club’s carefully devised system when theyare able to recycle again.

Administration was surprised to hear ofthe allegations and promised to look intothe problem. The source told us thatSTART had no choice in the matter andthat the club is not responsible for gettinga recycling bin.

Meanwhile, Weidman and the school’scustodial staff insist that normal proce-dures will likely be reinstated sometimethis week.

Niskayuna High School

Since 1974,Now Weekly

November 9, 2001 Volume 28, Issue 9

by Melissa ChowNEWS

Early this September, se-niors Laila Tabatabai andSara Lischynsky were an-nounced as winners of the2001 National Council ofTeachers of English writingcompetition. This competitionrecognizes some of the beststudent writers in the nation.

For the 2001 competition,Niskayuna High School wasallowed to nominate two stu-dents for the contest. How-ever, due to the increase inenrollment, the school will beallowed to nominate three stu-dents in the future.

Patricia Rand’s eleventhgrade honors classes submit-ted samples of their best writ-ing, along with impromptuwriting pieces, last winter.

Then, six members of the En-glish department read thesamples and chose two schoolwinners: Tabatabai andLischynsky were picked.

By April, the talented writ-ers chose what they consid-ered their ten best pages ofwriting to submit. They alsostayed after school for twohours for a spontaneous writ-ing. The spontaneous writingand the ten pages of selectedpieces were judged by Englishteachers across the nation ac-cording to a rubric. The maxi-mum score for each part is asix; students scoring eleven ortwelve points become winners.Their names are then sent onto the National Committee, andin September, these nationalwinners are notified.

Tabatabai said that she was

“really surprised,” when shefound out that she had beenchosen as a winner.Lischynsky echoed the samefeeling, saying that she was“surprised and shocked.”

Part of this surprise wasdue to the fact that duringtheir spontaneous writing, thepower went out in the com-puter lab. When the systemwas finally running again,they both found that parts oftheir spontaneous writing hadbeen recovered, but some hadbeen lost. Despite all this, theyboth tried to do their best atcompleting the task.Tabatabai stated that she was“really glad that we managedto overcome that obstacle andthe competition across the na-tion.” Lischynsky thoughtthat the situation during the

spontaneous writing wasironic because her topic wasteen stress.

Tabatabai said that it was a“very great honor” to be namedas a winner and said that sheowes a lot to her parents fortheir support and encourage-ment and also to Rand, whomshe felt “brought out the bestin our creative abilities.” Shesays that this experience en-couraged her to keep writingin college.

The girls’ names will be pub-lished in a book listing all thewinners of the competition forthis year. The book is thensent to colleges around thenation. The writers also re-ceived cards to attach to theircollege applications statingthat they are winners of thiscompetition.

Two Nisky students win NCTE writing contest awards

by Brian DashewNEWS

Last week, an anonymous source in-formed The Warrior that a switch ofwaste management to BFI had haltedthe recycling of materials and papersfrom the school. BFI has yet to bring theschool a new “paper only” bin, meaningthat START, the school’s recycling club,cannot follow its usual protocol with ex-cess paper.

“Every week, you see members of STARTtediously going from classroom to class-room with the handy elevator and class-room keys and carts overloaded with pa-per,” said the source. “What you don’t seeis where the papers go.”

The informant, a member of START,said that the paper collected from therecycling bins in each room is throwneach week into the garbage dumpstersafter being collected.

“It’s very deceitful to the student body,”the source claimed, “You’ve all been led tobelieve that you’re doing your part to helpthe earth, but really you’re just throwingall the paper out anyway.”

START advisor Brandi Weidman con-

Warrior photo / Brian Dashew

firmed that the club wasindeed dumping the con-tents of the recycling binsinto the school dumpster.She rationalized the act,though, explaining thatthe school has requestedthe new containers threetimes and is currentlyawaiting their delivery.START is emptying thebins into the garbage be-cause teachers complainif they go unemptied fortoo long. She regrets thatthese actions are beingtaken, yet feels that they are necessary forthe situation.

START president Ben Griffing was alsoupset about the fact that the efforts ofthe clubs were apparently beingwastedthis year. “I think it’s hard to seethe value of recycling when it’s just get-ting thrown out,” he said. “It kind ofdefeats the purpose.”

Still, he urges teachers to continue toplace their recycled paper in the red binsto prevent a rough transition back to the

Recycled paper thrown out with the trash

2 News November 9, 2001 The Warrior

Student bands show off talent at Turkey Aidby Jessica Tepper

NEWS

This year’s Turkey Aid once againproved to be a success as multiple bandsstepped up to the challenge of perform-ing for their peers at Niskayuna. Themusicians covered a wide variety ofmusical genres, making sure that notastes were left unsatisfied. Performerscovered all types, from heavy thrash metalto classic rock to freestyle rap, during thisentertaining music-filled evening.

Tickets cost $5, or $4 with a cannedgood. Proceeds benefited Concerned forthe Hungry. Junior Stuart Woodley wasMaster of Ceremonies and introducedthe bands along with sophomore MichaelEddy. “I really had a lot of fun at TurkeyAid,” Woodley said. For the most part,he was pleased with the smooth flow ofevents throughout the evening. “The onlyproblem,” he noted, “was that some ofthe mics were not loud enough, and youneeded to shout into them in order forthem to work.”

The band Death by Goat setoff the night with a barrage ofhardcore heavy metal. JuniorPat Duff led vocals, while AdamMirza and Justin Knipperjammed on the guitars. Theirperformance ended with afreestyle-rapping cameo by jun-ior Mike Rhodes.

Next on the mic was the “Indy-B**** Rock” group, Jaded.Corinne Walsh led vocals, AmyVan Saun played guitar, SaraSosnow played bass and ErinKramer pounded on the drums.Jaded wrote all of the songs theyperformed, including “ColorGreen,” “Surreal Existence,”and the instrumental version of“Final Solution.”

“I think the night was reallyfun, but I wish we had a soundcheck,” said Van Saun. “The lyr-ics of our songs are pretty muchjust poetry describing our lives-so our songs are all pretty real-istic.” Jaded is in the process ofrecording demos, which theyhopefully will be able to distrib-ute in the future.

Following this act came thepsychedelic rock group, Test ofBalance. Sophomore BradClosson played bass, his youngerbrother Dan played drums, and

sophomore Dan Mannino played guitar.In addition to playing Rush covers, Test ofBalance also performed a few of their ownoriginals. “I really liked the keyboardBrad used, it was awesome,” said juniorXander Lott, who attended the concertthat evening.

In addition to the formal bands, juniorJames Hanley played all improvisationguitar solos between acts. The musicalevent seemed to go rather smoothly withthe new sound equipment recently pur-chased by the high school.

After Test of Balance performed, GroundZero took over the stage. Freshmen MarcLaBelle, Carl Christy, Darryl Hewitt, BenKelly, and Mike Gainey covered varioussongs of AC/DC, Aerosmith, Tom Petty,and Blink-182.

One of the most memorable momentsof the evening was David Krauss’s ren-dition of Papa Roach’s recent smash hit,“Last Resort.”

The music-filled evening concluded withthe band Juice, consisting of seniors

Brennan Fischer, J.D. Proulx, ChrisJohnas, and Ian MacCormack. Juice’smusic is composed of mostly funk alongwith some jazz and alternative. In themiddle of their cover of “Plush” by StoneTemple Pilots, they jammed a little ontheir own, under the influence of the song.Juice also played “Santeria” by Sublime,Led Zepplin’s “What is and what shouldnever be,” an Allman Brothers cover, andthe Zelda and Tetris themes.

“Because we played last in the evening,many people already had left, so it was alittle unfortunate that our audience wasnot as large as the other performers’,”said Fischer.

An enthusiastic crowd also helped inthe fun and gave the bands some goodfeedback. “I think that part of what madeTurkey Aid so successful was that itgave some of the bands publicity and theopportunity to show off their musicaltalent while helping a good cause,” con-cluded Woodley. “I can’t wait to do itagain next year.”

An unsual amount of patriotism was present atHalloween this year, as marines and firemen proved

the most popular costumes.

Halloween haunts halls of Niskayuna

HOOAH!: Seniors Amanda Lecce, Amanda Test, Ashley Boland, and Megan Curran show patriotismand Halloween spirit Wednesday.

Warrior photo / Lindsay O’Connor

3NewsNovember 9, 2001The Warrior

Gentry performs with CR6 dance forceby Jesse Conti

NEWS

Senior Stephanie Gentry, oneof the high school’s own per-formers, made her debut on theCR6 dance force in a recentlytaped episode that was shownon October 27 at 7 p.m. on Chan-nel 6, WRGB.

CR6 first aired on June 30.Since the first broadcast, theshow has taped and aired 20separate episodes. WendyVaughters, the executive pro-ducer of CR6 described it as “alocal version of MTV’s TRL [To-tal Request Live] program.”Each week, FLY92 listeners andWRGB viewers are asked to goto the CR6 website and vote fortheir favorite videos. The top sixvideos are then picked andshown before a live audience.FLY92’s Brian Cody and Chan-nel 6 news reporter ShawnKillinger co-host the program.

The audience, which is com-

prised of people who happen tobe at the place where the show istaped, is encouraged to sing,dance, give shout-outs, and talkabout their favorite groups. Anepisode was taped atNiskayuna High School onWednesday, October 17 withmany Niskayuna students inthe audience. The show is al-ways prerecorded and thenaired the following Saturday.

Gentry is a member of bothBel Canto and Concert Choraleat the high school. She beganhip-hop lessons at the beginningof this year at Dance Force dancestudios on Broadway in Albany.She saw fliers around the studioadvertising auditions for theCR6 dance force. After it wasannounced to her class, she wasalso approached by her instruc-tor to try out. Auditions wereheld at the studio, and she passedthe cuts.

As a member of the dance

force, Gentry learns dance movesfrom a choreographer who cre-ates the dances. The dances aredifferent from the dances in theactual music videos and areshown in between hits.

Gentry’s dancing career hasbeen affected greatly by herfamily’s numerous moves. Bornin Kinderhook NY, Gentry thenmoved (in chronological order)to Burlington, VT; Pottstown,PA; Rexford, NY; Surrey, En-gland; Latham, NY; Cornwall,NY; Latham, NY (again); andmost recently, to Niskayuna, NY.Although the constant movinghas taught her, “not to judgepeople before you know them,”and has shown her a “wider per-spective,” she feels it has sup-pressed, to an extent, her danc-ing career.

Gentry said, “In a way, [mov-ing has] prevented me from get-ting involved with some of thedance experiences I’d have liked

to be involved in. However, morerecently, I’ve pushed as much asI can to get involved with what Iwant right away so that I won’tlose any opportunities.”

Although music played on CR6is mostly pop, Gentry appreci-ates a large range of musicalstyles. “I like a wide range ofmusic. I listen mostly to hiphop, some oldies like Billy Joel,some rap, classical, and prettymuch everything.”

Gentry has been in one epi-sode, but she will appear in more.Taping each week usually takestwo or three hours, and it’sdifficult to stick to that sched-ule since she is involved in theschool play. However, Gentrydoes not mind the crunch onher free time, saying, “I lovedancing, I love hip-hop, I lovethe music I have to dance to.The people are really fun towork with, and it’s a great op-portunity to meet new people.”

by Cassandra WolosNEWS

The Block Scheduling Advisory Com-mittee is continuing to evaluate the blockschedule. After two meetings, the group ofstaff, student, and community represen-tatives has begun to discuss possible ap-proaches to further assessing the block.

Kathy Graham Kelly, an independentstatistician, compiled data from lastspring’s surveys and organized informa-tion from the last year of the nine-periodschedule and the first year of the block.These achievement results include atten-dance figures, grades, statewide and na-tional standardized test scores, and datareflecting the frequency of disciplinaryaction in the high school.

Kelly is no longer working with thedistrict. However, some members of thecommittee are under the impression thatthe committee itself will be analyzing thedata. “We’re doing it ourselves,” explainedEnglish department representative andformer Block Scheduling chairpersonLillian Turner. The data collection wassupervised by the school as well – eachsurvey had to go through the Scantronmachine five times. “This is not the way itwould have been done by professionalsbecause it went through so many hands toget into usable form,” she said. Turner

said that the committee is still open tohiring outside help if necessary.

David Wetzel, assistant principal andco-chair of Block Scheduling Advisory (heis still looking for a second chairperson),maintained that the committee is not surewhether or not it will take on the task ofanalyzing the results. “I don’t think we’vemade that decision yet,” he said.

He noted that preliminary examinationof the data doesn’t seem to reveal anysurprises. “There isn’t anything contro-versial,” he said. “If there was some par-ticular trend, we would look at it.”

This initial observation confirms mem-bers’ expectations. “I would not say weexpected dramatic improvement,” Turnersaid. “But we need at least three years inthe block before we make judgments.”

The one significant difference that ap-peared in the data was not a result of theschedule switch; the student retentionrate went up due to a new GED program.

The representatives are splitting up intosubcommittees to concentrate on possibleproblems with specific issues, such aslunch, learning lab, and homeroom. Al-though eliminating the block is not beingconsidered at this point, representativeshope to address small difficulties by“tweaking the schedule,” according toWetzel. “Like we did with the homeroom,

we’ll make changes to improve the sched-ule that really do make it better,” he said.“The worst thing would be to keep goingwith something that wasn’t working well.”

A major concern is the success of the blockin achieving its original goals – members ofthe committee will look at any improve-ments in the school’s climate. This includesinstructional techniques in the classroomsand the extent to which students are en-gaged in learning. To address this issue, thedistrict is beginning to use new criteria toevaluate teachers and classes. Wetzel hasalready assessed some teachers using thenew standards; he looks for classes whichare “creating an environment of respect andestablishing a culture for learning.”

Carol White, an English teacher whohas served on the committee for severalyears, also expressed concerns about theeffects of the block on the classroomclimate.”“We’re trying to look at the prob-lems and the concerns of the faculty andsee what are the best alternatives,” sheexplained. White said that the group willtry to evaluate the progress of the sched-ule and “iron out the problems.”

The Block Scheduling Committee didnot report to the faculty on November 7 asplanned; a presentation will be made toboth the staff and the Board of Educationbefore December break.

Committee evaluates block schedule

4 Opinion

The Warrior

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

For a one-year subscription, send acheck for $25 payable to NiskayunaHigh School to The Warrior, Attn: Sub-scriptions, 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/index.html

T H E S TA F FEDITORS-IN-CHIEF: Brian Dashew,

Cassandra WolosNEWS EDITORS: Sara Backowski,

Lindsay O’Connor, Jessica Tepper,Anna Yu

ASSISTANT NEWS: Peter ChenOPINION EDITORS: Elspeth Edelstein,

Melissa JordanASSISTANT OPINION: Eugene YeeENTERTAINMENT EDITOR: Ryan

LindenbergASSISTANT ENTERTAINMENT: Bill

Curran, Ben CrairSPORTS EDITORS: Matt Larkin, Pete

RelyeaASSISTANT SPORTS: Michael

SpinnicchiaMAGAZINE EDITORS: Jessica Dan, Leo

SutkinASSISTANT MAGAZINE: Jonathan ChowLAYOUT MANAGER: Dave SheehanDISTRIBUTION MANAGER: Sufyan

ShahinBUSINESS MANAGER: Karin DonhoweWEB SITE MANAGER: David SheehanADVERTISING MANAGER: Anjana VakilCOPY EDITOR: Andrew BrownADVISOR: James Edgar

EDITORIAL POLICIES

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR are wel-come from all members of the schoolcommunity. The Warrior reservesthe right to edit letters for gram-mar and length.

SIGNED OPINION ARTICLES AND CAR-TOONS express the opinions of theircreators.

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.

November 9, 2001 The Warrior

Day brightening suggestions

EDITORIAL

by Melissa JordanHUMOR

Yes, Niskayuna is very exciting. Here are some ways to spice up dreary days.1) Order Chinese food. (Thank you Paul Hebert for starting this trend.)2) Keep a quote book of the humorous and ridiculous words that come out of

people’s mouths.3) Break your leg, and then keep the elevator key.4) Though it’s too late for this year, it’s fun to be in as many club pictures as possible.5) Poke the person sitting in front of you until they turn around and say, “What?”

Then, look away. Glance back with a confused expression, and say, “What?”6) Ask to get a drink, and then go to Starbucks.7) Sign up for every single college visit. Attend all of them.8) As you’re walking down the hall, pick out a shy looking freshman at the other

end. Stare at him the entire length of the hall.9) When you get a test back, argue the validity of your answer for each of the

questions you got wrong.10) Associate all your friends with the different animals that they most closely

resemble. Then make fun of them.11) Pick a new personality for each class. Keep these personalities for a long

period of time. They have to be drastically different, so that when one teacherwonders why you are loud in her class and asks a colleague about the issue, thecolleague will be completely confused because you don’t talk in his class.

12) Make up a new word that means the same as an existing word and useit as much as possible until everyone is also using your word. Then go back tothe old one.

13) Dress as a color. Have match-ing shoes, socks, etc.

14) Pick a cooler person than you.Watch what they wear. Go outand purchase exactly thesame clothes. Exclaimhappily to her every day,“I have that!”

15) Choose a foreignaccent. Make a new friendand tell them you’re anexchange student.

The Warrior editorial last week, “Teach-ers lack compassion,” represented a lapse ineditorial policy – the perspective expresseddid not necessarily convey the consensus ofthe entire Warrior staff. We apologize forany misconceptions or offense taken in re-sponse to the claims within.

The editorial maintainedthat teachers do not careabout their students andstrive only to generate high scores onstandardized tests. It suggested that teach-ers should use a variety of teaching tech-niques, avoid singling out students withderogatory comments, and demonstrateinterest in students as individuals beyondthe classroom.

Despite the reality that some teacherscould be more concerned about individualstudents’ well-being, some teachers in the

high school actively seek to educate theirstudents with both warmth and acceptance.The Niskayuna High School community andstaff do focus on individual students to acertain degree, and some are concernedabout students’ education and growth.

While changes in state testingrequirements have challengedsome teachers to conform to pre-set curricula, not all educators

have given up a personal approach. Thougha variety of teaching methods may be neededin the school, students who are consistentlyenduring lectures are probably not “op-pressed,” as the editorial asserted.

The point of last week’s editorial was lostin an offensive tone. Some teachers onlyteach the required material and do not en-courage learning. However, some teachersdo go out of their ways to assist students.

Some educators foster growth

Warrior art / Leo Sutkin

5OpinionNovember 9, 2001The Warrior

by Cassandra WolosOPINION

We have been deceived, duped, hood-winked, and fooled. And cheated. Anddeluded into believing ourselves produc-tive champions of the environment. Weare suckers.

Due to the lack of a certain all-importantbin, papers intended for recycling have beenmysteriously and purposefully tossed intogarbage dumpsters, along with greasy wrap-pers, the remnants of chemical explosions,and other environmentally unfriendly sub-stances. Neither administrators nor teach-ers nor students were informed of the futil-ity of recycling endeavors, thus, the entireschool community has proudly and sense-lessly continued to deposit each disuseddocument in the appropriate receptacle.

START, the student-run recycling club,actively perpetrated this crime. Club mem-bers can be excused for their hypocrisy, ofcourse, since they cared enough to leak thesecret to The Warrior. Still, each weekNiskayuna students collected all the papersthat the community had separated for sal-vation and proceeded to spew them into theunnatural hell of the trash cans.

The custodial staff assures The Warriorand the administration that the necessaryrecycling bin will arrive shortly to end thisfraud. The club advisors inform us that this

promise has been made before.I, for one, have exerted my physical, men-

tal, and emotional abilities in order to do myduty as citizen of the Earth. Each time aslice of lumber rendered itself valuelessbefore my eyes, I wrenched myself awayfrom my work to hazard the long and ardu-ous journey to the recycling box. Who knowswhat effects these efforts may have had onmy studies. As my concern for nature’s wel-fare is well known, I am stunned and horri-

fied by the recent confessions.I can’t help but wonder - what other

clandestine truths might be lurking withinthe halls of the high school?

We know already that duplicity in theschool isn’t limited to recycling. Afternoonannouncements have been known to in-clude fictitious characters, such as the BeachBoys or the infamous Mr. Jericho, who pos-sessed the sudden urge to visit the mainoffice when a bomb was supposedly plantedin the school. If false personalities are al-lowed to freely roam the halls, any numberof hoaxes could exist.

Who can promise that the infamousswimming pool is actually on its way? IfI remember correctly, it’s been several

A mockery of a travesty of a shamyears since the voters approved the plan,but the swimming teams still practice atother schools. In the meantime, SchenectadyHigh School has both approved and con-structed a large pool area.

Also, the parking lot attendant has notyet appeared to prevent vandalism aroundthe seniors’ cars. At $100 a piece, the park-ing spots were supposed to come along withlot supervision. I don’t expect the guard toappear any time soon.

Jazz singers and musicians at the Niska-Day parade may only be lip synching to therhythms of professionally recorded songs.In fact, maybe the students musicians in thehigh school never learn to play at all. Maybewe just move our arms and fingers andmouths until our parents clap.

Another fallacy has escaped our notice:exercise and nutritious diets have nothingto do with health. We should not drink milk.We should inhale as many greasy mozza-rella sticks as possible. We should never runa mile. Yes, physical education is a plotdevised by conniving officials to tire stu-dents out so that they won’t notice thedeception all around. Like counterfeit recy-cling boxes.

I’m not aiming to incite rebellion or evenadd to the grievances of any pre-existingrevolutionary group. I simply intend to in-spire questioning - what else don’t we know?

CASEY AT BAT

by Paul Hebert

Con

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..

6 Entertainment November 9, 2001 The Warrior

Warrior predicts Survivor: Africa winners

by Ryan LindenbergENTERTAINMENT PREDICTION

by Ben CrairENTERTAINMENT PREDICTION

Ethan Frank

by Bill CurranENTERTAINMENT PREDICTION

Silas

TRIBE: Boran.PROFESSION: Soccer player.STRENGTHS: He is a strong andphysically fit contender. After all, he isa professional soccer player. He hasmany friends and has yet to have anyreal enemies.WEAKNESSES:He is rather passive,which won’t really help him get far. Sofar he has lacked any genuine leader-ship skills.REASON FOR CHOICE: Ethan isjust a really cool guy. Is he noteverybody’s ideal best friend? Judgingfrom his long hair, the fact that hebrought a hackey sack, his liking ofreggae music, and his liberal beliefs(he’s a vegetarian), it’s safe to say thathe’s the first hippie on the show. Sure,he may not be the most vocal person onthe show, but neither was Richard orTina (the past winners of Survivor).Plus, he gets along well with prettymuch everyone. Count on him to go far.

All photos copyright CBS.com

TRIBE: Samburu.PROFESSION: Telephone technician.STRENGTHS: Frank, a former officerin the military, has the necessary skillsto survive into the later rounds. He isa natural leader who has taken chargeof maintaining the Samburu tribe’swater supply.WEAKNESSES: Frank can be pushy,which often upsets the other membersof the tribe. Also, the Samburu tribehas been split between the young mem-bers and the older members. The youngmembers have recently gained strengthin numbers, and Frank might be one oftheir next targets to vote off.REASON FOR CHOICE: His leader-ship is the reason that the Samburutribe is functioning. When the othermembers upset him, he does not throwa temper tantrum. Instead, he just with-draws his participation in tribe activi-ties and lets the order collapse. Hislaid back approach to issues makeshim my personal favorite and my choseto take home to million.

TRIBE: Samburu.PROFESSION: Bartender and aspir-ing actor.STRENGTHS: Silas does not let any-thing get in his way. He is willing to dowhatever is necessary to win. He hasno problem with breaking alliances,he brown-noses when necessary, andhe has the strength to help out inphysically demanding missions.WEAKNESSES: Silas is incrediblycocky. He treats the tribe memberswho are not in his alliance with disre-spect. If the members outside of hisalliance ever gain an advantage, thismight come back to bite him in therear end. His brown-nosing, whichwas previously mentioned as astrength, might act as a double-edgedsword; some members may not buyinto it.REASON FOR CHOICE: Silas hasthe perfect attitude and strength towin. As long as he doesn’t let his egoget the best of him, he is a shoo-in forthe final four. Plus, he reminds me ofColby, the runner up from Survivor II.

Who’s your favorite Survivor?

We went around the school, asking 100 die-hard fans who theirfavorite person on Survivor: Africa was. Here are the results:

KELLY 22%ETHAN 13%SILAS 11%FRANK 10%

CLARENCE 9%KIM P. 8%TERESA 7%LEX 6%

LINSEY 6%TOM 5%BRANDON 2%KIM J. 1%

n=100 ppl

Warrior poll conducted by Bill Curran

WE MISS YOU ELISABETH: A presence likeElisabeth’s, from Survivor II, is dearly missed inSurvivor III .

RYAN’S PICK FOR RUNNER-UP:Silas

BEN’S PICK FOR RUNNER-UP:Ethan

BILL’S PICK FOR RUNNER-UP:Kim P.

7SportsNovember 9, 2001The Warrior

A Niskayuna boys’ fall sports wrap upby Pete Relyea

SPORTS

As the leaves fall from thetrees and the grass turnsbrown, it is only fitting thatthe fall sports season is wind-ing down. For those boys whocompete in football, cross-country, volleyball, crew, andsoccer, this is a perfect oppor-tunity to look back on the sea-son that was in Niskayunaboys’ athletics.

The boys’ soccer teamplayed in the Section II, ClassA championship on Monday,November 5 againstShenendehowa. The team wasbeaten by the Plainsmen by ascore of 1-0. Topher Breedlovescored the goal for the Plains-men early in the first half.This was the third time Shenbeat the Warriors this sea-son. Each game was decidedby just one goal.

The Silver Warriors quali-fied for the championshipgame after defeating theBethlehem Eagles in the semi-

finals. The Eagles were theteam that knocked the War-riors out of the tournamentlast year. The Bethlehem alsodealt Niskayuna two lossesearlier in this season. In thegame against Bethlehem,Chris Frank scored on a pen-alty kick to give Niskayunaan early lead. Within minutesof this goal, Mike Battistescored to widen their lead. Thegame eventually ending witha score of 2-1.

The boys’ cross countryteam finished their seasonwith the Section II champion-ship meet at Saratoga StatePark. The top ten runners onthe team competed in this con-test, but the team lost its num-ber three runner, sophomoreKyle Johnston, to a separatedshoulder. Junior Paul Johnfinished eighth in the race,one spot away from a spot onthe Section II team at the statemeet in Buffalo. While over-all, the team didn’t finish aswell as members had hoped,

coming in eighth out of fifteenteams, the only senior run-ning was Pete Relyea, so theteam will remain essentiallyunchanged next year. Crosscountry will in all likelihoodfare much better againstteams who are graduatingmore of their top runners fromthis season.

The boys’ volleyball teamworked well with their newcoach, Darryl Bray, and waspleased with its performancein the end of season tourna-ment. There was no Section IItournament for the team, how-ever, because the Suburbancouncil is the only divisionthat has boys’ volleyball inthe fall. The team ended witha 7-13 overall record. Theteam began with just sevenmembers, but midwaythrough the season, JV teammembers were brought up tocompete at the varsity level.Senior J.D. Proulx said of theteam’s season, “We did prettygood. The guys that came upfrom JV really helped us out.Also, we worked really wellwith the coaches, even thoughthey were new.”

Boys’ crew, especially theVarsity A boat, had a verysuccessful season. The team’smajor competitions were verylarge meets where they com-peted with a wide range ofteams. At the Head of theConnecticut, they placed thirdout of a field of more than 30teams. They also came in thirdat the Head of the Fish. At the

team’s biggest meet of theyear, the Head of the Charlesin Boston, the team placed25th in a very difficult fieldthat even included some fresh-man college boats. SeniorMatt Miller said, “We thoughtwe had a successful boat, itwas a lot stronger and fasterthan last year.”

This year’s football team fin-ished the season with a 42-13loss to Bishop Magin at homelast Friday, completing thefall season with a 1-8 overallrecord. The team’s single wincame against the MohonasenWarriors at Mohonasen HighSchool back on October 12.The team’s leading scorerswere Kevin Jordan,Niskayuna’s quarterback, andAaron Kopp, a tight end. Thetwo juniors combined for 59 ofthe Silver Warrior’s 131 pointson the season. The team suf-fered this season from the lossof last year’s star playersChris Nappi and ManuelTapia, who graduated andmoved on to college. CoachJohn Furey led last year’ssquad to a 7-2 record.

The fall sports schedule sawboth its ups and downs thisyear, but for all those athleteswho will be returning nextyear, there is hope for defend-ing titles and seeking revenge.For those seniors who aremoving on to college, whetheror not they continue in theirathletics, this has been a greatfall season to look back on astheir last.

Warrior photo / Matt LarkinHE MIGHT GO ALL THE WAY: Sophomore Dan Hjeltnes fightsthrough Guilderland’s defense earlier in the season. The football team’sseason was disappointing.

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8 Sports November 9, 2001 The Warrior

Warrior art /Eugene Yee

The lady Warriors: an October to rememberby Matty Larkin

SPORTS

As the fall sports seasoncomes to an end, many peopleare reflecting on the past twomonths and the performanceof Niskayuna’s teams. Thegirls’ swimming, field hockey,tennis, cross country, volley-ball and soccer squads all hadrespectable seasons.

The girls’ swimming teamis competing in the Section IIchampionship tournament,which began yesterday at RPI.The tournament will be con-tinuing through the weekend.All but one of the members ofthe varsity squad will be tak-ing part.

Led by captains AlyssaKouzan and Amanda Test, theteam posted a record of 4-3-1,an impressive performanceconsidering that the squad inpast years has failed to attaina winning record. SophomoreErica Archer said,“We werehappy overall with our sea-son. We bonded really welland we’re really looking for-ward to Sectionals.”

This year, with only threeseniors, the team had a lot ofyoung talent. However, eachsenior had five years of var-sity experience. This helpedto lead the team to what theyfeel was a successful season.“We had a really good year. Iwas really proud of everyone,”Kouzan commented.

The girls’ volleyball teamhad a disappointing season,finishing with a record of 5-8.Unfortunately, the team’srecord was not good enoughto earn them a spot in theSection II tournament.

The team did have a rathergood start to the season.“Wehad an explosive start to theseason. It kind of diminishedin the middle of the season,but we started to come to-gether,” said senior captainLindsay O’Connor, who, alongwith senior co-captains ErinCampbell and ErynneMancini, has provided theexperience that was the back-bone of the team throughout

the season.Despite their substandard

performance, the teambonded very well, which couldhelp the team in upcomingseasons. Sophomore JennDrezek confirmedthis, saying, “Thisis the closest teamwe’ve had in along time, andwe’re all suchgood friends.”This respect forone another

was displayed bothon and off the court,helping with theprogress of the teamas a whole.

The girls’ soccerteam had yet an-other impressiveseason, finishingwith an overallrecord of1 2 - 5 - 1 .T h et e a md i dv e r ywell de-spite the lossof graduatedstandouts Kyle Koch, MeganKinsella, and Jane Crair.

Unfortunately, the team didnot make it past the SectionII semifinals, losing to BurntHills by a score of 3-1. JuniorAlex Piedmont scored for theWarriors, while sophomoreAmanda Chuda chalked upeight saves in the loss.

This year, the team was ledby eight seniors and headcoach Bryce Colby. Senior Ali-cia Lackey was the biggestoffensive force, leading theteam in goals and assists. Thiswealth of varsity experiencewas a definite plus for theteam, inspiring the younger

players to try their hardest.This was no doubt reflected intheir performance this season.

This years’ field hockeysquad finished its season with

an overall recordof 4-12 and afirst round lossin theSectionals tolast years’champion,S h a k e rH i g hS c h o o l .

The team, led by captains jun-ior Cailin O’Meara and seniorLindsay Liquori had sometrouble early on in the seasonbut managed to come togetherin the second half of the seasonand perform better. “Westarted off really slow, but youcould tell by our last few gamesthat we were a stronger team,”said junior Lauren Piacente.“In our last five games, weplayed really well, which pointstowards success that the teammay have in the future,” saidsenior Emily Moore.

In the first round match-up, Niskayuna was the sev-enth seed against the second

seed Shaker. The Warriors goton the board early on whenO’Meara scored off a pass fromLiquori in the first two min-utes of the game. Unfortu-nately, Shaker retaliated andwon by a score of 2-1. Thiswas an extremely satisfyingeffort to end the season.

The girls’ cross countryteam finished the season witha record of 4-6. Once again,sophomore Caitlin McTaguestood out among the best run-ners in the state. She hadsome new competition thisyear, however, from Saratogaeighth-grader Nicole Blood,who beat McTauge in severalof their match-ups.

At the Section II champion-ships last Friday, McTaguedid not compete due to a po-tential stress fracture. Also,freshman Chelsea Boska didnot run due to a leg injury ofher own. Yet, the team did

very well thanks to the ef-forts of sophomore Sa-

rah Miller andeighth-gradersChelsea Stone.

Along with theimpressive indi-

vidual perfor-mances, the team

improved as well. This can beattributed to the change incoaching with the arrival ofhead coach John Sharkey. Awhole new attitude swept overthe team, leading them to arespectable standing in a verycompetitive league.

The girls’ tennis team, ledby coach Jim Neal, posted arecord of 5-4. Despite theteam’s mediocre performance,several individuals were sentto sectionals, including sopho-mores Jess Schnell andMichelle Casillo. Unfortu-nately, the individuals wereeliminated from the tourna-ment in the early rounds.

While another fall sportsseason comes to a end, a newwinter sports season begins.Hopefully, the talent dis-played in past years will liftthe winter sports season tonew heights.