The Ballston Spa girls relay team of Gabrielle Bozeth, Harriet Healey, Tatiana McCray, and Petrina Zborovszky pose in front of Franklin Field at the University of Pennsylvania. Photo via Assistant Coach Matt Germann’s @CoachGermann X account.
BALLSTON SPA — The Ballston Spa High School girls track and field team put together an impressive showing at the New Balance Nationals Outdoor 2024 meet at the University of Pennsylvania’s Franklin Field in Philadelphia last weekend.
The relay team of Gabrielle Bozeth, Harriet Healey, Tatiana McCray, and Petrina Zborovszky finished 14th in the 1600 sprint medley, 18th in the 4×200, and 23rd in the 4×100. According toAssistant Coach Matt Germann, the results included two new school records. “These four continue to amaze me,” Germann wrote after the event.
Ballston Spa runners also made appearances in elite boys events at the Adidas Track Nationals in Greensboro, North Carolina last weekend.
Devin Hemraj placed 20th in the 110m hurdles prelims. Kala’i Makanani was 50th in the 400m dash finals, and 106th in the 200m dash prelims. Michael Stamper also finished 128th in the 100m dash prelims.
Headshot of Jackson Hornung via the Vancouver Canadians website.
VANCOUVER — Jackson Hornung, the first Skidmore College alum to be drafted by a professional sports team, socked a two-run homer in the first inning of a Vancouver Canadians game on Sunday. The game went into extra innings, although the Canadians (the High-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays) fell short in the contest, 5-4.
The ex-Thoroughbred has continued to bolster his numbers throughout his first season in High-A. His .630 OPS in May improved to .668 by mid-June, and his fielding percentage at the catcher position this season was .996. He’s also played nine games at first base.
FORT ANN — Upstate New York has long been known for its water, from the Catskill Mountain watershed that supplies New York City with clean drinking water to the mineral springs that gave Saratoga Springs its name. Now, there’s a new local water company on the scene that sources its product from an artesian aquifer in the Adirondacks.
Realm, a premium water brand, will be officially unveiled at the Summer Fancy Food Show in New York City later this month. Its water source in Fort Ann, about 30 miles north of Saratoga, is said to be “98% uncontaminated” and “untouched by natural and human pollutants,” according to the company’s press release. Owners Mark and Joe Miller have spent the last seven years trying to bring the water to market.
“Water is the most essential element and we cannot survive without it. We understand the importance of providing and protecting natural resources, which is why Realm means so much to us,” said Realm’s CEO Todd Kletter in a statement.
Starting this fall, Realm will be available in still and sparkling varieties, packaged in glass bottles. Consumers will be able to purchase the bottles via the brand’s website.
Augie Vitiello poses with a halibut in the Augie’s Family Style Italian Restaurant kitchen. Photo via the restaurant’s Facebook page.
BALLSTON SPA — When he was a kid growing up in the Bronx, Augie Vitiello was surrounded by homemade food cooked by his “100%” Italian family. Now, decades later, that same atmosphere survives at Augie’s Family Style Italian Restaurant in Ballston Spa, which celebrated its twentieth anniversary earlier this month.
“The core of what we do is an old-fashioned red sauce joint,” Vitiello said. “I didn’t want to be this highfalutin, snobby restaurant.”
Vitiello officially got started in the restaurant business at age 13, when he started as a dishwasher and worked his way up to peeling potatoes and cutting vegetables. But his cooking education really began at home.
Vitiello still has potent memories of the dishes his Italian-born relatives would prepare: eggplant parm, roasted chicken, pickled vegetables from the garden, even homemade wine.
“Every day there was something on the fire cooking, from the Sunday sauce to a simple stew,” Vitiello said. “You couldn’t run away from it.”
By the time he was 17, Vitiello was roasting prime ribs and whipping up shrimp scampi. He spent one semester in college, but knew right away that the only kind of education he wanted was culinary. So he enrolled in the New York Restaurant School in Manhattan.
“It was all focused towards opening up my own business,” Vitiello said. “That was always in the forefront.”
When he turned 24, an opportunity to open an eatery presented itself. “I was young, I was dumb. I knew how to cook but I didn’t know how to run a business,” Vitiello said.
Despite his inexperience, Vitiello plowed forward and made a career for himself. He ran his own restaurant in Larchmont, New York for 13 years before deciding to relocate to the Capital Region. “As much as we knew the Saratoga area was a special place, it far exceeded our wildest dreams,” he said.
In June 2004, Augie’s Family Style Italian Restaurant first opened its doors in Ballston Spa. In 2017, Vitiello opened a second “to-go” location across from the East Side Recreation Park in Saratoga Springs. Both businesses are still going strong.
“I’ve been very fortunate and very blessed to have the energy and the enthusiasm to still want to do it,” Vitiello said. “But without my employees, there’d be nothing. That’s the most important thing.”
A lifetime surrounded by Italian food hasn’t lessened Vitiello’s enthusiasm for it. He said his favorite meal is a simple chicken parmesan with a side of penne alla vodka. “To me, that’s a marriage made in heaven,” he said.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — Skidmore College unveiled its Fall 2024 sports schedules last week.
Opening days for each program are as follows:
Field hockey – August 30 (at home)
Women’s volleyball – August 30
Men’s soccer – August 30
Women’s soccer – August 30
Women’s tennis – September 13 (at home)
Men’s golf – September 14
Men’s tennis – September 21
Rowing – October 19
Some local highlights include the Head of the Fish Regatta rowing race on October 26; the men’s golf Skidmore Invitational on October 12 and 13; men’s tennis Skidmore Invitational October 12-14; and the women’s tennis Battle of the Northway September 13-15.
Runners participate in the 2023 Firecracker4 road race. Photo by Super Source Media.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — Eighteen years ago, the Firecracker4 was a modest race on July 4th with about 150 runners that raised money for high school running programs in Saratoga Springs. Now, it’s an ever-evolving event with thousands of participants and grand plans for the future.
“We can put 10,000 people on that course, and we’re going to before this is all over,” said Charles Woodruff, one of the race organizers and a co-owner of the Fleet Feet running stores in Albany and Malta. “It’s a very compelling race to be involved in.”
This year, Woodruff and fellow race organizer Peter Goutos, president of CASmith LLC, are aiming for around 3,000 participants, which would be 900 more than last year.
The race advertises itself with its appealing four-mile course that winds through downtown Saratoga Springs and the east side of the city, past historic homes and dozens of musical acts that range from singers to saxophone players to percussionists. But growing the race necessitates new initiatives every year, as well as continued community engagement.
This year, Woodruff is inviting local schools to put alumni teams together. An area in the parking lot has been set aside for alumni team tents, which could house both younger and older graduates. Saratoga Springs, Colonie, Bethlehem, and East Greenwich school districts are already lined up to participate, though Woodruff is still recruiting more.
More runners of course means more funds raised for the community, and the Firecracker4 has supported a number of running and health-related projects, including the Saratoga Regional YMCA, local running clubs, the Railroad Run trail in Saratoga Springs, and the Pitney Meadows Community Farm trail system, which Goutos and Woodruff designed and built. All told, $400,000 has been raised for the community over the race’s 18-year history.
Part of Goutos and Woodruff’s mission is not just to expand the number of local trails, but to connect them. Goutos helped put together the Saratoga Greenbelt Trail, a planned 24-mile path that will connect residential neighborhoods to the downtown area, allowing pedestrians and bicyclists to easily get around the city.
“This has gotten much more involved than I ever dreamed it would,” Woodruff said.
As the race continues to grow and expand its influence on the region, there’s one simple message that the organizers like to emphasize: running is for everyone.
“I don’t even call running ‘running’ anymore. I call it just simply moving with purpose,” Woodruff said. “That’s what we’re trying to do, attract all of those people that we can of every demographic that you can possibly think of that just want to come out for an hour on July 4th in the morning and move with purpose.”
The four-mile Firecracker4 road race begins at 9 a.m. on Thursday, July 4th outside the Saratoga Springs City Center at 522 Broadway. This year’s sponsors include Death Wish Coffee, Fleet Feet, and Greenwich Ford. For more information or to register, visit firecracker4.com.
Belmont Gold Cup winner The Grey Wizard, ridden by John Velazquez, enters the Winner’s Circle. Photo by Jonathon Norcross.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — The long-awaited Belmont Stakes Racing Festival arrived at the Saratoga Race Course last week, drawing tens of thousands of fans who wagered millions of dollars. Here’s a snapshot of what Belmont brought to the Spa City.
50,000 – The number of fans who attended the sold-out Belmont Stakes Day on Saturday, June 8
$197,426,085 – The total handle for all four days of the festival
120,028 – The total attendance (counted by ticket sales) of the four-day festival
5 1/2 furlongs in 59:80 – A new course record set by Cogburn in the Jaipur Stakes
1 – Number of World Series championships won by Dornoch’s co-owner Jayson Werth, a former professional baseball player
15,000 – Estimated number of people who attended the Belmont on Broadway free concert event on Wednesday, June 5
$125,748,941 – The total handle for Belmont Stakes Day, a New York Racing Association (NYRA) record for a non-Triple Crown year
300% – Increase in the usual amount of alcohol provided to the Saratoga Race Course by beverage distributors
From left to right – Sophia Wahl, Keira Rogan, Lukas Sherman, and Martin Flanders Jr. pose with their awards. Photo via the Schuylerville School District website.
SCHUYLERVILLE — The Schuylerville Central School District’s athletic department announced its 2023-2024 Scholar-Athletes of the Year and Athletes of the Year last week.
The Scholar-Athletes of the year, who demonstrated high achievement in both athletics and academics, were Sophia Wahl and Martin Flanders Jr. Wahl was the only member of the Schuylerville softball team to be invited to the inaugural 518 Futures High School Softball Classic. Flanders Jr. was a standout football player who played defensive end and running back.
The Athletes of the Year, who achieved athletic success at the highest level, were Keira Rogan and Lukas Sherman. Rogan was part of the girls track and field team that won its third-straight sectional title last month. Sherman broke his school’s all-time boys basketball scoring record in January.
The Wilton Water and Sewer Authority board listens to public comments prior to voting on whether or not to fluoridate the town’s water supply. Photo by Jonathon Norcross.
BURNT HILLS — The Charlton School, a treatment center and high school for young women experiencing mental health challenges, broke ground on a $13.8 million construction project Wednesday morning. Four new dormitories will be built as part of the campus’ largest redesign since 1955.
The dorms will help the school expand its capacity, which is being overwhelmed due to a significant increase in referrals, according to Charlton’s Executive Director Alex Capo. Mental health-related hospitalization rates for girls across the country have increased sharply since the COVID-19 pandemic.
“You get scared when you’re looking at the possibility of sending your child, a 14-year-old girl in the middle of a healthcare crisis, two-and-a-half hours away from home to live with a bunch of strangers,” said Bob Clapp, an alumni parent and member of the school’s board of trustees. “The school was beautiful, the grounds were incredible, the staff was top-notch,” Clapp said. “The one area that was a little iffy were the dorms. Dorms are important. That’s your child’s home away from home. During her time here, it needs to be home. That’s why I’m so excited about this project.”
Renderings of the future dorms showed porches, picnic tables, and a courtyard-like garden where students could study, socialize, and heal.
The Charlton School attracts students from all over the country, many of whom have experienced multiple hospitalizations and struggle with issues such as self-injurious behavior, anxiety, and depression. They typically stay on campus for about 18 months, participating in family therapy, equine therapy, art therapy, and New York State-accredited special education curriculum and individual treatment plans.
In addition to the new dorms, a Career Development and Occupational Studies Building will also be built to house woodworking, screen printing, podcasting, and maintenance equipment. The entire project, managed by LeChase Construction Services, is expected to be completed by March of 2025.
The Wilton Water and Sewer Authority board listens to public comments prior to voting on whether or not to fluoridate the town’s water supply. Photo by Jonathon Norcross.
WILTON — The Wilton Water and Sewer Authority (WWSA) voted unanimously at a board meeting last month not to fluoridate the town’s water supply. The decision impacts Saratoga Springs School District’s Dorothy Nolan Elementary, which has around 700 students, and receives its water from the Town of Wilton.
The vote reaffirmed a previous March 19 vote that was deemed informal by the WWSA due to what it called a minor procedural error
The WWSA board meeting on May 21 was well attended, with a majority of speakers opposing fluoridation. Anti-fluoridation advocates primarily cited freedom of choice, arguing that if a majority of town residents wanted fluoridated water, the town would’ve had it by now.
Anti-fluoridation attendees also cited a recent University of Southern California study, which suggested that pregnant women exposed to fluoride could face an increased risk of their child demonstrating behavioral problems. Some experts have called the study limited in scope, and said that further investigation is needed before any conclusions can be drawn.
Pro-fluoridation activists cited the United States’ long history of fluoridating its water supply, as well as abundant research that demonstrates fluoride’s ability to reduce tooth decay in children. An online petition calling for Wilton to fluoridate its water had 336 signatures as of June 10.
Despite a claim to the contrary from one pro-fluoridation advocates, Dorothy Nolan is not the only school in the Saratoga Springs City School District that doesn’t have fluoridated water. According to Maura Manny, Director of Community Outreach and Communications for the district, Maple Avenue Middle School and Greenfield Elementary also lack fluoridated water.
