Herald-Journal, Friday, 1,1989 01 3 WINTER SCHOLASTIC SPORTS '8 9 - 9 0 Fulton's speed demon LaDue keeps breaking ecords B y Andrew Milner Contributing Writer I t all began for Rich LaDue in th e fifth grade, when he became friends with a class- rnpte TfW ("Vice "Tom h ad been on the YMCA swim team (the. Fulton Speed Demons) for a couple of years," LaDue recalled, "and he talked m e into trying out for the team." LaDue won a spot on the Speed Demons, and has been swim ming com petively ever since. LaDue joined th e Fulton varsity sw im team as an'eighth-grader, and for vh e past five years h as swum fo r both th e R^ d Raiders and Speed Demons. Ladue finds swimm ing on two separate teams beneficial. - "I get to swim two to three hours a day," he said. "It's like swimming with one team at a larger school." He swim s the 50-yard freestyle an d the 100 frees tyle, butterf ly an d backstroke. At last year's league meet, he w on t he 50 free; at last year's sectionals, LaDue finished second. He was the only Red Raider to go to the state meet at Nottingham High School, where, in the 50 free, h e finished in the to p 20. He holds no fewer than six Fulton school records: 50 free- style (21.89 se conds), 100 frees- tyle (49.12 sec onds), 100 butterfly (56.36), the 100 backstroke, and the 200 medley and 400 freestyle relay. In 13 me ets last season,. he le d the team by scoring 139 points. Besides lifting weights, LaDue began playing th e sprinter posi- tion for the Syracuse water polo team last summ er, wh ich played in tournaments in Washington, D.C., and Toronto. LaDue competed on the Cen- tral water polo team'at the Empire State Games last summer Rivals challenge Liverpool But senior-la den Warri ors should prevail in the water s photo FULTON'S RICH LaDUE is a rue demon for the swimming team. Rich LaDue School: Fulton. Sport: Swimming. Key numbers: 5-foot-11. 150- pound, 16-year-old senior. Other sports: Soccer, weightlift- ing, water polo. Hero: Matt Biondi. Hobbies: Downhill skiing: Sports goals: To continue through college with swimming. Career goals: Tc become a physcal therapist. Greatest sports achievement: Setting each high school record an d going to the state meet last year. in Ithaca, w inning a silver medal. He swam at the Games in Syra- cuse in 1988, finishing in the top 10. He has played stopper on the Re d Raiders varsity soccer team fo r three years. "It takes the place of weight- lifting, and it strengthens my legs and my cardiovascular sys- tem ," he said. A member of the Fulton sci- ence club, Ladue is co-president of h is senior class, and in October he was named homecom ing king. Ladue is also a mem ber of another p restigious group — the National Honor Society. His cumulative grade po int average is 93, and his favorite subjects include science an d math. LaDue aclnowledges th e difficulty of maintaining a full academ ic and athletic schedule. "It's a lot of set scheduling," he said. "You set aside time for practice, and you set aside time for homework. It's vigorous try- in g to keep up with everything." LaDue has been co-captain of the Red Raiders swim team for three years. "I feel like I'm looked up to a bit as one of the team leaders," he said. "It's my job to keep the spirits up on the team, to get ral- lies going when we need them." One of LaDue's most passion- ate supporters is his coach at Fulton, Dave Garber. • "He's very likeable and sup- portive of his teammates," Garber said. "He has a happy attitude, but he can be instantly serious about the task at hand. He's also able to conduct a meet- ing with his teammates at the snap of his fingers, because they all respect and like him." LaDue ton's chances this season, quickly pointing o ut that mem - bers of the YMCA Speed Demons are ready to take th e spots iefi b y graduating seniors. So LaDue prepares to end one part of his swimming career by beginning his final high school season. It is appropriate that th e other co-captain on the Fulton team is none other than the long- time close friend who got LaDue - into racing, Tom Coss. By Andrew Milner Contributing Writer j The ujpcoming 1989-1990 Onon- daga High School League boys' swimming season promises to be com petiti ve from start to finish. Even Liver pool, the one school most coaches said would win the league, has several top rivals at its heels. A rundown of the 10 teams in the OHSL, with two non-league schools thrown in. • Rome — Coach Paul Gigliotti is looking for success with the Black Knights through the per- formance of the vouneest in his "We'll have a young team," Gigliotti said. "We'll have a few kids coming up from th e junior high." On e mainstay is Mike Kunkel,- w h o represented RFA in the states in 1-meter diving last year. • BaMwinsville - Coach Mike Foster doesn't think losing four seniors will prevent the Bees (8-1 in the league, 12-2 overall) from repeating a strong second place in the OHSL. "We've got some real good kids coming back," Foster said. Among them senior are Roger Acker — who holds the school record in the 500 freestyle — and sophomore backstroker Erik Dalaker. • Liverpool — According to coach Bill Wallace, the squad's success is multilayered. "The strength of our team is that we h ave so many kids swim- ming so many different styles," Wallace said. The Warriors, finishing a solid second at sectionals behind New Hartford, lost to graduation Mike Ryan, who went to states in the 100-meter butterfly. Nonethe- less, they retain more than 10 seniors, including co-captains Drew Kelly an d Arkady Lapi- dius. 5 Nottingham — Once again, it's a case of Paradis found fo r the Bulldogs. Seventh-grader Gregory Paradis joins brothers Andre, a senior, and J. P., a junior, on the Nottingham varsity squad. Gre- gory will swim distance freestyle as well as backstroke. His broth- e rs went to the states, finishing in the top 10 i n both the 200-iind 500-meter freestyle. "We're also bringing along four or five kids who've had some swimming experience," said coach Robin Bright. • Fulton — The Red Raiders (9-5) lost two strong swimmers to graduation in Greg Gilliland an d John Nagelschmiat. But coach Dave Garber looks' toward two seniors as reasons to feel confi- dent about the new season. Rich LaDue, who won the 50- yard freestyle at sectionals, holds six school records. Tom Coss fin- j fifth in fha TO O frop ?t <JPO. uonais and holds the school record at that distance. • Fayetteville-Manlius — Th e Hornets (4-5) hope to succeed with the efforts of two sets of brothers from Cicero-North Syracuse, which swims with F- M. The first pair of brothers "are the Burkes. Sean is a senior but- terilyer and individual medley swimmer, while Matt is a sopho- more sprinter and backstroker. The other brothers pair are the Secors. Matt Secor, a freshman freestyler, joins junior indivi dual medley swimmer Jamie. • Jamesville-DeWitt — The Red Rams have four keys to a suc- cessful 1989-90 campaign. The Re d Rams (6-8) will be led by seniors David Tauber, a free- styler at 100, 200 and 500 yards, individual medley swimmer Matt Kaplan, sprint freestyler Mark Thorne and backstroker Shawn Dickersbn. In all, 1 3 swimmers return to the program. • Auburn — Last season, four members of the Maroons' boys' swimming team set a New York State high school record in the 400-yard freestyle relay with a time of 3:08.47. But three of the four swimmers — Tom Simon, Scott Charlton an d Ardie Dandino — graduated. Only Chad McMillan remains to help the Maroons (1-5, 2-10). • Genesee — a solid fourth-place finish in the OHSL (11-7, 12-7), veteran Wild- cats coach George Falwell has fe w pretensions about maintain- ing that level in a competitive league. "Everybody in the league will be pretty strong," Falw ell said. The Wildcats lost 100-yard butterflyer Sean Greis to Pots- da m State and breaststroker Blake Connors to Norwich Uni- versity. Returning are backstroker and freestyler Jay Brinson, distance freestyler Greg Randall, and breaststroker Dave Honis, all Seniors. • Oswego — "Last year, we ha d our best season ever," coach Jim McCaul said. "We have a bunch of fine returning swim- mers, an d with talented new- POTrtorQ ttm <7V*r>nM V.Q yo-^v «r»*v>_ peiuive." Th e Bucs (6-3, 9-4), w ho fin- ished fourth in sectionals, lost Pat Chetney, a state m eet finalist in th e breaststroke, an d all-league diver Dave Kells to graduation. But they retain co-captains Matt Mitchell and Rick Webber, both senior freestylers. butter- flyers an d ail-leaguers, along with all-league freshmen Drew Thomas (a distance freestyler) an d Jeff Tonkin (backstroke). "We're equally balanced throughout the lineup," McCaul said. • Holland Patent (Tri-Valley) — Golden Knights coach Mark Celecki admits that the gradua- tion of four seniors from last sea- so n hurts. "W e lost sprinters (50- and 100 -yar d freestylers), " he sai d. "But we m aintained specia- lity swimmers." Celecki says that H-P's strength lies in such distance freestylers as seniors Scott Car- ney and Evan Davies and such individual m edley and back- stroke swimmers as Harold Hig- ley and Christian Holmes. • Weedsport — The Warriors (11-3 in the Finger Lakes League, 12-4 overall), winners of the Section Three Class B title, suffered a blow as a result of a football injury. Backstroker Ch ris Jorolemon hurt his knee in a Warriors foot- ball gam e and is likely to miss much of the season. Weedsport has 14 returning swimm ers, including Jeff Riley, w h o finished fifth in the 100-yard backstroke at the state champ i- onships. Bees' Alexander rolls u p team , individual honors He spends al l of his free time at the lanes By M ike Sgarlata Staff Writer A t the age of 17, Art Alexander has notched more than his share of bowling accomplishments. Hi s credentials include three perfect games last year. One came during try- outs fo r Team USA, w here h e just missed qualifying against older bowlers for the national touring team . Anoth er came during practice for the sectional all-star game. Alexander concluded the all-star series by getting another 300, which w as only th e in the game's history and the first in 12 years. His all-star-leam-high-series of 1,252 w as tops on a record-setting team that won th e state title. Mo reover, the Syracuse Young Ameri- ca n Bowling Alliance honored th e left- hander at the Syracuse Bowling Associa- tions Presidents an d Hall of Fame Din- ner where he was picked as the youth bowler of the ye ar in Syracuse. Part of the success that Alexande r has achieved in bowling comes from h is experience and dedication to the sport. part o f a B'ville team that finished behind only Oswego in the OHSL last year. Besides their second-place finish in the regular season, t he Bees won the OHSL tournament and finished fourth in the sectionals. LAST YEAR, Alexander often came through for his coach B'ville coach Joel Bart, who said, "I have never seen anyone bow l as well as he does. He can make any shot. He is awesom e." Alexander finished last year with a 206 average and 23 games of 200 or better games and seven 600 or better series. Bart expects more from his star this year. "He has becom e more powe rful and consistent," Bart said. "He is a leader and a captain of the team. It only takes one 300 game to really build your confi- dence in bowling." Some of Alexander's biggest competi- tion in the OSHL will come from his own teamm ates. "I am going to have trouble picking a starting lineup ," Bar t sai d. "This year w e have the p otential to go to states." Right behind Alexander is super 3 teams to stay kingpins Oswego, B'vil le, ES-M to bowl over foes By Mike Sgarlata Staff Writer Last year, Oswego, Baldwinsville and East Syracuse-M inoa ruled OHSL boys' bowling. Oswego won the regular-season title, but Baldwinsville took the league tour- nament and ES-M lingered near the top. This year, these three still appear to be the teams to beat. Bal d w i n s vi l le seems to have remained the m ost intact from a year ago as it looks to improve on its 25-11 m ark . Coach Joel Bart will have several key returning people — Art Alexander, Kurt Kaeting and Steve Volkin. East Syracuse-Minoa and Oswego both have gone through som e changes. ES-M, 27-9 in the OHSL last year, w as hit hard by graduation and by the depar- ture of last year's coach Carl Pulverenti, who stepped down to spend more time w ith his family. He will be replaced w ith Bill Kendrat, who is-in his second tour of duty as coach of the Spartans. "I am looking forward to g etting back into it," Kendrat said. "When I was here before, we had a dominant team that set many records." Like ES- M, Osweg o lost many of last season's players to graduation. Howe ver, the Bucs still have the opposition scared. Cicero-North Syracuse coach Joh n Piz- zuto stated, "I believe they lost four of their top five bowlers. However, you can't count them out. They always seem Westhill, a coed team, should be upgraded with th e return of experienced players Jason Fellows and Andrea Scri- malle. • Tri-Valley League boys — Camden is the favorite in the Tri-Valley. Leading the way for coach Steve Baker's Blue Devils are three experience d seniors — Jamie Turne r, Clayton Clark and Rich Campbell. Vernon-Verona-Sherrill is another to p contender. The Red De vils have one of the league's best bowlers, sophomore Pete Glover. Last year, he had an average of 190 and w as a member of the Section Three All-Stars. "We will be very competitive by returning six out of the top eight bow l e rs from last year," said V-V-S coach Bill Boyd. "However, I am always missing one or two people to make a real go of it in the league." • OHSL girls — This league appears to lack a clear-cut favorite. Like its boys, ES-M has a team capable of upsetting th e equilibrium. Coach Faye Grant is optimistic. "W e came in fourth in the sectionals last season and we only lost on e player Angela Fullana and Amy Smith w ill lead us again. We were only a couple of points away last season, an d this year w e again appe ar soli d from top to bottom." Defending champion tftica an d last season's runner-up C-NS are others that should challenge for the title. • Tri-Valley League girls - One ea m