By Joe Fitzgibbon
Two team members, Stephen Zawislak and Nick Novello, became the first rifle competitors in Nassau County history to score 190 out of a possible 200 during the air rifle stage of the tournament. The heavily favored Valley Stream team outscored runners-up Sewanhaka and Garden City by wide margins.
Valley Stream tallied its highest scores of the season, 1094 in the smallbore/cartridge event and 740 in the air rifle stage, to wrap up the county title and advance to the New York State Championships.
Leading the way for Valley Stream in the smallbore event was South junior Novello, who fired a near career best score of 283 out of a possible 300 points. Novello was shocked to finish in first place individually. "I just thought of it as a regular match and was surprised and excited that I had won," he said.
Novello's break-out year began last summer, when he became the first Valley Stream scholastic rifle athlete in seven years to win an individual gold medal at the Empire State Games.
Close behind Novello was South junior Zawislak, who scored a 279. Zawislak, a veteran of all three Valley Stream championship teams, said, "Although this is the third championship team I've been a part of, it still felt great."
Central senior Jennifer Bertha also fired a near career best score of 269, good for fourth place individually. Central senior Mike Supple continued his outstanding first year on the varsity squad, finishing with a score of 263.
With first place locked up in the smallbore event, Valley Stream was ready to defend its county title in the air rifle event during the second day of competition. Poor weather interfered, however, forcing the event to be postponed by a day.
"We had been practicing hard," said head coach Blake McCauley. "We were prepared and ready to go and finding out the match was postponed was disappointing." In a sport which McCauley calls "80 percent mental," a disruption like that has the potential to distract a team, but Valley Stream maintained its focus.
"This is a very focused and determined team. They put the postponement behind them and shot their highest score of the year," McCauley stated.
Zawislak and Novello paced Valley Stream to the county air rifle crown each firing scores of 190 out of a possible 200 points. Novello's performance was a career best and he became just the sixth rifle athlete in Valley Stream history to reach the difficult to achieve 190 mark.
Zawislak also scored near his career best and won the tie breaker over Novello to capture individual first place honors. The win gave Zawislak his second consecutive individual air rifle title. Zawislak finished the season with the top scoring averages in both the smallbore and air rifle events for the second straight year. As a result of the performances of Zawislak and Novello, Valley Stream became the first team in Nassau County history to have two rifle athletes reach the 190 plateau in the same match.
Zawislak and Novello have traded places all year for the top spot and it has been fun to watch both of them rise to the top of the sport, McCauley said. Both Novello and Zawislak will represent New York State at the National Junior Olympics in Colorado at the end of March.
Central sophomore Frances Galvez also had a career day tallying up a 181, her best score of the season to help Valley Stream to victory. According to Coach McCauley, Galvez's performance was impressive because it was just her third varsity match. "She stepped forward in a big way," McCauley said.
Right behind Galvez was Jennifer Bertha continuing her fine season with a 179. Rounding out the scoring for Valley Stream was Central junior Chelsea Grayson and Mike Supple who both fired scores of 176.
During the regular season Valley Stream racked up 14 wins without a loss, its third straight undefeated season. Throughout the season Valley Stream never got ahead of itself, which team members said helped them to focus on the big picture.
"We were always very reserved after wins because we have very high expectations and were always looking to the future," said team co-captain Bertha.
Zawislak and Novello felt Valley Stream's success was due to "hard work, commitment, dedication and good coaching."
Valley Stream will spend its winter break preparing for the New York State Championships on March 3 at West Point. McCauley coached Valley Stream to a state title in 2005, and last year the team placed third at the state championships. McCauley said he expects close competition, but knows his team will be ready.
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