Freeport athletes off and running

Freeport School District officials said they hope to roll out their full winter sports program after Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Nassau County Executive Laura Curran gave the go-ahead for so-called “high-risk” sports to resume.  
Basketball, wrestling, hockey and cheerleading were deemed high-risk for the spread of Covid-19, but students, parents and school officials advocated to begin those sports again.
Freeport Superintendent Dr. Kishore Kuncham said that he and other local superintendents reached out to Nassau officials on Monday and Tuesday to urge the county to allow those four sports after Cuomo left the decision to resume programs up to local officials. 
“It’s almost been a year since our student athletes lost their opportunity to play and compete,” Kuncham said. “The decision to allow this means a lot for our students, but we must remain cautious and follow all the guidelines from the Department of Health.” 
Freeport girls’ basketball head coach Meredith Jones said she was relieved that a decision did not drag out. “I know Section VIII has a daunting task in developing a safe, comprehensive re-turn-to-play plan,” she said, “especially for the winter sports that were supposed to start Jan. 4.

“The girls just want to play,” Jones added. “They want to represent their high school and try to win a championship.”
Curran and Health Department officials were scheduled to announce the guidelines for the resumption of high-risk sports at a news conference on Wednesday, after press time.
Low- and moderate-risk winter sports began Jan. 4, when, despite rising Covid-19 numbers, bowling, gymnastics, track and field, fencing, swimming and diving and air rifle began practices statewide.
Freeport is competing in all sports offered so far this winter, except gymnastics. Its largest participation is in track and field, where the numbers are considerably down — close to 70 percent.
“All of our meets will be virtual,” boys’ track coach Charles Gilreath said. “We’re making the best of it. We’ve had 13 kids practicing hard every day.”  
Nassau’s track and field schedules had to be revamped after the county was notified by St. Anthony’s High School in South Huntington that it would not host meets inside its fieldhouse. Instead, Section VIII, the governing body for Nassau high school athletics, moved to Plan B, which calls for outdoor meets at high schools. Only a handful of schools will have one or two in-person meets.
Red Devils senior Christian Quinn will be unable to defend his state winter title in the long jump after not competing in the spring because of the pandemic. However, his coach is optimistic Quinn can have a strong next four months and open up more college opportunities. “Christian just started working on the triple jump as well and is already putting up big numbers,” Gilreath said.
Eileen Shultis, who coaches the bowling teams, said the players adjusted well and are happy to have some sense of normalcy back in their lives. The girls are off to a 4-0 start behind senior Melissa Bell, who last winter averaged 182 on the way to earning All-State honors.
Freeport boys’ swimming coach Stephen Chan said the roster stands at nine, led by junior co-captains Matthew Angel and Ethan Cairo. Each of its meets will also be virtual and take place at the Freeport Recreation Center. “The kids have adjusted to the safety requirements very nicely, and they’re working on endurance and stroke techniques,” Chan explained. “They’re very excited to be in the pool.”