New wrestling coach in Spencerport, new football rule explained

Greetings Section V sports fans,

School is out, summer is here and the area high school sports scene rarely grows ice cold.

There is usually something going on, from new rules being put in place to coaches beginning to mold their next teams.

There are changes, like Peter Mancuso completing his final year as Harley Allendale Columbia athletic director. Mancuso was in that role for 20 years, 24 overall at the Harley School.

Stay tuned to the Varsity Voices letter, as we will share shorts stories and write about high school sports news, including the publication date of the spring season Democrat and Chronicle All-Greater Rochester Baseball, Softball, Lacrosse, Outdoor Track and Field, Boys Tennis and Boys Golf Teams in an upcoming newsletter.

Here are topics in area high sports to keep an eye on:

Spencerport wrestling coach's plan

Tony Russo, the new varsity wrestling coach at Spencerport, is proud of his past with the team, including three years as a wrestler.

The 1988 Spencerport graduate now wants to make sure that the future of the Rangers is something to brag about. Russo has replaced Dan Glover, the team's coach the last 10 seasons, after the last decade on the coaching staff as an assistant.

"The last two or three years, with the rules and regulations with COVID, it took its toll on our numbers," Russo said about the number of wrestlers in and entering Spencerport's program. "It's going to be some work to get our numbers back up. They are down a little bit.

"The last 10 years in Spencerport, Dan and I together, we really did a lot of work in the off-season. The last couple of years we were a little bit limited in what we could do."

There are 30 wrestlers who are on either on Spencerport's varsity or junior varsity teams, according to Russo. There are another 45 to 50 in the youth program that feeds into the high school teams, he said.

"Tony knows our community, our program, our kids and he knows the sport of wrestling.," Spencerport athletic director Jen Placito said. "You would be hard-pressed to find a better candidate. His passion for the sport of wrestling is unmatched.

"It’s a lot of getting out there for recruitment, COVID took a toll on a lot of programs. It's really getting out there and getting the kids at the lower levels excited about wrestling, building the excitement for the younger kids with no ties to the program."

The Rangers remained as one of Section V's top teams with Glover and Russo as an assistant coach, including two Section V dual meet championships, which put Spencerport into the state dual meet tournaments. Five of the Glover-led teams were top-five in season-ending New York State Sportswriters Association rankings.

Glover decided to step away from coaching the Rangers, who won five Section V Championships and two Section V Dual Meet Championships during his time as the team's leader. Five of Glover's Spencerport teams rose to the top 10 of final New York State Sportswriters Association state rankings. He has a son entering the seventh-grade in the Churchville-Chili school district.

"I don't want to miss his opportunity," Glover said. "I want to be a good dad."

Russo, who wrestled for the Rangers with Bill Jacoutot as coach and at Monroe Community College when the Tribunes were led by Walt Teike, has coached at the high school wrestling level for 31 years.

His time as a coach began at Greece Olympia, where he was a JV coach in a program led by Dean Salvaggio. When Salvaggio took on his current role as the Webster Schroeder varsity wrestling coach in 1993, Russo was his replacement.

Pittsford diver is All-American

Daley Fraser performed in the one-meter diving event at a level that was one of the best in the United States last season, according to the National Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association.

Fraser, for the third time, is one of 100 NISCA All-America one-meter divers. He won the high school state diving championship during his senior year at Pittsford Mendon.

The Rochester Press-Radio Club named Fraser the Male High School Athlete of the Year. Fraser was the Democrat and Chronicle All-Greater Rochester Boys Swimming co-Athlete of the Year with Alex Crossing, a state champion swimmer at Victor.

A football rule to remember

The price for any football player in Section V ejected for a targeting helmet-to-helmet hit has been adjusted.

Those players are ineligible to play for an equivalent of a full game.

For example, if a player is thrown out for a targeting foul in the second quarter of a game, they can play in the team's next game after the second quarter.

Before the change, a player would miss the remainder of the game they were ejected from and the entire next game. That remains the penalty for a player ejected for unsportsmanlike conduct.

Until next time, keep up on Section V's sports scene by going to our high school page.

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JAMESJ@Gannett.com

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: New wrestling coach in Spencerport, new football rule explained