Three North Shore varsity football seniors were honored at the Nassau County High School Football Coaches Association's 39th Annual Gridiron Banquet, held on December 6 at the Crest Hollow Country Club.

Quarterback Will Kunkel received the All-Conference Award. P.J. Como received the All-County Award and was also the recipient of the Conference Scholarship Award. Both Will and P.J. were chosen to play in the Nassau County vs. Suffolk County All-Star game, which was held on Thanksgiving day.

The Unsung Hero Scholarship Award was presented to Carlos Riano. Beginning in 1989, this award and $1,000 scholarship grant has been presented to the team member who best exemplifies the qualities of the unsung hero. He is the teammate who is always there when needed. He represents the best qualities of what scholastic football is all about-sportsmanship, competition and fair play.

Towards the end of the evening, the Gridiron 2004 video, featuring video clips of the all-star players throughout Nassau County was shown. Walter Denton, president of the Nassau County High School Football Coaches Association said, "The Gridiron Dinner is our opportunity to congratulate these young men for the efforts they have made to achieve the same excellence acquired by so many great players of past Gridiron teams. The achievement of this night commemorates what they have done as young men, and in so doing, we consider this a night to honor and recall the rich tradition and the great players, coaches, and administrators who have laid the seed for Nassau County football's dynamic future.

Coach: Neil Levy

The Vikings girls' winter track and field team started off the season with fine performances. The team traveled to the Armory Track and Field Center for the Nassau Coaches Invitational. Leading the charge was the 4x800 relay. The team placed first out of approximately 45 other schools. Seniors Adrienne Koslow and Ashley Lopez, along with junior Maeve McGilloway and seventh grader Brianna Welch placed first with a time of 10:07.3. This is the fastest time in NY State so far this season. The large contingent of freshmen proved its worth by medaling in the 4x200 and 4x400 relays. The 4x400 relay consisting of Anais Katz, Jen DiLeo, Alexandra Welch, and Brianna Welch placed second in the freshman 4x400 relay, beating all the Nassau County teams. First place went to Suffern NY. The freshman 4x200 relay consisting of Christie Goodman, Anais Katz, Alexandra Welch, and Debbie Gilbert ran just as successfully by also placing second in the relay. The other varsity medals belonged to the 4x400 relay consisting of seniors Adrienne Koslow, and Ashley Lopez, and juniors Maeve McGilloway and Tyler Murphy. Sophomore Leslie Galati also contributed nicely by placing second in the shot put. A great start to hopefully another championship season!

After the Nassau Coaches Invitational, the team received more exciting news when seventh grader Brianna Welch was voted All-State for girls' high school cross-country this season. She is the only seventh grader in NY State to earn this prestigious status.

The team then traveled to the Suffolk Community College this past weekend for the first of a series of inter-conference meets. Junior Maeve McGilloway and senior Ashley Lopez started things off by placing third and fourth, respectively, in the 1500m. Senior Samantha Cummins, in her race-walk debut, walked her way to a top-three time for Conference Six. It was also an evening of the hurdles and short sprints where junior Tyler Murphy placed second in the 55m hurdles and freshman Christie Goodman made the finals in the 55m dash. Seventh grader Brianna Welch placed first in the 1000m run in convincing fashion. Other fine performances were by freshman Debbie Gilbert in the 55m hurdles, Jen Dileo in the 1000m, senior Maria Wolkow in the 300m, and junior Kristen Pearsall in the55m and 300m dash. Overall, a great evening.