School, Boosters Announce CCS Hall of Fame Class of 2024

COOPERSTOWN—Guerin Blask, Caleb Edmonds, Anna Kieler, Brendan “Bren” Miosek, Molly Miosek, Ian Porto and Anna Weber, along with the 2005 girls soccer team and the 1999 baseball team, will be inducted into the Cooperstown Central School Athletic Hall of Fame’s Class of 2024 this fall.

The Class of 2024 will be inducted on Saturday, September 21 as part of homecoming weekend. There will be a ceremony at 4 p.m. in the middle/high school’s Sterling Auditorium, followed by the homecoming football game at Lambert Field at 7 p.m. Inductees will also be introduced before the football game.

Blask, a 2000 graduate, holds the record for most wins in the school’s baseball program history. A four-year starter on varsity, he helped pitch Cooperstown to its first Section III title in the sport, in 1999. He was described by his coach, Frank Miosek, as a consummate hard worker, who improved every season and learned from his pitching mistakes. There have been many great pitchers in the CCS program, Miosek said, “but Guerin has the program’s most wins.”

Edmonds, a 2010 graduate, spent just his senior season at CCS, but he left his mark in cross country and track and field. In 2009, he finished sixth in the state in cross country, and also won the Section III title. In the spring, he placed second in the state in the 3,200 in Division II (small schools), and his 3,200 relay team finished fourth in DII. Including a relay record, he set four school track program records at Cooperstown, and all four still stand. Edmonds was named The Daily Star’s track athlete of the year in 2010. He also went on to a distinguished track career at Liberty University. His older brother, Josh, was inducted in the Class of 2023.

Kieler, a 2008 graduate whose married name is Anna Bennardo, competed in tennis and track, but she excelled as a striker on the soccer pitch. She played varsity soccer for four years, and helped the team win back-to-back Section III titles, and a Central Region title in 2005. She made the All-State list all four years she played varsity soccer, climaxing with a first-team honor her senior year. She also won a section title with the boys tennis team. After switching to track her senior season, she placed second in the high jump in Section III Class C. Her grandfather, Dr. Charles Kieler, is honored as the team doctor for the 1967 football team, which was inducted in the first HOF class.

Molly Miosek, a 1989 graduate, played varsity soccer for four years, mostly at center mid, but floating as needed to provide more offense or defense. She was a three-time conference and Daily Star all-star, three time team MVP, and helped lead her team to a conference championship during her senior season. She led the team in assists for four years and in goals for three years. Miosek went on to have a distinguished soccer career at Hartwick College.

Porto and Bren Miosek were two of the top players on the 1991 boys soccer team that won section and regional titles, which were firsts in boys soccer at CCS.

Miosek, a 1992 graduate and a former Freeman’s Journal sports editor, was a senior leader as a striker on the championship team. He set program records for goals and assists in a career; both records were broken by his brother, but he is now second in program history in both categories. He won Daily Star player of the year honors in 1991. In the 1991 regional championship against Greene, Miosek made the winning penalty kick to send Cooperstown to the Final Four.

Molly Miosek is the oldest and Bren Miosek is the middle of Coach Miosek’s three children. Their younger brother, Ryan, was inducted into the HOF in 2018.

Porto, a 1992 graduate, was a four-year starter and the goalie on the 1991 championship team. He gave up just nine goals during the regular season. His school record for most shutouts in a season stood for two decades. In the Greene game shootout, with the score tied, 3-3, Porto made a save with his foot despite guessing the wrong way to dive. Miosek’s game winner came on the next play. “We have had nine goalies go on to play college soccer,” Coach Miosek said. “I always use Porto as ‘the model’ of what a CCS goalie needs to do.”

Weber, a 2009 graduate, played field hockey and ran cross country and track. She excelled at the 400 hurdles, winning Section III Class C and Section III DII titles in the event her senior season. She placed third in the state in DII in the 400 hurdles in 2009. Her school record in the event (1:04.94) is the still the best in program history —by more than five seconds. Weber was described by her coaches as an incredible athlete and runner who was a model of coachability and worked hard to learn hurdling technique.

The 2005 girls soccer team went undefeated in the regular season and won section and regional titles before losing in the Class C state semifinals in overtime to eventual state champion Hoosick Falls. Coached by Jennifer Pindar and led by all-state player Dana Leonard, the team finished at 22-1 and won the state Class C award for sportsmanship.

The 1999 baseball team won the school’s first section title in the sport. Coached by Miosek, the baseball team won the title as an eight seed after a late-season challenge from their coach to play to their potential. With Blask as a right-handed pitcher, Matt Hazzard as a southpaw and Dan Butler catching, the bullpen was a strength of the team, and “our defense was superb” in the playoffs, Miosek said. The team beat Little Falls in the semifinals and Notre Dame in the Class C championship. Blask pitched the win and hit the go-ahead run in the title game. Miosek said he still uses the 1999 season as a teaching example for his players. “Talent is important, but team play is so much more important to a team’s total success.”

The Athletic HOF is a combined project sponsored by the school and the Booster Club.
The Class of 2024, which was decided April 15 by a committee made up of current and former coaches, school administrators and booster club members, is the ninth class in the CCS Athletic HOF.

Booster Club President Greg Klein said after this year’s induction, the HOF inductions will return to being scheduled every other year, with the next class to be announced in 2026.

“There was a five-year gap from 2018 to last year’s class, mostly because of the pandemic, and we wanted to have essentially a make-up class before the great teams and players of the modern era are up for consideration,” Klein said. “The Hall of Fame committee definitely took that mantra to heart. Caleb Edmonds graduated in 2010 and he is the youngest inductee.

“I know from my perspective and from many of the committee members, there was still a desire for a veteran’s subcommittee to continue to look for old records and complete incomplete applications,” Klein continued, “because everyone in the room last week wants to honor the school’s long and amazing athletic history. We know there are 20th-century athletes and teams that still deserve this honor. I hope we can put that subcommittee together, because we know the next few induction classes will be heavy with state champions, state finalists and some of the best CCS athletes of the early 21st century.”

Contributed by the Cooperstown Sports Booster Club.