f i v e starters f r o m lastyear's t e am to g r a d u a t i o n , butco ach J im M i l l e r is h o p i n g th eR e be l s c a n break even in 1989-

90."I w o u l d l i k e to see the kids

f inish .500," Mil le r sa id . "That'swhat I'm looking toward."

Nonetheless, O H S L S o u t hco ache s p r e d i c t t h a t A-P-W wil lfinish last in the divis ion.

Mil le r does h a v e three seniorsb a c k from las t year's 4-14 s q u a d ,each of w h o m sa w considerab leplaying time. Senior f o r w a r dPaula D a v i s and senior g u a r dS h a n n on N e w t on a r e p e n c i l e d i nat two of the starting spots.Jun io r A t h e n a Stere an d sopho-m o r e An g i e Petrie are also beingcounted on to f i l l the voidscreated b y g r a d u a t i on .

"There ' s not a lot ofexperience at the varsity level,b u t w e wi l l g e t better a s t h e sea-so n progresses," Mil l e r sa id .

• O n o n d a g a —This team isgenerally cons ide red the class ofthe d i v i s i o n , but coach M a r yA us t i n isn't so sure.

"We'll be pretty good, but notas s u c c e s s f u l as last year," shesaid.

A u s t i n w o r k e d w i t h a n i n e -p l a y e r s t a r t i ng rota t ion last sea-s o n b u t f i v e have graduated.Senior guard Renee Nickersonan d s en i o r f o r w a r d J a m i Corso"nl rfoir"to*Tr+3"-+ tn1OOO OA• • ILL Uc*!l4CJOtd1111 IwU -̂v/W,

while Austin hopes t h a t seniorf o rwards Char i na Johnson a ndM o l ly Woods an d senior guardHe'ather Stanton can claim theother three starting positions.

• T u H y — First-year coach Ji mCasterel la is hoping tha t th reer e t u rn i ng players and a group ofgirls up f r o m last y e a r ' s 19-1j unior varsity team w i l l help th eRlarfc KniPhi«= imrtrovo on Ipat

season s 17-5 m a r k .

"I've got a good g r ou p o f ath-letes w h o a r e very c o a c ha b l e an dvery hard-working." Casterellas a i d . "I'm h o p i n g they'll w o r kha r d a n d c om e t og e t h e r by mid-season."

Hon or a b l e m e n t i on al l - leaguesen ior f o r w a r d Ca t h y F i n k i s t h e

South poll

Ranking Team Pts

1 Onondaga 51(4)

2-Tully 49(2)

3. Pulaski 41

4. Hannibal 40(2)

5. Weedsport 35

6. Port Byron 25

7. Cato-Meridian 18

8. Fabius-Pompey 16

9 A-P-W 13

(Note- League pol resultswere determined by a vote of theleague coaches, with coachesnot allowed tovote for their own

teams. Weedsport's coach

declined to participate in the

poll, citing lack of familiarly with

the teams. First-place votes in

parentheses.)

only r e t u r n i n g starter an d wi l l b ej o ined by sen ior f o r w a r d J e nn i f e r

G r i l l e a n d j u n i o r g u a r d A m yM c D o n o u g h . Th i s tr io will l ikelyb e j o i n e d in th e s t a r t i ng l i n e u pb y j u n i o r f o r w a r d M i c he l le Mas-ters, l a s t season's j unior vars i tyl e a d i n g scorer and rebounder,a n d junior gua rd A m a n d a Potter.

• P u l a s k i —C o a c h Ra ySliwoski has lost only one starterfrom l a s t season's t e a m , bu t h eStl!! haS a y CUHg team. .UJiic'uic-

less, he is confident his team willb e i n t he h u n t for the l e aguetitle.

"We can be very competitivebecause we have good balance,"he sa id . "We can have a goodyear if we get menta l ly in to thegame."

Fi r s t - t eam, a l l - le ague j un io rwing Kate Watson w i l l re turn to

j un i o r g u a r d Jackie N u t t i n g a n dsen ior w i n g R o s a n n e V a n D u z e r .Honorable mention all-leaguesenior p o s t J e n n i f e r H i g b y islook ing to claim th e fifth startingspot

• H a n n i b a l —C o a c h SteveCianfa r ano can be r igh t fu l ly opti-mis t i c a b o u t th e u p c o m i n g sea-

son. He ha s eight players c o m i ngba c k f rom last year's t eam thatw e n t 14-6.

"I t h i n k we'll be very competi-tive," Ci a n f a r a n o said. "We'reh op i n g to f i gh t it o ut wi th Tu l l yand OC S (Onondaga) fo r the topspot."

The f o u r returning startersf rom last year ar e senior gua rdLisa Dodd , jun ior forwards 1dmT o m a k a n d L u A n n K n o o p a n dj un i o r g u a r d Chr i s t ine Marsha l l .

"We'll still m a k e y o u n g mis-takes, but as the season pro-gresses we'll m o v e f u r t h e ralong," Cianfa r ano said.

• W e e d s p o r t —First-yearcoach M a r y Connor s i s opt imis t i cabout inheriting a team that hasfour r e t u r n i ng starters.

"We l ook v e r y strong," shesa id . "Our defense is v e r y strong.We're q u i c k a n d h u s t l i n g a n d

we're g o i n g t o b e a good r u n n i n gteam."

Senior forwards J e n n y Beards-"ley an d C a t hy S h or t a n d s e n i o rguards J u l i e D r u r y a n d K e l l yTurner started last season f o r an11-7 W ar r i o rs t e a m . T a r a Jorole-m on h a s t h e ins ide t r a c k on t h efifth starting spot.

"I see us h a v i n g a very suc-c e s s f u l year," C o n n o r s said."Hopeful ly , wi th the experiencew e have , w e c a n f in i sh on top."

• Port Byron —Coach RonaldW i l s o n b e l i e v e s h i s team'sexper ience an d maturi ty w i l lhelp the Panthers improve onlast season's 11-7 mark.

"All ou r players have playedqui te a b i t on the varsity level,"h e s a id . " T h e y c an ad ju s t t ocitli?>tirtner»rt i V y r * firm*- "

l i nge r a n d senior f o w a r d JennyHarkness have each startedsince their sophomore years andw i l l b e c o u n t e d to p i c k u p t h escor ing void created b y t h e grad-ua t ion of Sue Ab a t e . Six playerswi l l battle for the r ema in i ng sixstar in g posi t ions .

"Our f i n i s h d e p e n d s o n what

h a p p e n s on t h e offensive e n d o fth e court," W i l s o n said. "If wec a n do any t h i ng on offense, t h e nwe'll be competitive in the topha l f of t he d iv i s ion . "

• Cato-Meridian —Coach AnnGregory has f o u r starters return-in g f rom last season's 2-14 team.She b e l i eve s t h e Bl ue D e v i l s ar estill in th e bu i l d i n g stages.

"There were a lo t o f teams thatkilled u s last s e a s on a n d it's unre-a l i s t i c to t h i n k that we'll beatt h em, " G rego ry said. "Hopefu l ly ,we' l l be a b l e to give them a bet-ter game."

Senior forwards D o n n a Fre-d e n b u r g a n d L y n n e C l a rk e a n ds e n i o r g u a r d s Stephanie Cnman d Lynn Podolak started lastyear, but w i l l have to p l a y am or e c on t r o l le d de f e n s i v e g a m efo r th e B l u e Devils to improvet h e i r 1988-89 record.

" W e h a v e an aggressive t e a m ,b u t we have to be more con -trolled,"Gr e g o r y said.

• Fabius-Pompey —The Fal-c on s h a v e been th e bot tom teamin the OHSL South for the lastseveral years, but c o a c h LoisH a a s believes this may be theseason that the t e am c l imb s up.

"I th ink we ' l l b e r i gh t in th emiddle , " she saia. "We re b u i l d -in g and getting better,but I don'tt h i n k we're ready to take theleague."

Ha a s h a s fou r starters return-in g f r o m th e 1988-89 team.Sen io r f o r w a r d Jessica H e n r y ,j u n i o r f o r w a r d E m i l y Habereck,

j un i o r cen t e r M e l a n i e Parker an dh o n o r a b l e m e n t i o n a l l - l e a g u es o p h o m o r e g u a r d C ar r i e Lysik.. .n ,. .1 "t » '

Sport provides herplenty of thrillsB y AndrewMilner

Con t r i bu t i n g W r i t e r

For two consecut ive year s ,Dary l e M a k o of the Not-t ingham cross country ski-

in g team went to the Empire StateGames at Lake Placid.

La s t Februa ry a t ESG t ime ,Mako couldn't make u because stiehad a prior commitment In Minne-sota.

At the U.S. Junior Olympics.M a k o a n d t e a m m a t e K r i s s y

Pede rsen w e r e chosen as two

D a ry l e Mako

Scnoot Nottingham.

SportCross-country skiing. _

Ksy numbers: 5-(oot-8, 135-pound,17-year-oMsenior. _Other sport*: Cross country run*ning._

«f o:BlKoch, Olympic skier iss:Sailing.

Sports goals: To make theU.S.

Junior Olympicsagan. _Career goal: A career in sportsmedcine-_

reatest sports acNsHnent Mak--• "- •  • <- •

generally made up of only six-io-eight of the best 16- and 17-year-old cross-country sk i e r s in theregion.

To q u a l i f y , Pedersen an d Makocompeted in a series of races in OldForge and Lake Placid, host of the1980 Winter Olympics. Immedia-

tely afte r th e f i n a l r a c e , M a k ole a rned she had made t h e eli teteam.

"I WAS THRILLED," sh e said. "!w a s n ' t e x p e c t i n g t o m a k e itbecause I had m o v e d up in the agegroup. Bu t I had a good'season."

At th e Junior Olympics, held atGiant ' s Ridge in B iweb ic. M akocompeted in both the relay races of10 kilometers and the c lassica lraces. In classical races, of betweenfive an d seven kilometers, skiersshift back an d f o r t h on their skis.

In both events, M a k o finished "inthe middle of the pack" among 70sk i e r s . But the most impor t an tth ing tha t matte red to her was notwinning, but m ere ly taking p a r t

Mako, named to last season 'sN ew York state team, begins herfourth year on the Bulldogs skiingsquad. A senior at Henmnger High

School , Mako s k i s w i t h Not -t ingham because Henninger doesnot h ave a cross-country skiingteam.

She began skiing at age 8, and at13 j o i n e d a league of sk'e^s organ-ized by O l y m p i a n Bill Koch , an dbegan with Nott ingham he f o l l o w -in g year.

M a k o recalls be ing excited w henn a m e d to her f i r s t Empire Sta teteam during ninth grade .

"I was just as thrilled as when Iwas chosen to go to the Jun iorOlympics," she said.

IN THE FALL, sh e runs cross-country. ,

"It's good for cross-training," shesaid. "A lot of people who ski runto keep in shape, and a lot of run-ners ski."

As one o f fou r seniors on theBulldogs' squad, M ako said t h a tthey do the ir pa r t to k e e p moralehigh.

"Spiritwise. we all pretty muchhelp each other," sh e said.

Mako admits that it can be d i f f i -cult to maintain a winter mindsetwhen t h e r e is no snow on theground. Last year's mild snowfallwa s especially difficult fo r cross-country skiing. Whereas downhillskiers have artificial snow to relyon , Nordic skiers do not, an d mustwork on real snow.

"IT W AS VERY frustrating to goto a race and see other schools tha thave snow," Mako said.

W h e n n o t runn ing or sk i i ngc ross coun t ry w i th Not t i ngham,Mako pract ices th e biathlon. T hebia thlon combines c ross-countryski ing and sharpshooting f r o m a22-cahber rifle. "There's no t manygirls doing it," sh e said.

At Henmnger, Mako's favori teacademic subjec ts ar e math an dscience. Mako's top c o l l e g e choicesinc lude Ithaca College, S U N Y Buf-f a l o and t he U nive r s i t y of Ver-mont .

Mako agrees w i t h th e idea thatski ing is a l i fe t ime ac t iv i ty , notsomething to do just fo r competi-tion.

"I'll always be sk iing becaus e Ilove it so much," sh e said. "I'll sk iunt i l I 'm physica l ly unable to doit"

Old Forge stays intact,primed for more victoriesBy Andrew Milner

Contributing Writer

Th e area high school skiing sea-so n won' t begin in earnest unt i lJ anua ry , when th e first competi-tions begin.

Unti l then, coaches are keepingtheir teams ready by leading skiersin conditioning an d cross cou ntryrunning.

U r i h k e bss

sophomore post Ton ya Gilbert , Senior guard Shel ley Terwi! r th e Falco'ns.

t h e r e a r e n o f o r m a l w o n - l o s srecords in high school skiing, an dno s t a nd ing s . A boys ' c hamp ionan d girls' champion are ch osen atthe end of the regular season aftermtersectional com petition at LakePlacid, site of the 1980 W i n t e rOlympics.

• Ol d F o r g e — Alpine : "We' r egoing to be pretty much the sameas last year," A l p i n e coach SandyStnpp said. In other words: Wa tchout, Section T hree.

Th e boys' A l p i n e squad finishedf i rs t in Sect ion Three , while th egirls consistently f i n i s h e d seconda n d t h i rd . An d since n o f e m a l eskiers departed, Stnpp said, "Thatca n only make us stronger."

R e t u r n i n g a r e R ick Hass ion ,Matt Ri tz, David Palmer, LauraHession, Stacy O l s o n and Kns t enWenger t

Nordic: Th e Section Three cham -p i o n O ld Forge cross-country ski-in g team, which sent more kids tothe U.S Junior Olympics than an yschool its size in the Northeast, is anea r - unan imous pick b y sec t ioncoaches to repeat

Coach Carl Klossner sa id t h a tlosing no male skiers to graduat ionwill make the team "very strong,"b u t h a v i n g o n l y t h r e e f e m a l eskiers will be a problem. "We canscore only as long as they all f in-

ish."• Adi rondack — Alp ine : "Wedon ' t in tend to set the world onfire, but we'll step up a little bit,"coach Cleve Lansing said "A lot ofthese kids have skiing exper ience,bu t they have n't raced."

Sen ior sk i e r s i n c lude R ache lSzyikowski, J e n n i f e r Payne, Crys-ta l Kwasn i e sk i , Michel le Merceran d Chris Rice.

N o r d i c : T w o y e a r s a g o , t h eAdirondack cross country sk i teamsent f o u r skiers to the Lake Placidintersectionals. A f t e r a disappoint-ing 1989 season, coach To m Crow-ley expects improveme nt.• H M k H M r - "Last year," Her-

k imer Magic ians coach John M it-che l l s a i d , "w e l ooked to oneanother and nobody made it." B utt h i s s e a s o n , " b e c a u s e o f o u rexper ience , i u i n m «e n ao a 10 1better."

Herk ime r ' s r e tu rn ing sen ior s

inc lude Leigh Dillard, J e f f C o l e an dLucas Rockw ell, Andy Hopson an dTony Maida.

• N o t t i n g h a m — The Bulldogs'Nordic skiing team sent two femalesk i e r s , Da ry l e Mako a n d KrissyPedersen, to the Junior Olympicslast February.

Not t i ngham coach Jim Schoon-maker expects an improved girls'SCju<id.

I Faye t tev i l le -Manl ius —Schoon-m a k e r a l s o co ache s t h e Hornets'squad, which tripled in size f rom

Skiing lineup

Adirondack, Cooperstown, Fayette-

ville-Manhus, HerKmer, Little Falls,

Nottingham, Old Forge, SouthLewis

last season — f r o m on e skier tothree.

Las t se a son sophomore Ke l lySchalk was, literally, a one-womanteam.

Section Three rules require ski-in g t e ams to have at least t h r eeathletes. So Schalk w i l l be joinedby her sister Kate , a freshman, andan u n d e t e r m i n e d third skier.

• Cooperstown — Nordic coachPaul Tobler's theme song for theupco m i ng season might well be ,"Let It Snow , Let I t Snow , Le tIt Snow."

He bel ieved t h a t last season'sd i s m a l performance wa s related toth e lack of snow in the area.

The Redskins sent senior Han-na h LaBarre as a second alternateto intersectionals in Lake Placid.

• South L e w i s — Alpine: CoachM i k e Paczkowsk i hope s to keepsuccess al l i n th e f a m i l y this seasonwith daughter Piper, a selection to

s t a t esin each of the last

t h r e eyears, re turning to the Falcons.Piper will rejoin sophomore An n

C o o k , who went to the states as af r e shman , and j u n i o r M i k e Ear l ,wh o finished third in the slalom.

Nord i c : Mos t o f t h e F a l c o n s 'cross-country skiers are sopho-more s an d juniors, which coachJ im W r i g h t h op e s wi l l b e a nadvan t age .

This year's skiers i n c l u d e juniorP e t e r V a n r y a n d s o p h o m o r e sHeather LaFountain, Ciley Water-m a n an d Tina Wmlarski .

• Litllt Fills — Alpine coachNancy O'Leary acknowledged tha t"we had an a w f u l lot of room forimprovement" a fte r a d ismal sea-son. Sh e said, "There are a coupleof people w ith the potential to go tostates," a m o n e t he m i u n i o rJ e n n i f e r M a i o n e a n a sopnomoreTodd Vincent.