Photo by Cheryl Wertman – Sandstone catcher Omer Fugate tags out Medina’s Breydin Lewis during Short Season Baseball League 12U Division action.

Restrictions imposed by the Covid-19 Pandemic caused the cancellation of the seasons for the Albion Midget League and Niagara Orleans Youth Baseball League (which includes teams from Medina, Lyndonvlle, Roy-Hart and Somerset).

However, when restrictions were eased a bit  in July a new Orleans County Short Season Baseball League was organized involving teams from Albion, Medina and Elba for 10U and 12U divisions to help fill that gap for young area diamond enthusiasts.

In the 12U Division Medina captured the regular season title with a 9-1 record and went on to win the playoff title by nipping Albion Rotary 1-0 in the finals. In the semifinals Medina trimmed Carlton 5-4 and Rotary edged Elba 7-6.

Albion also fielded a team in a late summer GLOW 15U League in Batavia and went 7-4-1.

Contributed Photo – Roy-Hart’s Carter Green and Kayla Hagan.

Both teams posted perfect 10-0 records as the Roy-Hart boys and girls swim squads both captured N-O championships.

The Roy-Hart girls went on to win 7 of 11 events at the All-League meet including individual event wins by Kayla Hagen (100 Freestyle, 100 Backstroke), Mandy Hill (200 Individual Medley and 100 Butterfly) and Madison Ohol (500 Free).

The Roy-Hart boys scored six wins at the All-League meet including individual event victories by Carter Green (200 and 500 Free)  and Will Rickard (50 and 100 Free).

Photo by Cheryl Wertman – In a matchup of league co-champions Akron’s Sophia Jones tries to get the ball past Barker goalie Courtney Hillman and defender Ella Gooding.

Perennial Niagara-Orleans League field hockey rivals Akron and Barker shared the league title with identical 11-1 records.

The teams split a pair of league meetings interestingly winning on the other team’s field. Akron won the first meeting in a shootout and Barker took the second 1-0.

Akron then downed Barker 3-0 in the Section VI Class C championship game.

Akron’s Lacey Berghorn, Madison Brege and Jenelle Kieffer all earned first team All-League honors as did Barker’s trio of Madison Gancasz, Lena Fazzolari and Ashlin Cole. Gancasz, who was named N-O Player of the Year, also earned first team All Western New York honors as did Berghorn and Brege.

Contributed Photos – Medina’s Aiden Paul, left, finished first at the N-O All-League golf tournament. His teammate Dylan Lonnen, middle, placed second. Roy-Hart’s McCarthy Lang right, won the girls title.

Medina’s Aiden Paul was the individual champion and Roy-Hart’s McCarthy Lang took the girls title at the annual Niagara-Orleans All-League golf tournament as Akron captured the team title.

At Shelridge, James Tee captured the Club championship while Tim Parker and Randy Parker won the Open Tournament.

At Hickory Ridge, Deb Wood and Rich Wheeler won the club championship and Paula Knaak and Jeff Dobson claimed the Cup title.

Photo by Cheryl Wertman -Ball fields, parks and gyms across the area were quiet much of  this past year as high school football, baseball, softball, lacrosse, tennis, volleyball and track seasons were cancelled due to the Covid-19 Pandemic.

For the past 10 months one story has dominated the news and sports headlines – the Covid-19 Pandemic.

It struck in mid March just as the high school spring sports teams (baseball, softball, tennis, track and lacrosse) were completing their first week of preseason practice. And that week was all there was as the entire season ended up being cancelled.

The area youth sports programs were likewise hit hard as football, baseball, softball and soccer programs were all cancelled. The one bright spot was that when Covid restrictions were eased a bit in July some baseball activities got going including a new Short Season 12U and 10U League comprised of teams from Albion, Medina and Elba.

The high school programs remained in crisis in the fall as the so-called “High Risk” sports of football, volleyball and competitive cheerleading were postponed with state officials hoping to get them in during a “Fall 2 Season” beginning March 1.

That postponement means that this calendar year is the first time in 100 years that Albion and Medina will not meet on the high school football field. In fact, the last year that the two schools did not meet on the gridiron was 1919, ironically the year after the 1918 Spanish Flu epidemic.

The postponement also delays the debut season of the newly organized Roy-Hart/Barker/Lyndonville 8 man football team which has been nicknamed the Silverbacks.

And the fall sports that did get played including soccer, field hockey, cross-country and golf, played primarily only league games during the regular season and had an abbreviated sectional competition. The games were played with only a very limited number of spectators, primarily the parents of players, on hand.

Currently the status of the high school winter sports season remains uncertain. Section VI has set January 18 as a projected starting date. However, state officials have not yet announced a date when the “High Risk” sports of basketball and wrestling can begin.

In fact, the strange situation of 2020 is well illustrated by the fact that currently the Niagara-Orleans League is planning on running its swim season with “virtual” meets.

There are some positives that need to be highlighted

Despite all of the frustrations and disruptions that have occurred during this bizarre Pandemic year there have been many outstanding performances by our local teams and athletes positives in this strange year which the HUB Sports feels should be spotlighted.

The HUB Sports  therefore will be running a Top 10 Sports stories of the year over the next two days.  Stories 6-10 will run later today and the top five will run on New Years Day.

Contributed Photo – Medina’s Dick Zielinski puts up a shot against Albion defenders Ron Greenlee (21) and Dave Greenlee (15) during the semifinals of the first Holiday Festival Tournament held during the 1958-59 season at Middleport and Medina.

In recent decades tournaments, especially during the Christmas holiday time, have become a very popular part of the high school basketball season (at least until this Covid-19 Pandemic year).

Locally the first such event was the inaugural Holiday Festival Tournament held during the 1958 Christmas break.

That first tourney brought together an interesting mix of four teams from three different leagues including Medina and Roy-Hart from the Niagara-Orleans League, Lockport from the Niagara Frontier League and Albion which was then a member of the Genesee Orleans (now Genesee Region) League.

The semifinal round, which was held at Middleport, saw Albion defeat Medina 32-26 and Lockport down Roy-Hart 54-38.

Albion was paced by Dave Greenlee with 16 while Dick Zielinski had 13 for Medina and Bruce Ryder 17 for Roy-Hart.

Medina then hosted the consolation and championship games. Lockport captured the tourney title by defeating Albion 60-53 while Medina took third place honors with a 43-37 victory over Roy-Hart.

Lockport was led by Al Rose with 15 and Jim Swick 12 while Dave Greenlee netted 15, Denny Silzewski 13 and Ron Greenlee 12 for Albion. Zielinski tallied 18 and Pat McElwee 12 for Medina while Ryder scored 15 for Roy-Hart.

The 1959 tournament, which was delayed twice by a snowstorm, was held entirely at Medina with Kendall replacing Lockport in the field.

The semifinals saw Albion defeat Roy-Hart 49-43 and Kendall best Medina 47-20.

Albion went on to defeat Kendall 60-39 in the championship game while Roy-Hart trimmed Medina 43-41 in the consolation contest.

Dave Greenlee scored 15 while Silzewski and Dick Forder each added 13 to lead the way in the title game for Albion which went on to post a perfect 20-0 season capped off by a 56-42 win over Honeoye Falls in the Section V Class A championship game.

The third and final Holiday Festival Tournament was held during the 1960 Christmas break with Kendall hosting the semifinals and Middleport the consolation and championship games.

The semifinal round saw Medina defeat Kendall 47-22 and Albion edge past Roy-Hart 47-43.

Dick Miller scored 16 and Bill Rankin 14 to pace Medina while Joe Capurso tallied 30 for Albion.

Medina then claimed the tourney championship by downing Albion 56-29 as Norm Goheen led the way with 30.  Capurso was high for Albion with 13.

In the consolation game Roy-Hart downed Kendall 60-30.

Though a short lived event it was the forerunner of many local holiday and early season tournaments to follow over the next few decades.

Five Barker High fall varsity sports teams have earned New York State Public High School Athletic Association Scholar-Athlete Team Awards by compiling a composite average of at least 90.

The honorees include the boys and girls cross-country, field hockey, golf and girls soccer teams.

Listed by team, members of the Scholar-Athlete squads are as follows:

Boys Cross-Country – Mason Allee-Castro, Bradford Cantrell, Luis Castro, Dawson Donovan, Logan Harris, Cameron Hefferon, Andrew Hill, Zachary Hill, Thomas Jowdy, Cameron Kiner, James Mason, Robert Mason, Andreas Nestoros, Evan Taylor and Aidan Voss.

Girls Cross-Country – Kaitlyn Goodwin, Lydia Samson, Rachel Samson, Carla Stoloski, Elinore Voss and Mikala Woock.

Field Hockey – Natalie Bruning, Ashlin Cole, Mackenzie Dodge, Lena Fazzolari, Madison Gancasz, Laci Giarla, Ella Gooding, Mia Herman, Courtney Hillman, Macie May, Lilly Monthony, Kaedynce Schumacher, Rachel Sutter, Addison Szafranski, Aaliyah Wheat and Alexa Zglinicki.

Golf – Jarrett Baker, Nicholas Cassell, Alexander DerSarkissian, Lucas DerSarkissian, Adler Detschner, Tristen Garcia, Joel Harris, Charles LaGreca, Joseph Mahar, Nathan Meza Ray, Willard Nellist, Caleb Pierce and Camren Szafranski.

Girls Soccer – Kathleen Babcock, Cole Carnes, Hailey Chellino, Jessalynn Coen, Shelby Dauphinee, Paige Dennis, Michayla Greene, Nya Johnson, Isabella Joy, Chloe Lee, Sydnie Luckman, Madisoon Miller, Sarah Outten, Trinity Parfinski, Paige Sutch and Molly Westlake.

Contributed Photo – The Individual weight class winners at the 1968 Medina Holiday Wrestling Tournament are shown here. In front are Lee Van Valkenberg (Attica), Jim Glasser (Attica), Gary Merrill (Lyndonville), Rick Root (Medina), Tom Allport (Lyndonville) and Lynn Green (Attica). Standing are Paul Wlosinski (Attica), Bill Ames (Medina), David Jamalkowski (Notre Dame), Dan O’Connor (Notre Dame), Charley Pettit (Medina) and Bruce Briggs (Notre Dame).

Up until this very disruptive Covid-19 Pandemic year tournaments have been a main feature of the high school wrestling season.

The Holley Dual and Team Tournaments, Lyndonville’s Fred Large Memorial Tourney and Medina’s Gary Gross Memorial Tourney have been big events locally.

Medina also hosted one of the area’s first wrestling  tournaments as the Mustangs held a holiday tourney during the Christmas week break for six years in a row during the 1960’s.

The Mustangs won the inaugural event in 1964 besting  Lockport, Starpoint and St. Mary’s of Lancaster for the title.

Medina had five individual weight class winners in the tourney including Bill Blackburn, Ken Nice, Mike Crandall, Jerry Weese and Dennis Higgins.

Attica replaced Starpoint in the tournament field in 1965 and the Blue Devils took charge claiming the championship for five years in a row (1965-69).

Lyndonville competed in the tournament in 1967, 1968 and 1969 and Notre Dame of Batavia was in the tournament field for four years (1966-69).

Lyndonville’s Tom Allport earned the Most Outstanding Wrestler honor in 1968.

Medina had two Most Outstanding Wrestlers – Dennis Higgins in 1966 and Jim Misiti in 1969.

Four Kendall and three Holley fall varsity sports squads have earned New York State Public High School Athletic Association Scholar-Athlete Team Awards by compiling composite averages of at least 90.

Kendall’s boys and girls soccer and boys and girls cross-country teams all earned the honor as did the Holley boys and girls soccer and girls cross-country teams.

Listed by team, members of the Scholar-Athlete squads are as follows:

Holley Boys Soccer – KJ Biedlingmaier, Zach Dann, Andrew Drechsel, Nathan Nothnagle, Kayden Servais, JJ Strathern, Charlie Turpyn, Evan Valentine, Broek Ostrom, Cameron Bates, Kalen Brady, Dareo Garcia-Fisher, Nicholas Mandigo, Carter McGuire, Mason Neale, Caleb Schultz, James Tette and Lorenzo Zaragoza.

Holley Girls Soccer – Skyla Milazzo, Allyson Skehan, Samantha Bates, Hayley Skidmore, Isabella Thom, Kayleigh Neale, Amya Cancino, Allison Lyndaker, Tatum Gagne, Jailyn Bishop, Halee Passarell, Sara Kingdollar, Emma Brady and Emma Downey.

Holley Girls Cross-Country – Harleigh Andrews, Morgan Blosenhauer, Adrianna Botello, Cecelia Farruggia and Molly Welch.

Kendall Boys Soccer – Derek Edick, Jacob Esposito, Joe Nettles, Tory Raufeisen, Mike Sammons, Hayden VanDusen, Erik Woodams, Michael McCue, Jorden Ostrander, Jeffrey Pratt, Josh Smith, Shane Stock, Ethan Woodams, Zach Barret, Devon Edick, Tobey Passer, Bruce Rasmusson and Riley Robinson.

Kendall Girls Soccer – Angelina Aguirre, Lauren Pilon, Hanna Broskin, T’Mia Kitchings, Megan Gates, Regan VanDusen, Madison Jacob, Julie Coble, Kari Harrier, Grace Robinson, Kiersten Rodas, Kailie Regan, Alezya Brown, Magdalena Aguirre, Grace Levett, Lizzy Woodams and Brianna Wakefield.

Kendall Boys Cross-Country – Ben Brundage, Noah Clark, Josh Gregory, Owen Hirschman, Alex King, Ethan Kuhn, Jacek Kuiatkowski, Rowan Mancarella, Dutch Steffen and Braxton Zarpentine.

Kendall Girls Cross-Country – Emma Allen ,Hannah Brundage, Taylor Holzschuh, Libby Snyder, Inez Stangler and Paige Valente.

Photos by Tom Rivers – Akron’s Lauren Wagner, left, and Newfane’s Kylie Bowman have earned All-State cross-country team honors.

Two Niagara-Orleans League runners have earned spots on the All-State cross-country squad.

Newfane freshman Kylie Bowman has been named to the Class C second team and Akron junior Lauren Wagner has received Honorable Mention on the Class C squad.

Bowman won both the N-O All-League meet and the Section VI Class C races this past season. She also earned the N-O League’s female Runner of the Year award.

Wagner finished second at the N-O All-League meet and was fifth at the Section VI Class C race.