Mineola High School Assistant Principal Reggie Carter suddenly passed away in December of 1999. Despite the fact that Mr. Carter was in charge of discipline, he ruled with a firm hand but friendly demeanor that had the respect of everyone with whom he came in contact in his short time at the school. The Reggie Carter Memorial Scholarship Fund was instituted in his memory. On Feb. 2, a fund-raising triple-header was held at the high school.

An estimated $650 was raised in Mr. Carter's memory and donated to the scholarship fund. In his playing days at St. John's University, Mr. Carter wore number 35. To carry on his memory, the boys varsity basketball captain will now always wear the number 35 jersey. That jersey was presented to this season's Mustang captain, John Murphy. Mr. Carter's widow, Alicia, and his son, Nicholas, were in attendance for the special evening.

It's been a glorious season for the Mineola High School girls varsity bowling team. The Mustangs clinched their second conference championship in four years with a win over Carle Place. Christina Schulze rolled an amazing high game of 246. Joanna Errico came in with a 193, while Jenn Pirrone bowled a 192 and Alison Conti added a 175 game. The junior varsity completed a second place finish in Conference Play. Maryl Fitzpatrick bowled a 171 in the match against Carle Place while Lauren Anderson added a 168. The varsity ladies were far from finished, though. On Saturday, Feb. 3, Mineola won the Nassau County Championship for the first time since 1988. The team of Joanna Errico, Jennifer Pirrone, Alison Conti, Christina Schulze, Lauren Anderson and Melissa Purdy combined to win the title in a close contest all day long with Clarke. Mineola eventually grabbed the championship by 40 pins in the six-game total pin contest. It's now onto the state championships on Saturday, March 3, at Sayville Lanes in Suffolk County. Joanna Errico, Jennifer Pirrone and Christina Schulze all were named All-County for their performances during the regular season.

The Mineola boys bowling team completed its season against Roslyn. The varsity dropped an 8-3 decision. Vito Errico rolled games of 199, 173 and 183 while Joe Tiseo had games of 194 and 211. The boys junior varsity completed its season with a convincing 11-nothing win over Roslyn. The high game was bowled by seventh grader Anthony Tretolo with a 208. Keith Masso added a 167 while Luc Tramanano had a 159.

The Mustang varsity wrestling team continued its memorable season. After having already won the conference regular season title, Mineola defeated Freeport 38 to 25 in the duel meet tournament. Eric Wong gave the Mustangs their first pin, followed by pins from Steve Riccardi and Paul Bispo. Danny Harvey then drubbed his opponent 14 to 2, which was followed by Joe Selby's pin. Craig Gunder bounced his Freeport foe 18 to 5 while Adam Minsky completed the evening by notching an 8-0 shutout. Mineola lost in the second round of the duel meet tournament at MacArthur High School. But, the season is not finished. Fourteen of Coach Dan Guido's Grapplers will compete in the Nassau County individual qualifying tournament at Nassau Community College. The Mineola girls varsity basketball team grabbed a win and took a loss in the last week. The Lady Mustangs defeated Roslyn 55 to 48. Junior forward Maureen Cloghessy led the way with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Senior guard Ashley O'Neill added 14 points, including a steal and layup that keyed an 8-0 run to start the third quarter. The win upped Mineola's Conference IV record to 4 and 4. Six players scored in the win. Senior Katherine Hock had eight points while sophomore Kristin McNally added six. Junior Patty Ober scored five points and senior Erin Sanderleaf scored four. Four nights later, though, the Lady Mustangs could not find the mark. The result was a 37-27 loss at Clarke. Ashley O'Neill was the only one who had any good fortune in the scoring column. The senior guard snapped twine for 14 points. Kristin McNally and Danielle Adams had four points apiece while Maureen Cloghessy added three and Kristina Zunno had two points. That loss left Mineola at 4 and 5 in the league. Meanwhile, the girls JV team was notching two wins. Coach Christine Wiedman's team rocked Roslyn 38-15 behind a 12 point evening from Liz Terezo. Nine different players scored in the victory. The Lady Mustang junior varsity then posted a 39-27 win at Clarke. Shaleira Smith led the scoring with 12 points while Diana Crowe hit three three-pointers in a row and finished with nine points. The Mineola boys varsity basketball team was 4 and 5 in Conference B-II after recovering from a couple of emotional losses with a 65 to 48 win over Valley Stream North. Danny Bailey and Rich Medlock paced the Mustangs with 18 points apiece. Eric Wooten added 11 and Drew Wachter was the fourth player in double figures with 10 points. The win was welcome relief for Coach Scott Donellan, who had watched his team suffer a heartbreaking double-overtime loss to Bellmore JFK the week before. Having obviously spent themselves in that emotional loss, the Mustangs came up way short two nights later in a 67 to 25 loss to visiting Locust Valley. Aaron Kelley led Mineola that night with seven points while sophomore Matt Bispo scored six points. The Mineola varsity gymnastics team grabbed two second place finishes in a couple off meets at the end of January. In the first of the two outings, Mineola had a score of 101.8. High scorers included Michelle Bucalo on the vault and beam, Kerrin Hughes on floor and beam and Jill Tognelli on floor. The next day, the Mustangs scored 104.9 points in placing second of three teams in the meet. Michelle Bucalo had the high scores on the bars and vault, while Captain Kerrin Hughes accumulated the high scores on floor and beam. Jill Tognelli had a strong meet on floor, beam and bars.