Nassau County Team Of The Week: Which Athletes Are Making A Difference

NASSAU COUNTY, NY. — As the week draws to a close, athletes across Nassau County are looking back on the wins and losses. In Hempstead, Bellmore-Merrick and Long Beach public school districts, the wins really added up.

Read on to find out about the week that was in the Nassau County Team of the Week:

Hempstead Girls’ Relay Team Brings Home Conference Title

In Hempstead, the girls’ track team’s 4x400 meter relay team didn’t even need to run their best time to take home a Section VIII, Conference I title. The team of Riley Belle, Samora Peterson, Rhenia Clarke and Destiny Chan-Hescott ran a 4-minute, 13-second mile across four legs of the relay, three seconds off their personal best.

The goal, junior Riley Belle told Patch, is to break the 4-minute-mile mark as a unit before the outdoor season begins.

“We’re breaking 4 minutes before we go outside,” Belle said. “Before we go outside, we’re breaking 4 minutes for our outdoor season.”

Calhoun Track Wins School’s First Dual Championship

In the Bellmore-Merrick school district, the boys’ and girls’ indoor track teams both brought home Conference III titles, the first time in school history that the track teams have swept the team titles.

“It was a great season, they worked really hard throughout the whole thing, so it’s nice to see it come to fruition,” coach Madison Stapleton told Patch.

On the girls’ side, Jenny Gasparello won a jumping-event “triple crown,” taking home first place in the high jump, long jump and triple jump. The 4x800 relay team of Cayleigh Tuzzolo, Jessica Viggiano, Noora Ibrahim, and Kristen Higgins also won the conference title in that event.

For the boys, Oraldini Mpoy went all-conference in the 55-meter dash and won the conference title in long jump, while Luke Pierce won both the 55-meter hurdles and the high jump. Finally, Tyler Booker burned the candle at both ends, winning both the 100-meter sprint and the 1600-meter run.

"The dual victory marks a milestone moment for the program and reflects the depth, dedication, and unity that defined the Colts throughout the season," Calhoun coaches told Patch this week.

For many of those athletes, the next step is county championships. Calhoun’s boys and girls teams will be competing for team titles, which coach David Hendler said they both have a shot to win.

“The history of the boys and girls’ teams have been that we always won many counties, both teams. The goal, at the beginning of the season, is to win the county…they know that’s the focus from day one,” Hendler told Patch.

All-conference honors were awarded to the following girls:

Jamie Low-Menninger

Noora Ibrahim

Kristen Higgins

Cayleigh Tuzzolo

Jessica Viggiano

Jenny Gasparello

Isabella Barnes

Sofia Maganuco

Alexa Zohar

Sky Zohar

Sophia Del Cid

And to the following boys:

Oraldini Mpoy

Diego Martinez

Tyler Booker

Alexander Nalbone

Andrew Ammirati

Luke Pierce

Matthew Bailey

Andy Granados

Jack Ciccimarro

Hanson Cao

The county championship meet will take place Wednesday, Feb. 4, with a 6:30 start time at St. Anthony’s in Huntington.

Massapequa Wins Big Across Sports

In Massapequa, the boys’ basketball team kicked off the week with a heartbreaker, dropping a 50-48 contest against Syosset. The boys then rebounded with wins over Hicksville and Plainview, allowing just 75 points over the two games. The Hicksville win, by a 63-37 score, also came on senior night.

Meanwhile, the girls’ indoor track team won their conference championship this week, and the boys’ wrestling team won the Nassau County championship. The wrestling team will continue their season with a trip up to Syracuse, while varsity girls and boys’ basketball, gymnastics, cheerleading and indoor track teams are all scheduled to be in action over the weekend and into next week.

Don't see your team highlighted here? Reach out to Thomas.Gambardella@Patch.com to let Patch know who was on top of their game this week. Whether it's a huge win or a big line in the box score, we want to know who's making plays.