Published 11 months ago11m ago • Bookmarks: 472 about his desire to compete on behalf of Sleepy Hollow High School in the pole vault His doctor thought it was a bad idea and recommended against it Since pole vaulters frequently strike the bar they are attempting to clear the sport appeared to be a risky proposition for someone prone to bleeding easily despite initial results that were not promising he was determined not to let anything keep him from learning how high he could go I’ve been living with hemophilia my entire life and hemophilia defined a lot of things I did,” he said ‘I can’t let this define what I do with my life Other than transfusions his mother learned to give him at home he does everything possible to not allow Hemophilia A to limit him He has literally soared since making that decision The Sleepy Hollow senior emerged as the Section 1 Class B pole vaulting champion He holds the school indoor record at 12 feet He set the outdoor mark for the Horsemen at an even 12 feet He earned every little bit of what he’s done,” said Paul Gersfeld That allowed for his dramatic improvement as a vaulter And it helped him to produce a 3.7 grade-point average and gain admission to the University of North Carolina at Charlotte His ambition to continue to raise the bar in pole vault led him to travel to the Hudson Valley Flying Circus two nights a week He would complete his practices at Sleepy Hollow his neighbor and a coach at Valhalla High School to continue to refine his skills at the Flying Circus in Warwick I don’t know where I would be without her.” Bell is conveying everything he learned to underclassmen at Sleepy Hollow who are pole vaulters He devoted a significant amount of time to helping junior Carlos Almonte and sophomore Christos Polycarpou “He’s almost like an assistant coach in pole vault,” Gersfeld said Bell noted that he was helped by seniors Henry Poret and Rafael Greene when he first started to compete “I want to make sure pole vault stays as a big sport at Sleepy Hollow,” he said He dedicated his efforts this spring to classmate Tucker Junge a close friend and an excellent baseball player who died of cancer on April 22 “If you were to say ‘Do you want hemophilia to be gone from your body right now?’ I would say ‘No’ because hemophilia is what makes Aaron Aaron,” he said © 2025. The Hudson Indy Westchester's Rivertowns News - By using this site you agree to the use of cookies, more info. We have the address for the funeral home & the family on file If you're not happy with your card we'll send a replacement or refund your money We have been notified of spam calls to our families requesting paypal payments for their services Please do not provide any information or make any payments over the phone and contact us directly should you receive these calls Michael Vincent DiMaggio, 16, passed away on April 8, 2011. Michael was taken abruptly due to a car accident. He was born in Glen Ridge, NJ and moved to Matthews, NC March 2000. Michael is the son of Miriam Elizabeth DiMaggio and Vincent Mark... View Obituary & Service Information The family of Michael DiMaggio created this Life Tributes page to make it easy to share your memories © 2025 Heritage Funeral and Cremation Services Made with love by funeralOne Support NYU Law The American Law Institute (ALI) has named Mark Geistfeld Sheila Lubetsky Birnbaum Professor of Civil Litigation to lead its newly launched project focused on the civil liability risks associated with artificial intelligence (AI) ALI produces scholarly work designed to clarify and improve the law through its Restatements Geistfeld holds a PhD in economics from Columbia University and a MA in economics from the University of Pennsylvania Geistfeld worked as a litigation associate at Dewey Ballantine and Simpson Thacher and as a law clerk for Judge Wilfred Feinberg of the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit He continues to stay involved in litigation practice serving as an expert witness or legal consultant in tort and insurance cases Geistfeld is a senior editor of the Journal of Tort Law and has served as an Adviser to ALI’s Restatement of the Law Third Torts: Concluding Provisions and its Restatement of the Law Third Torts: Medical Malpractice He is often a referee for peer-reviewed scholarly journals the Principles of the Law initiative led by Geistfeld will center on tort problems of physical harms—such as injury or property damage—linked to AI while other ALI projects focus on copyright “There are certain characteristics of AI systems that will likely raise hard questions when existing liability doctrines are applied to AI-caused harms,” Geistfeld explained in a statement “Examples include the general-purpose nature of many AI systems ‘black box,’ decision-making processes of AI technologies the allocation of responsibility along the multi-layered supply chain for AI systems the widespread use of open-source code for foundation models and their anticipated deployment across a wide range of industries for a wide range of uses.” BERLIN (AP) — Three people died after they were hit by a small plane in central Germany on Sunday as it attempted to take off after an aborted landing two women and a child to be around age 9 or 10 were on a path next to an airfield at the Wasserkuppe hill near Fulda They said the Cessna was attempting to take off after an aborted landing maneuver but failed to gain lift and broke through a barrier Five other people — the four on board the plane and an eyewitness — were suffering from shock The plane came from the Mannheim area of southwestern Germany and had been on an excursion to the Wasserkuppe Stay secure and make sure you have the best reading experience possible by upgrading your browser Receive unfettered access to our digital content including our Examiner+ bonus content newsletter and get other perks like free tickets to local performing arts complimentary advertising for your favorite local charity either observed and verified directly by the reporter or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources We’ve been saying ad nauseam in this space for weeks now – actually three-plus decades – that baseball is the most unpredictable sport of them all which is what keeps us coming back to Section 1 baseball year after year The Section 1 Class AA tournament nearly saw two sides of the bracket completely busted when No.2 FOX LANE needed nine innings to dispose of No.15 CARMEL and No.6 YORKTOWN went down to the wire with No.11 SOMERS in a 2-1 Husker advance to last night’s quarterfinal round where they were set to play No Yorktown’s Brian White beat out an RBI infield single to give the Huskers (12-9) a 1-0 lead Somers (8-12) struck back in the top of the sixth when Nick Conti stroked a game-tying RBI sac fly with two outs in the bottom half of the sixth when Ornstein was able to draw the go-ahead bases-loaded RBI walk to put the Huskers back in front of Tusker P John Barbagallo who deserved a better fate after chucking 5.2 innings Erik Gersfeld was 2-for-3 and a run scored for the Tuskers Husker lefty Ryan DiNapoli closed out a complete game effort with a 1-2-3 seventh “DiNapoli was lights out and has been dominant all year controlling both sides of the plate with three pitches he can throw for strikes,” Yorktown Coach CJ Riefenhauser said As did Carmel in a losing effort to Fox Lane which was nearly forced to relive a 2007 nightmare when the then-15th-seeded Rams staged an epic upset of No.2 Fox Lane Coach Matt Hillis’ Foxes (14-7) rallied for two runs in the sixth inning to tie it at 2-all before a Logan Provost sac fly plated Will Rudolph with the winning run in the bottom of the ninth cruised into scoring position after Logan Mammola’s double to left put the Foxes in striking position Fox Lane ace Tyler Renz got the win with three scoreless frames of relief Foxes Peter Portugues and Cooper Furst each had an RBI each to tie it at 2-2 in the bottom of the sixth easing the pain of having left 11 men on base including eight in the final three innings Carmel sophomore  P Casey Lowndes gave the Rams hope for a bright future Brian McGrory stroked two hits for the Rams (4-17) who played above their means in the playoffs having been prepared by a slew of close losses against some of the finest competition in the state “This was our sixth loss by one run,” Rams skipper Joe Hackert said We got a big hit by Nick Kreatsoulas but just not enough to win We started two freshmen and we graduate just one starting senior I’m very proud of the way we battled and fought to the end.” Fox Lane Coach Matt Hillis would not argue with that “Carmel played well,” the Fox skipper said “If they beat us they definitely would have deserved it.” What isn’t deserved is the fact that Yonkers-based schools like No.13 Lincoln No.12 Yonkers and No.7 Saunders are offered “schedule relief” if/when they play in a non-Yonkers-based league which Lincoln was granted by Section 1: Meaning they only have to play their league foes – Fox Lane while the rest of the league members play each other twice Any “league relief” should equal an automatic “do not qualify for playoffs” Those three Yonkers schools were crushed by a combined 41-2 score in the opening round of the Class AA playoffs We don’t profess to have the answers in this space but we know when something’s wrong when we see it There has to be some kind of formula introduced that keeps the least competitive leagues as the lowest seeds Fox Lane was forced to burn its No.1 and No.2 pitchers over 10 innings while facing No.15 Carmel which was anything but a No.15 seed after facing the likes of Mahopac Arlington and John Jay EF twice in league play; arguably the toughest league in the state which have morphed into traditionally less competitive programs over the years 15 and 14 seeds for a more balanced format Same holds true for any of the less competitive leagues It’s above our pay grade but administrators need to take a look before the coaches go scorched earth on us Back to what’s right: HORACE GREELEY went on the road to No.8 Suferen where the ninth-seeded Quakers (9-9-2) wasted a superb pitching outing from Zach Bond in a 4-3 10-inning loss in Saturday’s opening round of the playoffs two RBI) the Quakers could not get enough going offensively leaving the Mounties to face No.1 MAHOPAC in last night’s quarterfinal round No.9 BREWSTER had it season come to an end in a 9-2 loss to No.3 Clarkstown North got jabbed to the jaw by No.13 BYRAM HILLS before the defending Section 1 champion Panthers (15-6) landed a series of blows including three fourth-inning yard bombs en route to a 13-3 opening round win over the visiting Bobcats (7-12-2) 1 BB) worked the first four frames for the win while big Ryan Chenard (4K) worked the final three for the save rich in baseball history but working through some coaching changes battled for three innings behind a pair of dingers from Ben Rothenberg ( 1-2 but it wasn’t nearly enough to keep the Panthers from moving on to face No.5 Rye in last night’s classic quarterfinal No.10 HEN HUD went across the river to upset No.7 Pearl River with the reward being another trip across the Hudson to face No.2 Nanuet in last night’s quarterfinals The Sailors lost to Nanuet in the top seventh All-League Sailor P Derek Deresh (6 IP) has been the co-ace with All-Section P Max Lipton and he delivered in a big way against the Pirates both with ERAs under 2.50,” Sailor skipper Van Vourliotis said All-Section and League MVP Tyler Muranaka came in to close the game like he has all season Sailor catcher Jack Hiltsley went 3-3 and scored twice “Jack really was the catalyst for our offense and the middle of the lineup was able to drive in three big runs for us in the top of the sixth to give us some breathing room “We may be the ten seed but we have believed all season we can beat anyone on any day,” the coach added “We had four games where we gave up leads late in the sixth or seventh inning where if we won two or three of those or a guy that is going D1 like other teams but I’d say the one thing we have for one another is love We genuinely love each other and it shows in practice In his 10th season (including school and travel with this group) Coach V has formed an extremely close unit and created a culture of hard work and we’ve practiced in 30 degrees on the football turf at 8pm at the high school,” Vourliotis said “This is a group that just loves being around one another and our goal is just do our job to the best of our ability We have 2.5 hour practices every day and the majority of them are there 30 minutes before practice and 30 minutes after practice just doing their thing and being around this family they have created over the last few years My assistant coaches Joe Bruno and John Schrader (from Briarcliff) are amazing and have been a huge help taking on extra responsibility this year that has really helped our team overall.” The Sailors are a win away from the semifinals thus ending a rebuilding season for the Hornets (9-11-1) No.6 John Jay-Cross River worked a 10-0 shoutout of No.11 BRIARCLIFF which finished off a 10-11 season in disappointing fashion No.10 VALHALLA went down to No.7 Bronxville and waxed the Broncos behind a masterful effort from starting P Fabian Resika (7 IP Resika and Aidan Menendez had two hits apiece and wrought havoc around the sacks as the Vikings (8-12-1) advanced to last night’s quarterfinal game against No.2 Magnus No.4 PLEASANTVILLE and No.5 PUTNAM VALLEY all received a bye with P’Ville and PV set to square off last night in what should be a wild quarterfinal No.7 WHITE PLAINS advanced to the quarterfinals after a 5-3 win over No.10 Port Chester behind the craftsmanship of P Sam Mendez and defensive gems by Sean DeBernardo along with youngsters Sam Kinisky and Sean Krouskoff enabled the Tigers (10-11) to face No.2 Arlington last night was set to take on No.5 Mamaroneck last night with the winner likely facing No.1 RCK (or North Rock if an upset) in Wednesday’s semis RAY GALLAGHER/ANDY JACOBS/TONY HUMBERTO PHOTOS Ray has 33 years experience covering and photographing local sports in Westchester and Putnam counties including everything from Little League/Travel Baseball to varsity high school prep sports and collegiate coverage He has been a sports editor at Examiner Media since its inception in 2007 Visit Ray’s author bio page for more details. Also read Ray’s archived work here and his Direct Rays column here. We'd love for you to support our work by joining as a free, partial access subscriber, or by registering as a full access member. Members get full access to all of our content, and receive a variety of bonus perks like free show tickets. Learn more here. Copyright © 2025 The Examiner News Senior Bianca Vercesi competed in her final race of the cross-country season on Nov where the best varsity runners in New York State gather to compete racing against one another and their own personal records While her high school cross country season is over Vercesi continues a highly accomplished career in academics as an active member of various honor societies including the National Honor Society Vercesi also works with Sleepy Hollow High School to bring athletics to the lives of special education students and help them get out of their ordinary classroom environment It serves as a valuable experience for both the special ed students and athletes With the pressure of athletic excellence and the onslaught of deadlines it seems that the clock is working against student-athletes who are faced with an apparently unending workload “I’m a secretary in both of the honors societies I have leadership roles in so it’s a lot of organization and a lot of the time I’m focusing on time management “But focusing on athletics and maintaining that balance can get kind of tricky sometimes and it can conflict with practice or a race That’s a balance that can be a little tough to manage Vercesi has learned the value of self-motivation Creating athletic goals and sticking to them is an arduous task but it is one that can be accomplished with the right amount of patience and skill “Because it’s such a mentally exhausting sport ‘Alright this is what I’m gonna do.’ You’re racing against your own time She said it’s important to have faith in yourself and to acknowledge that the road to success will not be easy One of the people who has reminded her of this is her coach “My coach has really said to me a lot like you just have to trust the process,” Vercesi said “So those months of training I kind of embraced the fact that this is going to take time and it’s going to be excruciating at some points I’ve learned to be patient with the process that comes with achieving my goals and it’s not always going to be instantly getting from A to Z or my first goal to getting to States one of the most impactful parts about being on an athletic team is the sense of community that comes with it and the supportive atmosphere that Sleepy Hollow High School has fostered “We get so much from being a part of our team or when before races teachers come up to me and wish me luck That’s something that I won’t forget.”  RJ: Are you involved in any extracurriculars aside from your athletic pursuits BV: Outside of sports I’m in basically all of the other Honors Societies I work with kids at the special education program at my school and we do sports in the morning so that’s something that I’m really passionate about RJ: What does your work with the special education program mean to you BV: So I started working with the special education students in 9th grade and the program is basically athletes at our school getting to work with students who typically wouldn’t have that exposure to athletics because being a part of a varsity team isn’t always a level that’s manageable for some of them and being able to interact with students outside of their smaller classrooms is really important and getting to bring my own experience with athletics and working with my peers to encourage that is really important Especially because these kids are always with the same other fifteen or so other kids so they get to embrace that new class experience RJ: How do you tackle the responsibility of having a leadership role as an officer of those honors societies BV: I’m a secretary in both of the honors societies so it’s a lot of organization and a lot of the time I’m focusing on time management which is really important But focusing on athletics and maintaining that balance can get kind of tricky sometimes and that’s a balance that can be a little tough to manage RJ: How do you balance community involvement the kids who are kind of thriving in their classes and vice versa it’s really encouraged that academics come first but once you get to a certain level of athletics it’s also how can you excel in both environments really encouraging in the sense that they also prioritize academics for us so whether it’s a practice or getting to a certain event on time they know that’s a sacrifice that should be made for academics so that support coming from coaches is really important I’ve always felt that prioritizing athletics was really encouraged throughout high school RJ: What do you find most challenging about being involved in your academics BV: Specifically with track and running at our school it’s always been a smaller program participation-wise so once of the challenges I’ve found myself involved in Other sports like lacrosse and football are really and one of the things I’ve tried to do more of at Sleepy is create that team feeling that excitement and enthusiasm—I want to bring that to running It’s not like going to a football game where everyone can come and watch I want to keep that enthusiasm within the team so that there’s some more excitement and race day is a bigger deal than just getting on the bus going on the run and then leaving So hopefully the next two seasons we’ll see more of that And that was also something that I struggled with where am I going to get that motivation to push myself And because it’s such a mentally exhausting sport “Alright this is what I’m gonna do.” You’re racing against your own time RJ: What lessons have you learned from being in such an independent sporting environment how have you learned this?” And from sports I think just being able to take your own achievements and turn them into something else This season has been really transformative for me I wasn’t running a personal record every race but I was setting a foundation for the rest of the season and creating this base for training and strength I knew once I created a certain level of strength as a foundation And now it’s November and I started training in August so those months of training I kind of embraced the fact that this is going to take time RJ: How do you think your hard work has paid off I started training in August while my mileage is up to like 40 miles a week and in the end of summer and when preseason started Then throughout September and October meets started becoming more competitive and my times were getting increasingly faster and then we had a league race and then a sectional race and at the sectional race depending on what time you run you can qualify for the state meet And that wasn’t really on my radar; I mean obviously I was thinking “Wow that would be so cool,” but I didn’t really see it as something that would happen and I placed fourth in the sectional meet and so I was the only person to qualify on my team Then once I qualified it was kind of like okay now this is just me I have to I have to be there obviously and so I went and it was an incredible experience and I got to go with my coach and that was really exciting for me because I wanted him to get to go there and the season went perfectly” and so that was really really exciting And then after the state meet selected to run at the State Federation meet depending on what your times were and I got selected during the season we have a lot of smaller meets with two or three other schools and this competition was unlike any that I’ve ever been up against It was all the best runners in New York state and before the race I was trying to tell myself not to be intimidated by it because you are one of those people It’s hard to gain that confidence when you don’t want to be overly confident but I told myself that I deserve to be there And although it was a totally new kind of race and it was unfamiliar It was amazing to get to run with those girls because they’re just so incredible physically and the rest of the athletes totally did that And this is something I really admire about cross country wouldn’t have been able to run the time so you really have to work together regardless of the fact that they’re your competition RJ: How have you applied the lessons learned from cross country and track to the rest of your life (academics BV: I think leadership has been a really impactful part of my season and I was talking about motivating my teammates and filling that role as somebody who needs to inspire the rest of the kids It’s not the most appealing sport because it’s hard to say I like to run.” Not a lot of people say that so I want my teammates to be able to say that at the end of the season I think that I’ve brought that into other aspects of my life and into classes I’ve seen it with my younger teammates for the most part who have just totally transformed from the beginning of the season and I think their mindset about working hard and it is paying off his change because they’ve done that and it has paid off So hopefully I can bring that into other aspects of my life RJ: What do you consider to be your best accomplishment BV: I think this season has really changed my view on myself as an athlete At the beginning I didn’t want to give myself too much credit because I was afraid that I would put bad things into the universe by assuming that I would be successful But I don’t want to tell myself that now because I know that I am successful I think yesterday I was looking around at the girls at the end of the race they’re my competition,” but I’m also their competition having that confidence made me much more secure in my successes and my capabilities to be successful I think that’s probably my biggest accomplishment and getting to the state Federation me is such an honor I was not anticipating making it to that race so just getting there was a huge accomplishment in and of itself RJ: What role do you think that other people BV: I definitely feel like the atmosphere at Sleepy Hollow are surrounded by coaches who expect them to succeed and excel And a lot of my friends are athletes and I feel like being surrounded by their excitement and their enthusiasm for their own sports makes me want to have it the same way even though we do have a smaller program for running at our school Seeing them be so enthusiastic makes me want to have the same excitement for my sport it may be more individual and it’s not running around on a field for two hours with your teammates So that’s been really motivating—just being surrounded by people who are so passionate about their sports And Paul Gersefeld has been the cross-country coach for forever and he has so much experience and he really brings something new to our team just because he knows so so much I was at two meets this season with just me and him and he is so motivating Before every race he he tells me just got to go out there just the front of the pack and run your race and his confidence in me makes me feel secure in my own abilities to succeed so that makes a difference what does being just a circle back what does being a student-athlete mean to you RJ: What does being a student-athlete mean to you BV: I think that balance between a team and your peers teaches me how to be more well-rounded as a community member and it was all of the athletes at the school but a bunch of people just from the community I remember standing with my team and I was looking at all the kids that were there but it was really exciting to see the community come together for sports and for Sleepy Hollow We get so much from being a part of our team before races teachers come up to me and wish me luck that’s something that I won’t forget RJ: If you could describe your experience as a student-athlete in three words RJ: Can you try speaking to how your run (no pun intended) as a student-athlete will impact the rest of your future BV: I think that my season and what I learned will carry on into college and the rest of my life I think I’ve learned to trust myself and the people around me who know so much and trust the process and knowing that it will pay off Sometimes it’s hard to imagine that you’ll be so successful at something when you’re just starting out going to States was not on my radar whatsoever listening to my coaches and knowing that if I had an off day or if I felt injured and trust that one day off will not change the course of my whole season Taking that lesson of taking it one day at a time Alexa Murphy is a sophomore at the Masters School who is interested in political science and the language arts RiverJournalOnline is the online publication of River Journal and River Journal North No part of River Journal or River Journal North including photos ads and text may be reproduced without the written consent of the Publisher