POUGHKEEPSIE — Mike Camardo had mono.

Camardo, the rising Guilderland High School senior, played an entire weekend of lacrosse games with mononucleosis — five games in all.
"That brings him down to normal," said Adirondack and Guilderland teammate Bob McIver.

Camardo is known for being a jack-of-all-trades for the Guilderland lacrosse team and showed it at the Empire State Games, held on the Marist College campus this past weekend.

Camardo has a nickname, that was given to him by his Guilderland teammates, and it always makes him blush.

They call him G.O.D., not as some kind of deity, but like the 18-wheelers with those three letters painted on the trailer for guaranteed overnight delivery.

Camardo delivers big plays on the field.
"I did fine," the ever-modest Camardo said after the last game on Sunday, a 5-3 loss to the Central region.
"I had mono the whole weekend. It was tiring," he added.

Most people wouldn’t have even thought of playing, but he played four games as a short-stick midfielder and played the final game as a long-stick defender to fill a need after a group of players were suspended from the game for breaking a team rule.
"I used my short stick for the whole tournament except for today," Camardo said. "We had a few kids that were ineligible for the game and most of them were defensemen so I got to use my pole.
"We were good defensively," Camardo added. "It was a lot of fun, but we didn’t do as well as we thought we would."

Camardo and McIver were joined on the Adirondack team by Shane Mahar of Voorheesville. He’ll be a senior at Christain Brothers Academy in the fall.

The Adirondack team finished 1-4 in the tournament. The team’s lone win came against Hudson Valley.
"It took us, as a team, a while to adjust to each other," McIver said. "We needed to go out and play. We have a lot of high schools with a lot of talent."

McIver, a midfielder, had two assists in the tournament and Camardo scored a goal for Adirondack. Mahar played on defense in the tournament.

Anyone who follows Empire State Games lacrosse will remember the McIver name.

Last year, Robert’s older brother, Doug, helped Adirondack win a bronze medal. Lacrosse fans will also remember Doug McIver’s play in goal in Adirondack’s first-ever win over Central.
"Not many people have brought up my brother," McIver said. "He really helped me get ready for this. He came down to watch some games. He also gave it to us for losing to New York City."

"A real big stage"

New York City won its first game in eight years.

But it is about more than wins and losses for players at the Empire State Games. Players are trying to get noticed by college coaches.

Camardo is already being recruited by a number of Divison I colleges to play defense. McIver is also being recruited, having heard from the State University of New York colleges at Binghamton and Geneseo, as well as C.W. Post.
"There were a lot of coaches in the stands," McIver said. "This is a real big stage."

It is a stage that Camardo is used to. He played at the Empire State Games last year in Binghamton. He is looking to play at any position in college.
"I don’t care," he said. "I’ve switched so many times, it doesn’t bother me."

Camardo will not get a break. On Monday, he left with the Guilderland soccer team to attend a camp to get ready for the upcoming season.

McIver will play lacrosse in the fall, after deciding against playing football.
"I have to make a lot of college trips on the weekends," he said, "and it would make it hard to play football."

Camardo and McIver agreed that the weekend is a great experience, despite the records.
"It’s a new experience," McIver said. "It was fun. The whole college setting and being independent was great."
"It’s definitely awesome to hang out with the guys," Camardo said. "We had fun most of day, every day."