The Mineola High School varsity baseball team begins its 11th season under head coach Helms Bohringer with a sense of optimism. In assessing his team, Bohringer said, "I believe this team has the talent to compete for the conference championship. We should be in the top ten in the county. When we make the playoffs, it would be nice to be in the double-elimination portion."

Bohringer has 11 returning players from last year's squad. The coach described each of them as follows:

Kevin Tiseo - OF/P-Excellent offensive skills and plays very well defensively.

Tiago Rodrigues - P/OF-A three-year starter and the ace of the staff. Was top 10 in county in strikeouts.

Nelson Lopes - SS/P - Came on strong last season with the bat. Will help on mound and anchor defense.

Mike Santopetro - P/OF-Will help with his diversity of being on the mound and roaming the outfield, strong arm.

Justin Gonzalez - 1B/C - A hardworking player who will see time because of his bat.

Nick Tonini - 3B/INF - Has improved a lot, his fielding skills will help the team.

John Cloghessy - 1B - Returning starter at 1B, can pick it with the best of them. Will also see some time on the mound.

Mark Levy - P/C - Should continue on mound, got a lot of experience last season.

Chris Lang and Bryan Carlin - INF - Will help the club.

Obviously, Bohringer is hoping to get some valuable help from some hot newcomers. Among the cast of juniors on the varsity team this season are at least three who figure prominently in the coach's plans. Rob Maloney will anchor the outfield. Chris Orlando will compete for time behind the plate and on the mound. Mick Oswald should earn one of the starting pitching spots for the Mustangs. In handicapping his schedule for this season, Bohringer said, "Defending champion North Shore historically has an excellent program. Crossover games with Garden City, Hewlett and Lawrence will be an indication of how prepared we will be for the conference season."

The Mustangs junior varsity baseball team has a first-year coach, Andrew Visconti, who played at Hicksville High School and Eastern Connecticut State University.

The coach welcomes back John Aven, T.J. Gessner, Robert Levy, Walter Sherman and Frank Thomas from last year's team. As a first year coach, that's pretty much all you know before you form your team. "This season, the team is going to work hard and have fun playing the game. We will improve our fundamental skills and the way we approach the game each day. As the season progresses, these young men will develop into players who are ready to make the next step to the varsity level," the coach said.

The Mineola JV softball team is also headed up by a first year coach. Mineola High School alum Kerrin Hughes has her first team since graduating from Geneseo. "We will be concentrating on fundamentals while increasing our knowledge of the game. There is a great bunch of girls on this team and my hope is we will win games while having a good time," she said.

Coach Hughes is counting on five returning players to help get things off on the right foot. They are:

Diane DaSilva - OF - Shows tremendous amount of effort.

Vicky Dossaritos - OF/1B - Captain - Moves well to the ball, has good knowledge of the game.

Krissie LaCourte - 2B/SS - Captain - Has a great arm.

Jenny Paredes - C - Good communicator on the field, a natural leader.

Lauren Randazzo - 3B - Great Arm, hard worker.

Coach Hughes is also counting on some quality play from a couple of hot newcomers - shortstop Monique Torres and pitcher Julie Novak.

The Mineola High School boys track and field team finished third in its first quad meet of the season at Valley Stream North. Further evidence of a stronger team this season is the 43 points the boys accumulated in this meet, more than any other meet they competed in last season.

Coach Mike Santa Maria said the highlights of the day included the first play finish of the 4X400 relay team of Tom Varughese, Tobin George, Claudio DeMatos and John Valente overcame a 20-meter deficit to edge Carle Place. Valente made up the difference on the anchor leg with a scintillating 52.4. Valente also placed second in the long jump and third in the 200 meters. Rob Olszewski set a personal record in the shot put with a heave of 44 feet, 2 inches to place second. Olszewski also took second in the discus. Other scorers in the meet included:

Claudio DeMatos - 4th in the 1,600 meters, 4th in the 800 meters

Matt Siwinski - 4th in the 100 meters

Tom Varughese - 3rd in the 400 meters, 5th in the 200 meters

Joe Wellbrock - 5th in the 3,200 meters

Rob Kiss - 5th in the shot put, 3rd in the discus

Dave Gouveia - 4th in the shot put, 5th in the discus