FROM PRESS ROW: BANGE, LAWSON NAMED ATHLETES OF THE WEEK; UNSUNG HEROES, BREAKOUT STARS NAMED (2021-11-09)
As we head deeper into the postseason we have some athletes breaking out with big-time performances in big-time situations.
The number of teams and sports still going is getting smaller, but the week was full of teams and individuals winning titles and qualifying for states.
It’s time to look at the Athletes of the Week, as well as the week’s Unsung Heroes and Breakout Stars.
ATHLETES OF THE WEEK:
ASHTON BANGE, CORNING, XC:The Corning junior made his first trip to cross country sectionals a memorable one as he won the title and went under 16 minutes in the process.
Bange led a dominant Corning performance as the Hawks went one through five in the race to win the team title.
A first-year cross country runner, who joined the sport after playing soccer in the past, he ran right with teammate Jack Gregorski for much of the race and then late he was able to pick up the victory and run a time of 15:58.9.
What makes things more impressive for Bange is how much he improved since the beginning of the season when he ran the same Chenango Valley Course for the McDaniel-Baxter Cross Country Invitational.
In that early season race Bange went out fast and struggled late with the hills and finished 26th overall in 17:08.6, fourth on his team. On Saturday the junior had a plan for the race and executed it perfectly.
SARAH LAWSON, CORNING, XC:It was the Section 4 Championships, against the best runners in all of the section and Lawson didn’t just win the title, she won it in dominant fashion.
Lawson won the Class A title in 18:34.0. She was 1:15 ahead of the runner-up in her race. Only one person in all of Section 4, out of 185 runners, was within a minute of Lawson and that was Chenango Forks’ Pipher Reid, who won the Class C race in 19:20.7.
Lawson has been one of the top runners in the state all season long, but she seems to be taking things to another gear the past few weeks, with dominant performances to win the STAC Championship and now the Section 4 Championship.
With Covid wiping out the postseason last year, Lawson will be making her first ever trip to the state championships this week.
UNSUNG HEROES:
AVA MUSTICO, ND, GIRLS’ SOCCER:It seems like all Mustico does is come up clutch for the Crusaders.
She isn’t the team’s leading scorer for the season, but in the postseason she’s taken her game to the next level.
In a 1-0 win over Lansing in the Section 4 final Mustico came up with the game-winning goal. And, then in the regional final she found the net to lift the Crusaders to the victory. She also had the only goal earlier this year in a 1-0 overtime win over Waverly in a playoff for the IAC Division title.
Corning has won four titles this year. They won the division title. Then they won sectionals and the IAC in the same game against Lansing, and now they have won regionals. In those three games the Crusaders won all three by 1-0 scores and all three were on goals by Mustico.
Almost anyone on this Notre Dame team could fill this unsung hero spot, but Mustico gets it this week for her big goals in big spots.
There are co-winners for the boys this week:
MATT GENSEL, CORNING, XC:Gensel has consistently been one of the top five runners for Corning this year, often running in the third spot.
At the Section 4 Championships the senior had a third-place finish in a time of 16:36.6.
While Bange and Gregorski get a lot of the recognition as they routinely go 1-2 in nearly every meet the Hawks run, Gensel is among the best runners in all of Section 4 himself.
At sectionals Gensel wasn’t just third on the team behind his two teammates, he was third among all runners, in all classes, at the sectional meet.
The Corning senior also provided leadership to the Hawks as the lone boys’ runner who has been to a state meet before.
NOAH BENNETT, EDISON, FOOTBALL:It’s easy to get overlooked when your team doesn’t have the best record.
But, Noah Bennett has been nothing short of spectacular for the Spartans all season long.
Last Wednesday he finished his career at home against Newfield and he had one last dominant performance on his home field.
Bennett ran for 135 yards and two touchdowns on just 11 carries in the game. He also led the team with 29 passing yards in the contest.
On top of that Bennett recorded his 100th tackle on the season.
The Spartans star showed the same versatility he’s shown all season long, dominating on offense and defense and all aspects of the game.
BREAKOUT STARS:
WILL KIBLER, CORNING FOOTBALL: The first-year Hawks football player has been a force on defense all season long.
On Friday night he showed everything he could do on the football field.
The junior had a pair of interceptions in a sectional semifinal victory over Binghamton. On one of the interception returns he cut across the field twice and nearly took it to the house.
On offense Kibler got two carries in the game. He made the most of those opportunities, scoring touchdowns on both runs, both of them 10-plus yard runs.
This season Kibler leads the region with eight interceptions in just eight games played for the Hawks.
EMMA BACHERT, HORSEHEADS, DIVING: The Blue Raiders junior took center stage in the diving at the Section 4 Championships.
All season long Bachert has been one of the better divers in the area. On Friday she really took things to another level as she won the Section 4, Class A title, and also hit the state standard in the process to qualify for the NYSPHSAA Swimming and Diving Championships.
Bachert had an 11 dive total of 443.10 to get her the title and help her qualify for the state meet.
In a field of 17 divers the Horseheads junior took the crown and she was one of only two divers with a score over 400, the other is Corning state qualifier Brooke Terwilliger.
