In the East Gym at South High School, large display boards commemorate outstanding Rebel athletes for their record-breaking performances in various sports. Since last year, one last name¬DeMarco¬has cropped up repeatedly on one of the boards.

"The DeMarco brothers¬Dan and Scott¬are wreaking havoc on the swimming record board at Great Neck South," said Thomas Loughlin, coach of the swim team. "They have been very dedicated to our program and were the stars of the team the past few years."

In fact, the three most recent records belong to the DeMarco brothers. Daniel, Class of '98, broke the record for the 500-meter freestyle event with a time of 4.47. He won the county championship in the 500-meter race and took second in the 200-meter.

"Dan was untouchable in the 500 all season long last year," said Coach Loughlin. "He also made our relay teams stronger."

This year, Scott, who is currently a junior, posted two new records. His times in the 200-meter individual medley and the 100-meter breast stroke, 1:59.50 and 1:01.00 respectively, were both approximately 1.5 seconds faster than the previous records. Scott was also a state qualifier in these two events this year.

"Both Dan and Scott have been All-County, All-Conference, and All-Division swimmers," said Coach Loughlin. "They train year-round with the Long Island Aquatics Club and they get better every year."

Dan is currently enrolled at Nassau Community College and is applying to some "very competitive schools," according to his guidance counselor at South High, Jennifer Allen. He plans to transfer in the fall and may continue swimming competitively on the collegiate level.

Since Mr. Loughlin became coach in the early 1980s, the South swim team has been a strong contender in its conference and county. In 1992­93, the team was Conference II Champion. The following year, South would have reigned again, according to Coach Loughlin, but the championship meet was cancelled due to bad weather. Before that, in 1985­86 and 1986­87, South placed second in the Nassau County championships.

Coach Loughlin said the following swimmers were key contributors to the team this year: Leonard Aloi, Scott DeMarco, Chad and Grant Dolgin, Peter Eilenberg, Timothy Gurba, Benjamin Krause (won his event in county swim-off), Noah Lederman, Amit Melwani, and Darryl Sneag. The coach said he is looking forward to another exciting season in 1999­2000.