Niskayuna High School

Since 1974,Now Weekly

May 7, 2004 Volume 30, Issue 25

TEC Club returns to Rube Goldberg contest

by Moira ColleyNEWS

Hundreds are expected to turn out inClifton Park at Shenendehowa HighSchool East on May 8 at 10 AM for theannual GREAT STRIDES walk to supportchildren and adults with cystic fibrosis.There will also be a walk on May 15th atthe Corning Preserve and Hudson RiverWay in Albany.

The walk is sponsored by GREATSTRIDES, an organization that helps raisemoney for a cure to benefit the lives of peoplewith cystic fibrosis. Participants will be walk-ing for Rachael Nadler, a girl who will soonbe celebrating her second birthday.

Many students are enthusiastic aboutthe walk. Sophomore Nicole DelVecchiostated, “I think the walk is really goodbecause it raises awareness about thedisease and also raises money to ulti-mately find the cure. Maybe someday cys-tic fibrosis will be cured with the supportfrom GREAT STRIDES.” Jen Weiskopf,also a sophomore, said, “I think it’s a greatopportunity for the students in our schoolto make a difference and to help supportthe research for this disease, [research]

Walking ‘great strides’ for Cystic Fibrosis

by Brian PremerlaniNEWS

The Niskayuna Technologi-cal Engineering Club (TEC)participated in the annualRube Goldberg machine con-test, held at the Union CollegeField House on Saturday 24,2004. The TEC club, represent-ing Niskayuna High School,competed against about adozen other teams, and tied forthird with Team Kobra fromthe school Questar Three. Firstand second place winners wereThe Pie’s the Limit, from VanAntwerp Middle School, andWeapons of Mass Constructionfrom Questar Three.

The contest is held each yearin the spirit of the cartoonistReuben Lucius Goldberg (1883-1970), whose cartoons depicted

cockamamie inventions thataccomplished seemingly trivialtasks, with the idea of satiriz-

ing the new technology and in-ventions of his time. The con-test is intended to draw stu-

dents away from usual meth-ods of problem solving and en-courage them to think outsideof the box. The challenge thisyear was to remove a 4-inch piefrom its box, take it out of itsaluminum pan, put it on a plate,and add whipped topping. Someof the challenges in years pasthave been to unlock a combina-tion padlock (1992), screw a lightbulb into a socket (1993), makea cup of coffee (1994), and makea bologna sandwich (2001). Eachof these challenges must be ac-complished in twenty steps ormore. The goal of the device is tocomplicate the task and dem-onstrate innovation and cre-ativity in science and engineer-ing. The machine must be cre-

(continued on page 3,NHS)

Photo courtesy Terry CasilloGO FOR THE GOLDBERG: The Technical Engineering Club poses withtheir machine which tied for third in the Rube Goldberg Competition atUnion College.

which would benefit thousands of people.”With continued research there is still timeto find a cure during Rachael’s lifetime inorder to benefit her as well as many otherpeople diagnosed with this genetic dis-ease. Kristin Weber, a tenth grader who isin charge of the walk’s fund-raising, hopesto contribute to research process of find-ing a cure for Rachael, who is her cousin,and other children like Rachael. SaidWeber, “We are trying to raise money inany way we can in order to help. We soldpaper roses last week during the lunchmods with the help of the NICS club. Weare selling teddy bears through Key Club,having a neighborhood garage sale onJune 11 and 12, and even doing a bottledrive so all the proceeds can go to theCystic Fibrosis Foundation.” This year,for the first time, May was designated asthe Cystic Fibrosis Awareness month, withthe hope of informing the public about thisunfortunate ailment.

Cystic Fibrosis is a life threatening ge-netic disease which affects the respiratoryand the digestive system, so that peoplewith this condition suffer from seriouslung infections. The only thing that hin-

ders the cure for Cystic Fibrosis is the lackof additional funds needed for the supportof research. Everyone is encouraged todonate some time; every dollar of dona-tion will help provide funding for re-search and care programs until the curehas been found.

The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation has beennationally recognized for its efficiency inhelping to find a cure for a genetic disease.Even though there has been remarkableprogress since the Cystic Fibrosis Foun-dation was created over fifty years ago, along way stands ahead before more ad-vancements can be made. TheFoundation’s goal is to raise $10,000, whichis to be used for vital, life-saving research.

If you are interested in participating,fill out a form, located in the main office,and return it to Kristin Weber in C213.Then set a fundraising goal and ask fam-ily and friends to help sponsor you.

It is hoped that many community mem-bers will join the tens of thousands ofpeople in the Cystic Fibrosis Foundationannual walk event nationwide while en-joying a day of fun in raising money to helpfind a cure for people like Rachael.

2 News May 7,2004 The Warrior

NEWS BRIEFS

by Alex RivadeneiraNEWS

Niskayuna High School junior TerenceSteinberg has been accepted into theUnited World College Program, in whichstudents from 120 countries study inschools around the globe. Steinberg willstudy for the next two years in the city ofDuino, Italy on the coast of the AdriaticSea. Steinberg was one of only a few stu-dents, out of hundreds who applied fromthe United States, selected to participate.

A first-year student at Niskayuna,Steinberg has found the high school tobe welcoming and academically satisfy-ing, helping him to achieve the honor ofselection in the program. He noted thathis teachers have been encouraging, andhe is particularly thankful to have hadsupport from counselor Leah Wertz uponarrival. “Here I can easily be challengedby great teachers, courses and healthyacademic competition. It’s a real eye-opener to be in classes where students[are] eager to learn and work,” he said.“I love it here.”

Steinberg is accustomed to change,however. The United World College Pro-gram is looking for students who areflexible and open-minded, knowledge-able about other cultures, and well-rounded in general. Steinberg is involvedin a number of clubs at school, and hasparticipated in a variety of sports. Hehas also already visited many foreigncountries, including Canada, Mexico andthe Dominican Republic.

Steinberg’s brother also attended

school at one of the United World Col-lege campuses in British Columbia, andthoroughly enjoyed the experience ofmeeting new and interesting people from

around the world. “A kid just down thehall at my brother’s school was the princeof Ghana. His uncle’s death would havemade him king,” Steinberg said.

Steinberg’s school in Duino is differ-ent from most other campuses, in thatstudents live in the heart of the sur-rounding town, instead of standard

dorms provided by the school. “The stu-dent bodies, about 200 kids per school,are composed of students from every-where,” he said, “I’m looking forward togetting to know people who are…likeme, but different at the same time.”Though classes will be taught in En-glish, Steinberg is currently studyingItalian at home in hopes of being betterable to learn about Italian society. “Yourneighbors are Italian families,” Steinbergexplained, and therefore he hopes to learnabout and communicate with as manyindividuals as possible.

The two year session has been paid forthrough a Davis Scholarship fund, an or-ganization in association with the UnitedWorld College that pays for the full tuitionof 50 American students every year.Steinberg and his family will cover thecosts of the flights to and from Italy, andother necessities such as food.

“Naturally…it’s intimidating,” hestated. “I’m worried about how much Ital-ian I can get drilled in before I leave, butit shouldn’t be too bad.” Overall, Steinbergis extremely optimistic and excited abouthis acceptance, and is eager about start-ing at the school next year. “After livingwith all these different peers I knowthat my aspirations will likely change,”he said. “United World Colleges give youa great education and immerse you in adifferent region’s culture. It’s really anhonor to be selected.”

Though Steinberg has only recentlyjoined the NHS community, his presencewill be missed next year.

INTERNATIONAL MAN OF MYSTERY:Terence Steinberg is one of a handful of Ameri-cans to be accepted into the United World Col-lege program.

Photo courtesy Terence Steinberg

NHS junior to study in Italy next year

POTENTIAL COUNSELORS: It’s not toolate to apply for summer work in the townplayground program. See Mrs. Ferencik inthe Media Center for all applications.

ACT APPLICATIONS: Today is thedeadline for applications for the June 12ACT, which is NOT held at NHS. See yourcounselor for more information.

EMPIRE STATE GAMES: Applicationsare available in the Athletic Director’sOffice for the 2004 Empire State Games.

BUDGET VOTE: The Budget Vote for the2004-2005 school year will be held on May18. It will be preceeded by a distrcit-wideCelebration of Learning.

3NewsMay 7, 2004The Warrior

NHS participates in Rube Goldberg contest(continued from page 1,

TEC)ated within specified dimensions, com-plete two full cycles within five minutes,and include at least five different typesof energy conversions, and may not in-corporate any live animals. Machinesare judged on their effectiveness, com-plexity, the creativity of the students,and the students’ presentation.

This was the High School team’s sec-ond year participating in the contest.The club was created last year by seniorMichelle Casillo, and attracted manymembers at first. “Michelle created it,

and then we all just kindof jumped on board,” saidsenior Jason Leach. Theclub this year has manyfewer members than ithad the previous year.The club at the time ofthe competition con-sisted of seniors MichelleCasillo, Jason Leach,and Brian Premerlani,freshman BrendanLeach, and their advisor,Jack Gribben.

Last year the club suf-fered atragic loss,as did therest of thes c h o o lbody, whenan important member of theteam, Taylor Trawick,passed away only a fewweeks before the contest.The team members wereoverwhelmed by his pass-ing, but was still able to goahead with and win the2003 contest.

At the beginning of thepresentation of their ma-chine this year, Michelle ex-pressed the team’sthoughts, starting by say-

Photo courtesy Terry Casillo

Photo courtesy Terry Casillo

LIVING UP TO GOLDBERG: Seniors Jason Leach, left, andBrian Premerlani work on Niskayuna’s entry in last week’s RubeGoldberg competition at Union College.

A TOUGH DECISION: Judges at last week’s Rube Goldbergcompetition at Union College look over one of the entries.

Reminder to All Seniors:Any seniors over the age of 18 are eligible to vote in the May 18

budget and school board election.

The budget vote will decide on a $52,876,569 budget plan for the 2004-2005 schoolyear. This year’s increases are the result of staffing cost increases, along with moreexpenses necessary for special ized programs and a proposed soundboard cabinet forthe newly refurbished auditorium. Also new on the budget this year is a six-yeartechnology replacement cycle, which will fund the updating of computers throughout

the district.

There will also be a Meet the Candidates Night on Monday night,May 10th at 7 p.m. in the Van Antwerp Auditorium. Seniors are

strongly encouraged to attend to learn more about the candidatesfor the three available board seats.

ing, “Last year was our first year enter-ing the contest and we ended up win-ning, so we hoped we’d have the sameluck this year. We were looking forwardto entering again.”

The club has three graduating seniorsthis year, which will leave one very lonelymember next year. Anyone interested injoining the club or helping out in anywayshould contact Jack Gribben duringhomeroom in room E201. Current mem-bers are hoping there are students inter-ested in keeping the TEC club a successin years to come.

4 Opinion4 Opinion

The Warrior

The Warrior is published each Fri-day the high school has classes (33times a year).

For a one-year subscription, senda check for $25 payable to NiskayunaHigh School to The Warrior, Attn:Subscriptions, 1626 Balltown Rd.,Niskayuna, NY 12309.

Niskayuna High School1626 Balltown RoadNiskayuna, NY 12309

(518) 382-2511, Ext. 351http://www.nisk.k12.ny.us/nhs/

warrior/

T H E S TA F FEDITORS-IN-CHIEF: Tae Andrews,

Elspeth EdelsteinNEWS EDITORS: Jesse Conti, Leanne

Merrill, Julia Napolitano, JeremyWolos

ASST. NEWS: Nate StaudingerOPINION EDITORS: Kishori Rajan, Alec

WilsonASST. OPINION: Evan BallanENTERTAINMENT EDITOR: Stephanie

Blair, Matt LarkinSPORTS EDITORS: Jonathan Chow, Lisa

D’AnielloASST. SPORTS: Peter ChalfinMAGAZINE EDITORS: Alice Lee, Anna Yu,

Kathryn FantauzziASST. MAGAZINE: Anjana RajanGRAPHICS COORDINATOR: Evan FenaroliDISTRIBUTION MANAGER: Jackie NguyenBUSINESS MANAGER: Erik DonhoweADVERTISING MANAGER: Jonas ChangCOPY EDITOR: Abby AlgerWEB SITE MANAGER?: Scott BrainardADVISORS: James Edgar, Russell

McDowell

EDITORIAL POLICIES

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR are wel-come from all members of theschool community. The Warriorreserves the right to edit lettersfor grammar and length.

SIGNED OPINION ARTICLES AND CAR-TOONS express the opinions oftheir creators.

UNSIGNED EDITORIALS representthe consensus of the paper’s edito-rial board, which may not reflectthe majority of the students’ views.

THE OP-ED PAGES are a forum forstudents’ opinions and ideas.

May 7, 2004 The Warrior

by Evan BallanSATIRE

In the movie Ocean’sEleven, a number of crimi-nals decide to break intoa casino, and steal lots ofmoney from it. Duringpart of the film, they haveto descend through an el-evator shaft layeredwith laser sensors,which are ready toset off an alarmat a second’snotice. Thethieves thenproceed tobreak intothe safe. Ev-ery time I ar-rive at thispoint in the film,it scares me. I thinkto myself, that vaultcould be Niskayuna HighSchool! This vault couldbe my locker! I for one amnot going to sit idly bywhile evil-doers maketheir way into my highschool! I have a plan.

Usually, every door tothe school is locked dur-ing the day, excepting thefront lobby doors, makingit extremely inconvenientfor anyone to get in. It’s a

small price for the stu-dents to pay, really, whenyou think about how muchworse off we would be ifan evil intruder succededin infiltrating the school’sperimeter. I say we needto go further, and, fortu-

nately, the school has in away done this. A numberof doors in the school haverecently had their handlesor knobs removed, deny-ing access to anyone wish-ing to enter. I applaudthis, but we need to go allthe way. I think that allhinges should be removed

in order to ensure that nobad guy can possibly man-age to open any doors.Then the doors could bewelded to the walls sur-rounding them, makingsure that they’d remainclosed. I also think that we

need to improve the ma-terial of our doors.

Right now,most of the ex-terior doorsare made ofg l a s s .GLASS!? Allglass takesis one goodkick fromthe baddies,and it’s bro-

ken! I thinkwe need tita-

nium, bullet-proof doors on ev-

ery single entranceand exit to the build-

ing. While we’re at it, let’smake classroom doors outof the stuff, too. Windowsin classrooms are a defi-nite no; instead, we couldhang up scenic pictures ofthe outdoors. I also thinkwe need to add a

NHS security far too light

(Continued on page 5,FORGET)

In moments of extreme frustration orpain, profanities can be excusable, evennecessary. Somehow, though, four-let-ter words (and we don’t mean “darn”)lose their effectivenesswhen employed twice in ev-ery sentence. Often, the us-ers of such language don’teven fully comprehend its connotations,or understand how it can adversely af-fect other people.

Perhaps the rampant overuse of vul-gar language reflects a deeper problemin our society. Rather than demandingeloquence, or carefully chosen words, wehave become increasingly satisfied withcliches. This can often make us appearuneducated and ill-informed. Politiciansfeed us carefully crafted, but not terriblymeaningful, rhetoric. And modern lit-erature appears far more concerned withplot than prose.

What’s more, for native speakers ofthe English language, Americans ap-pear to have a very poor sense of itsgrammatical structures. For instance,

how many of us have ac-tually mastered when touse “Mike and I” as op-posed to “Mike and me”?

(For the curious—temporarily elimi-nate Mike from the sentence to deter-mine your pronoun i.e. “He gave it tome.” implies “He gave it to Mike andme.”) This may appear trivial to many,but once some rules become ignored,others soon follow.

Yes, you’ll still be understood (for themost part) if you curse or carelessly usebad grammar. However, those peoplewho choose to commit such odious lin-guistic crimes only sound unintelligent,and degrade our general level of expres-sion as a society.

EDITORIAL

How about a little finesse?

Warrior Art / LauraIsabella

5OpinionMay 7, 2003The Warrior

ALL OPINIONS expressed on theop-ed pages represent the individualviewpoints of their authors. Thecontent does not necessarily repre-sent the views of The Warrior, thehigh school, the school district or theBoard of Education.

by Stephanie KaylorOPINION

Chances are that most students haveeither seen, or heard of, staff members smok-ing cigarettes in the parking lot or in theircars. In one of my classes, I looked out of thewindow and saw a member of the staffsmoking in his car, not even bother-ing to conceal his cigarette. I’m notstating my opinion on whether to-bacco is a good or bad thing, asthat is irrelevant. However, if astudent were seen with ciga-rettes, even if he or she wereeighteen, that student wouldbe punished more than ateacher, which is extremely un-fair.

Since students under eighteenand adults alike are our school’sresponsibility, the administrationmay feel that giving three deten-tions out for possession of tobaccowill change our minds about bringingit in. However, if I were motivatedenough to bring in cigarettes in the firstplace, then I probably wouldn’t feel the needto stop doing so just because of three hoursof taking a nap in the New Cafeteria afterschool. As a matter of fact, suspension prob-ably wouldn’t change my mind either.

As I said before, this isn’t a matter ofwhether tobacco is okay for people to use ornot; we all have our personal beliefs andinfluences on that matter. However, whatirritates me the most is the fact that stu-dents would get punished more than teach-ers would for doing the same things. You’dthink it would be the opposite; aren’t teach-

ers supposed to be our role models? Besides,if a student learns in health class that “ciga-rettes are bad for you,” then glances outsideand sees a staff member lighting a smoke inhis SUV,

the messages that our faculty and staff sendout are made useless.

Obviously, some staff members are goingto smoke. No one can really change that, andthere isn’t much of a need to change it. Ifthey’re going to smoke on school grounds, sobe it. They should, however, have to sufferthe consequences just as much as studentswould for committing similar offenses. If ateacher caught me smoking, I assume thatMr. Rickert would be informed, I’d be called

down to the office, and I’d receive a punish-ment, most likely along the lines of suspen-sion. Now if one caught a staff memberdoing the same, the administration, quick to

dispense punishments to the students,wouldn’t care. I know for a fact that

several people have seen at least onemember of the staff smoking in the

parking lot, but I doubt that any ofthese people ratted that person out.Even if they had, he wouldn’t havegotten in trouble.

One may argue that a member ofthe staff smoking in an SUV wouldbe equivalent to that teacher’s smok-ing on his or her private property;however, if a senior in his or her carin the Senior Parking Lot were do-ing something else against the rules,and an administrator just happenedto walk by, would the student be ableto get away with that as well? Afterall, as with smoking, there are a lot ofthings that are legal in many places,just not on school grounds.Honestly, what makes a member of

the staff able to get away with more than astudent? True, some may have professionaldegrees, or work very hard with students,but that doesn’t mean they should get less ofa punishment for the same thing.

Nobody should be lighting up on campus

Warrior art / Tanya Zal

Warrior staff applications for 2004-2005 are here!See page 6, and come see during homeroom (D103) if you have any questions.

Forget door locks; bring on the wild monkeys(Continued from page 4,

SECURITY)system of infrared laser

alarms in the hallways; notonly will it stop the villainousmaniacs constantly trying togo to school; it will also catchkids who are in the hall whenthey shouldn’t be! What a deal!

We also need to increasemeasures so we can track moreexactly the people who enterand exit the premises. When aperson approaches the door,

Student feels staff smoking is hypocritcal, promotes unhealthy habits

they should first be required tohave their fingerprintsscanned, and then their reti-nas, in order to ensure thatthey are truly students at ourschool. But, because TomCruise showed us in MinorityReport that eye-scanning de-vices aren’t always faultless,we should also take a voicesample from everyone whowishes to enter and compare itagainst a database to makesure each person is who he

claims to be. I’d also like to seea magnetic strip added to thestudent IDs that could be runthrough a scanner each morn-ing. We’d be much, much moresafe that way.

Finally, I’d like barbed wireand electrical fences surround-ing the school’s perimeter, andI want guard towers withpeople on a 24-hour watch forintruders who might be plan-ning to sneak in during thenight. I also think our school

should be relocated to an is-land in the middle of shark-infested waters, so that wewould have to be airlifted eachday. Oh, and big spotlights,too, to scan for criminal mas-terminds! That’ll stop thosefiends! We could also haveJackie Chan on location to kung-fu anyone with dastardly plansfor NHS! Then, and only then,would I finally be convinced thatour school is safe. But wait, Iforgot about the killer monkeys!

6 Entertainment March 6, 2004 The Warrior

THE WARRIOR STAFF 2004-2005 APPLICATIONApplications are due in the box in the English Resource Center (D108) by Wednesday, May 19. Staff notification by

Friday, May 21. Please write legibly.GOOD LUCK!

Name________________________________________________ Grade__________ Homeroom__________

Phone Number__________________________ E-Mail____________________________________________

Desired Position(s)Please rank in order of preference. For

more information, please pick up the list ofdescriptions of positions and responsibili-ties available in the English Resource Cen-ter. Important: Section Editor, Editor-in-Chief, and Copy Editor Applicantsshould also pick up the supplementalapplication for those positions.

__ Editor-in-Chief

News __ Editor __ Assistant

Opinion __ Editor __ Assistant

Entertainment __ Editor __ Assistant

Sports __ Editor __ Assistant

Magazine __ Editor __ Assistant

Other __ Staff Writer Sections__________________ __ Staff Artist __ Staff Photographer __ Graphics Coordinator __ Advertising Manager __ Business Manager __ Web Manager __ Distribution Manager __ Copy Editor

Is there any particular position/sectionyou’d prefer to avoid?

_______________________________________________________________________

Past Experience with The Warrior Please include positions held, sections written for, and attendance at distribution.

If none, leave blank.

2003-2004_______________________________________________________________________

2002-2003______________________________________________________________________

2001-2002______________________________________________________________________

Other Time Commitments Please include any sports (including seasons, and whether the coach is flexible about

skipping), school plays, other clubs, other publications (gasp!), youth groups, Drivers’Ed, and other major activities that you plan to participate in next year. Be honest- yourinvolvement in other activities won’t affect our decision, but we want to place sectioneditors together who won’t always be busy at the same time.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Why do you want to work on The Warrior?(Please respond in 100 words or fewer.)

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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Current staff members only: Do you think you work well/less well with anyparticular staff members? (This question is purely intended to help us create harmony.)

SportsThe Warrior

by Jon WetzelSPORTS

With the arrival of spring, theNiskayuna Girls’ Outdoor Track team hascertainly proven its worth within SectionII, one of the most competitive sections forrunning in the nation. The team’s successis a result of the amount of time anddedication that the girls have put intowhat they do. A lot of students notice thetrack athletes running outside everydaypromptly at 3:15, although many do notrealize what really goes into this sport. Ittakes a lot to be a great runner, yet ittakes much more to be a great team.

Led by head Coach Darryl Bray and assis-tants John Sharkey and Mary JaneSomerville, the Lady Warriors have reachedthe top of the heap, battling for the SectionII Gold Division title. Senior runners RobinBankert, Lisa D’Aniello, Caitlin McTagueand Sarah Miller have certainly broughtthe team far this season, from the 100 meterdash all the way to the grueling 3,000 meterrun. Junior Meghan Detrani commented,"Well, the team this year is really strong allaround, and everyone seems to be improv-ing as the season moves on.” This is indeedtrue. Although the distance duo of McTagueand Miller have been constantly improvingand scoring much-needed points for theteam, they, along with their other all-im-portant senior counterparts will be leavingat the end of this year. Yet there are plentyof younger runners willing to step it up andtake the reins on what is one of the leadinggirl's teams in the section. Eighth gradersAlicia D'Alessandro, Christine DelVecchio,and Katy Hogan are a few of many hopefulsfor the future of Nisky Girls Track, with

May 7, 2004 7

Warrior photo / Lisa D’Aniello

BOSKA IN THE HOME STRETCH: Junior Chelsea Boska runs a goodrace in the 3000 meters last Thursday, when Nisky beat Guilderland.

Girls’ track looks to be a force in Section II

CHECK OUT THAT PONY TAIL: Junior Katie Sheehan soars into thepit to win in the triple jump at a home meet last Thursday.

D'Alessandro re-cently running a 13.4in the 100 meter dashto capture third placeat the Fonda Invita-tional. Commentingon the up-and-com-ing runners withinthe girls track pro-gram, Bray noted,"The girls are veryhardworking, tal-ented individuals,who enjoy what theyare doing." McTagueadded, "This is aparticularly youngteam. [Having]many eighth grad-ers willing to trynew things helps alot. They also bringhumor to the team."

Other top young runners include fresh-man Brooke Knowlton, currently leadingthe team in the sprint section, eighth-graderEmily McTague, and sophomores AshleeAtwell, Caitlin Bisallion, Sarah McTague,and Julia Stori, and many others. But thereis no team without any true leaders, andwith the absence of this year's seniors nextspring, the torch will be passed on to anotherset of young ladies. Juniors Chelsea Boska,Meghan Detrani, Andrea DeRocco, AddyPagano, Katie Sheehan, and JessSokolow are sure to be leading a top-ranked team one year from now, with awide range of expertise on the track or inthe field. The girls have got a lot ofground covered, they know what they

are doing, and theycertainly knowhow to groom moregirls to follow intheir footsteps.

"[Right now], theteam is doing reallywell, even though wehave had a lot ofmeets lately, we'vebeen continuing towork hard and do ourbest," commentedBoska. Because ofthe rather tightschedule, with up tothree meets a week,Bray decided to forgothe girls’ entry in theColonie Relays thispast weekend, withhopes to save his

runners for their all-important meet thispast Monday against Bethlehem, which,alas, the Warriors ended up losing byabout 15 points. Although the girls missedout on a great opportunity to set a schoolrecord at Colonie, they have had the chanceto attend other important meets, such asthe infamous Penn Relays, held at theUniversity of Pennsylvania. McTaguenoted that "[The] Penn Relays was a greatexperience, and I was glad to have theopportunity to run against and watchsuch phenomenal runners."

Niskayuna Girls Outdoor Track isn'tmerely about running; the field partici-pants are a defiant part of the winningequation that the team has going for it-self. Standout sophmores Atwell, Stori,and Steph Terpining, along with juniorjumper Sheehan, have certainly helpedsecure many of the team's points.

The athletes in the Niskayuna GirlsTrack and Field program are full of hu-mor, good-heartedness, and dedication.The girls are unique in that they have aparticularly large team, with an im-mense amount of depth. This combina-tion has proven itself up until now, andmay be put to the test in coming weekswith Suburban Council Championships,Sectionals, and a likely entry in theAdidas Outdoor National Track andField Championships in June for thesenior 4 x 1 mile relay. When asked tocomment on the end of the season, Braynoted that "the meets against Bethlehemand Averil Park are important in obtain-ing the Gold Division Title. I would like tosee the team end the season with 6-7 winsand look to place fourth at Sectionals."

Warrior photo / Lisa D’Aniello

8 Sports May 7, 2004 The Warrior

Baseball focuses on winning Sectional berthby Allison Sylvetsky

SPORTS

With a record of 8-2 overall, and 7-2 inthe league, the varsity baseball team isin the middle of an amazing season!Losing only to Columbia andMohonasen, the boys have beatenAverill Park twice, and Mohonasen,Saratoga, Bethlehem, Burnt Hills,Guilderland, and Oneonta eachonce. This week's competition in-cludes Shenendehowa on Monday,which is anticipated to be a toughgame, Columbia on Wednesday, andColonie on Friday.

The team has played some in-credible games so far this season.When they defeated Bethlehem,they were down 5-1 in the last in-ning, and amazingly managed to tieit up and win in the 13th inning.What a game! Although that come-back was the most memorable, theteam has come from behind a fewother times as well. Offensively, theteam has been very strong, espe-cially in important clutch situations.Currently, sophomore Matt Simoneand seniors Joe Tamborello andNick Barbera lead the team in hit-ting. On the defensive end, strongpitching has been very important tothis season's success. Said seniorBrian Dillon, "Right now we areriding on the pitching dominance ofPete Chalfin, and Matt Simone hasshown that we can rely on him aswell to pitch in big games. Having thatone-two punch has greatly benefited us,and will continue to help us inSectionals.”

According to captain Pete Chalfin,other big wins include the one againstSaratoga, in which they defeated ‘Toga'stop pitcher, along with a huge win over

Mohonasen on Friday, who had beatenthem the last few times. Aside fromMohonasen, Columbia is the only otherteam who managed to beat the solidNiskayuna team, and is currently the

"team to beat."The baseball team has not made the

playoffs or ended with a winning season inthe past three years, making this season'sgreat record even more exciting. One morewin in the next six games will allow themto participate in the Sectional tourna-ment. At the beginning of the season,

their goal was to make Sectionals andhave a winning record: at this point, itappears that their goal will be achieved.

When asked why the team has beenperforming so much better this season,

players tended to agree that the ma-jor change was in the team chemis-try. The baseball team is composedof two sophomores, Simone andBrian Grastorf, five juniors, andseven seniors, all of whom get alongboth on and off the field. Accordingto junior Ben Kelly, "We have awinning combination: not only tal-ent on the field, but guys who wantto win and play together."

Chalfin, who has been a memberof the team for three years, agreed,saying, "We work as a team and wehave more team chemistry than inthe last two years, which is par-tially due to the fact that we have asmall team of only 14 guys and onlyone coach. We are all pretty close."Leadership has also been a key fac-tor to the team's success. Accordingto junior Ben Baker, "We have re-ally been playing awesome, largelydue to a combination of great lead-ership and great coaching."

TeamCoach Furey added, "At thispoint, everything is going well; theteam has really come together. Dif-ferent people have stepped up atdifferent times and made importantplays; everyone has a role.” Theteam’s goal was originally to make

it to Sectionals, and although it is likely,the team has not accomplished this yet.“We are playing one game at time andfocusing on our goal of makingSectionals,” said Furey, “The next goalwould be to make a run at the divisionchampionship, but anything can happenand we have to get there first."

Photo courtesy Timesunion.com

SUCCESS WENT TO HIS HEAD: Pete Chalfin’s pitchingprowess has landed him a coveted bobblehead icon onTimesunion.com