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Athletes Save Day but Westchester County Falls Short as Empire State Games host
PV and Philipstown players and coaches come up big in state-wide competition
by Ray Gallagher
 | | Putnam Valley's Kristi Dini (L), shown here with Yorktown's Emma Markley and Hastings' Tara Flaherty, won gold medal at ESGs. |
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If the 2007 ESGs were to be remembered for just one thing, it would be the all-around tremendous performance of the Hudson Valley athletes, which set an all-time standard with 230 overall medals, including an ESG-high 95 gold medallions. The 230 medals were one off the pace set by 8-time overall medal champion Western, but it is by far the best overall performance from the Hudson Valley region in the 30 years of Empire State Games competition.
Unfortunately, the 2007 ESGs won't be remembered solely for the one true thing that makes them special: The athletes. That's because much of the hubbub focused on the tremendous amount of travel between venues and some of the God-awful facilities with which we went to war with. When local organizers sat down originally and discovered that they would need to have the girl's basketball venue at Westchester Community College, the track and field at Mount Vernon High School and men's ice hockey at the Ice Hutch in Mount Vernon, someone should have stepped up right then and there and said; "We're running the risk of being a laughingstock at these facilities."
It would've been at that particular point where one might have wanted to reconsider the very notion of hosting the Empire State Games until we're ready, because I don't see Westchester County getting the nod to host the Empires again any time too soon.
Don't get me wrong; some venues were outstanding (volleyball at Pace, men's hoops at Iona), but the main problem many folks had was the distance between venues, and the fight to get from Point A (say Pace University in Pleasantville) to Point B (say Mount St. Michael in the Bronx). When you spend more time on the highway than you do on ball fields and gymnasiums, something is very, very wrong. These 2007 ESGs simply lacked a home base, a place where athletes from across the state could congregate and converse with the ease of say Syracuse or Binghamton where big-time campuses enhance the purpose much better.
It just didn't work for me, as it was situated throughout the Golden Apple across stretches of busy highway like I-287 and I-95, and the ESG venue markings were wretched. I can only imagine the frustration of folks from other regions. That's why it was so very important for the Hudson Valley athletes to bail us all out with verifiable excellence.
The field hockey team, which featured three girls from Putnam Valley, including Ashley Morgan, Brittany Kinsley and Erica Fisher… not to mention Coach Sharon Sarsen, won its third-straight gold medal without giving up so much as a goal. A 1-0 win over the Western region on Sunday locked up the gold and secured Hudson Valley's place as the finest All-Star field hockey program in the state.
Sarsen told me back in early July that this particular Hudson Valley team would be hard-pressed to medal at all, much less win a third gold medal in a row. Now, I don't know if I can ever believe another word Sarsen utters. I suppose the Great Sars can get blood from a stone, too.
"This group surprised me, to say the least," Sarsen admitted. "I don't blame you if you never believe me again."
Losing is something Sarsen isn't accustomed to. Widely recognized as the most successful varsity coach in Section 1, Sarsen, who lives in Putnam Valley, is blazing a standard of coaching excellence in the Empire State Games as well after winning a 10th gold medal overall, and third-straight on the campus of the Rye Country Day School.
With Putnam Valley mainstays like Morgan, Kinsley and Fisher getting it done on the field, Sarsen was able to win a third-straight gold medal for the first time in HV field hockey history.
"Ashley Morgan was not only unselfish, moving back a line to the midfield position, but she was a major strength for our team," Sarsen said. "Brittany Kinsley plays with such spirit and heart. Brittany was a key defender who played every minute of every game, allowing zero goals for the tournament. The Adirondack parents commented on "how great that redhead was" after the game. Erica Fisher was a first year player that was a pleasure to coach this ESG season. She was so receptive to coaching and it showed in her play as both a forward as well as a midfielder."
And what about the Hudson Valley basketball teams: Three silver medals and one gold between the four teams? Hudson Valley's best-kept secret, Kristi Dini, had the kind of breakout tournament that had people saying two words: Complete Player. The Boston University junior put on a show worthy of MVP praise, leading the green and gold in scoring and leading the way to a second consecutive open gold medal on the hardwood. Back in her high school heyday at Putnam Valley High, Dini was known simply as "a shooter"; a stigma that stuck with her like "all bat no glove" might stick to Jason Giambi when he could still hit. I'm here to tell you otherwise. Dini lifted Hudson Valley on her back at times, providing the kind of leadership and overall skillful play that some silly skeptics said she'd never obtain.
"I never liked that at all," Dini said about being labeled as just a shooter. "I had to work on all facets of my game to change that label. Everyone looked at me as just being a three-point shooter, but I knew today when my three wasn't really on that I had to do other things like play good D, drive to the basket and kick. I've been working on all that stuff over the years and becoming more than just a shooter. That's one thing I hate hearing."
Anyone at WCC who saw Dini score a game-high 17 points while distributing the ball and playing terrific defense in Sunday's 61-59 gold-medal victory over the Adirondack region, might never utter such nonsense again. Dini simply took over for Georgia University star Cori Chambers as the leader of the Hudson Valley open woman's basketball team, and the first 1,000-point scorer in Putnam Valley history is no longer "just a shooter". She has made herself into an all-around player and should be recognized as such when it comes to Empire State Games competition.
And speaking of all-around great players, Haldane's Brittany Shields was just that and more, leading the scholastic woman's basketball team to a silver medal after Sunday's 80-76 loss to champion Western. Shields could play for me any day. Some nonsensical people suggest that the 5'7" swingman might be a "tweener" at the college level, but that description doesn't account for heart and desire, which Shields has more of than most. If it weren't for Shields, Hudson Valley wouldn't have been playing for a bag of corn chips much less a gold medal. If it weren't for Western's Shenise Johnson, the best player in the tournament who hit two free throws as Western held on for the 80-76 win, Shields and her teammates would have hoisted the gold medal Sunday at the abysmal WCC gym. Instead, they settled for a second-straight silver in what was their sixth consecutive gold-medal game.
"Brittany can play for me any time," said HV Coach Dan Ricci, who coaches both varsity football and basketball at Ossining High. "I feel bad for Brittany and the rest of the seniors because we are destined to win the gold medal again next year. We toughed it out but we missed some opportunities to win in the end. Brittany played big. She guarded the best player in the tournament and she wanted her. She told me, 'Coach, I know you don't think I can play defense, but I can', and she really showed that today. She's just a tough kid. She plays much bigger than she is. If we have players like her on the floor, we don't lose."
Cold Spring resident and Hudson Valley scholastic boys basketball Coach Bill Thom was supposed to lose every game, if you believe what you read in newsroom forums designed by know-it-alls, who really don't know the difference between a man-to-man defense and a zone. Coach Thom was getting slammed by every armchair coach in Section 1 on the Journal News basketball forum for picking what was described by some as a "joke of a team."
Some joke! Thom got the last laugh when the team he selected reached the gold-medal game where Hudson Valley (3-1) lost by a point to unbeaten NYC (4-0) and settled for silver Sunday afternoon at Iona College.
"You try not to read the negative stuff being said in those forums but it filters down to you because your family reads it and gets put off by it," said Thom, whose son/assistant Billy nodded in agreement by his side, along with recent Haldane grad Phil D'Amato, another of Thom's budding assistants. "It's a good feeling to be where we are because there are four other teams who wish they were still playing and competing in the gold-medal game. Nobody gave us a chance. I got into this to teach kids and that what this experience was all about. We have to take the 10 best kids that come out for the team. Some families came to us with some skepticism, but in the end they all agreed that this has been a terrific experience for the kids and their families. It worked out pretty well."
Indeed, the Empire State Games often are a wonderful experience for the vast majority of families who participate in the largest amateur-only sporting event in this country. I just hope Westchester County is better prepared to take on such a challenge the next time it bids on the Games because Lord knows we didn't put our best foot forward if I was forced to sit in for nearly 10 hours drenched in sweat at the same Westchester Community College I spent one lousy year at back in 1982. Let's just tell it like it is. I think I'll take that vacation now, ciao!
Visit www.yourdirectrays.com for Empire State Games photo galleries and more Section 1 sports.
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