[photo1]Sierra Bowen, a junior at Springville-Griffith Institute, was awarded the 2012 Joe and Brett Ski Scholarship to attend summer ski race camp at Mt. Hood, Ore.Bowen, an honor student who is currently in the top 10 at Springville, is a member of the National Honor Society.The award was named after two brothers, Joe and Brett Drexler, both of who were students at Springville-Griffith Institute before they died in 1988. The award is administered by the Community Foundation of... more

[photo1]The West Valley girls track team defeated Cassadaga Valley 89-43 in a meet held on May 8.According to Coach Kristopher Fuller, Rachael Zimmer, Jordan Seltzer and Taylor Williams led the girls team at the meet, as each had multiple first place finishes. Zimmer quadrupled at the meet, as she garnered first place in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 17.5 seconds, and the 200-meter dash, which she finished in 27.9. Zimmer also came in first in the long jump, with her leap of 13-7.75, as well as in the 4 x 100-meter relay.Seltzer also quadrupled, as she earned first place in the 400-meter hurdles, with a time of 1:16.5. She also placed first in shot put with her throw of 25-7 1/2. Seltzer... more

[photo1]When Springville-Griffith Institute competed with other local schools on Saturday, May 5 in track and field events, Tia Woodarek was named the field most valuable player. Her performance helped Springville earn a third place finish in the invitational, keeping up with the boys from S-GI, who also finished third.Woodarek, a sophomore, took first place in the pole vault with a mark of 8-6. Alena Woodarek, also a sophomore, finished fourth in that event, sporting 7-6. In the high jump, Tia Woodarek ended up just behind Iroquois’s Madison Roberts, to finish in second. She jumped for 4-10 and Drew McCarthy, a Springville senior, came in third at 4-8.Alena Woodarek came in fifth in the long... more

[photo1]With just three events to go, Springville-Griffith Institute’s boys track team held a 63-59 lead over the boys from East Aurora, but Springville fell to the visitors 77 - 64 on Tuesday, May 8.S-GI’s Cody Schweickert finished first in several events, including the 110-meter hurdles at 16 minutes 80 seconds, 100-meter dash at 11.2, long jump at 19-2 1/2 and 400-meter hurdles at 1:01. In the 110 hurdles event, Tom Michaels and Tom Schweickert of Springville placed in second and third, respectively. Michaels had a time of 17.80 and Schweickert’s was 19.20.[photo2]Talon Berry finished right behind Cody Schweickert in the long jump, with a distance of 18-1/2. Michaels came in third in the 400... more

[photo1]Athletes from Springville-Griffith Institute competed at Pioneer High School in the Pioneer Invitational on Saturday, May 5, as both the boys and girls track teams were present. Springville senior Cody Schweickert was named track most valuable player of the meet, leading the boys squad to third place in the event.Schweickert finished first in the 100-meter dash, edging out Iroquois’s Jeremy Horn’s time of 11.49 seconds with an 11.41 mark. Springville sophomore Talon Berry placed 10th with 11.89. That mark was second among sophomores.In the hurdles, Schweickert finished first in both the 110-meter and the 400-meter. In the 110 race, he finished in 16.40, as Springville freshman Tom Schweickert... more

[photo1]The West Valley varsity Wildcats defeated the Brocton Bulldogs 4-3 in their away match on May 10.“It was a good all around defensive game,” said West Valley Head Coach Bryan Hansen after the match. He noted that there was only one error during the match. Hansen said that, before the match, he had told his players “to keep the score down.” He also said that he told his team, “We can’t get into a hitting match with them and win.”The varsity Wildcats started the game by scoring the first run at the top of the first off an RBI from Dylan Westfall that brought Austin Kopp home. In spite of the run scored by West Valley, the Bulldogs took the lead as they added 2 runs in the bottom of the first.... more

[photo1]Coming off a 17-1 win that pulled the Springville-Griffith Institute team to 7-7 on the season, the boys varsity baseball team hosted Cheektowaga on Friday, May 4. After that initial victory, the boys lost five games in a row. An 11-6 win on Wednesday, April 18 in Cheektowaga was part of five wins in six games for Springville.Cheektowaga gave the home team a 4-1 loss. The road team built a 4-0 lead, scoring once in the third inning, twice in the fourth and once in the seventh before Springville finally broke the shut out in the bottom of the seventh, the final inning. Tyler Conklin earned a single, a stolen base and a run.[photo2]Pitcher Drew Scharra fell to 2-3 on the season.A game scheduled... more

[photo1]With two losses to open the season, the modified baseball team at Springville-Griffith Institute was on the road against the Pioneer Panthers on Tuesday, May 8 in pursuit of its first victory.The Griffins fell behind 2-0 after three innings of play.Matt Woodarek was the starting pitcher and lasted four innings, striking out seven batters.“From innings four to six, the boys’ bats and base-running skills came alive with timely hitting and aggressive base-running,” said Coach Robert Gainey.From that point on, Springville outscored Pioneer 7-2 to clinch a 7-4 victory, the team’s first of the year.Matt Sobota took over at the mound to begin the fifth inning once the Griffins were in the lead,... more

Caitlyn Hotchkiss, a 2011 graduate of Springville-Griffith Institute, was a student athlete during her time at S-GI. “She won our coaches award last year and is on our school record 4 x 400 team and 4 x 100 team here in Springville,” said Mark Heichberger, the current coach of the girls track team at S-GI.Now a freshman at Alfred State University of New York College of Technology, where she is studying nursing, Hotchkiss is participating in women’s track and field competitions at the collegiate level. She has already been named to the athletic honor roll for 2011-12 at her new school as a first team selection for outdoor track and field under the categories of NJCAA All-American and All-Region... more

[photo1]Both the West Valley boys and girls track teams lost in their home meet against the Randolph Cardinals on May 1. Although both teams lost their meets, the West Valley girls team broke a school record as Jordan Seltzer, Janae Hamilton, Megan Bailey and Rachael Zimmer finished the 4x100-meter relay in 53.6 seconds. Zimmer also won the 100-meter hurdles in 17.2 seconds as well as the 200-meter dash, which she finished in 27.8 seconds. In addition to these first place finishes, Hamilton also won the 400-meter dash in 1 minute, 5.5 seconds and took first in the high jump with her leap of 4 feet, 11 inches.Scoring points in other events for the girl’s team included Bailey, Kelsey Chai, Victoria... more

[photo1]Through its 11 games so far this season, the Springville-Griffith junior varsity team has yet to lose, recording three shutouts and reaching double digits in runs seven times. All except two of the games were won by more than 6 runs.Two matches were rescheduled. Springville was scheduled to play at home against Maryvale on Tuesday, May 8 at 5 p.m. at the Concord Community Park and will play in Depew on Saturday, May 12 at noon.The winning stretch began on Monday, April 2 – the start of the season – with a 16-2 win on the road against Pioneer. The Springville squad defeated Fredonia 9-2 in Springville’s home opener. Two days later, the Griffins improved to 3-0 after winning against Amherst... more

[photo1]Springville-Griffith Institute’s boys track team visited Maryvale for the first meet of the season. Springville won by a final score of 115-26.In team competitions, the group of Elliot Tesmer, Joe Cocina, Mitch Bunic and Brian McNerney finished with a time of 9 minutes, 27.1 seconds in the 4x800 to take first place. Derrick Benz, Nick Esposito, Tom Schweickert and Cocina won the 4x400 with a final time of 4 minutes, 00.6. Also, Justin DeWitt, Talon Berry, Hunter Berry and Benz got a time of 49.3 seconds to finish in first in the 4x100.McNerney placed first in the 3,200-meter run with a time of 10 minutes, 34.7 seconds. He was followed in second place by schoolmate Bunic, 12 minutes, 08... more

[photo1]On May 1, the West Valley varsity boys baseball team traveled to North Collins, where the team saw an 8-1 loss on the turf field of the Eagle’s Athletic Complex. Starting in the first inning, North Collins went up 3-0. In the second inning, neither team was able to score. Although the Wildcats were able to cut the Eagle’s lead to two at the top of the third with a run from Shawn Durandetto, West Valley found itself in an even bigger hole by the end of the inning as North Collins went up 6-1. The fourth inning was another scoreless period in the game, but the Eagles added another two runs to their lead in the fifth to make the score 8-1. West Valley could not make a comeback in the last... more

[photo1]The Springville-Griffith Institute girls varsity softball team defeated Amherst 6-5 on April 30, improving its record to 4-1 in league play. Kendrick Wilson led off the second inning with a triple, followed by one RBI single by Kelsey Warner and one RBI double by Katrina Kerkendall to give S-GI a 3-1 lead after two innings of play. Alissa Emerson started the third with a lead-off home run, increasing the lead to 4-2. Amherst tied the game 4-4 and took the lead 5-4 with one inning to play. Kerkendall held off the Tigers’ rally with defensive help from left fielder Emily Barber and center fielder Erin Kwiatowski. Warner got a lead-off double to start the winning rally. Brianna Cordova... more

[photo1]After two games had to be rescheduled, the varsity baseball team from Springville-Griffith Institute hosted Amherst on Monday, April 30. The Griffins were gunning for their fifth win in six outings but would have to knock off the club that set them back with an 8-4 defeat back on April 5, in Amherst.Amherst began a comeback in the top of the fourth, scoring 2 runs to cut the deficit to 1. Springville failed to counter that inning, but managed to shut out the opposition in the top of the fifth.In the fifth inning, three more runners came home to increase the home team’s lead to 6-2. Amherst responded with 1 run in the seventh, allowing the Griffins to walk away with a 6-3 victory. The... more

[photo1]Delays had kept the girls from Springville-Griffith Institute from beginning their track season. From April 25 - 28, the girls were in Philadelphia for the Penn Relays, hosted by the University of Pennsylvania.Amid trips to sites such as the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, Congress Hall and Benjamin Franklin’s grave site, the athletes from Springville competed in a 4x100 meter relay, as well as a 4x400 relay.The girls returned back to New York to visit Maryvale for a competition on Tuesday, May 1 to begin their dual meet season. The first event was the 4x800 meter relay team, consisting of Brooke Reed, McKenzie Maloy, Ashley Blidy and Megan Hanrahan. Springville won the event.In other... more

[photo1]The West Valley Central School Modified Boys Baseball split two games, recently.On Thursday May 3, the modified baseball team suffered its second loss of the season, losing to Cattaraugus-Little Valley 13-6. Leading hitters for West Valley were Emil Erlandson with two hits and single hits by Justin Summers, Patrick Enser, Lucas Smith and Dan Colf. Summers pitched five innings striking out four and walking four. Enser pitched the sixth, striking out two and walking none. The Timberwolves broke the game open in the fifth with 6 runs.On Saturday, May 5, the Wildcats bounced back with a 5-2 victory over North Collins. West Valley pitcher Jared Ras allowed one hit in the fifth, while striking... more

[photo1]Thursday, April 19 marked the beginning of the season for the modified baseball team at Springville-Griffith Institute.Springville went on the road against the Pioneer Panthers. The Griffins led off with the first two tallies of the game and built up to a 6-2 lead going into the fourth inning.During the second half of the game, Pioneer outscored Springville 16-4 to capture the contest 18-10. The Panthers notched 10 of those runs in the fifth inning.Springville Head Coach Bob Gainey called the loss “a tough game.” He blamed “untimely errors and silent bats” for the eventual loss. Despite defeat, Gainey called Matt Sobota, Trevor Bunch and Hayden Goodridge the team’s top performers.An away... more

[photo1]The West Valley girls track team won the Franklinville meet two weeks ago on April 17, although Coach Kristopher Fuller said that the girls ended up “coming up short” in the team’s matches against Salamanca on April 26 and Olean on April 28. The boys team also lost these meets, but added more first place finishes, as well as points, at the invitationals.During the Salamanca meet, girls track team member Rachael Zimmer came in first place in the 100-meter hurdle, with her time of 17.5 seconds. Hannah Doro also landed in first place in the triple jump, with a total of 30 feet, 8 inches. The team of Doro, Megan Bailey, Jordan Seltzer and Zimmer also took first place in the 400-relay, as... more

[photo1]The West Valley boys modified baseball team began the season with an 8-0 loss to Olean on Saturday, April 28.In the first inning, two errors with 2 outs led to 4 of Olean’s 8 runs and 3 more runs scored in the second with another error. Jared Ras pitched five innings, allowing only 1 run on 2 hits, while stranding seven Olean runners. Ras struck out 10 and walked four.Lucas Smith, Patrick Enser and Dan Colf were in the field. Olean Pitcher Garrett Boldt tossed a no-hitter, while striking out 14 Wildcat batters and walking two. “Boldt was an excellent pitcher who kept us off balance all day,” Coach Rick DeKay said. “However, after the second inning, Ras matched him pitch for pitch. We... more