Syracuse TV station names its first female sports director

CNY Central has named a new sports director as the Syracuse football season gets ready to kick off.

Samantha Croston, who has worked at the CNY Central since 2021, will be the Syracuse television station’s first female sports director. She replaces the recently departed Tommy Sladek in the role for the Sinclair Broadcast Group-owned TV cluster, which includes WSTM (NBC-3), WTVH (CBS-5), and CW6.

According to a press release, Croston has worked as a multimedia journalist, reporter and news anchor, covering community news, breaking news, severe weather and more. She also worked on “The Orange Zone” and “Why Am I Mets Fan?” podcasts, plus contributed to local high school sports coverage and Athlete of the Week segments.

A former college athlete, Croston played goalie for the Colgate University women’s lacrosse team before earning her master’s degree in broadcast and digital journalism at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse school of Communications. She also worked as a certified personal trainer and served as vice president of the NCAA Student Athlete Advisory Committee while at Colgate, according to her LinkedIn.

“Samantha’s journalism skills are what set her apart from her peers in the sports reporting world,” CNY Central News Director Sean Carroll said Friday. “She will now pair those skills with her deep understanding of sports, and perspective as a former NCAA athlete, to bring Central New Yorkers the analysis and understanding they expect from our team.”

Croston said she’s thrilled continue her career in the place she’s called home for the past three years.

“Serving the passionate sports fans of this community and providing insight and analysis on our local high school and college teams is an exciting opportunity,” Croston said. “I want my legacy to be that I inspired the next generation of women, and in this role, as CNY Central’s first female sports director, I hope to take the first step towards that. Along with my podcast co-host and Weekend Sports Anchor Ashley Wenskoski, as well as The Orange Zone regulars James Mungro (SU Football) and Lawrence Moten (SU Basketball), we will continue to grow our audience, and more importantly, use sports as a way to bring people together.”

Sladek said earlier this month that he was leaving CNYCentral after 6 years in Syracuse. He said he was moving to New York City to became the new Social Content Creator for Fanatics Sportsbook.