On Saturday afternoon, Jan. 29, the Big Red hosted MacArthur, the pre-season third seeded team in the Conference. It proved to be a great defensive effort by the Big Red, led by defensive specialist Tim Jackson as Glen Cove held MacArthur to 48 points on the way to a 72-48 victory! The scoring was led by Joe Johnson with 25 points and 11 rebounds. Sophomore Guard Allan Seaman added 23 points with some dazzling moves to the basket. This win brought the Big Red's record to 6-1 in the Conference-one game behind Floral Park, the current leader, who the Big Red visits on Tuesday, Feb. 1 for the first of two big showdowns between the two. The next home game will be Thursday night, Feb. 3 at 6:30 p.m. against red-hot defending Conference champs, Garden City. Don't miss it!

A few days earlier, the Big Red went on the road traveling to Hewlett to play a hot Bulldog team. Glen Cove came out ready to play from the beginning. Led by Joe Johnson's eight first-quarter points, the Big Red took an 18 to 6 quarter lead and there was no catching up for the Bulldogs. The Big Red, using their race horse offense, had 11 players score a total of 76 points on the way to a big 76-56 win. Scoring was well balanced led by Ivan Rivera and Joe Johnson with 14 points each and Todd Johnson and Chad Gleason scoring 10 points each. Coming off the bench to help in the scoring was Josh Rubin and Tim Jackson with eight points each. Go Big Red!

Some of the top local teams came to Glen Cove High School on Saturday, Jan. 29 for the annual "Cove Challenge Cup." Garden City, Locust Valley, Port Washington and Glen Cove squared off to see who would take the top honors this year.

In the opening match Glen Cove faced long-time rival Locust Valley. Things went in Glen Cove's favor as the Big Red won the match 47-10. One of the key matches was Victor Hidalgo, who recently returned from an injury vs. Tony Bliss. The two grapplers fought hard-Hidalgo came away with the 5-3 victory.

At 130 pounds, Mike Smith of Glen Cove faced the highly regarded Kevin Bartolotto. Smith was able to capture the match for Glen Cove.

In a re-match from last year, Dave Graziosi faced Brian Sumcizk. Both wrestlers battled hard for the full match. Dave was able to take down Sumcizk with five seconds to go to score the victory.

Also scoring wins for Glen Cove were George Gooden and Steve Sarmiento, Jose Martinez, Jeff Rudloff, Mike Petikas, Matt Hurwitz and Nick Discala.

In the finals, Glen Cove battled Port Washington. George Gooden got the Big Red rolling with a pin over Bill Kittley. Steve Sarmiento then overwhelmed Tim Meyers for another pin. Pete Loiodice wrestled tough but got caught against the tough Mike Henderson.

Victor Hidalgo wrestled a tough match against Jose Clemente. He came up short as he was taken down with two seconds left on the clock. Mike Smith got the Big Red rolling again with a technical fall over Gerardo Navarro.

The Port Washington Vikings came back as Bill Wilson defeated Jose Martinez 8-2.

The match of the day came in t he 140 lb. weight class. Both Jeff Rudloff and Evan Knight are ranked in Nassau County. In the fast and furious battle, Jeff came away with a 14-9 victory!

Glen Cove gave up six points at 145 lbs. as an injury forced our wrestler to sit. Once again Glen Cove got rolling as Mike Petikas won a tech fall over Brian Murray. Mike Petulla was caught by Jose Orellan. Matt Hurwitz then faced Port's toughest wrestler, Greg Savran. Matt hung tough losing the 14-2 decision. This kept the score close at 29-27 Port.

The stage was set for Dave Graziosi and Carmine Portaro. Dave wrestled flawlessly as he pinned Matt London in the first period. With Glen Cove now winning 33-29, the match would be decided by Glen Cove's Carmine Portaro and Dean Zaccheirio. Both wrestlers are ranked in Nassau County. Carmine came away with a tough 3-2 victory sealing the win for Glen Cove!

Congratulations to Glen Cove in bringing home the Cove Cup!

The Girls' Varsity Basketball team has suffered some tough losses this season in spite of some hard-fought games and some very talented players. The Big Red traveled to Hewlett on Jan. 18 only to come away with a disappointing 56-22 loss. Nicole Trotta scored seven points, Jean Erlandsen had four points and Vanessa Machado had four points.

A few days earlier Glen Cove hosted West Hempstead. The girls played tough, but trailed 54-50 with 32 seconds remaining in the game. After stealing an inbound pass, Glen Cove was unable to take advantage of the turnover and was forced to foul West Hempstead in order to stop the clock. West Hempstead hit 3 out of 4 foul shots to ice the game 57-50. Stephanie Graziosi led the day's scoring with 17 points, Jamie Basile had 14 points, Nicole Trotta had 10 points and Vanessa Machado added seven points.

The week had started out with another tough loss to MacArthur High School. With under four minutes to play MacArthur took control of a close game to come away with a 58-37 win. Stephanie Graziosi had another 17-point game, Vanessa Machado added eight points and Nicole Trotta had seven points.

On Sunday night, as most of us gathered in front of the TV for the Super Bowl, the Boys Track Team traveled to Farmingdale University to compete in the Nassau County Conference IV Championships. Senior Jun Kim threw 38 ft. 3.25 in. in the shot put and placed third in the Conference earning him All-Conference honors. Senior Dean Yep ran a 6.9 in the 55m dash finals and trials taking fifth place in the finals. Senior Pin Liao ran 7.0 in the 55m trials. Sophomore Mike Biscardi ran 9.8 seconds in the trials. Senior Matt Verity ran 39.2 seconds in the 300 meter run and took fourth place. Also running the 300m was Dean Yep (41.3), Pin Liao (42.0) and Mike Biscardi (61.7). The 4 x 200m relay came in fifth place overall with a time of 1:47.0. Running in that race was Dean Yep (26), Jun Kim (29), Pin Liao (26), Matt Verity (26). The team placed seventh with 14 points.

On Feb. 6, the Big Red competes in the Nassau County Class B Championships. Glen Cove should send about eight athletes to the meet.

On Friday night the girls competed in the Nassau County Conference IV championships. Leading the way was Didi Yep with two Conference titles! Didi won the 55m dash with a time of 7.3 seconds and then came back to win the 300m with a time of 43.6 seconds! Tammy Goldstein was third in the 55 high hurdles with a time of 9.7 seconds. Didi and Tammy earned All Conference honors for their races. Junior Elizabeth Beisler ran a great race finishing fifth with a time of 3:42.4 in the 1,000m run. It was her first ever 1,000m race. Freshman Ashanti Davis came in 10th in the 55m High Hurdles with a time of 10.7. Other competitors were Diana Kim (55m-8.8), Amanda Moretto (55m-8.5), Iesha Brown (55m-8.7), Sara Dorfman (55m-9.1), Lucia Son (55m HH-11.9), Jennifer Alvarez (600m-2:46.8), 4 x 200m (Amanda Moretto, Diana Kim, Tammy Goldstein, Didi Yep-2:11.1).

The Big Red made their presence known on Jan. 24 at the 2000-Ridgewood Frosh-Novice Meet as Amanda Moretto ran an 8.2 in the 55m Dash-Frosh to quality for the Eastern State Championship on Feb. 29 and Ashanti Davis had a time of 10.8 (finals) in the 55m HH-Frosh and took fifth place-medal winner!

Congratulations to all who competed on a successful day! Go Big Red!