Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake School District News

July 2, 2009 

BH-BL interscholastic sports program is ranked #1 in state

New ranking created by NY State Sportswriters Association (NYSSWA)

BURNT HILLS:  The Burnt Hill-Ballston Lake Spartans have been named the winner of both Class A and the overall state in a ranking announced July 2 by the New York State Sportswriters Association for the 2008-09 school year.

     This is the first year for the NYSSWA All-Sport Championship, which honors the top five schools statewide in both girls and boys interscholastic sports in Classes AA, A, B, C and D.

    To create the list, NYSSWA awarded points to schools finishing in the top eight places in New York Public High School Athletic Association state championship tournaments and meets in 14 boys and 13 girls sports.

     BH-BL was the top finisher overall, accumulating 49.33 points from five state tournaments. The Spartans won state titles in both girls and boys cross country this year, reached the state final game in football, the quarter-finals in girls volleyball, and a individual championship in alpine skiing.

     The next highest schools in the state ranking were Honeoye Falls-Lima with 45.17 points and Bronxville with 37 points. Two other Capital Region schools made the list as well. Maple Hill finished first among Class C schools with 30 points, and Shenendehowa was fifth among Class AA schools with 26.5 points.

Spartan pride is a team effort

     BH-BL teams won Section 2 championships in 11 different sports in 2008-09, but the school is even prouder of the fact that 30 of 31 varsity teams earned the NYPHSAA "scholar-athlete team" designation for their high team grade point averages.

    District superintendent Jim Schultz thanked everyone connected with the sports program for helping BH-BL receive the number one ranking, including the student athletes, their coaches, athletic director Bob McGuire, secretary Peg Ostrom, boosters, phys ed teachers, the transportation department, parents, volunteers, and fans.

    Schultz noted that the BH-BL "commitment to a comprehensive program for our students can be seen in this number of scholar-athletes. It also speaks to the teamwork among coaches, teachers, administrators and parents. We appreciate that in these difficult fiscal times, our program is able is able to excel at this level with one of the leanest interscholastic budgets in the Suburban Council."

Read more at: NYSSWA announcement and lists

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