Sports

Bonackers contributed to the South Fork Islanders' 10-7 win over Riverhead Saturday, and the girls beat North Babylon 18-11 on Friday.

Sayed Selim, the former coach of Egypt's national women's squash team, who worked so well with youngsters when he was the Southampton Recreation Center's squash director about a decade ago, continues to dream big when it comes to broadening the appeal of a sport that has largely been the province of the world's well-heeled.

Before taking early retirement a few years ago, I was fortunate to have had the opportunity to travel extensively in my job. When time allowed, especially on weekends, I often tried to visit any nearby tackle shops or fish markets to better understand and appreciate the wares and tastes of the locals.

Joe Vas, the East Hampton School District's athletic director, said Monday he thinks it will be a good spring for the high school's varsity teams, if for no other reason than the kids are finally getting a chance to play.

Vinny Alversa and Annemarie Brown have been working hard these past few years to build their programs at East Hampton High School -- baseball in Alversa's case, softball in Brown's -- and this hard work seems to be on the verge of paying off, if last week's practices are indicative.

James Bradley, an East Hampton High School freshman, became Suffolk County's individual golf champion Tuesday, winning by three shots over Jack Bruetsch of Center Moriches, a sophomore, at the Smithtown Landing Country Club.

The eight competitors Craig Brierley took with him to the county girls swimming meet at Stony Brook University last weekend finished ninth among the 26 teams entered, and all of them turned in season-best or lifetime-best times.

Juliana Barahona and Sandrine Becht, East Hampton High's top doubles pairing, made all-state this past weekend as a result of placing third in the county individual girls tennis tournament at Shoreham-Wading River High School. The Bonac team also received the tournament's doubles sportsmanship award.

Before the fishing scene gets into full swing over the next few weeks, there are a few things that bear reminding for those who ply our waters with a rod and reel and more.

The East Hampton High School girls cross-country team finished third and the boys finished fourth in county cross-country meets last week at Sunken Meadow State Park in Kings Park.

East Hampton's 1-0 county Class A final loss to Harborfields on Saturday came down to one set play. "If we played them 10 times, we'd win five and they'd win five," Bonac's coach said of the matchup.

East Hampton High's girls cross-country runners ran in a steady downpour at Sunken Meadow State Park last Thursday, and the team emerged, barely, as Division IV's Class B winner.

"Though it took 45 minutes for me to learn that we'd won -- by 1 point," Diane O'Donnell, Bonac's coach, said during a telephone conversation Sunday.

The reason for the long delay in posting the results had much to do with the fact that "all the electronic timing equipment had been removed. . . . Instead of chips, the girls had 3-by-5 cards clipped to their shirts with their names and numbers."