North Shore Vikings girls gymnastics had two meets last week. The first, on Tuesday, Jan. 16 was against Great Neck North High School and North Shore took the lead 119.9 to 101.3. Liza Mercadante was the all-round top scorer (28.3) with a high score of 7.7 on vault, 7.5 on beam and 7.6 on the floor exercise. Cassandra McNamara had the high score of 6.6 on the uneven bars. On Thursday, Jan. 18, North Shore took the lead once again against Roslyn High School 129.8/128.25. Liza Mercadante, Cassandra McNamara and Katie Millington gave a great performance for North Shore High School. The North Shore boys bowling team concluded its season this week with a win over Carle Place and a loss to the Sewanhaka District. The team finished in second place, with an overall record of 8-4. The Vikings battled hard all season, but all four of the team's losses were to eventual Conference champion Sewanhaka. North Shore did win one out of three games the three out of four times the two teams met, but could never take the deciding third game. Good luck to Sal Pisciotto, the team's lone graduating senior. Congratulations to this year's members of the varsity bowling team on a great year and the promising season that awaits them in '07-'08.

The North Shore girls track team had a terrific week as they placed first in the Conference 6 Championship. The competition took place at SUNY Farmingdale this past Tuesday. The team was looking to make a top two showing, however all the pieces came together for a magical evening. The competition didn't even begin until 7 p.m, but this did not deter the motivated young crew. Starting things off was a first-place performance by freshman Brianna Welch in the 3000m, who cruised to victory uncontested. This set a positive tone for the rest of the evening. Other Conference Champions were freshman Christina Convey in the 600m and the 4x800 relay of freshman Convey, junior Jen DiLeo, junior Debbie Gilbert, and freshman Charlotte Manogue. Gilbert had an unfortunate incident of being disqualified in the 600m but responded nicely in the relay. Convey and Manogue have been energetic sparks to the program and will be great additions for years to come. Jen DiLeo also did a great job by placing in the 1000m earlier in the evening. which contributed nicely to the team's overall point total. Other All-Conference athletes were junior Leslie Galati who surprised everyone, (even herself), with an almost 2-foot personal best in the shotput. Junior Taylor Shea and sophomore Lauren Pearsall also took All-Conference honors as well in the 55m hurdles. Other point scorers included senior Amanda Schefer in the 3000m, junior Angela Shih in the 1000m, junior Eva Schlomann in the hurdles, and freshman Charlotte Manogue in the 1500m. The 4x400 relay consisting of sophomore Thea Lange, Pearsall, freshman Jillian Fortunato, and junior Angela Shih also placed. Junior Jessica Fortunato and sophomore Justyne Passarelli contributed nicely by being part of the 4x200 that placed fourth.

Last Saturday at the New Balance Games at the Armory Track and Field Center, freshman Brianna Welch set a new school record in the one-mile, with a time of 4:57.20. This eclipses Brianna's own personal best by nine seconds. The 4x800 relay also set a school record with a time of 9:50.01 replacing the old record by an astonishing 17 seconds!

The relay consisted of Welch, freshman Christina Convey and juniors Jen Dileo and Debbie Gilbert. Other personal bests were run by junior Angela Shih, and freshman Jillian Fortunato, Claire Simons, Elizabeth Hamberger, and sophomore Elissa Lechtenstein, who broke the 70-second barrier in the 400m. The highlight of the evening was the return of sophomore Marisa Dussel, running her first race since September. She has been out of action for nearly four months with a stress fracture in her leg.

By Craig DeMeo

The North Shore wrestling team had its first two league matches of the year and came out victorious at both, defeating Roosevelt 55-12 and Valley Stream South 51-9.

North Shore then traveled to Syosset for a tournament. The team took fifth out of 16 teams, which had more entries than North Shore per weight class. Senior Tom Boehm won his first first-place trophy at the tournament and three other wrestlers placed third: Joe Denovellis, Robert Grabher and Eric Gruebel. Eric was in a tight match that was tied 2-2 in the last period against an opponent that placed sixth in the state. Eric came up short but gave him the closest match of the tournament.