Valley Stream's top sports stories of 2010

These are summaries of some of the top sports stories in Valley Stream in 2010, as chosen by Herald staff.

Rifle Team wins fourth straight state championship

Even with a team of newcomers, nothing could hold back the Valley Stream Central High School District’s rifle team from marching to its fourth straight state championship in March. With the core group of veteran shooters graduating last year, it was up to a largely inexperienced group to carry the load, and that they did. The team was led by Central sophomores Nick Rishkel and Dean Rossano, South High School junior Jumell Wilson, and Memorial Junior High ninth-grader Danielle Cuomo. They took the state championships in both the air rifle and .22 smallbore competitions. Rishkel was the only one who had been a part of the championship team before, and that time only as an alternate.

To get to the state competition, Valley Stream had to win at the county level, which it accomplished for the sixth year in a row. In order to take states, the team had to compete against eight other rifle squads in the county during regular season matches. Coach Blake McCauley said his team had confidence going to the state tournament, which took place on March 6 at the West Point Military Academy. “They were as ready as they were going to be,” he explained. ”They went undefeated in the regular season.” Over the past six seasons the team has a combined record of 95-3 in air rifle and smallbore matches.

At states, Central narrowly defeated Alden High School, from the Buffalo area, in the smallbore competition. Central’s shooters tallied 1,086 points to Alden’s 1,084, with Wilson leading the way with 277 points out of a maximum of 300. In the air rifle, Valley Stream took the victory with a score of 1,106 to 1,098, with Wilson again leading the way with a score of 282, which ranked third among all competitors. The scores at this year’s competition were on par with the scores at last year competition, which produced the same result — a state championship.

Breakthrough year for girls lacrosse

Though a conference title eluded Valley Stream District by the slimmest of margins, there’s no question it was a banner year for the girls’ lacrosse program.