What a weekend at WGI
One of the best sporting weekends in the Finger Lakes took place earlier than usual. For the first time in the track’s long and proud history, the NASCAR Cup Series raced at Watkins Glen International in May. When the news first broke, many were questioning the decision (myself included) mainly because the weather would be more of a challenge to overcome when compared to racing in August.
Fortunately, the weather held up for most of the weekend, leading to the usual exciting racing.
The festivities began on Friday with the ARCA Menards Series General Tire 100 at The Glen. Rain earlier in the morning meant that qualifying was cancelled and the field was set via owner points. In the shortest of the four races over the weekend lasting only 41 laps, Kaden Honeycutt took the lead on lap 15, and it was one that he would not relinquish. The 22-year-old took the checkered flag for his first career ARCA victory.
Honeycutt’s already fabulous Friday wasn’t done just yet. About 90 minutes after crossing the finish line in celebration, he was back out onto the track in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Bully Hill Vineyards 176 at The Glen.
Guess what? He came out on top again.
Honeycutt’s second triumph was much more dramatic. That’s because a late caution forced the race into overtime, which is a two-lap shootout. Honeycutt overtook road course pro Connor Zilisch on the first turn of the first lap of OT, and he held on to win his first career Truck Series race. That Friday will no doubt go down as not only the greatest day of his burgeoning racing career, but also one of the best moments of his life. For two races that fly more under the radar than Saturday and Sunday’s races, it was a unique and special moment to see a driver hoist two trophies on the same day.
Saturday was also marred by rain early on, resulting in the cancellation of NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series qualifying. The metric formula outputted Rajah Caruth starting first. The track was dry enough for NASCAR Cup Series qualifying, where to no one’s surprise, road course master and defending champion Shane van Gisbergen took pole position.
That set the stage for the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Mission 200 at The Glen. Out of the four races throughout the weekend, this was arguably the most entertaining. Multiple lead changes through the first few laps. Multiple cautions, including one when Sheldon Creed’s car skidded onto the grass and went slightly airborne. Tight, tight racing all throughout.
Thanks to pit stops from the frontrunners, Jesse Love took advantage with 17 laps remaining. It looked like the defending series champion would hang on to win it, but Zilisch had other plans. On the final turn of the race, Love locked up and Zilisch zoomed through on the straight to win his third straight Mission 200 at The Glen title. In fact, Zilisch is undefeated in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series at the Glen, a perfect three-for-three in his career. Did I mention he’s only 19 years old? I’m sure he’ll be looking forward to coming up to the Finger Lakes for many, many years to come, especially since he didn’t injure himself getting out the car in victory lane this time around. It’s safe to say he’s learned his lesson from last year.
It was only fitting that the first Mother’s Day race in NASCAR Cup Series history would have the best weather with partly cloudy skies and a bit of a breeze. Shane van Gisbergen began the Go Bowling at The Glen at the front of the pack, and he appropriately ended the race in front, as well. There was much more of a gap, beating the runner-up Michael McDowell by seven seconds. What made SVG’s victory even more impressive was that he was 29 seconds down with 24 laps to go after taking his final scheduled pit stop. But the 37-year-old New Zealander went into attack mode and carved his way through the field. While I’m sure some fans were hoping for a different road course winner, you can’t help but admire and respect how dominant SVG is outside of the usual oval tracks.
No matter what month these races take place, it’s always a fun time out on the track. Well, as long as you avoid all the mud. Things will theoretically be much neater for next year’s race, which has already been announced that it will be moved back to September as part of the Cup Series playoffs, just like it was in 2024. Here’s hoping Mother Nature works in our favor in 16 months’ time.
Cornell men’s lacrosse suffers OT heartbreak
After a tough 19-9 loss to Princeton in the Ivy League championship, Cornell men’s lacrosse was given new life with an expected at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament. The Big Red’s first hurdle to clear on the road to Charlottesville was a pesky Johns Hopkins team led by former Cornell head coach Peter Milliman. It was a battle between master and apprentice as Connor Buczek was an assistant under Milliman for the 2018 and 2019 seasons. Although Buczek’s Big Red had the national title in hand, Milliman’s Blue Jays flew away with the victory.
Cornell was in control of the first 30 minutes, holding a 6-3 advantage at the half. But like the loss to Princeton six days earlier, the third quarter proved to be the bane of its existence. The Blue Jays blanked the Big Red 3-0 to tie the game up at 6-6 heading into the final stanza. Both teams scored twice in the final 15 minutes to send the game to overtime.
Johns Hopkins was quite literally in complete control of the extra period. That’s because the Big Red only had the ball for exactly one second when Brendan Staub got to a ground ball but failed to clear it. With 1:15 remaining, Jimmy Ayers was found wide open in front, and he did the rest to win it for the visiting Blue Jays 9-8 in overtime and make Schoellkopf Field melancholy.
Cornell had run out of lives. Its season came to a bitter end at 11-5. While the Big Red faithful would have hoped for a deeper run, the fact that they made it to the tourney in the first place despite graduating so many seniors from last year’s history-making team—including the best player in the country in CJ Kirst—heads should not hang too low. Luckily the Big Red won’t lose as many players heading into next season, the most notable being defenders Brendan Staub and Matt Dooley and midfielder Brian Luzzi. With virtually their entire attack returning as well as goalie Matt Tully, who played out of his mind against Johns Hopkins by making a career-high 17 saves, expect big things from the Big Red next season.
How sweep it is for the Knicks
Fresh off a historic blowout to close their first round playoff series against the Hawks, the Knicks must have been licking their lips seeing the 76ers as their next matchup. After all, Philadelphia had just went seven games against the Celtics, albeit with some momentum built up after winning three straight games to come back from 3-1 down.
As it turned out, the Sixers were no match. Not even close.
The Knicks set the tone in Game 1 with a 137-98 romping, shooting a franchise playoff record 63 percent from the floor. Games 2 and 3 were much tighter, winning by six and 14 points, respectively. But unlike in the Hawks’ series, there wasn’t that feeling of the Knicks throwing away a game they had control over.
That set up Sunday’s showdown, where the Knicks would put up another masterclass with a 144-114 rout to sweep the series. To add insult to injury, they got the job done in Philly, though the amount of Knicks fans at the game made it feel more like a game at the Garden than anything. New York set another playoff franchise mark by nailing 25 3-pointers, including an 11-13 stretch in the first quarter. Talk about setting the tone early.
Before the season began, I said that the Knicks had zero excuses not to win the Eastern Conference. They got rid of the supposed problem in Tom Thibodeau and “upgraded” with Mike Brown (even though I thought this was more of a lateral hire). They were far more experienced in the playoffs than the Pistons and Cavaliers, while the Celtics and Pacers were dealing with the injury bug. The way New York has played in their last seven games and firing on all cylinders, not making the NBA Finals would be a significant failure.
In the meantime until the conference finals, the Knicks won’t really prefer who wins the Pistons-Cavs series. Instead, they’ll surely root for that to go to seven games to gain even more of a rest advantage.
Other things that caught my eye
- The Sabres are facing the exact opposite of the Knicks. The other Eastern Conference semifinal is already in the books with the Hurricanes sweeping the Flyers. Buffalo is currently down 2-1 in its series against the Canadiens following Sunday’s 6-2 setback. Carolina will have 12 days of rest until the Eastern Conference Finals on May 22, and they’ll have even more of an advantage if the Sabres-Canadiens series goes seven games, which is entirely possible. So even if Buffalo comes out on top, they’ll have to hope the absolute buzzsaw that are the Hurricanes in the playoffs will be more rusty than rested.
- The good times keep on rolling over at SUNY Cortland. Softball won all three games in the SUNYAC Tournament to repeat as conference champions. Baseball had to come from behind in their quest to successfully defend their SUNYAC title. The Red Dragons lost to Oswego 11-1 in the first game of the championship series but bounced back the following day with an 11-5 win to force the decisive Game 3. Up 3-1 heading into the ninth inning, the Lakers plated two runs to tie the game. But that set the stage for Danny Jackson to be the hero. With the bases loaded but behind in the count 0-2, Jackson stayed aggressive and lined one into left field to walk it off. Not much beats a game-winning hit, but for it to be a championship-winning one makes it all the more memorable.
- Finally, congratulations to Marathon’s Carla Tagliente. The 1996 graduate will be part of the Class of 2026 for the New York State Public High School Athletic Association Hall of Fame. Tagliente led the field hockey team to three state titles between 1994-96 under Karen Funk, who completed her 52nd season as head coach this past fall. Tagliente is fourth in New York State in career goals with 159, and she took her talents to the University of Maryland and later played on the U.S. National Team. If that wasn’t impressive enough, she’s also the all-time leading scorer for Marathon girls basketball with 1,692 career points. Tagliente, who is currently the head coach of Princeton field hockey, will be inducted on July 29 at The Hyatt Regency in Buffalo along with five other members.
