Salute to the champs: Fall 2024 Long Island high school winners

Every season, high school athletes across Long Island set out on a journey fueled by passion and the pursuit of excellence. They endure countless hours of training, practices and intense competition to reach the pinnacle of the season: the state championship.

This section celebrates the athletes and teams from Long Island who triumphed to claim New York State titles this season. And in football's case, a Long Island championship.

From dramatic victories to unforgettable performances, these stories highlight the best performances Nassau, Suffolk and the Catholic league have to offer with the fall edition of Newsday’s Salute to the Champions.

FOOTBALL

Long Island's public school football teams do not compete in state tournament, so their ultimate prizes come Thanksgiving weekend at the Long Island Championships. 

In Class I, Tyler Villalta ran Massapequa to a successful title defense -- and a 4-0 sweep of the LICs by Nassau schools. But it was Massapequa's trick play in the county final that put them into the title game. In Class II, when Carey needed quarterback Chris Obertis most, he delivered in crunch time. In Class III, Garden City moved down to Class III this season and kept winning. The streaks heading into next season look like this: 54 straight wins and four consecutive LIC titles. In Class IV, Wantagh saved its best plays for last, and they worked to perfection in winning the LIC.

SOCCER

As if three straight public schools state titles wasn't already impressive enough for the Ward Melville girls soccer team, the Patriots did it all without ever losing a game. They went 56-0-7 in their dynastic run.

No stranger to championship success in the CHSAA, the St. Anthony's girls soccer team returned to the top after a year away as the Friars won their sixth state title in the last seven years.

The seeds for success are often sown in the pain of defeat. So it was with the Carle Place boys soccer team, who won the state Class B title.

Eight senior starters on the Floral Park boys soccer team smoothed the concrete coach Ahkeel Rodney poured to create the road to a state title.

Garden City's football team wasn't the only Trojans squad allergic to losing this fall. The Garden City boys soccer team played 23 games and lost none of them en route to the program's first state title.

CHEERLEADING

The Ward Melville cheerleading team arrived at the state Game Day championship with a point to prove — unfinished business from the year before lingering in their minds. They finished it.

Confidence from last season helped carry the Seaford cheerleading team to a second straight state Game Day title.

VOLLEYBALL

“Last year, losing in the county final destroyed me,” junior Jack Cain said. This year, Cain and the Eastport-South Manor boys volleyball team made sure that didn't happen. The Sharks dropped two sets the entire season en route to the Division II state title.

The Half Hollow Hills West girls volleyball team took a similar path, bouncing back from two consecutive seasons losing in the county final, to end their season undefeated and with a state plaque in their hands.

And in the CHSAA, the Kellenberg girls volleyball team dominated, dropping just three sets all season en route to the state title.

CROSS COUNTRY

Seniors Zariel Macchia of Floyd and Sophia McInnes of Bayport-Blue Point each won their second individual state titles, with Macchia winning the Class A race and McInnes in Class B. 

In team competition, the Manhasset boys team placed five of the first 18 runners en route to the state Class B title, the program's first -- and the first for a Nassau team in 40 years. After dropping from Class C to Class D, the Port Jefferson boys team was given a golden opportunity to snap its 48-year state championship drought. And they did. Read how these Long Islanders ran down their sport's top honors.

GIRLS TENNIS

Angel Walia had been a part of any conversation regarding the best high school girls tennis players on Long Island. And at the end of her final match with Herricks, she stood as the very best in the state.

Walia capped a superlative career with a scintillating three-day run in the state public school singles tournament at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens. The senior was seeded sixth in the 32-person draw and knocked off the top three seeds in her last three matches, completing the feat with a 6-2, 7-6 (4) triumph over top-seeded Olivia Dartawan of Niskayuna in the title match. A singular accomplishment on its own, it also brought redemption after a disappointing third-place finish in the Nassau singles tournament 10 days earlier.

“This is the perfect way to end it,” Walia said. “I was hoping that I could win counties and that didn't happen. So I just worked hard that whole week and fixed my mentality. I reminded myself that this is who I am [and] I could do it.”

With surprising power from a small frame and great court quickness, the 5-3 Walia didn’t drop a set in the state tournament.

And her strong makeup was on full display in the championship match, first as she won the final four games in the first set and later when she held off a formidable comeback effort by Dartawan.

In the eighth game of the second set, Dartawan fought off a match point and then broke serve. She also won the next two games to lead 6-5 before Walia got it to a tiebreaker. There, Walia trailed 4-1 before reeling off six straight points to take the title.

“It means a lot to me because I’ve been playing for six years and this is my last year in high school tennis, so I really wanted to end it on a good note,” Walia said. “I think this is the best note I could possibly go out on.”

GIRLS SWIMMING

Sacred Heart’s Lily Gormsen is looking forward to heading to Charlottesville next year to swim for the University of Virginia, but the senior knew she still had a job to do in her final time competing at the high-school level.

Gormsen won the Federation 200-yard freestyle title in 1:48.64 and defended her state title in the 500 freestyle (4:48.78).

“Knowing this was my last state championship ever, it feels even more special,” Gormsen said. “My goal was to win both, but I also wanted to make sure to live in the moment and cherish these last moments with my teammates.”

Shoreham-Wading River senior Emily Herr is no stranger to the feeling of winning.

Since her freshman year, Herr has been a Suffolk champion. She had broken numerous records, but there was one achievement she wanted to check off the list before going to Villanova: become a state champion.

She had come close to standing on the top of the podium, but it wasn’t until her final race where she was finally able to achieve her goal.

“I’ve been waiting for this feeling,” Herr said after winning the state 200 individual medley title in 2:03.60. “This feels like a dream come true and there was no better time to do it than my senior year.”

When Sarah Lucca took the lead in the 100 butterfly, the swimmers and coaches of the combined Hauppauge-Smithtown team erupted with excitement.

The freshman, who won the 50 freestyle in 23.29 seconds in the previous event, won her second event of the championships in 54.58 seconds, breaking the Webster Aquatic Center pool record of 55.07.

“I was a little stressed because I thought I’d have more time in between,” Lucca said. “But I just tried to get myself as ready as I could and I’m so happy that it all worked out.”

Lucca also was a part of both of Hauppauge-Smithtown’s championship relay teams in the 200 medley and 200 freestyle.

“She’s only 14,” Hauppauge-Smithtown coach Sean Montalvo said. “She really is unbelievable.”

Long Beach girls swimming coach Lynn Volosevich knew Vivienne Zangaro had a special talent the first time she got in the pool.

She was just 7 years old then.

Eight years later, Zangaro proved that Volosevich was right.

Zangaro, a sophomore, finished first in the state in the 200 freestyle (1:49.54) and 500 freestyle (4:53.50). She also was a member of Long Beach’s 400 freestyle relay championship team (3.29.89).

“If she wants something, she’s going to get it,” Volosevich said. “She wanted this. She works so hard and I can’t wait to see what she’ll accomplish these next two years.”

“It feels amazing to be a state champion,” Zangaro said. “There’s really no way to describe it.”

When sophomore Jessica Bassett dove into the water for the 400 freestyle relay, Volosevich had a good feeling.

“Jessica was the third leg of our relay and she really was the MVP,” Volosevich said. “She hit the water — and I have goosebumps talking about it — but she just took off.”

Long Beach's combination of freshman Una Diaz, sophomore Gwen Serafin, Bassett, and Zangaro won the 400 freestyle relay in 3:29.89.

“I was laying on the railing crying tears of happiness,” Volosevich said. “I’ve known all of these girls for so long, so it’s just a very special feeling to watch them grow up and be successful.”

For the Hauppauge-Smithtown girls swim team, relays have become their forte.

At the state girls swimming championships, the combination of Julia Lucca, Mary Schroeder, Sarah Lucca and Olivia Chiofolo took home their third consecutive state championship title in the 200 medley relay (1:45.01).

Later that meet, Julia Lucca, Chiofolo, Avery Wilcox and Sarah Lucca added another relay victory. Hauppauge-Smithtown earned its first state title in the 200 freestyle relay in 1:35.79, a new county record.

“We love the relays, they get us going,” coach Sean Montalvo said. “The way the girls are able to feed off each other is incredible, and everyone gives it their all because they want to win it for one another”