By Bill Landon
Scenes from the annual Greek Festival, held at the Greek Orthodox Church of the Assumption, in Port Jefferson. The celebration was held from Aug. 22-25, and was truly a display of great culural pride, as well as the perfect place for some good-old-fashioned family fun!
— Photos by Bill Landon
By Bill Landon
The action was in full steam at the Three Village Tennis Club Saturday morning, Aug. 17, with both singles and mixed doubles play. The club is nestled behind The Setauket Neighborhood House on Main Street, in East Setauket.
Mostly hidden from view lies seven clay courts, that members can use from April 1 through mid-November, weather permitting. The club was established in 1959, with a single hard court, and over the years, added six more — all of which are now clay.
Tennis director, Paul Smith, could be seen restringing members rackets, and said the club has 280 active memberships, many of which are families, putting the club north of 400 players.
Asked what the single most important message, he’d like to convey about the club, to the public, Smith said, “It’s a very family-oriented club, it’s very active, with a relatively low cost to join.”
More information about the Three Village Tennis Club can be found on its website: www.threevillagetennisclub.com.
– Photos by Bill Landon
By Bill Landon
With eight games complete in Town of Brookhaven summer league basketball season, the Centereach Cougars girls basketball squad (6-2), squared off against the Mustangs of Mount Sinai (7-0-1) Monday night, July 29. The competition was as hot as the temperature was inside the Mount Sinai gymnasium where it was a two-point game with eight minutes remaining.
The Mustangs trailed 33-31 before Centereach turned up the heat with Delaney Walters hitting 3-point shots at will to put the game away 49-37, resulting in the Mustangs first loss of the season.
— Photos by Bill Landon
By Bill Landon
Unlike high school varsity basketball, the Town of Brookhaven summer league has just one division for girls varsity basketball where the smallest school will face a much larger school at some point in the 10-game season.
Such was the case Monday night, July 29, in the Mount Sinai High School gym where the Lady Royals of Port Jeff faced a much larger school, the Bulls of Smithtown East. Port Jeff, looking for that elusive first win, were valiantly unable to gain traction in falling to the Bulls 32-21. The win lifts Smithtown East to 6-2-1 with one game remaining.
— Photos by Bill Landon
By Bill Landon
Ward Melville broke out to an early lead in Town of Brookhaven summer league action Monday, July 15, against Smithtown East and safely led until midway through the second half.
Smithtown East inched closer in the final minute of play when the Bulls drained a 3-pointer to trail by one promptly calling time-out. Both teams traded baskets and with 1.7 seconds on the clock, the Bulls inbounded the ball and threw the Hail Mary shot downcourt without success, falling to the Patriots 33-32.
The win lifts the Patriots to 3-2 in the large school varsity division and Smithtown East drops to 3-2 with four games remaining.
By Bill Landon
The Town of Brookhaven launched its summer league boys basketball season when the Patriots of Ward Melville took on Sachem North Thursday, June 27, at Sachem East High School gymnasium. This season’s large school competition consists of 14 teams stretching along the North Shore from Half Hollow Hills West to Riverhead in a nine-game season that will conclude Aug 1.
The Patriots took the early lead and never looked back, putting in a solid performance to win the game 56-50.
— Photos by Bill Landon
By Bill Landon
Both Connetquot (No. 5) and Ward Melville (No. 8) softball teams had their backs against the wall where both suffered an opening round playoff loss and wound up in the loser bracket Saturday morning, May 18.
Connetquot at (12-6) hosted Ward Melville (10-8) in an elimination round of the Suffolk AAA Class championship and led Patriots 6-0 through four innings of play. Izzy Parente’s bat spoke next when she plated Kaitlyn Morales in the top of the 6th inning to take the goose egg off the board. Makenna Steinberg stepped into the batters box and drove in two more, then teammate Cate Scolaro drove in Steinberg for Ward Melville to trail 6-4 to go into the bottom of the 6th inning.
Down to their final three outs, the Patriots trailed 7-4 in the top of 7th but loaded the bases with two outs when Parente crossed home plate on a passed ball to trail 7-5. It was too little too late as Connetquot concluded the Patriots 2024 season.
By Bill Landon
Longwood Lions were no match for the visiting Patriots of Ward Melville, Monday, May 6. By the bottom of the fourth inning, Longwood trailed 5-2 after which their bats fell silent. Ward Melville stormed further ahead in the top of the 5th, when Julianna Russ drove in three runs, Avery Wierzbicki plated a runner as did Izzy Parente. With these five runs, the Patriots took a 10-2 lead. Russ’ bat spoke once more in the top of the seventh inning scoring Wierzbicki to take an 11-2 lead into the bottom of the inning.
Longwood down to their last three outs were unable to answer the call as the Patriots prevailed with the 11-2 victory in the League I matchup.
Ward Melville’s Russ pitched a complete game allowing five hits.
The win lifts Ward Melville to 8-8 with two games remaining before postseason play begins.
By Heidi Sutton
From news and feature articles, sports stories, photography, editorial cartoons, special supplements, ad projects and classifieds, TBR News Media took home 22 awards from the 2023 New York Press Association’s Better Newspaper Contest this year. The winners were announced during NYPA’s annual Spring Conference at the Gideon Putnam Hotel in Saratoga Springs on April 26 and 27.
Over 140 newspapers in New York State took part in the annual event celebrating newspaper excellence with 2,530 entries competing for 379 awards in 70 categories covering the editorial, advertising and circulation efforts of the state’s dailies and weeklies. Members of the Tennessee Press Association were tasked with judging this year’s contest.
TBR News Media earned 175 total contest points including six first-place awards, two-second place awards and seven third-place awards, placing it among the top 5 winners.
In a tight competition, reporter Steven Zaitz won third place in the Best Sports Writer of the Year category. “This writer does a good job of putting the reader into the action. And I like that he doesn’t take 20 words to say what he can say in 10. I liked his work very much,” commented the judge after seeing samples of his work.
A talented photographer as well, Zaitz also captured two first place awards in the Best Sports Action Photo category (Division 1 & 3) as well as an Honorable Mention, second place for Best Front Page, and first place in the Best Feature Photo category with a photo titled “Frozen Assets” taken at the Special Olympics Polar Plunge at Cedar Beach in Mount Sinai last November. “This package has a variety of images with great expression in the subjects faces. I can simply look at the photos and tell these people were cold, but had a warmth in their hearts for this special cause,” said the judge.
Zaitz also received an Honorable Mention for Best Sports Action Photo and Best Sports Feature Photo.
Reporter Bill Landon won a second place award in the Best Feature Photo category with a photo titled “Glittering Revival” taken at the Tesla Science Center in Shoreham during its annual Holiday Lighting event last December, two weeks after the Center’s devastating fire. “This photo shines in the competition in more ways than one … from her facial expression to the unique glow in the photo. It’s an obvious winner!” said the judge.
Landon also received an Honorable Mention for Best Sports Action Photo.
Artist Kyle Horne nabbed first place in the Best Editorial Cartoon category for his creative illustration depicting Port Jefferson Village government’s attempts to address flooding.
Former editor Raymond Janis captured several awards as well including third place for Best News Story for an article on Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) and was a Sharon R. Fulmer Award for Community Leadership third place winner for his coverage of board meetings at the Port Jefferson Village Hall. The judge commented, “You can’t beat a little ‘outrage’ media coverage to make public officials change their tune ASAP. The power of the press and people is STRONG!”
He also shared a third place award with reporter Lynn Hallarman for Best Coverage of Local Government which included a sampling of stories about issues in the Town of Brookhaven and the Village of Port Jefferson. “Excellent layout. Reports are eye-catching and cover a variety of controversial local government topics,” wrote the judge.
In addition, Janis shared an Honorable Mention with reporter Nasrin Zahed in the Best Obituaries category for an article celebrating the full life of Judith “Judi” Betts. “Judi seems like someone you would like to meet,” commented the judge.
Former editor Rita J. Egan snagged third place in the Best Feature Story category for her heartwarming article about a memorial bench from Connecticut that washed ashore at West Meadow Beach in Stony Brook and the attempts to find the owner. The judge commented, “Amazing the things you find during a walk on the beach.”
Classifieds Director Sheila Murray won first place in the Best Classified Advertising category with the judge commenting, “Good looking black and white page layout for classifieds. Could easily find the classified ads on the pages. Not hidden among the ads,” and Art/Production Director Beth Heller Mason received an Honorable Mention for Best Small Space Ad.
TBR News Media’s graduation supplement won first place for Best Special Sections/Niche Publications in Newsprint. “Beautiful work on this keepsake. Dedication to the project shows in the completed product,” wrote the judge.
The newspaper’s annual Summer Times supplement by editor Heidi Sutton received a third place award in the same category with the judge commenting, “The cover is fun and makes you want to look even further. Very nice overall.”
TBR News Media also won third place for Best Innovative Ad Project for its People of the Year supplement and an Honorable Mention for its Salute to Women supplement in the Best Special Section: Advertising category. “Loved this entry and the idea of a salute to women from all walks of life. Just enough info on each woman. Good layout and presentation,” said the judge.
“Probably nothing is more professionally gratifying than being commended by one’s colleagues,” said TBR News Media publisher Leah Dunaief. “We are deeply appreciative for this remarkable total of 22 awards we were given at the Better Newspaper Contest last weekend. The awards run the gamut from excellent articles to outstanding ads to attractive design to community leadership. Congrats to the talented and hard working staff of Times Beacon Record News Media.”
For a full list of winners, visit nynewspapers.com/nypa/better-newspaper-contest/
By Bill Landon
Rocky Point Eagles, on a six-game winning streak, paid a visit to Thomas Cutinella Memorial Field to take on Shoreham-Wading River on a rainy Saturday morning in a Division II matchup, April 20.
The Eagles rattled off three unanswered goals in the opening minutes only to have the Wildcats peel off three of their own to make it a new game with five minutes left in the first quarter.
Rocky Point senior Anna Wood stretched the net in the final seconds to put her team ahead by two at 5-3. Teammate McKenzie Moeller split the pipes off a penalty shot and found the back of the net again to put her team out front 7-3.
Shoreham freshman Madison Herr scored an unlikely one-handed goal while sitting on the turf to trim the Eagles’ lead to three at 7-4 at halftime. Five minutes into the third quarter Reese Marcario scored back-to-back goals for the Wildcats and after teammate Grayce Kitchen netted, Shoreham trailed the Eagles 8-7 at the third quarter.
Rocky Point slowed the tempo of the game the rest of the way with Kylie Lamoureux and Moeller finding the back of the cage for the 10-7 victory.
Moeller finished with four goals and Lamoureux scored twice along with an assist. Brianna Henke had four stops in net for the Eagles.
Marcario had two goals with an assist and freshman goalie Sophia Giangreco had four saves for the Wildcats.
The Eagles (8-1) hosted Mount Sinai and the Wildcats (5-4) visited Comsewogue, Wednesday, April 24, but the results were not available by press time.
Prev
