LOCAL NEWS

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NEW YORK SPORTS DIGEST February - March, 2001 EDWARDS COMES TO NEW YORK MASSAPEQUA WINS TOUCH FOOTBALL LEAGUE TITLE SUAREZ LEARNS FROM SITTING LEMIEUX MAKES SELECT SQUAD LETTERS TO THE EDITOR HOME April - May, 2001

SWIMMERS HEAD FOR COUNTIES           The Long Beach High School swimming team, off to an excellent start after its first nine dual meets, sports a 7-2 mark. They are young with three seniors on the roster. The swimmers were hit hard last year with 17 graduation losses.     Captains Nick Calucci and Dan Powers along with Sean Killarney are some of the mainstays of the team. The latter is on the squad for his first time.               The squad is bolstered by William Skudin, who is capable of swimming all the strokes, but the freestyle is his best; Trevor Hughes, who can do the individual medley, butterfly, and freestyle; Victor Stoyanov, who came to Long Beach from the Ukraine, and Tim Salter, runnerup in the County in the backstroke last year.     "Salter might surprise some people in the County championships," coach Woody Davis said.               Chris Griffin should be up there and fighting for the title in the dive. Griffin, in fact, is one of the top divers in the county. He ranks third behind Jared Jax of Freeport and Dave Edelstein of Hewlett.    Davis is very confident that his team will do well in the County meet.     "Overall, our swimmers are working hard," the veteran coach said. "We have lots of good kids and we have a good building team for the future. Long Beach is set for years to come.               "We should be competitive in the County championships if we work our tail off. And we still can win our division title."               In other news from Long Beach High School, its track and field team is expected to give it a good try in the upcoming County meet. Of course, they have to meet up with such schools as Uniondale and Lawrence, which always provides the excitement. The meet is set for the State University of New York at Farmingdale.     In Lacrosse, plans are underway for the team to take a trip during the Easter recess. And the boys are very excited about it. This will give both the varsity and junior varsity stickmen a good experience.           Did you know that the St. Mary’s High School’s basketball team, led by brothers Matt Preston and Brian Preston and Dwayne Byfield, had a 12-0 record at one stage of the season and is ranked first in the State among Class ‘B’ schools. Matt started last year on the varsity. St. Mary’s is located in Manhasset. LONG BEACH RECREATION NEWS The Long Beach Recreation Department is currently signing up boys from Long Beach, Lido, and Point Lookout for ‘Early-Bird Lacrosse Registration’ which is for youngsters from seven through 12 years of age. There will be three leagues organized -- Pee Wee Division, Junior Division, and Intermediate Division. The Recreation Department supplies the boys with some equipment, while the youngsters supply their own sticks and gloves...A clinic is set for March 31 at 11:00 a.m. Games will start during the first weekend of May. . . First place finishers in the Basketball Contest conducted during the Christmas-New Year's break were Scott Terry, Cleary Goodman, Jasmine Pitts, Tyrell Carr, Alex Solomon, and Mary Ann Raftery. Evan Laude won both the hot shot and foul shooting contests. . . The Long Beach Winter Basketball League is underway with games at the Lindell and Middle schools. There are 36 teams in the league. The Intermediate League starts in February. . . Bill Luongo is the President of the Long Beach-Lido Little League. He announced that registration is still taking place by calling 431-1506. Youngsters range from ages 5 to 17. There are 90 teams in the league all sponsored by local merchants. Among the teams are Zamboni, All Seasons, and Long Beach Music...Games are contested at the Middle School field, Recreation field, Mushroom Park and Shell Creek Park. There are traveling teams on each level. . . The City of Long Beach is once again conducting its Snowflake Race on Saturday Feb. 10. There will be close to 1000 runners jamming the starting line at 11:00 a.m....The shirt pickup and award ceremony will be at the Lindell School. A bus will transport the athletes to and from the school. One of the better runners from the area, John McLaughlin is expected to enter the race. . .