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Competing in a districtwide spelling bee By REi WOLfSOHN Correspondent
Joseph D’Alessandro /Herald
The Uniondale girls’ wrestling team was founded at the start of the school year and was met with extraordinary enthusiasm, drawing 28 athletes, 10 of whom won titles in the first girls’ county championship on Feb. 2.
New UHS girls’ wrestling team stands out at county championship By JOSEPH D’ALESSANDRO jdalessandro@liherald.com
Uniondale High School’s new girls’ wrestling team took first place at the state qualifying meet last Sunday. Ten of the school’s top-ranking athletes will compete for state championships on Feb. 27 in Albany. This school year, Long Island’s Section VIII created a new girls’ wrestling league, with its own championship, for the right to go to the state competition. It opens up new opportunities for female athletes in Uniondale to pursue college scholarships. The season started in November and will end this month, paralleling other winter sports such as fencing and basketball. “We have two number one seeds in the
county, a third seed and a couple of second seeds,” Coach Tim Godoy said. Uniondale has 10 all-county wrestlers who are among the top three seeds in their weight classes. Four UHS juniors — Giselle Espinoza, Brianna Marquez, Hayley West and Keishara Tulloch — are among them. Espinoza, who will serve as an alternate in the state competition, said she enjoys competing in a one-on-one sport. “I like the competitiveness,” she said. “If you want to be the best, you don’t have to rely on others, you just have to work hard yourself. You need to put in the work, time and effort for it.” Marquez has qualified for the state competition. “One of my favorite things about ConTinUed on page 4
Uniondale students in third through eighth grades competed in a districtwide spelling bee on Jan. 30. Scripps provides the words for the competition, and the winners from each school will move on to the regional competition. A total of 21 students competed from the district’s five elementary schools and two middle schools. Students, parents and teachers alike were relieved when it was over. “I think everybody feels relieved,” said Michele Lee, who served as the pronouncer. “But it’s like any competition. There’s a lot of emotions. We all want the kids to win, and there can only be one winner. That’s the tough thing about a sumzero sport. We try to teach the kids, ‘You try your best. You try to be proud of yourself. We’re all proud of you.’” The bee was judged by Reading Department teachers Koula Sigler, of Grand Avenue School, Debbie Karapolous, of Smith Street Elementary School, and Nancy Luca, of Walnut Street Elementary. Jennifer Kate Prawl, of Smith Street, was the winner, followed by two second-place
spellers, Jameer Henry, of Walnut Street, and Sage Winfield, of Turtle Hook Elementary. “She reads everything possible,” said Jennifer Kate’s father, Matthew Prawl. “We do the best we can to feed her habit, which is why she makes us regular visitors to the library. We have to make sure that she has as many books as we can keep on hand.” Jennifer Kate’s mother, Rita Greshan, agreed. “Barnes & Noble takes a lot of our money,” Greshan said gleefully. Prawl and Greshan helped Jennifer Kate study the 4,500 words on the Scripps list, rather than the Scripps-based district list provided by the teachers. Along with her natural talents and habits, that enabled her to win. “So this list here — not all of the words were in their packet,” Lee said. “So many of the words that they heard might not have been something that they could even prepare for. So it’s really just that innate ability to spell.” But Jennifer Kate was prepared. Still, both she and Lee believe it’s just something about Jennifer Kate that makes her good at spelling. “I basically think that it’s, I ConTinUed on page 14