Recognizing the memorable achievements of its students, the high school’s winter athletic awards honored eight sports teams in a ceremony at the high school auditorium during the Board of Education meeting on April 19. Athletic Director Dominick Fontana and Superintendent Eva J. Demyen presented each student-athlete with a certificate in front of their proud families.
Six of these sports – varsity boys basketball, varsity girls basketball, varsity boys swimming and diving, varsity girls track, varsity boys track, and kickline – earned Scholar/Athlete team recognition for their successful commitment to both athletics and academics. Teams awarded this honor by the New York State Public High School Athletic Association are required to have five players or more and earn a cumulative team GPA of 90 percent or higher.
The varsity boys basketball team qualified for the Class AA playoffs, with individual honors going to Brett Talbert (Academic All-County), Darien Jenkins (All-County), Princeton Louis (All-League), Donnell Louissaint (All-Conference) and Joshua Pismeny (All-League, Unsung Hero Award), while the varsity girls basketball team was led by Antanasia Chambers, who earned All-Conference status.
High achievers on the varsity wrestling squad included state champion Thomas Cox (All-League, All-County, All-State) as well as Christian Birdsall (All-League), Kenneth Cooper (All-League), Justin Perez (All-League) and Preston Maucere (All-League, All-County).
The varsity boys swimming and diving team earned the league’s Sportsmanship Award, along with individual All-League honors for Michael Charumaneeroj, Dylan Cornelia (who also broke a school record in the 100-meter breast stroke), Colin Reilly, Nicholas Trnka and Benjamin Wilkonski.
All-League winners Nailah Edmead and Victoria Major led the varsity girls track team, with Major also finishing fourth in the state in high jump and setting a school record en route to All-County and All-State honors. Major was presented with a commemorative framed jersey, signed by the team and coaches Jim Petti and Kevin Marner.
The varsity boys track team yielded seven All-League winners: Ryan Brown, Christopher Cox, Joseph Curry, Alex Delassalle, Nicholas Fenton, Alvin Sime and Michael Theiling.
Varsity bowling featured Joseph Thomas, who won an SCBCA Award for having a 200-plus average, and Adam Zimmerman, who won the Suffolk County Individual Bowling Tournament, earned All-State status as a member of the Section XI state championship team, and recorded a 241.8 season average, the highest among all Suffolk County bowlers.
The varsity kickline squad finished second in kick and third in the open competition at the Nationals Tournament, and secnd in the open competition and first in both kick and pom categories at the LIKA Championships.