Julia’s Run For Children
The 14th annual Julia’s Run for Children will be held in New Haven on April 14. The event is held in the memory of Julia Rusinek, a graduate of Great Neck North High School, Class of 1996. Julia was a rising senior at Yale University at the time of her death in July 1999. The run celebrates Julia’s life, her passion for running, and her commitment to helping children. The first Julia’s Run in April 2000 was filled with people who knew and loved her. While a core group of Julia’s friends and family return to New Haven every year, the four-mile run is now also popular with competitive runners. The run raises money for LEAP (Leadership, Education, Athletics in Partnership), an enrichment program for youth from poor neighborhoods in New Haven. See www.juliarun.org for more details.
Award Winner
Congratulations to Great Neck North’s own Nicole T. Friedman, winner of the 2013 US Squash William T. Ketcham Jr. Most Improved Player Award, which she received for her dedication to the sport and rapid rise in the national Under-17 rankings. Nicole began the season as the #86-ranked player in the division, having only first discovered Squash at age 14. Without the benefit of full-time formal coaching, Nicole rose in rank to as high as #28, qualifying for the 2013 US Junior National Championships. The tournament was held at Yale University this past weekend, where Nicole received her award. She also performed well enough to place higher than her present ranking, despite being pitted against the eventual tournament champion in the first round. We wish Nicole the best of luck going forward.
North Softball Will Be A Young Entry
You might think that the Great Neck North High girls’ softball team would have very modest expectations coming off last year’s 2-10 record and the fact that only seven players on the roster will have had varsity experience when the Blazers open their season April 2 at home against Lynbrook.
But that’s not just the case according to coach Marisol Mahler, returning for her sixth season. “I have a great feeling about these kids,” said Mahler. “I’m excited. They like the challenge. We’ll start off a little slow with baby steps but we hope to finish strong.” In addition to Lynbrook, North will play home-and-home series against Lawrence, Malverne and Roosevelt.
North Team Looks Ahead
An obvious goal for Great Neck North High School’s baseball team this season is to wipe away the memory of last year’s 1-18 record and coach James Bailin doesn’t feel that his Blazers will have any trouble doing so.
Bailin, starting his second season as head coach after being North’s assistant for six years, is confident that the team is much improved. “We’ve got a lot of young talent,” he said. “It was no surprise that we struggled last year. We had a rough schedule and we had four freshman and one sophomore starting during the last part of the season.” The Blazers won the second game on their schedule last spring and then lost all of the rest. “We aim to erase that,” said the coach, referring to the losing streak. “ We’d like to put that to rest.” Joining the team this year is assistant coach Lloyd Sussman, a graduate of North and the University of Maryland. Sussman was a first baseman for the Blazers.
Bruins Midget Championship
A season’s worth of hardwork brought the top seed in both the Hudson Valley Hockey League and Long Island Amateur Hockey League to the Great Neck Bruin’s Midget Minor team. They beat many teams along the way, won a tournament in Pennsylvania and were living a season of dreams after they secured their bid to the New York State Championships in March. However, it was now playoff time and the all the stats, hardware and standings became meaningless. A disappointing loss to a tough Bear Mountain team brought an abrupt end to their quest for a Hudson Valley Championship. They took no solace in the fact that Bear Mountain went on to win that league the very next weekend.
Junior Olympic Qualifiers
Great Neck residents Alan Xia and Marguerite Li have qualified to compete at the 2013 Metropolitan Swimming Junior Olympics. These young swimmers will compete representing the nationally ranked host team, Long Island Aquatic Club (LIAC). Each year LIAC sends a large squad to the Junior Olympics to compete for the titles as the best age group swimmers in the Metropolitan LSC.
The Junior Olympics are a culmination of months of hard work for swimmers all over the Metropolitan Region. Thanks to their determination and dedication in practice these athletes will be very confident when they step up on the racing blocks to compete.
Success at the junior level is what motivates many of these young athletes to set Olympic sized goals. Since 1996 LIAC has qualified 21 swimmers for the US Olympic Trials.
The Junior Olympics take place March 15 to 17 at the Nassau County Aquatic Center, in Eisenhower Park. For more information on the Junior Olympics or the Long Island Aquatic Club visit LIAC’s website www.longislandswimming.com.
Aiming To Honor Late Coach
The Great Neck North High School Blazers lacrosse team will have two magic numbers on their minds as they prepare to open their season this Wednesday at St. Mary’s in Manhasset, “5” and .500.
“5” is the number of victories the Blazers need to symbolically give their late coach, Chris Deeks, his 200th career victory as a high school coach. Most of those victories were recorded as head coach of Floral Park Memorial. Set to return to North for his third season, Deeks unexpectedly passed away last August while getting ready to lead North’s football team for the first time.
USMMA Swimmers To Nationals
The USMMA men’s swimming team will send at least four competitors to the NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving Championships in Shenandoah, Texas. Kevin Lindgren (Palm City, FL), Sean Minor (Fort Myers, FL), Alvaro Brice (The Woodlands, TX) and Joshua McCormick (Granite Bay, CA) will all represent the Merchant Marine Academy at the National Championships March 2 to -23. Merchant Marine will have a representative in at least seven events, with the possibility of adding Landmark Conference Diver of the Year William Porter (Houston, TX) to the program based on this weekend’s regional qualifying in Springfield, MA.
Minor will be the other solo competitor for USMMA as the senior is seeded 28th in the 50 freestyle.
Info: http://www.ncaa.com/championships/swimming-men/d3
Koo Aims For Nationals
The awards and accolades keep flowing for Great Neck South High School’s most accomplished wrestler since 1979, Chris Koo. But the one prize that Koo covets the most is the national championship coming up in April in Virginia. And beyond that, he’s got his eyes set on the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
Merchant Marine Asst Coach Breaks Throw Record
United States Merchant Marine Academy assistant track and field coach Wilfredo De Jesus broke his Puerto Rican National Weight Throw record recently at the Crowell Invitational in West Point, with a distance of 20.70 meters.
Competing in the open division of the Crowell Invitational featuring top professional and semi-professional track and field athletes; De Jesus’ impressive mark was only bested by 2011 United States Weight Throw Champion Jacob Freeman, one of his training partners.
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