A large and talented contingent of Baldwinsville-area athletes were ready for last week’s revival of the Empire State Games in Buffalo — and many of them earned medals.
Thousands from six regions — Central, Western, Adirondack, Hudson Valley, New York City and Long Island — competed in more than 20 sports across the Buffalo area, battling each other and, in some cases, bad weather. Here is how Baldwinsville’s athletes fared.
Swimming – Dan Burke came home as one of the Central region’s most decorated athletes, with a gold and two silver medals in individual races at Erie Community College’s Burt Flickinger Center.
The win came on Saturday, in the 200-meter backstroke, where Burke posted a time of 2:19.16 to beat the field by more than three seconds. This followed second-place finishes in the 200 individual medley (2:20.88) and 100 backstroke (1:04.56), both of which led to silver medals.
Canoe/Kayak – Mike Wolfson reached the top of the medal podium at the University at Buffalo’s LaSalle Lake when he teamed with Tim Davis (Skaneateles Falls), Jon Gilbert (Oswego) and Andrew Smith (Ithaca) to win the 500-meter quads in a time of 1:43.59, more than 10 seconds ahead of runner-up Western.
Wolfson and Smith combined for a bronze medal in the 200-meter pairs (48.39 seconds) and, with Davis, claimed another bronze in the 500-meter pairs in 2:02.64.
Baseball – Having just finished a sensational freshman season for the Baldwinsville varsity baseball team, Gabe Levanti was a vital part of Central’s scholastic silver medal-winning team.
As both a catcher and designated hitter, Levanti helped Central overcome an 0-2 start with three straight wins. As it turned out, a 2-1, eight-inning triumph over Western produced the silver because heavy rains and bad field conditions at Auburn’s Audubon Complex prevented Central from facing Long Island for the title.
Soccer – With Courtney Spencer and Katie Gildemeyer on board, Central’s open women’s team won both of its opening games and advanced to Sunday’s final at Amherst-North French Soccer Complex. Spencer scored late in the second half against Western, but Central still took a 2-1 defeat, leaving Spencer and Gildemeyer to claim silver medals.
None of the other Central teams gained a medal, despite B’ville graduates Austin Buckley and Ed Ramin playing for the open men’s side and Sarah Lindovski seeing action on the scholastic side.
Tennis – After years of struggles, Central’s scholastic men’s team rose up to earn a silver medal at UB’s Ellicott Courts, going 3-1. Tom Hamm, in singles, and Danny Kot, in doubles (teamed with Shane Evans), both won several matches during the tournament. Amari Pollard played doubles with Liverpool’s Sarah O’Hara on the women’s side.
Ice Hockey – With Cristobal Nieves and Dan Briggs on board, Central’s scholastic men’s team, the defending ESG champions, started 2-0-1 and were in line for a gold medal at the Amherst-Audubon Ice Center before late losses to Western and Long Island left them with a bronze medal. Megan Mohr and the Central scholastic women posted a 1-2-2 mark and did not medal.
Volleyball – Eight players with B’ville ties competed, but none could get a medal at UB’s Alumni Arena. Current Bees Paulina Rein, Brianna Stewart, Shannon Albright and Allegra Bell made up the core of the Central scholastic women’s side, with Dan Dubiel, Jarret Reaume and Chris Thayer playing on the scholastic men’s side and Pete Cuppernull working in the open division.
Gymnastics – Emma Manning helped the Central scholastic women’s team win the bronze medal at Buffalo State College Sports Arena, posting 150.425 points as Adirondack (174.65 points) took the team gold.
Lacrosse – Samantha Yaro represented B’ville on Central’s scholastic women’s team at Niagara University. Central went 3-2 in round-robin competition, but could not grab the bronze medal, falling to Adirondack 11-6 in Sunday’s third-place game.
Track and Field – Anthony Carapella took sixth place in the open men’s 200-meter dash at UB Stadium and also got sixth with Central’s 4×100 relay team, but was unable to qualify for the 100-meter finals. Gabrielle Jordan claimed fifth place with Central’s scholastic 4×100 side.
Wrestling – Pat Nasoni had a top-six finish in the scholastic 192-pound division at Buffalo State College Ice Arena, while Joe Shaheen could not make it out of the preliminary stages at 123 pounds.
Basketball – Chris Vincent, a B’ville graduate, and his Central open men’s team went 0-3 at Canisius College. Vincent had six points in each of the three games, 18 points overall.
