John Barese, alleging numerous delays and lack of communication on his proposal to develop a $15 million indoor sports complex on town land at Cantine Field, demanded that the Town Board either resolve to act on the plan or reject his proposal, leaving him free to pursue other avenues.

“What I am going to propose to the board is very simple,” Barese said. “We’ve wasted two and a half years, money, and time; I would like for the town [at the] next board meeting to make a decision, a very simple yes or no. Yes, we’re going to help you…or no, Mr. Barese, we don’t want you to do it.”

Supervisor Kelly Myers said the board would be discussing the project in an upcoming executive session but gave no indication the town was leaning for or against.

“Mr. Barese is requesting a non-permitted use on town land, he’s requested to operate a business on land that belongs to the town,” Myers said. “State funds, as well as federal funds, have been used to purchase the land, so it’s not so simple to just say, ‘I want to run a business here.’ That’s not an easy thing to do.”

The proposal is unusual for Saugerties. It involves a land swap; Barese wants the town to lease him 7.5 acres of land tax-free for $1 per year for 99 years in exchange for a donation of a piece of land of equal size nearby. He says the sports arena needs to be on town land because it’s much closer to the school, and high school and junior high students would be using the facility all the time — that’s the main reason he believes there’s a public interest here. He added that the sports arena would pay the town at least $60,000 a year through parking fees for special events, so it would not lose out on revenue despite the lack of taxes.

Businessman John Barese made good on an ultimatum last week, pulling plans for a $15 million indoor sports arena when the Town Board didn’t express support for the project within his timetable.

“They didn’t do anything,” said Barese, who said in June that the town needed to state its support at the July meeting. “I take that as a no.”

Barese had hoped the town would support his plan to build a sports arena on town land and operate it tax-free in exchange for a donation of a parcel of land the same size, cash payments of at least $60,000 per year from parking fees and free use of the facility by students.

The town, while never expressing opposition to the idea, has not embraced it. It has sought more information from Barese regarding funding (he’s not saying) and it has gone back and forth with Barese over who should pay for a feasibility study for the project.

Barese previously expressed frustration that the town did not submit a request to the state to allow him to build on town land before the Legislature’s summer recess. He said the town could have still decided against the project. Failure to seek state approval set the timetable back another year, said Barese.

Meanwhile, the town said it wanted to see a study before doing anything.

During the July 18 meeting, two members of the board, Jimmy Bruno and Fred Costello, expressed hope that town and Barese could come to an agreement. However, neither of them moved a resolution on the matter. Barese said after the meeting, “You have five people on the board, and anyone can make a motion, and they would have voted on it. Nobody did.”

Nearly a week after the meeting, supervisor Kelly Myers spoke favorably of Barese’s idea: just not on town land.

“I’d like to see the project happen on private property,” she said. “I’d like him to purchase the land, take the risks with his own money. He wouldn’t have to do a feasibility study if he purchased his own land and just went ahead with it. I’m trying to figure out why it’s so important to him to be situated in the park. It just seems like he would have a lot more flexibility and could do what he wanted and not have to jump through state hoops to complete this.”

She said Barese wanted the board to move quickly on the proposal – to stand behind a request for a non-permitted use of public land that receives both state and federal dollars. To Myers, such a request could not be taken lightly, even if the town could choose to veto the proposal at a later date. A study would have to be done before the board could make such a request, said Myers.

“The board has to be really behind this and we’re just not there yet,” she said.

Supporters say arena would be a draw

While Barese did not speak during the public comment period, several of the 15 or so people supporting him at the meeting did. They cited the potential benefits to the community, the benefit to the wider community of Ulster County and beyond, and the economic benefits to businesses in the town.

Speaking for the development team, Nick Badalato, a coach at Kingston High School, told the Town Board to consider what it is giving up if Barese finds another site for his proposed complex. “There’s a piece of property back there that doesn’t generate any income for you,” he said. “Here’s a man who is willing to put up a building that will make this the premier sports facility in the region.”

Badalato cited studies that he said show that a facility that draws in people from outside the community can generate $7 for every dollar spent there. He also stressed that many families drive their children to sports facilities outside of Saugerties, and the convenience of having this facility in town would be well worth the cost of membership or use.

The project has wide community support, Badalato said. He noted that some 1,043 people have signed a petition in favor of the complex, and more are continuing to sign. That number is up to 1,207, Barese said this week.

As you settle in to wall-to-wall coverage of the 2012 Summer Olympics, it might enhance your enjoyment of the games to know that a recent Saugerties High alum and graduate of the school’s computer video production program is getting some serious on-the-job training courtesy of a summer internship with NBC.

Mike Caffrey, a junior at Ithaca College’s Roy H. Park School of Communications majoring in television and radio, is one of just 35 interns learning the ropes during one of the world’s most prestigious sporting events. While many of the interns chosen to work on the Olympics for NBC are in London, Caffrey is reporting to work each day at 30 Rock, cutting highlights of numerous sports for NBCOlympics.com after watching the live feed. Headquartered in the studio best known for being the home of Saturday Night Live, Caffrey’s first week of work in the Highlight Factory has seen him cover sports he’s familiar with and others that he had to develop more than a passing knowledge of, like judo.

Caffrey, who has been crashing with a relative in uptown Manhattan during a summer which began with five weeks of work for the Major League Baseball Network, has been thoroughly enjoying his immersion in the world of sports broadcasting, an extension of work he’s performed at the collegiate level at Ithaca College. Still, with two years remaining as an undergrad, he’s not sure whether he wants a career in television, film or radio.

“I’ve been having this argument with myself about which I like more, and I can’t decide ,” Caffrey said. “Whichever presents the best opportunity when I get out of college in those three fields, I’m probably going to take it because I love all three equally.”

Returning seniors Terrell Lawrence, Eric “Muggsy” Beresheim, Kaleb Kouhout,
and Nick Koenig flank Saugerties’ head coach Lee Meisinger.

Despite losing six of last year’s starters, who have decided to work on other sports and other interests, Saugerties football’s head coach Lee Meisinger is looking forward to a good season.

“I’m disappointed the six didn’t come back out for the team, but the guys we have here want to be here,” said the second-year coach.

With the loss, the Sawyers’ team is a little undermanned, with only 42 students that will play varsity and junior varsity.

“Our numbers may not be there, but we will still be competitive,” Meisinger said.

Lack of numbers for sports teams seems to be endemic at Saugerties with the boys’ baseball team and boys’ lacrosse team having a difficult time fielding players last spring.

Meisinger said because of the low turnout some of his players will have “to play iron man football” and play on both offense and defense.

Some of the players that Meisinger expects to step up this year, are seniors “Muggsy” Beresheim, who will be the offense’s anchor at center, and will play some defensive line as well; Tyrrell Lawrence, who plays offense line and is a monster on the defense; Nick Koenig, who is the team’s running back and safety on defense; and Kaleb Kouhout, who dislocated his shoulder last year but is coming back strong, and will be a disruptive force at linebacker.

The quarterback position is a little unsettled, said Meisinger, with junior Russell Megaline, who played some QB last year and is a “physical kind of guy” and Randel Llewellyn, a sophomore he calls the “hardest worker on the team” both in the mix.

A number of players have been hitting the weight room to bulk up and increase their strength, and 11 members of the team attended a recent football camp at Dietz Stadium to help increase their skill level.

“We have some decent size on this year’s team, and shouldn’t get pushed around by anyone,” Meisinger said.

The season opener is Sept. 1 against Monticello.

The rink is in such high demand for hockey that teams start practice at 5 a.m. (photo by Samantha Moranville)

A low-lying fog swirls over the ice as shadowy figures glide, working on their figure eights, their spins, and jumps.

It just doesn’t seem natural. But on a day when the temperatures outside hover in the mid-80s, the Kiwanis Ice Arena opened for its 13th season.

The low-lying fog, explains figure skater Geoffrey Wrights of Woodstock, 51, is caused by the heat and humidity from the outside. “But if feels great coming in here out of the heat,” he said.

Dressed in a short-sleeved t-shirt but wearing gloves, Wrights is a competitive figure skater, who recently took a silver medal in a national competition held in Chicago.

“I skated when I was a youngster, but gave it up and only got back into it about six years ago,” he explained. “ I just got tired of going to the gym, or riding my bike, so came back to my first love – figure skating.”

Wrights is part of the Saugerties Skating School, and helps teach adults how to skate. School founder Amy Montalbano teaches the kids.

Montalbano, who formed the school six years ago, said they teach youngsters and adults of all skill levels. “Last season we had about 100 kids taking part in our summer skating camp,” she said.

Two 15-year-olds join Wrights on the ice, bringing some show and grace to it. Berenger Garnica, who goes to Saugerties High School, and her friend, Samantha Linbeskind, who lives in New York City, work on spins and jumps. Their grace and skill are evident.

Like Wrights, Garnica skates competitively and usually finishes first in the contests, which take place in towns along the Hudson River.

Linbeskind uses figure skating as a way of keeping in shape. She studies dance at the Dance Conservatory of New York.

“I’ve been doing this since I was a youngster,” Linbeskind said. Garnica, who has been skating since she was four, gives her parents a lot of credit for driving her to the various competitions and getting her to the rinks to practice, sometimes early in the morning.

“We’re looking forward to this year,” said arena director Rob Kleemann. “We have something for everyone.”

Located on Washington Avenue across from HITS, the arena offers public skating, freestyle figure skating, drop-in hockey, a mens’ league, a kids’ league, and a “moms on skates” hockey league.

Saugerties draws from a large area, with the nearest other ice arenas located in Albany, Newburgh, and Poughkeepsie.

“We get really busy,” Kleemann said, “especially Thanksgiving ‘til late February, when hockey season comes.”

Hockey is the bread and butter for the arena, with high school teams and junior teams vying for ice time. There’s so much need for ice time that practice begins as early as 5 a.m.

Skaters come from across Ulster and Dutchess counties, with the majority coming from Saugerties and nearby Kingston.

The Kiwanis arena also has programs during the winter with the Hunter Mountain and Wyndham Mountain ski areas.

“They advertise for us and we do the same for them,” Kleemann said. “If the skiing is not so good, or the weather is bad, the skiers will come here for a day of fun.”

“Last year, there wasn’t so much snow, so we saw a lot of skiers come in to skate for the day,” he added.

The skating season ends at the beginning of April, when the ice is melted and drained off. Prior to the start of each new season, new ice is put down.

“We use Saugerties water,” Kleemann said, “but first we put it through a reverse-osmosis process that takes out many of the minerals. It’s the minerals that create air pockets in the ice.”

“We spray the water out in lots of layers, rather than just flood the rink,” he explained. Then on a regular basis, Kleemann climbs into the Zamboni and smoothes out the ice. “It takes us seven days to get just the right ice for the year.”

But during the off-season, when the only flooring is cement, the arena is used for other programs, such as the Saugerties Public Library Book Fair.

“It’s expensive to keep the place open all year, but for the book fair, it’s worth it,” Kleemann said.

In addition to the ice hockey program, and the Saugerties Skating School, the arena also headquarters the Boundless Edge Figure Skating School.

For more information about the arena and its many programs and events, visit

www.kiwanisicearena.com.

(Photo by Mookie Forcella )

Two years ago, when massive budget cuts threatened the entire Saugerties school district athletic program, only a huge fundraising effort was able to save the season. The community rejoiced. No one would have guessed that sports teams would soon be having trouble filling their rosters. But there’s no mistaking it: in both spring and fall of this year, coaches of boys’ sports at Saugerties High School say they’re barely able to field enough players to compete.

No one is sure why. “That’s a great question,” said district athletic director Chris Curnan, who is also the coach of the girls’ lacrosse team.

“It just seems to be the trend,” he said. “It certainly puts our boys’ teams at a disadvantage, but there just doesn’t seem to be the dedication there that there is with the girls.”

That’s right. While the boys’ teams are playing with light benches, the rosters for the girls’ teams remain strong. In the case of fall girls’ volleyball, so many went out for the team that significant cuts were made, and while 20 girls went out for the fall girls’ tennis team, only seven will start.

Last spring, both Steve Below, boys’ baseball coach, and Bob Slate, boys’ lacrosse coach, said that a lower than usual turnout put them at a disadvantage when playing other teams.

Slate was particularly vocal, saying that it means opponents can substitute more often, keeping their players fresh.

Varsity football coach Lee Meisinger and soccer coach Mike Riley are worried about the same problem. Meisinger said that usually about 60 boys go out for the team, which he divides into varsity and junior varsity; this year there are just 40. Riley has about 25 players out that he will have to divide up into varsity and JV.

“Some of the players are going to have to play offense and defense,” Meisinger said. Again, this puts the Sawyers at a disadvantage.

When asked about the low turnout, the coaches were unable to come up with a cause. Meisinger suggested that boys who in the past played a number of sports during the year, might be opting to concentrate on only one sport this year.

Slate thought in the case of boys’ lacrosse, it might be due to the fact that Saugerties does not have a feeder program. “There are no programs for the younger kids, like there is for soccer,” Slate said.

Assistant girls’ soccer coach Mark Herb, who has been coaching in the Saugerties system since 1972, said he thinks it’s all about “peer pressure.”

“Boys want cars and cell phones, and their parents refuse to pay for them, so rather than going out for sports, many of the boys have had to go out and get after-school jobs if they want to get those things,” Herb said.

Herb may be correct. The days may be gone when boys used to play soccer in the fall and then run track in the spring to stay in shape, or play football in the fall, go out for the wrestling team in the winter and then throw the shot put or discus for the track team in the spring to stay in shape for football.

But whatever the reason, head coaches for the Sawyers have been left scrambling to keep their players fresh and remain competitive against schools that are not having the same problems fielding teams. The Sawyers have always had team spirit, but while the spirit may be more than willing, the flesh, this year, is… limited.

Winner McLain Ward. (ESI Photography)

Rainclouds hovered in the distance over the HITS, Inc. horse show grounds for much of the afternoon on Sunday, Sept. 9, but they waited until the very end of the Michael McDonald concert to move in and actually burst out into rain, bringing the concert and another season of HITS in Saugerties to a dramatic and (damp) end.

The culmination of the 2012 season at the show grounds of HITS, Inc. in Saugerties was the $1 million Grand Prix event that went off at 2 p.m. in the main ring. (There’s one more event Sept. 13-16, the Marshall and Sterling Finals, which is not part of the HITS season.) A color guard unit and members of the equestrian team representing each class currently at West Point marched ceremonially into the ring and remained at attention as the crowd rose for the singing of the National Anthem.

The jumping competition that commenced was, for the competitive horse show world, something akin to the final game of the World Series, pitting 38 competitors against each other in a contest of speed and athleticism between the best-of-the-best; the goal is to have the fastest time without any faults (knocking down rails or time penalties for staying on the course too long).

The riders on Sunday took to a difficult 14-obstacle course, designed by Olaf Petersen, Jr. It was set up specifically, said the designer, to challenge the rider’s technical abilities, especially in a triple combination jump at the 11th obstacle. The course also featured a four-meter wide water element and a tricky double combination jump near the beginning.

The audience gathered on the berms watched intently and quietly, only making disappointed sounds of sympathy as one rider after another brought their horse soaring over the obstacles of the complex course, only to nick a railing and bring it down.

McLain Ward of Brewster, New York, took home top honors at the end of the day, riding Antares F., fresh from the Olympic Games in London. “The jumps were beautiful and the course was hard,” said Ward afterward. “You needed a real Olympic caliber horse to jump a lot of those obstacles.”

Ward was one of only three riders to produce clean rounds with no faults over the intimidating track, and that number was just about what was expected for a class of this level on such a difficult course, said HITS president and CEO Tom Struzzieri. The top winning share of the $1 million prize for Antares F.’s owners, Grant Road Partners, LLC was $350,000. In total, 20 riders and horses won ribbons and monetary prizes in the event.

This was Ward’s second time winning the $1 million Grand Prix event at HITS, having won the inaugural event there in 2010.

(Photo by ESI Photography)

Despite the autumnal chill in the air, things heated up at Hunter Mountain last weekend and no small amount of sweat was shed, as competitors swam, biked, and finally ran their way through the newest and—if you believe the athletes—the toughest triathlon on the block. The two-day event was a part of the HITS Triathlon Series, which began last year, and the second triathlon held at Hunter Mountain this year.

The series includes races all across the country, from Naples, Florida to Napa Valley, California, and is the only triathlon to offer five distances, from the Full—a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, and 26.2 mile run—to the Open—a 100-meter swim, 3 mile bike, and 1 mile run—with the Sprint, Olympic, and Half-distances between the two. The Open, true to its name, is designed to make the sport accessible to those new to or curious about it and free to all competitors.

On Saturday, race director Mark Wilson was manning the aid station at the halfway turnaround for the Full and Half-distances, replenishing water bottles and encouraging racers who peppered him with good-natured threats between gasps for air and gulps of water. “We’re going to have to have a word about this course when I get back,” said Bill Romas, as he rode into the aid station. It was Romas’ 10th full triathlon. He said the bike course at Hunter Mountain was the hardest he has encountered. Ron Bishop, who pulled up shortly after Romas had left, said the course “just goes on and on and on.”

Wilson took it in stride. “I’ve never been threatened so many times in my life, but it’s all with love,” he said. “They’ll go home and brag for months, and that’s what’s going to get other athletes here.”

The HITS Triathlon Series is still young. HITS president and CEO Tom Struzzieri met Mark Wilson almost five years ago. At the age of 50, Struzzieri had decided to compete in triathlons. Mark offered guidance. Wilson is a seasoned triathlete and the founder and president of the Hudson Valley Triathlon Club. When Struzzieri decided to augment his hugely successful horse show business with a triathlon series, he knew who to call.

“If there’s a better ambassador for the sport of triathlon, I have yet to find him,” said race announcer Alex Sherwood of Wilson. Indeed, Wilson seemed to have memorized the name of everyone in the vicinity.

Granted, it isn’t hard to do in a race where there were only 60 participants in the Half-distance and 40 in the Full. However, the HITS Triathlon Series will only be one-year-old this December, and organizers and competitors alike have high hopes for the event. Said Sherwood, “The course overall, for rural beauty, is far and away the one. It has a mix of everything. The swim is pretty magical. The bike course is super challenging, but also super rewarding.”

He added, “It’s not your everyday race for people going into pancake plateau. You’ve got to be an athlete. You’re not going to bluff your way through.”

Wilson concurred. “People will be drawn to this location because of the beauty, because of the hills, because it’s so hard.” He hopes that in the next five years there will be an event for every month of the year, and they will all become “as big as Ironman,” the HITS Series’ competitors, who get some 2,000 participants per event.

Jason Toth, winner of the Half-distance, has his own ideas for the event’s future. He said to Sherwood, who was stuck in a chair by the finish line from 8 a.m. to midnight, “Maybe we’ll come visit, bring you a hamburger or something, maybe a brew? We’re going to be sort of kicking it tonight, just having a good time at the camp site. We’re trying to make this like a little wildflower. We’ll encourage people to come, and camp.”

“Wildflower” describes the event and atmosphere well. Said Sherwood, “I think a lot of people in the sport have gotten put out or fed up with the bigger sort of commercial machine in the sport of triathlon, and want to come back to smaller, more intimate race venues. And when you put it in a spot like this, athletes can actually camp on the race site. It doesn’t get better than that…it’s not blown out of proportion. It’s more for the athletes than anything else.”

Nor does it get any better for the community. “They realize the benefit of us bringing money here in the summer, because this is a winter location,” said Wilson. The local hotels put up some of the race staff for free, and Maggie’s Krooked Café delivered food to race organizers several times a day.

Department of Environmental Conservation even fixed one of the roads competitors put the most miles on, which hadn’t seen work prior to the race in some 20 years.

Between HITS, the Diamond Mills Hotel, and the new Triathlon Series, Struzzieri is doing his best to make Northern Ulster County a destination “It’s my home,” he said. “I’m raising a family here. The nicer it can be, the nicer my home is.”

The race already draws competitors from as far as Canada, and all over the Northeast. With the support of the community, and the enthusiasm of the competitors and organizers, the Hunter Mountain Triathlon promises to become every bit the event Wilson hopes it will be, and far and away a fan favorite.

“I want to do this for 20 years,” said Wilson, “and then after I do that…” He trailed off. “I want to be a lumberjack.”

The Kiwanis Ice Arena recently received the donation of a skate harness through the generosity of local resident, Colette VanDerbeck. The skate harness is an important tool used by coaches and skaters to aid in the development of multiple revolution jumps such as the axel. The skate harness allows the coach to assist the skater as they learn the rotation and timing of the jumps, and the skate harness has already been put to use several times since its installation. Coaches from the Saugerties Skating School were trained in the use of the device by Marc LeBel, the inventor and designer of the skate harness, the only one endorsed by the Professional Skaters Association. The skate harness is an invaluable asset that will benefit many skaters at the Kiwanis Ice Arena for years to come.

It was a tough year for Saugerties sports teams. Because of the defeated school spending plan the previous year, which forced the district to operate under a contingency budget, many of the teams were able to play only an abbreviated schedule. This put them at a disadvantage, because their opponents had the benefit of playing full schedules.

Throw in injuries, and concussions for several members of the football team (who were protected from further injury by caring coaches and a district policy governing how and when a player can get back on the field after such an injury), and you have teams dealing with unprecedented challenges.

Most of all, the spring and fall teams were hampered by a poor turnout of players. For some reason, which left coaches stymied, not as many students went out for sports teams as had in the past, leaving the teams to play with few reserves to replace injured teammates or substitutes.

And while it’s been a number of years since any Saugerties teams have made the championships, there were a number of very bright spots this past year.

The Section 9 Football Coaches Association selected Saugerties senior wide receiver Lucas Gran and senior center Eric Beresheim for the All-League team. Gran and Beresheim, who both played offense and defense for the Sawyers, were selected for the Class A team.

And for “Muggsy” Beresheim, it’s been a very good year. U.S. Rep. Maurice Hinchey nominated Beresheim to the U.S. Naval Academy, where after graduation he will become a Marine and part of that proud branch of the military’s artillery.

For the girls’ track team, the Averill sisters, Christen, Shannon and younger sister Kellyann, swept through the local track world.

Sara Forsythe set the school record in the pole vault and Meghan Creen and Megan Rom led the throwing team.

On the boys’ side, John Winters, Jr. proved that he could match the state’s best throw-for-throw in the shot put.

It was a tough year for boys’ baseball but excellent play by many underclassmen in 2012 bodes well for this coming spring’s team.

Boys’ and girls’ lacrosse teams had good seasons, making the playoffs. Moorea and Hayley Spoljaric had an outstanding year, with Hayley going on to be a standout with the girls’ soccer team and now the leading scorer with the girls’ basketball team.

Ashley Werner helped drive the girls’ team to a winning season, leading the team in goals.

The boys’ lacrosse team made it to the Division 9 Class B Championships but lost in the final. Many of the wins during the season can be attributed to hard-nosed goalie Mike Yaeger, whose tenacious D kept them in the games.

For the girls’ softball team, it was a fun year, as they beat a number of teams they should have lost to. However, when the season was over, Coach Melinda Glover said she was looking forward to the coming year.

This past fall, the boys’ and girls’ soccer teams had good years although they both had to play shortened seasons because of the budget. The Averill sisters along with Hayley Spoljaric, Taylor Lynch and sparkplug Rebecca Veltrie moved the team into the playoffs where they shone but eventually fell short.

The boys’ team, hampered by a low turnout and injuries, had a tough year, but Aelijah Wilson, Alex Munoz and Artiva Cherwin had outstanding years.

It was an exceptionally difficult year for the football team. Hampered by a low turnout and a number of key players going down to various injuries including concussions, coach Lee Meisinger was forced to use six different players at quarterback.

But despite the injuries, Gran, Beresheim, JT Elmendorf, Terrell Lawrence, Russell Neglia, Adam Bacon and Matt Winters made it a fun and exciting year.

 (photo by Robert Ford)

Sometimes it takes darkness for hope to grow; dedication for success to flourish. For at least one young Saugerties High School sophomore, it takes both.

Sixteen-year-old sophomore Rob Cuomo is quickly becoming the most talked-about wrestler in Saugerties; maybe in the Hudson Valley wrestling community.

Rob’s darkness came little more than a year ago, when his father, also named Rob, died. Rob Sr. was a wrestler when he was young. He passed the love of the sport onto his son. “Before he got sick, we would wrestle,” Rob said. “He was a huge motivation for me.”

Rob would often see his father watching wrestling matches on Youtube, breaking down moves and technique, something his son does now.

But watching high school and college wrestling is a lot different than actually participating in the sport.

Last year Cuomo was not a dominant wrestler. He was on the junior varsity squad for much of the year. When he moved up to varsity, success eluded him.

At the end of the season, Cuomo gave some serious thought to quitting the sport.

“He was devastated by the loss of his father,” said varsity wrestling coach Dom Zarrella.

“I lost a lot of matches. So over the summer I was just thinking about quitting but I thought back to when I first told my dad that I wanted to be a wrestler and how proud he was of me,” Cuomo said.

And when he thought about that, he made a vow to rededicate himself to the sport.

He talked to some other wrestlers and learned about the New York Ironmen Wrestling Club in Poughkeepsie, owned by Jim Baker, where he could learn about the sport and, as it turns out, life.

“I learned the value of working hard,” Cuomo said of the first lessons learned at the club, where he worked with other high school wrestlers from throughout the Hudson Valley as well as with a number of college wrestlers.

Despite snow still on the fields, the Saugerties boy’s lacrosse team works out. (photo by Robert Ford)

While members of the boys’ baseball team worked on their tans and fundamentals in Myrtle Beach over spring break, the other spring sports teams practiced on muddy, partially snow-covered fields or under fluorescent lights on wooden floors. Here’s our first round of spring sports previews.

Boys’ tennis

Head coach Kim Cahill is in an enviable position this spring – too many boys coming out for the team. “We had 21 boys go out for the team, but since there are only seven starters on a team, and a handful of others that will play exhibition matches, we had to cut down to 15.

“We lost three seniors to graduation last year,” Cahill said, “but the younger players coming up should give us a good strong team.”

Many of the players have been working on their games over the summer and during the winter at Total Tennis in Saugerties. “It’s nice having a local indoor facility where they can practice,” Cahill said at the outdoor tennis courts at Cantine Field that were surrounded by snow.

“The weather has really not cooperated for us to get in a lot of practice time before our opening game on April 11,” she added.

“I try to get them to bundle up for practice, do some running before going on the courts,” she said. But, pointing to the teens, many of whom were only dressed in shorts and a tee shirt during a recent day where the thermometer showed a temp of about 39 degrees, she shrugged her shoulders and said, “boys will be boys.”

This year’s team will be led by returning seniors Dale Maier and Kyle Melick, but Cahill said she expects strong play from underclassmen Dan Pool, Emlynn Eleaber, Corey Curran, Arny Herzog and Lane Solzer.

“We should have a really competitive team this year,” Cahill said.

Boys’ lacrosse

For a team that only won four games last year, head coach Robert Slate is confident. He said this year’s team should not only win more games, but should give some of the tougher teams in the area, such as Kingston, a run for their money.

“We have a lot of potential this year, and should surprise a lot of teams,” Slate said.

But noting that only 20 boys went out for the team, he said his concerns are the same as they were last year; “a low turnout.”

Slate said he’s looking for senior goaltender Joe Carmody and junior goalie Tyler Mentz to step up and take charge of action on the field. He added that he has a number of defenders from last year’s team returning, and “this seasoned defense should be the strength of our team.”

Mid-fielders Alex Munoz and Chris Latourette, who played important roles on the school’s wrestling team, will be counted on to shore up the midfield, as will Darius Edwards. Bill Kahner and James Petersen will lead the offense.

Slate is also expecting strong performances from Rob Colijero, Kyle Quinn, Jake Vickery, Pete Larson, Jake Morgan, Amell Mason and Eric Watters.

Because of the weather, the team has spent a lot of time indoors, working in the weight room and running the hallways of the school.

Girls’ softball

Last year, the Lady Sawyers finished strong, surprising a number of good teams with their spirited play and their use of “small ball.”

This year, coach Melinda Glover said her team will be making use of bunts and heads-up base running again. But there’s some question as to who will be the team’s leaders.

“We lost two great seniors,” Glover said. Standout pitcher Taylor Snyder and power-hitting shortstop Jamie Whittam are off playing ball in college. Some new players are going to have to take the helm.

Darcy Bittner, last year’s third baseman, will slide into the starting pitcher’s spot. Samantha Shultis will be counted on to step up. Courtney O’Connor will be the backup pitcher and utility infielder. Maureen Ball will play shortstop.

“We had some tough holes to fill,” Glover said, “but we have eight returnees, and four newcomers that should give us a good team this year.”

Much like the other teams, getting in some practice time has been difficult because of the weather, Glover said.

This past Friday, March 29, was only the third time the girls had been able to practice outside on a field; the rest of the time has been running the halls and fielding grounders in a gym.

Their season opens this week, but with rain and snow predicted, Glover was unsure of how many games would actually be played.

The Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League is interested in using Cantine Field as a home base, Parks and Recreation Superintendent Greg Chorvas reported at the Town Board’s May 8 meeting.

The Town Board quickly approved a resolution authorizing Chorvas to contract with the league for the use of Field Number 11.

“When we were awarded the grant for the [baseball field] lights we had a conversation about how long this would take,” said Councilman Fred Costello. “I think this was beyond our expectations.”

The town has received a $70,000 grant towards professional-quality lights at one of its baseball diamonds. Town officials have said that the lack of lights has been the main reason teams have not followed up their interest.

“I think they [the league] were just waiting in the wings,” Chorvas said.

One reason for the attractiveness of Saugerties’s ball fields is the large amount of volunteer work that has gone into them. Saugerties residents have built amenities at the fields, often raising the money to pay for the materials themselves, Costello said.

The league is “the largest in the country; it is an offshoot from the old New York Collegian Baseball League,” Chorvas said. “Since 1999 we’ve had four inquiries – three from the collegiate level and one from minor league baseball, and of course the roadblock has always been the lighting.”

In the process of negotiating for a franchise, “the roles are reversed; the shoe is on the other foot. We now have the lights and we can set our policies and we can set our fees,” Chorvas said. “I threw out a high number for them as a negotiating point, but we didn’t have to negotiate. Basically, that facility use fee is $75,000 over the five-year lease payable in increments of $15,000 a year. With that we can do improvements and upgrades, such as with the restroom facilities that are needed on the field. The grandstand building was erected as a public works project, a WPA project back in the 1930s, and a building of that nature requires maintenance. Having said that, with the combination of the facility use fee and the field improvement fund, I am fully confident that that field will become self-supporting just like we’re going to make the summer day camp self-supporting, and just as we made the ice arena self-supporting.”

Chorvas predicted that the field would draw good crowds and there should be a good economic “domino effect into the community and especially the region.”

The field would attract college players from outside the immediate area, Chorvas said. “Their main draw is going to be from outside of this area – the Northeast, and they are looking as far south as Virginia.”

“We can get a small sense of the economic impact… Babe Ruth has hosted parts of its tournament here and the Little Leagues have hosted, and it creates a lot of economic activity,” Costello said. “People are coming to the area, they are eating at restaurants, they are staying at hotels, and it gives people who may not have come to Saugerties before an opportunity to see what we enjoy on a daily basis.”

Chorvas described the acquisition of the franchise as a team effort that involved the Town Board, the Recreation Committee and countless volunteers.

The contract calls for close collaboration between the American Legion team in Saugerties and the collegiate team to avoid scheduling conflicts. While the contract specifies that such conflicts should be rare, it specifies that the town would be responsible for working them out. However, in general the town should play a relatively small role.

The lease runs from January 1, 2014 through December 31, 2018, with an option for an additional five years.

The detailed contract also covers operation of the concession stand, scheduling, practice time for the teams that use the field, maintenance and office space for the league.

After a rainy weekend, the weather broke on Monday and Saugertiesians were out and about. Cantine Field was full of people enjoying themselves — kids on playgrounds, teens practicing baseball and skateboarding, adults at the tennis courts. But the real party was at the soccer field by the ice arena. Approaching it, one was greeted with the smell of BBQ and the fuzzy echo of someone calling a game in Spanish. In fact, that’s what everyone was speaking. The event was a soccer tournament to benefit the Monte de Oración church, Saugerties’ first bilingual church, which holds services in the First Baptist Church building on Partition St. The teams were from all around — Connecticut, New Jersey, New Rochelle, Newburgh, Kingston and a couple from Saugerties.

The competition was fierce and the action was fast. The teams were 18-and-up amateur soccer squads. We met Nick Lopez, who organized the tournament and runs the local soccer league, his wife Linda Lopez ( shown in photo announcing the raffle winner) who kept things running smoothly, as well as the leaders of the church, Jose Manuel Perez and his wife Aldy Perez (they’re in the center of the group shot). We asked Linda Lopez if events like this and the establishment of a bilingual church reflected an influx of Spanish-speaking immigrants from Central and South America. She nodded vigorously — the town is changing. “A lot of Spanish people,” she said.

Photos by Will Dendis

One of the new dugouts. (photo by Will Dendis)

It’s been a lot of work, but the Saugerties Athletic Association has just about finished building new dugouts at three ballfields at the Cantine Field.

“It’s taken three years and the volunteer efforts of 68 residents, and numerous donations in material and money, to make these a reality,” said John Winters, SAA director and chair of the dugout project.

One of the biggest donors was Kingston Block, which donated all of the cinder blocks used to construct the six dugouts. Local masons, contractors, carpenters and just folks looking to come out and help donated their time to bring the project to fruition. “It was an amazing effort,” Winters said.

The SAA, along with the American Legion, Little League, Babe Ruth League and AYSO (American Youth Soccer Association), all raise money to keep the fields their teams play on in top shape at no cost to the taxpayer. The entire dugout project cost about $20,000.

Since 1968, the SAA has been one of the main sponsors of Saugerties sports programs and improvements at Cantine. Greg Chorvas, SAA treasurer and town employee in charge of Parks and Buildings, said currently the association runs the men’s and women’s adult softball program, men’s, women’s and co-ed volleyball program, and the youth (Biddy) basketball program.

While many municipalities are spending taxpayer dollars to operate recreation leagues, and pay a recreation director, Saugerties operates using donations and volunteers.

Little League, Babe Ruth, Legion, AYSO and youth football all run their own leagues. However, many of those programs got their start through the SAA. The association acts as an incubator for newer sports programs.

In addition to paying for improvements to many of the sports fields, the SAA also makes donations to the Relay for Life, the United Way, and the Children’s Annex, Chorvas said.

“We donate back to the community about $4,000 each year,” Chorvas said.

It’s the money from the SAA that makes the Cantine Sports Complex one of the premier sites in the Hudson Valley. “We use just about the same type of dirt on our infields that major league teams use,” Chorvas said. The dirt, brought in from a farm and quarry in central New Jersey, just has a little less clay in the mix than pro fields have, he added.

One of the biggest donors was and is Ernie Fick, for whom one of the fields at the sports complex is named. Each year, Fick would donate $6,000 to the SAA and his estate continues to do so. “Ernie had a heart that was pure gold and always helped us out,” Winters said.

Chorvas added that the Saugerties Kiwanis Club, which operates the ice rink and the youth and adult ice hockey programs, also makes a substantial donation to the SAA.

The seniors of the girls’ soccer team (photo by Robert Ford )

Batman has the Joker, Superman has Lex Luther, and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have the Shredder. The Sawyers of Saugerties have the Raiders of Red Hook.

But Lee Meisinger, head football coach, and Mike Story, head coach of the girls’ soccer team, say this year will be different.

Meisinger and his young charges will be able to make good on that vow right off the bat, as they face the Raiders in their first game of the year, Sept. 7.

Story will have to wait several games before facing off with Red Hook.

Last year, the football team closed out its season with a loss to Red Hook 22-6.

The rivalry is so strong between the two schools that even though practice for the fall season only began last week, coaches are already getting their teams “up” to play Red Hook.

“We play Red Hook early on, and we’ll be ready for them,” Meisinger said.

One of the benefits of playing the Raiders early this year is the team will be fresh. Last year, a slew of injuries to the team’s dominant players left the Sawyer ranks depleted. During the year, the team went through six quarterbacks, including one who hadn’t played the position since he was a little kid.

This year, like last, they will start with junior Randall Lewellyn. Last year, he was sidelined by two concussions and an injured shoulder.

Asked why he would come out for the team again this year after getting his senses scrambled twice last year, Lewellyn, a tough kid, said, “Because I like to hit. I like the fact that it’s a rough game.”

Lewellyn will be looking to pick up where he left off last year, hooking up with his favorite receiver and the team’s best pass catcher, senior Lukas Gran.

“If everyone stays healthy I’ll just have to focus on playing two positions,” Gran said with a smile.

Because of a rash of injuries last year, Gran played quarterback as well as wide receiver. This year, he hopes he will only have to play wide receiver on offense and strong safety on defense. He’ll also return kick-offs.

“We have a lot of new guys who will have to step up and play well,” Meisinger said.

Like last year, many will have to play on offense and defense like Gran does.

“We’re going to get them in shape and get them out there,” Meisinger added.

Meisinger is expecting good things from newcomer Jared Raymond, who will be the team’s featured tailback, and Cody Sprance at fullback.

“This year I want to see us have a winning record, and make the playoffs,” Meisinger said.

And it all begins with Red Hook.

Talk to Mike Story of the girls’ soccer team, and you get, ahem— the same story as Meisinger.

The Lady Sawyers lost to cross-river rivals three times last year, each by a narrow margin; the last one was an overtime loss in the Mid-Hudson Athletic League semi-finals.

Story said he’s counting on his seniors to remember what happened in those games and motivate the younger girls to turn those losses into wins.

The team lost five seniors to graduation last year. This year it has seven seniors, five juniors and seven sophomores.

“We have a talented group this year, but the pressure of beating Red Hook will fall to the seniors,” he said.

Other rivals include New Paltz, Wallkill, and FDR; all should be beatable.

Senior Jessa Chargois is the only goalie that Story has. In a pinch, the team will look to standout JV keeper varsity Bailey Dunn if needed.

In addition to Chargois, Story will be counting on seniors Tori Sperl, Shannon Averill, Veronica Rell, Elizabeth Westwood, Emily Smedek, and Rebecca Veltrie.

Veltrie, the team’s top defender, said she believes this is the year for the Lady Sawyers. “Most of us have been playing together since we were in fourth grade, we know what each of us can do. Now we just have to step up and take control.”

Coach Dom Zarrella with by this year’s team captains Rob Cuomo, Chris LaTourette and James Bethel (photo by Robert Ford)

At a recent practice, Saugerties wrestling coach Dom Zarrella was all smiles. It’s easy to figure out why: This team could quite possibly be the best the high school has produced.

For starters there is James Bethel, nationally ranked as a freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestler, who will also be a state-ranked folk-style (high school-style) wrestler, and Rob Cuomo, who will be state-ranked as well.

“We may place both in the states,” Zarrella said with a wide grin, something no other Saugerties team has done. “This is our year.”

There are also John Lerczak and Alex Munoz who, if everything breaks right, will be the top wrestlers in their weight classes, Zarrella said.

Other wrestlers who might just surprise a few opponents include Aaron Turner, Biko Skalla, Brian Bucci, Jamie Pulver and Chris LaTourette.

“There is not a hole in our lineup,” Zarrella said.

That is, except for at the very beginning. Saugerties has no one to wrestle at the lightest weight, 99 pounds, so the team will begin each meet with a forfeit, leaving it six points down before the first Sawyer takes the mat.

But the rest of the team should more than make up for it, Zarrella explained.

“We have 12 seniors leading this team. So we have experience and leadership. On the other hand that means next year will be a total rebuild, but this year we should be something special.”

To help ease next year’s rebuild, Zarrella coached the high school modified football team this year, which enables him to look for potential wrestlers.

Because of this, the modified and JV wrestling program has 40 kids this year, many of whom will be moving up to varsity next year.

But to really take their wrestling to the next level, the younger kids will need to supplement their training. Many of this year’s Saugerties wrestlers have gotten to this level by wrestling year-round, either through the Dark Corners’ wrestling club in Kingston or the Iron Man in Poughkeepsie.

“The coaches from the club teams are coming to me and asking what they need to work on during the spring and summer with the wrestlers,” Zarrella said. “So our kids are getting the coaching they need to win sectionals and get the state and national rankings.”

Because of this year’s talent level, Zarrella said he has scheduled some new opponents that are state-ranked. “Some of our guys will be wrestling in college next year and I want to get them the level of competition they need to help them at that level.”

The first match is Dec. 3 against Wallkill.

The varsity girls’ soccer team, Section 9 champs (photo by Robert Ford)

This year will be remembered as one of the more special years in Saugerties sports history, as one team won a Mid-Hudson Athletic League championship for the first time in school history, several others came close, and a young wrestler became one of the best in the nation.

It was a season of dreams fulfilled for the young women of the girls’ varsity soccer team as they ran roughshod over their opponents and into the MHAL finals, where they defeated Spackenkill after two thrilling overtime periods.

The win propelled them into the Section 9 tournament where they beat Cornwall, one of the tougher teams in the Mid-Hudson Valley.

In the finals, the Lady Sawyers finally met their match against Goshen where they lost, closing out their season as the most successful girls’ soccer team in Saugerties High School history.

Many of the other Sawyer teams weren’t exactly slouches either.

The boys’ basketball team had one of its best seasons in a long time – since 1984 to be exact – as a group of kids who had been playing ball together since fourth grade marched though the league, winning game after game, narrowly missing the MHAL championship. However, they did beat cross-river rival Red Hook in a state sectional quarterfinal game, and in the semi-finals they lost by one point to Burke Catholic, which was ranked number 1 in the sectional tournament and number 5 in the state.

After the season, two members of the team, Darnell Edge and Paton Gibbs, made the team that represented the Mid-Hudson Valley in the Summer Hoops Festival, created to take the place of the defunct Empire State Games.

The girls’ lacrosse team won the Orange County Interscholastic Athletic Association Class B championship behind the goal scoring of Haley Spoljaric, who netted her 100th goal of her career.

The girls went on to the state regional game where they lost.

The 2013 boys and girls track teams did well last year with the girls finishing fourth in the MHALs and the boys 12th. However they did have a number of competitors make it into the state track and field qualifying meet.

Runner Shannon Averill and discus thrower Megan Rom, who finished first in the discus and shot put in the MHALs, represented Saugerties in the state competition.

Averill finished 10th in the 800 meter run, while Rom finished 11th in the New York State Track and Field Championships.

The girls’ volleyball team also had a great year, making into the semi-final game of the Section 9 Class A championships where it fell to FDR. The Lady Sawyers got into the semi-finals by defeating Monticello in the quarterfinals.

Cross country runners also had a successful season. While no individual runners finished high in the state rankings, as a team they finished fourth in the Section 9 Class B finals.

But when you look back on Saugerties High School’s 2013 sports year, one name jumps out, and that’s of 16-year-old wrestler James Bethel. He’s probably far and away the best wrestler the Saugerties High School program has produced.

Last spring and summer Bethel competed in two national tournaments and came away ranked Number 3 in the nation in Greco-Roman style wrestling, and in the top 10 nationally in Freestyle wrestling.

He’s currently tearing it up in this year’s high school season, where wrestling is referred to as “Folkstyle.”

(Photo by Alen Fetahi)

It’s surprising to see grown men at Kiwanis Ice Rink ready to play hockey without a face cage. A lot of hockey players play without them because they think that the cage constricts their peripherals. It’s a claim that may not stand up to scrutiny, but hockey players aren’t the only athletes that eschew restrictions: many basketball players refuse to play in short sleeves because they feel they restrict shoulder motion, and lots of baseball players refuse to play with batting gloves even though doing so makes it easier to grip the bat and avoid stingers.

But a face cage is a matter of safety, and even at the level of the Saugerties Hockey League, rife with pentagenarians and laid-back beer-league sports junkies, a puck to the dome is likely to do some irrevocable damage.

If you’re a hockey player, though, that doesn’t matter. You just accept that you’ll likely never be prettier than you were the second before you stepped onto the ice.

Exchange Hotel is on the board, 1-0, after only a minute and a half.

They’re noticeably younger and faster than their counterparts, the Mirabella’s Pineapples, and there is a Bad News Bears vibe permeating the game. Exchange is wearing handsome black Los Angeles Kings-inspired sweaters, right down to the shield patch on the shoulder, which instead of a crown in the lower part contains a pair of sloshing beer mugs.

The Pineapples’ uniform isn’t so intimidating; a large M formed by a fork and spoon on a grass-green background. Dean Palen, a self-described “old guy” who, by the third period, is doing his honest best to shuffle around the rink, gave me a quick history lesson on the team name before the game.

“We used to be Pineapple Express, we really liked the name,” he said. “But then we got sponsored by Mirabella’s – make sure you don’t screw the names up, there’s another Mirabella’s team in the league, just Mirabella’s.”

Then he runs back into the locker room.

“Guys, there’s press here!”

A few minutes after the first goal, Exchange nets another goal to go up 2-0.

The Saugerties Hockey League has been around for 13 years. There are six teams: Mirabella’s, Mirabella’s Pineapples, Exchange Hotel (full name: Exchange Hotel / Naccarato Ins. / Ward Backhaus Coll.), Honey Badgers, Red Hawks, and Raptors, and it draws players from as far away as Albany.

Shannon Averill, seated, signs a National Letter of Intent to run track for Monmouth University in New Jersey. She is joined (left to right) by her track Coach Steve Buonfiglio, her mom, Kathy, sister, Kellyann, dad, Tom, and Saugerties Athletic Director Chris Curnan

Quinnipiac wanted her. Cornell wanted her too, but when it came down to making the final decision, Monmouth University in New Jersey seemed like the perfect fit for three-sport star Shannon Averill.

Averill, joined by her parents, sister, coach, and athletic director, along with a number of friends, signed a Letter of Intent at a ceremony held in the high school library Feb. 7. She’ll run track for Monmouth, a Division 1 school.

Averill, who excels at soccer, basketball, and track, said she chose to run for Monmouth over the other colleges because of how the south Jersey school recruited her.

“I just felt so comfortable with the coaches,” she said.

Averill also made three trips to the school to talk to the coaches and visit the campus.“I was just so comfortable there,” she said.

It also helped that Monmouth offered her the most scholarship money, and it didn’t hurt that several of the school’s dorms for upperclassmen are located along the Jersey shore.

“They began contacting me after they saw my times in various newspapers,” Averill said of the recruiting process. “They have a terrific running program, and I just thought that I would never have this opportunity again.”

Averill holds the Saugerties High School record in the 1500 meters, and last year, made it to the state finals in the 800 meters– the event Monmouth recruited her for. She also runs as part of the 4×400 team along with her sister Kellyann.

And while Monmouth wants her to run the 800, her high school coach, Steve Buonfiglio, believes that Shannon is such a versatile runner the coaches at Monmouth will have her running more than just the 800 meters.

“She just has such great potential, and I think Monmouth saw that,” Buonfiglio added.

Monmouth also has an indoor track and competes during the winter season as well, something Averill said she is looking forward to.

But it’s not only athletics that Averill is looking forward to at Monmouth; academics also play a large role. She plans to enroll in the school’s nursing program with an eye toward a degree in the medical field, although she is not yet sure what area.

What do parents Tom, the principal at the high school, and mom, Kathy, a teacher, have to say? “They just said to enjoy what you’re doing,” said Averill.