TRR photo by Richard A. Ross Sullivan West’s Mike VanWagenen clears the barrier at the water pit in the 3000-meter steeplechase at the Empire State Games on July 28. VanWagenen took the silver medal with a time of 10:03.6.

Empire State Games: Track and Field

VanWagenen takes silver in ESG steeplechase

Sullivan West runner and Tri-Valley thrower Ryan Loughney among several Section 9 athletes to garner glory in area’s first hosting of Empire State Games

By RICHARD A. ROSS

BEACON, NY—For more than a quarter century The Empire State Games have been uplifting, fiercely competitive and a showcase for the state’s best amateur athletes, but this year for people in the Hudson Valley, these games became up close and personal.

For the first time since their inception in 1978, the Empire State Games were hosted by the Hudson Valley bringing local fans out in record numbers to cheer for their friends, family and schoolmates in a panoply of outstanding amateur athletic contests. With opening ceremonies held at Marist College in Poughkeepsie on July 27 and competition staged in venues across Dutchess and Ulster County from July 28 to 31, the games took on immediacy for area residents.

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Monticello Men’s Softball

Payback time

By RICHARD A. ROSS

MONTICELLO, NY—Ask any Lewis Auto Parts player about last year’s one-game championship playoff defeat to ABC Title and you’ll still get sour grapes. Rainouts, players returning to college, the imminent flag-football-league startup date and the use of Somerville Field by AYSO teams were the reasons that league organizer and ABC head man Mike Greco cited for making the finals a one-game affair instead of a three-game series in late August of 2004.

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High School Basketball Summer League Playoffs

Ante goes up as summer league playoffs begin

By RICHARD A. ROSS

LOCH SHELDRAKE, NY—As the dog days of August set in, it is nearly time to bid farewell to that fast and furious anachronism, summer league basketball.

Summer league basketball is entering its last week at Sullivan County Community College. Soon to be obscured by the impending startup of fall sports practice, summer league reaches its denouement on August 4 as the top teams vie against each other in the championship games.

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