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Schools

High School Sports Notebook

Boys and girls cross country teams each enjoy success at counties.

Boys and Girls Cross Country Team Compete at Counties

Prior to the first meet of the season, coach Bart Sessa and his Syosset High School boys cross country team had a simple goal – qualify for the . So, it was already an accomplishment when the team got off the bus and saw the setup for a meet they had talked about running in for weeks. But the Braves did more then show up for the coveted event, they preformed well.

 led the way for Syosset in the 5K run,  posting a time of 17 minutes, 25.5 seconds. He was the highest finishing Brave, crossing the finish line in 35th place. Tyler Moritz was second on the team, finishing in 17:43.6, good for 49th in the race.

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In a release produced by the team, Sessa praised his squad for "handling the pressure" of the meet. Being that this year was more about youth than anything else, Sessa isn't hesitant to point out that the team has set itself up for a successful next few years.

The Braves scored 238 place points, finishing in seventh place.

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The girls squad finished in sixth place.  Both Christina DiBernardo and June Ilowite qualified for the state public school championships this weekend in Pauling, N.Y.

Girls Swim Team Shines at County Championships

Jackie Teller can swim with anybody. The sophomore star of the Syosset girls swim team stared last weekend at the Nassau championships. Teller swam to a 1.59.19 finish in the 200-meter freestyle and was a New York State qualifier.  She was part of a 200 medley relay team that finished with a time of 2.00.03.

Teller doesn't only swim for the high school. She is a member of the Long Island Aquatic Center Team and has been on the varsity team since the seventh grade.

But she wasn't the only member of the Braves to shine last weekend. Katherine Kuang, Jasmine Jiang and Kanika Bahl were all teammates of Teller on the 200-medley relay.

Georgina Halpern finished her season by earning a 163.89 score in the diving portion of the competition. Melanie Yunar finished the 100-meter butterfly with a 1.06.00 mark.

Football Preps for Hofstra Atmosphere

The Syosset football team returns to Hofstra to play Freeport on Thursday at 4 p.m. Syosset, no stranger to the later stages of the playoffs the last few years, believes it knows how to approach games in front of large crowds.

"We try not to make that a factor," coach Paul Rorke said of the large venue. "Regardless of where they play they still have to play the game."

The Braves will have to not only play the game; they'll have to play it well. Freeport comes in as the top seed in the Nassau Conference I playoffs.

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