track & field

Submitted by Diana Anderson Radley:

Batavian, Max Radley, junior at SUNY Fredonia, a member of theSUNY Fredonia Mens track and Field since a freshmen and a former member of the Batavia HS Track and Field Team competed in State University of New York Athletic Competitions in Oneoneta this past weekend.  Max finished 2nd in the state competition  in Hammer throwing with a with a distance of 47.74 meters.

Max plans on studying and competing in the Netherlands next semester.  Max is the son of Diana Anderson Radley, a licensed Massage Therapist and Herbalist, owner of Massage by Diana and copartner in a new business called Scientific Edge, Health and Wellness trainings and education for the Professional Community and general community   Carl Radley, formerly of Batavia

Like other throwing events, the competition is decided by who can throw the ball the farthest. The men's hammer weighs 16 pounds (7.257 kg) and measures 3 feet 11 3⁄4 inches (121.5 cm) in length and the women's hammer weighs 8.82 lb (4 kg) and 3 feet 11 inches (119.5 cm) in length.[1] Competitors gain maximum distance by swinging the hammer above their head to set up the circular motion. Then they apply force and pick up speed by completing one to four turns in the circle. In competition, most throwers turn three or four times. The ball moves in a circular path, gradually increasing in velocity with each turn with the high point of the ball toward the sector and the low point at the back of the circle. The thrower releases the ball from the front of the circle. The two most important factors for a long throw are the angle of release (45° up from the ground) and the speed of the ball (the highest possible).

While the men's hammer throw has been in the Olympic Games since 1900, the IAAF did not start ratifying women's marks until 1995. Women's hammer throw was first included in the Olympics at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, after having been included in the World Championships a year earlier.

A few weeks ago, we wrote about a petition out there to try and save the Empire State Games. The petition is growing and now has 3003 signatures. I signed it in hopes of saving the games, which have been a tremendous thing for a lot of people for three decades.

Messenger Post writer Mike Bailey jumps on board in the fight today and writes a very good column on the topic.

There will be no Empire State Games in 2009 as of right now, as state budget cuts are forcing the annual Olympic-style competition to the back burner. The word “unfortunate” is an understatement when it comes to this decision.

It’s more like a travesty. 

Apparently, I am not the only one who feels this way, and one woman, Arlene Feil, decided to do something about it. She has set up an online petition at www.petitiononline.com — a link also can be found on the wrestling site www.armdrag.com — aimed at New York Gov. David Paterson pleading with him to re-institute the games immediately.

Basically the letter states that events such as the games help stimulate the economy rather than hurt it, due to all the travel and expenses that athletes face over the course of the weekend. She says that the ESG generate $10 million to $15 million for the local economy of the host city and points out how much of that revenue is returned to the state.

It took me about a minute to sign the petition and if you are a supporter of local sports or giving kids a chance to compete during the summer, I would recommend spending a minute to sign the petition.

 Two former Batavia High track stars are doing very well at the University of Albany, especially senior Jenn Gurrant, who was just named an America East Conference track Player of the Week.

Gurrant has an impressive resume at Albany. The senior has done many big things on the track as a sprinter and jumper. But just as important, she has been named to the All-Academic team the past two years.

Freshman Jen Adams is a sprinter and jumper as well and is learning from the experienced Albany roster.

Here is the press release from the school about Gurrant's Player of the Week honor:

Albany’s Fey Adaramola, Jenn Gurrant and Nasim Siddeeq have been selected as the America East Conference male and
female indoor track and field performers of the week, as announced on Tuesday, Jan. 27 by the conference office. The trio helped the men’s
and women’s programs sweep the team titles for the first time at the seventh annual Great Dane Classic over the weekend.
            Adaramola, who was named the conference’s track athlete of the week for the first time, accounted for two school records and met three ECAC qualifying standards in the sprinting events. She finished
fifth in the 200-meter dash in 24.80 seconds, which barely eclipsed the standard of 24.81 set by Ellakisha Williamson in 1998. Adaramola was also fourth in the 55-meter dash, crossing the line in 7.14. The junior transfer from Central Florida accounted for a second school record as a member of the 4x400-meter relay which finished second overall in 3:51.44. Furthermore, all three times are America East highs this winter.
            Gurrant, who broke the school record in the long jump at the New York City Gotham Cup on Jan. 16, earned her second consecutive women’s field athlete of the award for her performance in the triple jump at the Great Dane Classic. She recorded a winning leap of 42 feet,
3-1/4 inches to become the first America East student-athlete to provisionally qualify for the NCAA Championship in any field event.
            Siddeeq, a junior transfer from Robert Morris where he shares the school and Northeast Conference championship meet records in the triple jump, was honored as the men’s field athlete of the week.
He broke UAlbany’s program standard in the triple jump with a winning mark of 51-7.25, surpassing teammate Mike McCadney’s record of 50-11 set in 2007 and 2008. He also became the second student-athlete at an America East school to provisionally qualify for the NCAA Championship
in a field event after UAlbany pole vaulter Luke Schoen.

In John Moriello's blog today, he is talking money and sports. 

New York has already lost the Empire State Games as Hudson Valley said there was no way they could host the game this summer if athletes are going to be forced to play $300 each to participate and there will be cuts in some of the "smaller sports".

The New York State Public High School Athletic Association is also looking into cuts, a story that was broken on The Batavian. There is talks of regionalizing state games, eliminating the amount of games played in the regular season and post season for some sports and cutting down on the amount of champions in individual sports.

Moriello thinks that the NYSPHSAA is moving too fast:

More often, however, issues are resolved incrementally and painfully. Quick, easy fixes just do not exist.

   That's where the state of New York stands today. The economic downturn has shredded the economy, and elected officials in Albany face a deficit in excess of $15 billion in next year's budget. Among the casualties is the education budget, with proposed state aid being pared back considerably from what local school districts were anticipating when they started the annual planning process in the fall.

   And that has everything to do with why the executive committee of the state Public High School Athletic Association will vote on more than a dozen cost-cutting proposals at its quarterly meeting at the end of the week.

    The NYSPHSAA officials are trying to be proactive in dealing with financial issues. They rightly recognize that cuts are coming in virtually all aspects of the education budget and want to take the initiative in setting priorities and finding solutions lest someone not as well informed try doing it for them. That's their right, and I would even say it's their responsibility.

Moriello also talks about the cost of teams that travel to our border states for games. It is a good read, well worth checking out.

 Jenna Porter had a pretty impressive freshman season at Nazareth College. Now she returns for a sophomore year where she will be one of the top runners on the squad.

Porter set the Nazareth school record in the 55-meter sprint (7.72) and 60-meter sprint (8.42) last season, and was a member of the school-record setting 800-meter and 1600-meter relay teams.

She carried that success on in the spring as she broke the school record in the 100 (:12.93), 200 (:26.28) and 400 (:59.73). She also ran on the 400 and 1600 relay teams that set records. She was actually named team MVP for the outdoor season, and was awarded Empire 8 all-star honors.

Porter was a star for the Alexander track team as well, helping to win two state titles in the 400 relay. She also made states in the 200 and led the Trojans to five consecutive Genesee Region League championships.

Naz kicks off the season on Dec. 6 at the Cornell relays.

 Byron-Bergen graduate Gillian Taylor has competed in two cross country races this fall and should be primed for a big indoor track & field season at the University at Buffalo.

The sophomore ran a 21:40, for a 37th place finish, at the Tommy Evans Invite and took 63rd with a 22:06 at the UB Stampede Invite.

The Bulls scored 513 points and finished 17th at the 2008 NCAA Northeast Regional Championships at Van Cortlandt Park this past weekend, but Taylor did not compete in the race.

She was a member of UB's distance medley relay team during indoor last season, and finished 15th in the 800 m at the MAC Outdoor Championships last year.

Taylor was one of the most successful runners in area history at Byron-Bergen.

She received 14 varsity letters and was a team captain in cross country, indoor and outdoor track. She was named the teams' most valuable runner 12 times and holds the B-B records in the 1500 (4:50), 800 (2:20), 1000 (3:01) and was on the record holding 1600 relay squad.

She won 10 individual sectional titles and qualified for the state championships in outdoors five times, and indoors once.