Mineola High School's track and field teams competed in the Nassau County Championships and did very well for themselves. In fact, senior Samantha Hegmann won a county championship in two individual events.

On the first day of the meet, Hegmann won the shotput with a throw of 34 feet, 2 inches. The next day, she defended her discus championship with a school record throw of 120 feet, 6 inches. That was also the best throw in the county this year. Hegmann has won the county title in the discus after only starting the sport in 2004.

Meanwhile, from the boy's squad, senior Rob Olszewski missed the county because of illness and you really have to be sick to miss a meet that big. Anyway, Olszewski recovered enough to compete in the New York State Qualifier and he heaved the shot 45 feet, 7.5 inches, a personal best, to qualify for the State Meet on June 10. Hegmann also qualified for the State Meet with her county titles and will be competing in the Nationals as well. Coach Kristin Frazer reports Hegmann is currently ranked second in New York State in Mineola's class and 12th overall in the state in the discus.

The Mineola girls squad competed well throughout the county meet, finishing a very respectable sixth out of 19 teams competing in their class. Senior Julia Yan had a big two days. She entered the 400-meter hurdles as the fifth seed and took second on a very windy day. Yan earned All-County honors in that event.

Also, battling the wind, sophomore Nicole Wissler ran a school record time of 11:29.8, shaving 11 seconds off her previous record time in the 3,000 meters and took seventh in the meet. Senior Lauren Napolitano ran her fastest time of the season in the 200 meters. Senior Christine Medlock finished 10th overall in the 400 meters. Sophomore Meredith Minsky finished eighth in the shotput and senior Liz Campbell finished seventh in the discus. Jenn Pawlowski ran in the 800 meters and finished seventh overall. The 4X400 relay team of Julia Yan, Christine Medlock, Alia Fater and Jenn Pawlowski finished fourth to medal in that event for the fourth straight year. The 4X800 relay team of Fater, Pawlowski, Wissler and Yan also finished fourth to earn medals. Coach Frazer said goodbye to seniors Bethany Brown, Liz Campbell, Samantha Hegmann, Lauren Massa, Christine Medlock, Lauren Napolitano, Jaimie Silva and Julia Yan, who all contributed to the continuing success of the program.

In total, nine school records were broken this spring season:

1,500 meters - Nicole Wissler - 5:21.2 (Old record 5:25.4)

3,000 meters - Nicole Willser - 11:29.8 (12:08)

100 hurdles - Julia Yan - 18.4 (20.8)

400 hurdles - Julia Yan - 71.5 (74.8)

Triple Jump - Jaimie Silva - 30'9'' (29'10'')

Shotput - Samantha Hegmann - 34'4'' (31'11.5'')

Discus - Samantha Hegmann - 120'6'' (104'7'')

Pentathlon - Julia Yan - 2,155 points (1,899 points)

4X800 Relay - Alia Fater, Jenn Pawlowski, Nicole Wissler, Julia Yan - 10:31.2 (10:42.7)

Coach Mike Santa Maria was also happy with the performance of the boys team in the county meet. In addition to Rob Olszewski's performance in the state qualifier meet in the shotput, two other seniors also accorded themselves very well. Rob Kiss attained All-County honors in the discus with a throw of 116'2'' to place third. Dave Gouveia took fourth with a throw of 114'10''. Kiss and Gouveia also placed fifth and sixth in the county meet in the shotput. Kiss Attained a personal best of 43'11.5'' in the State Qualifier in the shotput and qualified for the finals.

The seniors who will be graduating from the team include Edgar Gallindo, Tiago Barbosa, Gouveia, Kiss and Olszewski. Galindo was the lone four-year athlete on the team. "He also exemplified hard work and determination ranging from the 200 meters to 3,200 meters. Barbosa was a three-year athlete who was always willing to try difficult events such as the high hurdles and the triple jump. He improved his 400-meter time by over 10 seconds in the past two years. Kiss and Gouveia were new additions to the squad as seniors. They teamed with Olszewski to allow Mineola to dominate the shotput and discus in Conference IV, winning scores of medals along the way," said coach Santa Maria.

The coach also added that Olszewski steadily improved each year in both events over the past three years to become one of the top throwers in the county. Olszewski is now ranked in the top five in the shotput out of more than 500 throwers in the county.

Despite losing those five seniors, coach Santa Maria said, "There is much reason for optimism next year. The program's record-setting two mile relay team of freshman Joe Wellbrock and juniors Chris Vera, Danny Sanches and Claudio DeMatos all return next year, poised to make it to the state championships. I also expect big things from Wellbrock in the 400 hurdles and 800 meters; Danny Sanches in the mile; DeMatos in the mile and 3,000-meter steeplechase and captain Chris Vera in the mile and two mile."

Sophomore Kenny Rauert, who has improved his shotput by more than five feet and his discus by nearly 30 feet, will lead a new batch of Mineola throwers next year.

"I'm looking forward to freshman Greg Lapin and sophomore Kevin Sung competing in the 200 and 400 as well as the 4X100 relay. Junior Matt Siwinski will be our sprinting specialist and an important cog in the 4X100 relay as well," said Coach Santa Maria.

The coach is also expecting junior John Valente to bounce back from injuries and challenge the best in the county in the 400 meters, long jump and 4X400 relay. He's also expecting that the versatile freshman Tobin George could score big points in the high jump and relays. He's also looking for sophomores Brandon Havercome (long jump) and Alec Schoenoltz (mile) to be major contributors next year.