After a long winter, the arrival of spring brings with it a feeling of being renewed. Spring also brings with it another season of local high school sports. Coaches too spring with optimism about their coming seasons.

Mineola High School Varsity Baseball Coach, Helms Bohringer, starts his sixth season and says, "As always, I believe we should be competing for the conference championship. We would also like to get to the playoffs and possibly the county finals." Bohringer points to nearly a dozen returning key players for his optimism. The coach mentioned each player. Adam Tuthill should be the starting third baseman after finishing strong last season. Ryan Smith is competing for the starting first baseman's job and is a solid defensive player. Steve Bruno plays outfield and pitches, and will be looked upon as a leader on this year's team. Bohringer mentioned that Bruno threw out two runners at the plate last year. Co-Captain Andrew Lyons will start in the Mustang outfield. He's known for his hard work. Brian Gallucci is coming off a season when he was all-county as a sophomore. Brian had a 5-and-2 record on the mound and led the team in hitting with a 436 average. The other co-captain is Jon Debrich. The senior catcher is a three-year varsity performer, is an excellent receiver and has excellent bat control. Debrich hit near 300 in last year's playoffs. John Sullivan is competing for the starting shortstop job. Bohringer says Sullivan is a good athlete with excellent speed. Henry Rodrigues will compete for a starting position at second base. Tom McPartland is looked upon as an enthusiastic and hard-working player who will play first base and outfield. Brian Sallie is another third year varsity player, the ace of the pitching staff, was All-Conference last season and Bohringer says "should be one of the top players in Nassau County." Pat Leung is also one of the many returning Mustangs. He should be one of the starting outfielders and is a solid player. Bohringer also mentioned three players as hot newcomers. They are juniors Tom Aupied, J.F. Canavan and Rob Capagna. Bohringer says that Clark will once again be Mineola's toughest opponent. Clark has won the conference crown the last few years.

Barry Silverstein begins his fifth season as the Mustang's junior varsity baseball coach. Silverstein was voted the JV Coach of the Year in Nassau County for the 2000 season. His captains this season are Greg Weiss and George Harrison. Weiss is a pitcher and catcher while Harrison pitches and plays the outfield. Silverstein says Weiss "is an excellent defensive catcher and is capable of stroking the long ball. Harrison, according to Silverstein, "usually throws strikes and is strong defensively in the outfield." Also among his eight returning players is outfielder Danny Guido, who "will add offensive punch to the line-up." Ed Kaiser will be in the right field, which is usually where the sun is the brightest and the coach says Ed plays it well. Chris Egner returns from last season and will play outfield and pitch. Matt Jetter is adept at playing many positions in the infield. Shon Philip is a first baseman and designated hitter. Silverstein says Philip is the number four hitter and will drive in plenty of runs. Matt Sanderleaf rounds out the returning players. He's ' first baseman, who plays strong defensively. The coach also pointed to Peter Averiamo and Dan Medlock as hot newcomers. Averiamo is a slick fielding shortstop and a good leadoff hitter, while Medlock will be the team's number three hitter and Silverstain says "He'll break some offensive records." The players to watch, according to the coach are Joe Wissler, Mike Kondraciuk and Jerell Harrison. All three are pitchers, who also play outfield. Wissler also is a catcher. In capsulizing his team for the season, Coach Silverstein said "Starting pitching is the key. In my opinion, I have three pitchers that all could be aces. If we stay healthy, we have a shot at our Division. Offensively, we should do fine. We have three or four players that can clear the bases with one swing. Again, staying healthy is a key to every team. I am looking forward to coaching a talented bunch of ninth graders for the next two years and I hope my tenth graders lead by example and prove to be good role models for the freshmen." Silverstein says Clarke will be the Mustangs toughest opponent. Clarke swept Mineola last season. But, with three quality pitchers, the coach says he's confident this year will be different.

After making the county playoffs last year, Mineola High School Girls' Varsity Lacrosse coaches Katie Sheehan and Christine Wiedman say they are not looking to top last year's program. They are just very excited about getting out and starting the new season. But, as Coach Sheehan says, "Winning a playoff game would add a glint to my eye."

Sheehan went onto profile her team. "Leading the team this year will be an almost completely intact returning offensive unit. Seniors Jamie Carter, Katherine Hock, Deena Vezo and Mary Warren will lead the offensive charge this year. Hock enters her senior year with two 50-plus-goal seasons under her belt. Jamie Carter will be giving our top gun a run for her money due to a lot of off-season work on her shooting skills. Supporting those two prolific shooters will be Vezo and Warren, both of whom are showing signs of a new maturity in their game skills. Those four ladies are not Mineola's only offensive weapons, though. Juniors Danielle Adams and Vikki Montalbano aspire to make their presence felt in the offense, where they will be shooting from the mid-field. Sophomore Nikole Tsabasis will join the duo. Nikole comes into this season intending to add improved shooting skills to her repertoire." Coach Sheehan did point out that "one part of the team that will suffer from a lack of experience will be the defensive end. Junior Lauren Anderson, sophomore Theresa Dolan and senior Vanessa Papadimitrios return this season to a unit that is a bit depleted by the graduation of a few key seniors. Lauren, Theresa and Vanessa are eager, though, to bring in the new players and enable this unit to speedily rise to the level of last year's unit. The varsity squad will see two new faces in goal this year. Junior Patty Ober and sophomore Allyson Murphy will be splitting time in goal. Patty comes to the varsity squad with two impressive years on the junior varsity squad. Allyson is returning after a year in private school. Coach Maichin reported favorably about Allyson during her tenure as the middle school goalie." Sheehan also named three new varsity players. "Sophomores Leanne Bohach and Maryanne Georgeou and freshman Courtney O'Connell are the three new players. Leanne and Maryanne bring tremendous speed and stock skills that will be utilized in the midfield while Courtney will bring a steady stick to the defensive picture." In summing up the late arriving spring and season, Coach Sheehan said "Despite rain, sleet, snow and sickness, the varsity squad has taken the first big steps to the playoffs and shows much enthusiasm for the coming season." The Lady Mustangs finally opened their season April 3 with a 15 to 11 win over East Meadow. Mineola scored three quick goals before East Meadow got on the board in the 8th minute. Mineola led 7-6 at halftime. Danielle Adams opened the second half by scoring in the first 30 seconds. This was followed by a three-minute flurry by Mary Warren, who scored three goals and put the Mustangs up 11 to 6. Warren finished the game with 3 goals and 2 assists. Adams scored twice and assisted on another. Jamie Carter, Katherine Hock, Nikole Tsabasis and Deena Vezo eached scored twice as well while Vikki Montalbano and Vanessa Papadimitrios each had a goal. Lauren Anderson and Theresa Dolan did a stellar job leading the defense and adjusting to various combinations the coaches kept introducing. In goal, Ally Murphy got off to a slow start, but rebounded and had a good second half, finishing with 10 saves.

An exhaustive search for a new varsity softball coach proves once again the old adage that nothing worthwhile ever comes easy. But, out of the search came a young and enthusiastic lady with credentials that won't quit. Chrissy Bennett takes over a Lady Mustangs Program with a great tradition. Bennett is a 1996 graduate of Oceanside High School, where she played four years of varsity ball, the last two of which ended in county championships in 1995 and 1996. She was a three time All-County pitcher, twice All-State and MVP of the Nassau County Class A schools in her junior and senior years. Bennett was also named one of the top ten players on Long Island in both of her last two seasons in school. She went on to receive a four-year full-tuition scholarship to play for Central Connecticut State University in New Britain. Bennett graduated from Central last spring with a major in exercise science and health promotion. She has worked softball camps and clinics for the past four years and has given private pitching lessons the last four years as well. Now, she's a first year varsity high school coach.

Bennett's Mustangs went out and won their first game of the season 7 to 1 over Wantagh. Senior pitcher Tara Georges threw a three-hitter and struck out six batters. Freshman Liz Terezo went 2 for 4 with a triple while senior Kerrin Hughes hit a solo homer. The second game was a 7-2 loss to Valley Stream South in which one bad inning was the undoing for Mineola. They bounced back, though, with a 12 to 1 pasting of North Shore. Tara Georges threw a no-hitter and struck out six. Junior Maureen Cloghessy went 2 for 3 in the game while junior Laura Lupo was 2 for 4. Then came a tough 8-inning 4-1 loss to Division followed by a 5-1 loss to Clarke. Coach Bennett says the girls just have to hit better than they have been. Hopefully that'll happen as the weather gets warmer.

Coach Rory Block's junior varsity softball team opened by winning 2 of its first 3 games. In the opener, the Mustangs slugged their way to a 15-6 win over Wantagh behind Kris Nuzzi, who went 3 for 5 with a triple and scored 3 times. Rachel Cohen added two hits while Kristin Raffetto pitched a complete game and struck out 13. In game two, the Mineola JVs had an early 5-1 lead on Valley Stream South. But, South used a 6-run third inning and came away with a 12 to 7 win. Alexandra Vega had a hit, two walks and scored twice. Allyson Strein added her first two hits of the season and scored once. Next time out, the Lady Mustang junior varsity squad exploded for 10 runs in the first inning and then held-on for an 11-9 victory over North Shore. In that big inning, Alexandra Vega had to hits, including a bases-clearing triple and a single. She also scored twice. Denise Fitzpatrick also added two singles and scored a pair of runs in that first inning rampage. Kristin Raffetto was the winning pitcher. She struck out eight batters.