SARATOGA SPRINGS — The Saratoga Springs wrestling Alumni Night has been postponed due to a scheduling conflict at the high school gym, according to Kim Delgado, head of the Saratoga Wrestling Booster Club. Alumni night will now take place on January 17, which will also be Youth Night. All former Blue Streaks wrestlers are invited to attend the event.
BALLSTON SPA — Nominations for the Class of 2024 will be accepted until Jan. 15, 2024. To submit a nomination, or for more information, visit ballstonspaathleticshalloffame.com.
The mission of the Ballston Spa Athletics Hall of Fame is to recognize athletes, coaches, administrators, faculty and community members who have made significant contributions to the Ballston Spa Athletics program through their service, performance, dedication, commitment and accomplishment.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — Skidmore College has revealed its sports schedules for the spring 2024 season. Below are the opening days for each team.
•February 13: men’s lacrosse @ Emerson College
•February 24: women’s lacrosse at home vs. Cortland
•February 25: men’s tennis @ St. Lawrence
•March 2: women’s tennis at home vs. Bucknell
•March 2-3: baseball @ Baruch & St. Joseph’s Brooklyn
•March 4-5: men’s golf @ Savannah Invitational
•March 9-16: softball @ THE Spring Games in Kissimmee, Florida
•March 30: rowing at home vs. Union College
For more dates and details, visit skidmoreathletics.com.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — Midway through its season, the Spa Catholic Saints basketball team is finding creative ways to overcome a serious disadvantage: height.
“We’ve played everybody in the league now and we are the smallest team height-wise, and it’s not really close,” said Coach Shea Bromirski. “We basically start five guards.”
The Saints’ strategy has been to speed up the pace of its games, and force opponents to play faster than they’d like. “To do that, you have to take care of the basketball,” Bromirski said. “If you play fast and turn it over all the time, that’s a recipe for disaster.”
The squad is also focused on grabbing more rebounds despite missed shots sometimes sailing over their heads. “We have to just swarm to the ball,” Bromirski said. “That’s a challenge for us but we’re getting better.”
On offense, the Saints use speed to their advantage by getting open looks from beyond the arc. The team has had multiple games with more than 10 three-pointers. All those threes have resulted in the Saints averaging nearly 62 points per game. “We’re a fun watch,” Bromirski said. “This has been one of my favorite seasons I’ve ever had.”
Less fun was guard Hunter Fales’ recent injury. The junior averaging 8 points per game broke his wrist at the end of December and will be out of action for 5 to 6 weeks.
Last year, the Saints finished 12-8 in the regular season and were the third seed in the Class C sectionals. Midway through this season, their record stood at 7-4.
SCHUYLERVILLE — The Schuylerville Central School District’s Special Olympics Unified Sports program is expanding this month to include bowling. Teams will be a mix of people with and without disabilities. According to the district, students with limitations in adaptive areas (players) will be paired with other students (partners). No experience is required to participate.
Schuylerville’s team roster is currently being built. Practices will begin on Monday, January 22 at the Saratoga Strike Zone bowling alley. Buses will depart Schuylerville at 2:30 p.m. and return to campus by 4:30 p.m. Students in grades 9-12 who are interested in joining, either as a player or partner, should send an email to unifiedsports@schuylerville.org.
The Saratoga Springs gymnastics team placed first in all four events and earned first place all around at Bethlehem last week.
BALLSTON SPA — The Ballston Spa Scotties basketball team beat the Saratoga Springs Blue Streaks in a nailbiter finish last week. The Scotties were ahead by only one basket with 30 seconds left in the game, and they managed to keep the Blue Streaks at bay to win with a final score of 68 to 64. The victory marks BSpa’s first win of the new year.
“It seems like it always is [a nailbiter] with Saratoga,” said Scotties Head Varsity Coach Benjamin Eldridge. “I think the kids have fun with it.”
The neighboring school districts have developed something of a friendly rivalry, especially after Ballston Spa’s dramatic come-from-behind victory last year. “That was one of the more fun games I’ve been a part of,” Eldridge said. “Both groups of kids like to compete against each other and take away some sense of earned respect and pride.”
In last Wednesday’s game at home, Michael Pritchard led Ballston Spa with 17 points and Blaine Zoller contributed 14. Zoller “stepped up his intensity and physicality in the game and just really played hard the whole time,” Eldridge said.
Despite the win, Coach Eldridge said his team has more work to do. He anticipated that his team would have to improve as the year progresses, and play their best basketball towards the end of the season. “It’s taken time to start clicking on the same page and get the basketball skills up there but Wednesday night was a good night,” he said.
Eldridge said that the slower start to the season is partly the result of most of his players being multi-sport athletes transitioning out of football and baseball. “It’s a fun little puzzle to figure out,” he said. “I definitely had a vision coming in of what these guys would be most successful with and I don’t know if 100% buy-in is there yet but I think there was a good step towards it on Wednesday and hopefully we keep it going.”
The Coach maintains “relatively high expectations” for the rest of the season. “I’m looking forward to seeing how February looks,” he said.
GLENS FALLS — Patrick Grasso, captain of the Adirondack Thunder, has been named an ECHL all-star, and will play in the 2024 Warrior/ECHL All-Star Classic on January 15.
Grasso earned his all-star status with 13 goals and 7 assists through 29 games. He was also named ECHL Player of the Week for December 5-11 for scoring six goals in three games against the Norfolk Admirals.
GLENS FALLS — Some say revenge is a dish best served cold. In this case, ice cold. The Adirondack United girls’ hockey team defeated Clinton in a rematch of the 2023 state championship last month, then followed it up with three more victories during the holidays. The team is now 7-0 on the season.
Against Clinton, the United scored three goals in the first period, cruising to a 4-1 victory. Coach Jeff Willis said his team was “definitely wound up to play against [Clinton] emotionally and it showed in the first period.”
Despite the big win, Willis said the United are primarily focused on their end goal: a state championship. “I don’t think we’re really getting caught up in any individual game because their goal is really pointing toward the end of the season,” he said. “So a lot of activity right now is really built around development.”
Bayley Duffy, the team’s leading scorer last season, had two assists against Clinton and continues to be one of the United’s biggest scoring threats. But Coach Willis also praised Tekla Fine-Lease, a player he said has stepped up this season. “She’s showing some great leadership, as well as improvement on the ice,” he said. “She’s shown an ability to create her own shot.”
Despite being undefeated thus far, Willis said his team is always focused on improving. “We beat Saranac-Lake Placid eight to nothing and we were talking about different things we need to do better,” he said.
Last season, the United finished with a 19-2 record. Both of those losses came at the hands of Clinton. The squad’s next game is on Friday, January 5 at Ithaca.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — Freezing temperatures couldn’t stop hundreds of runners from participating in the Saratoga First Day 5K on New Year’s Day, Jan. 1, 2024.
Only 16 minutes and 15 seconds after the race began, Cameron Davis became the first runner to cross the finish line, followed seconds later by Nicholas Conway. Emily Bush, a standout on the Saratoga Springs girls cross-country team, finished first among all female runners and fourth overall.
According to the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce, nearly 800 people registered for this year’s race. 651 officially finished the race, leaving about a hundred people who decided not to brave the cold and/or their New Year’s Eve hangover.
