Sewanhaka District Sports Night wows

The Sewanhaka Central High School District’s Sports Night threatened to blow the roof off the Carey High School gym Feb. 25, as five schools came together in an athletic display that was second to none.

Students from Floral Park Memorial, Elmont Memorial, Sewanhaka, H. Frank Carey and New Hyde Park high schools were clad in their respective school colors. Faces were painted, and bandanas and sweatbands were tied around arms, legs and heads. The theme of the night was good will, and there was no shortage of spirit.

The bleachers were so packed that the event was standing room only, and the line to get in snaked down a hallway and out the door into a windy, snowy night. Matt McLees, Carey’s athletic director, said that the event was so popular because it represented one of the greatest facets of the Sewanhaka Central High School District. “We have five high schools that actively participate in athletics and extracurricular activities as individual schools,” he said. “So the theory behind [Sports Night] is to bring all five schools together, not so much to worry about who wins or who loses, but more as a show of the different programs that we have in physical education.”

The program was densely packed, with opening and closing ceremonies, dance numbers, scavenger hunts, relay races, tugs-of-war and cage volleyball, a crowd favorite that pits two massive teams against each other, playing volleyball with an inflatable ball about 10 feet in circumference.

The volleyball was a personal favorite of student Alain Corney, a 17-year-old senior at Elmont Memorial. “Cage volleyball is definitely my favorite,” he said. “I was really active in it. It’s too bad we came up a little short and didn’t win.”

Despite the fact that his school, finished fifth overall on the night, Corney said that the events were hugely valuable to the students who participated as well as those who watched. “It brings everybody together as a family — everybody is united together just to play and have fun,” he said.