SARATOGA SPRINGS — The Saratoga Central Catholic Saints girl’s varsity soccer team will play two night games this fall at Skidmore College’s Wachenheim Field.

The games will be held on Friday, Sept. 19 (vs. Germantown) and Friday, Sept. 26 (against Gloversville). Both games begin at 7 p.m. There is no admission to watch the games and free parking is available close to Wachenheim Field on Skidmore’s campus.

In an interview with Saratoga TODAY earlier this month, Saints Head Coach Brian Venn called his team’s ability to play under the lights at Skidmore “a testament to what we’re going to be able to do to build this [program] into a soccer destination in the future.” 

MECHANICVILLE — The Saratoga Racers burst into existence last year, finishing their inaugural American Basketball Association (ABA) season with a 13-7 record and an appearance in the league’s playoff semifinals. But the team could reach even greater heights in its forthcoming sophomore season, which will be hosted at a new home court in Mechanicville.

The venue change is the result of new ownership. Earlier this summer, the Racers were sold by Keith Harrington to an ownership group led by Frank Polsinello, a Mechanicville native with big plans for both the team and his home city.

The structure at 10 North Main Street includes a basketball court originally built in the 1950s that can seat up to 2,800 spectators. It’s a much larger site than the Saratoga Central Catholic gym on Broadway, which hosted the Racers last season. And there are plans already in place to beautify the Racers’ new home.

“I’ve loved this gym since I was 12 years old,” said Polsinello. “We’re redeveloping it… We’re hoping it’ll be the center of a new, revitalized Mechanicville community.”

Tentative plans for the building include adding a fitness club, pickleball court, cornhole league, brewpub and cafe, apartments, and theater events. If all comes to fruition, it’ll be a new era for the historic gym, which has hosted games played by local notables like pro basketball player Barry Kramer and future State Senator Jim Tedisco.

The court’s storied past is not lost on current members of the Saratoga Racers, who said they appreciated the venue’s legacy and have been practicing there almost every night.

“It’s a game changer,” said Racers’ star Tobias Holmes. “Now we can prepare a lot earlier than last year and it’s helping us already tremendously.”

A number of Saratoga’s standouts are set to return for year two, including Holmes and RJ Rosa, both of whom practiced with the team on Tuesday night.

“We can really get in here whenever we want,” Rosa said. “That’s a night and day difference from last year. I’m seeing guys take advantage of it almost every night, which is huge.”

Rosa credited the ownership and venue change with attracting more talent to the team. “We’re seeing new guys that we didn’t see last year come out,” he said. “I think it’s a combination of us performing well last year but also them seeing that we’re doing things the right way.”

Three Racers players said that a combination of added talent and improved chemistry among returning players would likely result in a better team taking the court this season. The goal for the players was the same: to advance as far as possible in the ABA postseason, perhaps all the way to a national championship.

Head Coach Bob Catherwood pointed out that the Racers fell in last year’s playoffs by only 8 points to a team that advanced to the final four. “We’ve got the capability to have a great year,” said the veteran coach, who helped lead both the Albany Patroons and Albany Legends to title victories. 

Catherwood has a career record of 370-154 for a 72% winning percentage. At 73 years old (he’ll be 74 this November), he seemed to have no regrets about coming out of retirement to coach the Racers. He cited one game last season, in which Saratoga went on a 31-0 scoring run, as one of the most extraordinary things he’s ever seen on a basketball court. “I’ve got a couple rings, a couple championships, but I never had a game like that,” Catherwood said. “It’s a lot of fun.”

The fun is set to continue in early November, when the Racers will play their first games of the 2025-26 regular season.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Lindsey Frank is back home running about with the same enthusiasm that she developed as a dual-sport Hall of Fame athlete at Saratoga Springs High School. Only this time, the lacrosse and field hockey star is racing around for the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation (TRF).

Lindsey joined TRF in May as its marketing coordinator. True to her skills, she covered a lot of ground quickly this summer, including assisting with the Fifth Annual Gumbo with Kendrick for TRF at the Principessa Elena Society; LALO for Jockeys & Horses at the Adelphi Hotel; and the TRF’s Backyard BBQ, presented by Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital. These events were in addition to her regular responsibilities of TRF’s Horse Sponsorship program and supporting its marketing and development team. 

Multi-tasking comes naturally to Lindsey, who was inducted into the Saratoga Springs High School Blue Streak Hall of Fame last fall. She set school records in both lacrosse and field hockey as a four-year starter in both sports and was named to the USA Lacrosse All-America team in 2018-19.

Lindsey was so adept at her chosen sports that she was heavily recruited by major colleges. Finally settling on the University of Richmond, she notched a school lacrosse record 67 goals and ended her career among the top 10 in Spiders’ history for points (234), goals (164), assists (70) and draw controls (182). For her last two field hockey seasons at Richmond, Lindsey led the team in total points. She also majored in Rhetoric and Communications and minored in Health Care Studies, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree.

Lindsey then attended Northwestern University as a graduate student and earned her master’s degree in Sports Administration. She again made both the lacrosse and field hockey teams in the same school year. 

Back home in Saratoga Springs following graduation, Lindsey responded to a job posting from the TRF. “My family are all racing fans, and my parents had experience owning some race horses growing up,” Lindsey said. “Surprisingly, I had never heard of the TRF, but when I started learning what it was all about, I wanted to get involved working for them and let the community know about the work TRF does.”

The team fell in lopsided fashion to the Indianapolis Colts, 33 to 8, in week one. For Miami’s Head Coach Mike McDaniel, it was an especially brutal result. TV talking heads piled one criticism after another onto McDaniel, with one ESPN analyst mockingly calling him “McGenius guy” and “nerd boy.” If you believe the commentators (who, it should be pointed out, are often wrong), McDaniel’s days as coach of the Dolphins could be coming to an end.

Despite the turmoil, Saratoga Springs native and Miami Defensive Coordinator Anthony Weaver has largely escaped blame, for good reason. His efforts last season resulted in a top-10 defensive performance by the Dolphins, with the team ranked fourth in the league with 314.3 yards allowed per game. 

Weaver’s biggest problem this season is a good one to have: Miami is overloaded with talented edge rushers, and the task has fallen upon Weaver to divide up their snaps.

“In a perfect world to me, if there was a 70-snap game, somebody leaves with 30-40, another person leaves with 30,” Weaver told reporters last week. “However that shakes out amongst the four, we’ll see.

“But my goal for that room is that whoever is on the field, that they’re playing full speed with no governor for every snap there on the field, and we should be able to attack offenses in waves.”

Weaver wants to bolster his team’s pass rush, which managed only 2.1 sacks per game last season after averaging 3.1 in 2023 and 2.6 in 2022. Luckily, Miami’s front office has seemed committed to spending what it needs to spend to boost those numbers.

“I think you can see by what these edge defenders are being paid nowadays; they’ve got to be disruptors and we’re looking for four quarters of disruptive football from that room,” said Weaver.

In the opening contest against the Colts, Miami managed just one sack and struggled to keep the Indianapolis offense at bay, allowing 418 total yards.

Commentators (be they on TV, the internet, or elsewhere) tend to overreact to small data samples. One game is not nearly enough for Weaver to prove he’s able to limit opponents’ yardage and orchestrate a more aggressive pass rush. But he’ll have his work cut out for him, especially during a season that could be filled with coaching upheaval. 

The experience should be an interesting test for Weaver, who has been a head coaching candidate himself. Prior to being hired by Miami in 2024, he interviewed for vacant coaching positions with both the New Orleans Saints and Chicago Bears. Some of those who know Weaver best, such as his Saratoga Springs High School football coach Blaise Juliano, believe Weaver is not only destined to become a head coach one day, but would make a great one at that.

But no matter how high up the NFL ladder Weaver has climbed (or may still climb), he often makes time for his fellow Saratogians.

“When he comes back to Saratoga, he’ll go and visit his elementary teacher and see all of his friends,” Juliano told Saratoga TODAY last year.

“When I received the head football coach position at Saratoga, he was the first to text me and congratulate me,” current Saratoga varsity football coach Eric Hayden said. “Anthony is one of the nicest people you will ever meet. His athletic achievements are amazing, but his personality is what separates him.”

Perhaps one day it’ll be Hayden congratulating Weaver on a new coaching position. But until then, Weaver’s talents will be challenged by a whirlwind season in Miami.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — No player in the history of Skidmore College’s baseball program has gone further than Jackson Hornung.

In 2023, the former Thoroughbred became the first Skidmore athlete drafted by a professional team when he was selected in the 16th round (484th pick) of the MLB Draft by the Toronto Blue Jays. In retrospect, that pick might’ve been a steal for Toronto.

Hornung started at the bottom of the Blue Jays’ organization at Single-A Dunedin, where he struggled in 62 plate appearances, managing an OPS of just .442. But in 2024, his career took off with the High-A Vancouver Canadians. In 116 games, he rocketed his OPS to .715, smashing 6 homers and 25 doubles. He led the team in both hits (105) and multi-hit games (27). At the end of the season, the Skidmore ‘23 grad was named to the Northwest League All-Star Team. The performance kept him stationed in Vancouver, where he returned the following season with a vengeance.

In 2025, Hornung’s .855 OPS with the Canadians marked his best offensive output since college. He had a slash line of .308/.396/.459 with 3 homers in 44 games. The bigwigs in Toronto had seen enough and promptly promoted Hornung to the Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats. 

Since joining the Cats in late June, Jackson has earned the team’s fifth-best OPS (.787), third-highest slugging percentage (.446), third-highest batting average (.269), and fifth-best on-base percentage (.341). In other words, he instantly became one of New Hampshire’s best players.

On Sept. 5, the Fisher Cats placed Hornung on the 7-day injured list. If he comes off it at the end of this week, he would likely be available for only two or three games before the regular season ends. With the Cats at the bottom of the Eastern League Standings, those final contests may be Hornung’s last chances for at-bats before 2026.

Hornung’s trajectory has been both a successful and intriguing one. One unanswered question is where he will fit onto a roster defensively. There’s little doubt he can hit, but Toronto seems unsure of which position to play him at. He was a first baseman and catcher in Dunedin; first baseman, catcher, and outfielder in Vancouver; and most recently, a first baseman and left fielder in New Hampshire. Using fielding percentage as a somewhat useful metric, Hornung appears to play best in the outfield. Interestingly, he hasn’t played catcher at all in 2025, despite that being listed as his official position on the Fisher Cats roster. A promotion to Triple-A is certainly a possibility in 2026, though it could be dependent upon how Hornung fits (or doesn’t fit) into the Buffalo Bisons lineup.

Back in Saratoga Springs, Hornung’s career has helped increase the quality of Skidmore baseball recruits, Thoroughbreds Head Coach Ron Plourde told Saratoga TODAY prior to the start of the 2024 season. Plourde also had this to say when Hornung was drafted in 2023: “We couldn’t be happier for Jackson, as this is an incredible accomplishment for him and our entire program… He’s done everything the right way and is in this position because of his abilities, work ethic and great attitude.”

With Skidmore, Hornung was an NCAA Division III All-American, and was twice named Liberty League Player of the Year. In 98 career games, he recorded a batting average of .430, with 22 homers, 106 RBI, and a .540 on-base percentage. In his senior year, he hit .424 with 12 dingers and 41 RBI, leading the Liberty League in slugging percentage and on-base percentage.

Despite losing their star player after the 2023 season (when they finished with a .600% 24-16 record), Skidmore has maintained comparable winning percentages for the last two years (.528 in ‘24 and .550 in ‘25). With a new turf baseball field currently being constructed on Daniels Road, the future is looking rosy for both the Skidmore baseball program and its brightest star. 

WILTON — Vincent Sablich, a Wilton resident and Saratoga Springs High School grad, has set his sights on an ambitious feat: to climb the Seven Summits (the highest mountains on each of the seven continents). He is climbing for awareness of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), an illness he’s suffered from. 

In January, he will head to Argentina to scale his first summit: Aconcagua, which stands at 22,837 feet tall.

Sablich said it’s been his dream to climb the Seven Summits ever since he was a boy hiking in the Adirondacks. 

“As a seven-year-old kid, I used to climb the snow banks around my driveway, pretending as if I was summiting the highest peak on each of the seven continents,” Sablich wrote in an Instagram post.

Sablich grew up as a competitive rock climber and spent the last year in Nepal doing a variety of volunteer work, in addition to studying at a Buddhist monastery. He is currently working as a paralegal at the Albany-based law firm of Alex Dell and hopes to attend law school next year.   

Sablich wrote that he hopes to “uplift those [with OCD] who feel that they have no place to go. I know how life-threatening that feeling is, and I want to make a change.”

To support his efforts, an event on Thursday, Oct. 16 (5 to 8 p.m.) at Common Roots Brewery in South Glens Falls will donate all proceeds in support of the upcoming Aconcagua climb. The evening will highlight Sablich’s Seven Summits journey, his personal story of living with OCD, and spotlight ways the community can join the movement to raise awareness and support for those affected. Guests can enjoy an Argentinian-style buffet and craft beer with their ticket.

For more information on Sablich and his journey, visit www.ofmountainsandminds.com.