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First two positive COVID-19 cases reported at SUNY Oswego
OSWEGO, NY- SUNY Oswego reported it’s first two positive COVID-19 cases today.
As of 5:00 pm Tuesday, Oswego’s COVID-19 dashboard reported two positives out of 5,213 total tests conducted since August 12th.
One case is an on-campus student. The other is a commuter student. One of the students is in on-campus isolation. There are 13 students in Travel Advisory Quarantine.
Oswego State athletes earn academic honors
OSWEGO, NY ━ Over the past couple of weeks, Oswego State teams and student athletes have been rewarded with academic honors from organizations in their given sport. These awards were given out by national associations that are highlighting the work of collegiate athletes inside the classroom instead of on the field, track, ice, or court during the 2019-2020 seasons. Most of these groups are made up of college coaches across the United States that make these requirements for the honors.
On July 29th, the women’s volleyball team received the Team Academic Award from the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA). This honor is given to volleyball teams that hold a grade point average of 3.30 on a 4.0 scale over the course of a whole academic year. The Lakers, who finished with a 3.43 team grade point average, were one of eight SUNYAC teams out of the ten institutions to receive the honor from this past year. This is their second time receiving the honor in the past three seasons under head coach JJ O’Connell.
The Oswego State indoor women’s track and field team was honored with the All-Academic Award for their achievements in the classroom during the 2019-2020 academic year. The Lakers received the award from the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association for having a team grade point average of 3.21 which is above the 3.1 benchmark set by the organization. The team was one of four SUNYAC institutions to receive the honor, and one of 209 colleges nationally. Senior Catarina Burke received the All-Academic Award individually as the athlete qualified for the 2020 NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field Championships in high jump along with having a grade point average above a 3.30 during the semester.
On July 23rd, the National Association of Basketball Coaches released the student athletes that would be getting named to the 2019-20 Honors Court. This award is given out to men’s basketball players who exceed a grade point average of 3.2 at the end of their 2018-19 academic year. Seniors Tim Marshall and Brandan Gartland, along with junior Liam Sanborn were all named to the Honors Court. This is the second time for both seniors as the pair were awarded the honor in 2018-19. This is the team’s second time in two years with three players being named to the prestigious group.
The men’s golf team also received academic honors from last season as two players were named All-America Scholars by the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA). Senior Eric Schliecher and sophomore Ryan Fecco both received the awards after meeting the criteria of having a career grade point average above 3.2 and having a stroke average under 79.0. These two individuals helped the team to three tournament wins and a third place finish in the Fall Empire 8 Championship.
Two players from the Oswego State women’s ice hockey team were recently selected by the American Hockey Coaches Association for the All-American Scholar award. On August 17th, the AHCA announced that seniors Kate Randazzo and Eryn Stewart received the honors after exceeding a 3.75 GPA the fall semester. These accolades put the finishing touches on two historic careers for the two graduates. Randazoo finished second on the Oswego career assists list and in the top-10 in total points, along with being a two year captain for the Lakers. Stewart would conclude her collegiate career inside the top-10 in points, goals, and assists. The women’s hockey team finished 16-7-4 this past season and lost to Plattsburgh in the Northeast Women’s Hockey League Championship.
Congratulations to all the student athletes who received these academic honors along with the Oswego State teams that received overall academic awards. WTOP 10 will continue to update Oswego fans on the continuing development of COVID-19 and how it affects the Oswego State Lakers.
Oswego State without athletics for Fall 2020
OSWEGO, NY — As students begin to make their return to the shores of Lake Ontario, Oswego State will be without collegiate sports for the fall semester due to COVID-19. SUNYAC Conference postponed their Fall 2020 sports, like other conferences, back in the month of July due to the pandemic. The Men’s Golf team will also have to wait until Spring 2021 as the Empire 8 conference postponed the fall season as well. Most recently, the Northeast Women’s Hockey League that contains the Oswego Women’s Hockey team moved the start date for their season to January 1st, to follow suit with the rest of the conferences. This means all Oswego State teams will be without intercollegiate competition till the start of the new calendar year. Along with NCAA sports, all club sports through the school have been postponed till 2021.
However, this does not mean the teams will not be able to keep in game shape. Over the course of the fall semester, Oswego State teams will be able to have team practices during a certain period of time. Stated in the Oswego Forward Plan, the Athletics Department has created a four-week period after the return to activity period when teams can conduct up to 16 practices. The Men’s and Women’s Cross Country, Men’s and Women’s Soccer, and Field Hockey teams will begin practice the week of August 31st. The Women’s Volleyball, Men’s Golf, and Men’s and Women’s Tennis teams will begin the following week of September 7th. The next week, the Baseball, Softball, and Men’s and Women’s Lacrosse teams will begin practicing, these being all Spring sports. Winter sports can start their practices in early October but will end before Thanksgiving Break. Obviously, the winter sports teams will begin their scheduled games as early as the first week of January if the threat of COVID-19 is minimal in the eyes of the athletic conferences and colleges.
With no Live Sports to broadcast during the Fall 2020 semester, WTOP 10 will have a different semester ahead of us. The Live Sports Department still has plans for this semester as the group looks to deliver content to the Oswego sports community until the return of the Lakers. Check our social media pages for more updates as students begin to prepare to return to campus.
SUNYAC cancels Fall 2020 Season
OSWEGO, NY — After many athletic conferences across the United States begin to cancel or postpone the Fall 2020 season due to COVID-19, the SUNYAC Conference announced on Monday, July 20th, the cancellation of the fall season for member institutions. This decision was made by the SUNYAC Presidents in conjunction with the SUNYAC Board of Directors. This comes after the Empire 8, a local New York Division III conference, announced the postponement of the Fall 2020 season on July 16th. The SUNYAC has decided to cancel all competition till January 2021, which includes winter sports. The report, found on the conference website, states that teams can continue small team workouts when school is back in session. There are still questions regarding the winter sports season that has been pushed off, but time will tell what changes will be made moving forward.
Of course, this will affect Oswego State Athletics for the time being, as most of the teams are a part of that conference. WTOP 10 will continue to have updates on the situation as students return to college around the end of August.
NYSPHSAA Releases Guidelines for Upcoming Season
OSWEGO, NY — On July 16th, The New York State Public High School Athletic Association announced changes to how high school athletics will work in the 2020-21 season. This statement comes as schools across New York State prepare for public schooling to reopen for the new school year. After the cancellation of the Spring 2020 season last year, there has been many questions revolving around high school athletics heading into this coming season.
The decision made by the Officers of the NYSPHSAA included a few changes along with guidelines on how schools/teams should prepare moving forward. The first being the start of the Fall sports season being moved to September 21st, which was supposed to begin on August 24th. The NYSPHSAA President, Paul Harrica, stated that this date would be unrealistic due to the current threats of COVID-19. Another major change is the cancellation of all Fall Regional and State Championship events. This is change was obviously made to decrease traveling between sports teams as teams from different sections around the state would travel to one central location to play the final games of the season. Minor adjustments and recommendations were also stated. For instance, the group has waived the seven-day practice rule, encouraged geographic scheduling for games, and schools have the option to offer off-season conditioning workouts.
These changes of course affect the Oswego Buccaneers teams, as many student-athletes were looking forward to the season beginning in the month of August. WTOP 10 will continue to bring coverage on this matter, as students will hopefully be returning to school by the beginning of September.
Oswego State Golf Fall Season is Cancelled
OSWEGO, NY — Wednesday evening, the Empire 8 Conference announced the cancellation of their fall sports for the Fall 2020 season. This unanimous decision came due to concerns of COVID-19 and the safety of student athletes. The sports that will be canceled are cross country, field hockey, football, men’s golf, men’s and women’s soccer, women’s tennis, and women’s volleyball. The conference has come out and stated that these sports will be given the opportunity to place in the Spring 2021 season if COVID-19 is less of a threat.
Although a majority of the Oswego State teams compete in the SUNYAC conference, Men’s golf is one of the few sports that is in the Empire 8 Conference. Oswego is an affiliate member of the conference, as the SUNYAC does not have a Men’s Golf Championship. The Lakers compete against Utica College, St. John Fisher College, Sage College, Elmira College, and Nazareth College in the Men’s Golf Championship. With the team playing half of their tournament in the fall, and half in the spring, the cancellation will affect the team for a portion of their season as of right now. Wresting is the only other Oswego State team in the Empire 8 conference.
SUNYAC Conference Announces New Format for Fall 2020
OSWEGO, NY — On Wednesday, June 17th, the State University of New York Athletic Conference announced changes to the Fall 2020 Season regarding four sports. This change affects women’s tennis, women’s volleyball, and both men’s and women’s soccer, all sports offered by the conference. This decision was made Monday, June 15th, by the SUNYAC Board of Directors during its weekly conference meeting. The Board is made up of one representative from each member school, making up 10 individuals. This announcement has two separate changes that comes a few months before the fall season that will allow division three athletics to continue.
The first switch pertains to women’s tennis moving to the Spring 2021 season, which would align the conference with the current NCAA Division III tournament that already takes place in the spring season. The conference has eight of their ten members in the women’s tennis conference as Buffalo State and Potsdam do not offer the sport. The SUNYAC has been looking to make this change for several years, so the current situation allows the conference to evaluate the potential move. Some conferences have their season in the fall due to weather in the region, making their conference champion play for a NCAA title in the spring season.
For the other three sports, the SUNYAC has decided to split the conference into two different divisions that will compete against each other during the regular season. The divisions are split using Interstate 81 in Central New York, that goes from Oswego to Cortland. The West Division will contain Brockport, Buffalo State, Fredonia, Geneseo, and Oswego while the East Division will consist of Cortland, New Paltz, Oneonta, Plattsburgh, and Potsdam. The change will affect volleyball along with men’s and women’s soccer. Each team would play every opponent in their given division twice with a home and home series. At the end of the season, the top two teams of each division will secure a playoff berth to the SUNYAC playoffs. The same playoff format will be used from years past with all semi final games being played on November 4th, and all finals games being played on November 7th across all three sports. The main reason for this switch was of course to decrease travel time and costs as teams would not need to stay overnight for long road trips. The other benefit is over course the fact that players and team staff will be in contact with less individuals. This move can also be found around many other division III conferences like the NEAC, the conference Morrisville is a part of.
The conference has also stated that the institutions still have the authority to schedule non-conference match ups outside of division play. SUNYAC continued to say that colleges could schedule games against opponents from the other division, with these games not having any affect on the conference standings.
Moving forward, Oswego State Laker fans can expect fall sport’s schedules to be released by the end of July. The Lakers kicked off their season last year around the end of August. Till then, WTOP 10 will continue to update readers on all off season news to keep you up to date on your favorite Oswego State team.
Oswego Women’s Hockey secures Interim Head Coach
OSWEGO, NY — On Wednesday, June 17, the announcement was made by Oswego State Interim Athletics Director Eric Summers that the Women’s Ice Hockey team would be getting a new head coach, that being Mark Digby. Digby was the associate head coach of the team last season along side Diane Dillon, who will most likely retire from coaching. Dillon coached the team for 14 seasons. Digby will now be the Interim Head Coach heading into the 2020-21 season.
Digby graduated from SUNY Brockport in 2005 with a B.S. in Physical Education and M.S. in Recreation Management (2008). He would stay west of Rochester to be an assistant coach of the Men’s Hockey program from 2006-2010 before being hired by Oswego in the summer of 2010. Under Ed Gosek, Digby would be with the team while the group appeared in six NCAA tournaments, two frozen fours, and two national championship games.
In the Spring of 2019, Digby would make the switch to Women’s Hockey and join the team as the Associate Head Coach. During his first season with the group, the team would finish with a record of 16-7-4, the most wins for the program since the 2016-17 campaign. The Lakers would fall to the Plattsburgh Cardinals, the top team in the nation, in the NEWHL Championship. This was the first time the team has made the championship game after joining the conference. Overall, the group has made steady improvements and is in a good spot heading into the 2020-21 season under Digby. There looks to be a continued healthy relationship between the players and the coaching staff after Digby joined prior to this past season. WTOP 10 will continue to update you on all of the Oswego State teams heading into the fall season.
Oswego City School District kicks off Spring 2020 Capital Project
OSWEGO, NY — Recently, the Spring 2020 Capital Project began on the Oswego High School and Fredrick Leighton Elementary School. These interior and exterior renovations include improvements to classrooms along with athletic fields between the two Oswego City School District schools. Over at the elementary school, renovations to locker rooms, officials rooms, and some instructional spaces will make up a bunch of work at the site. The main lobby along with the restrooms and concession area in the section of the building will also get updated. Water systems, doors and glass, and carbon monoxide detectors will be upgraded in the classrooms and building.
At the Oswego High School campus, that sits on the same property as the elementary school across the street, a large exterior construction project will be taking place to turn a majority of the land into an athletic complex for the varsity athletics programs. Wilber Field will be converted into two grass practice fields while a new multipurpose stadium will be constructed next to the high school. The football team and soccer teams will use this facility in the future. With the demolition of Wilber Field, the high school would no longer have a track on campus. However, the track and field teams have been competing at the Oswego Middle School at the newer track. A baseball diamond and softball field will be made on the current soccer field alongside Turrill Street, closer to the elementary school. The current tennis courts and basketball court will be updated next to Buccaneer Boulevard. Also, the high school will get an updated entrance at the main theater and lobby along with updates to the performing arts wing of the building. Improvements to the locker rooms will be made with many safety updates.
This extensive project will displace some sports events and other district events until the complete. WTOP 10 will continue to provide updates on the project and Oswego High School sports in the future, alongside Oswego State.
More information can be found on the Oswego City School District website