The 24th annual winter sports awards were presented to Walter G. O’Connell Copiague High School varsity athletes on March 4. Sponsored by the Copiague School District Booster Club, the awards recognize the athletic and academic accomplishments of Copiague student-athletes both on and off the field.

Coaches, central office administrators and Board of Education members congratulated athletes from girls bowling, boys bowling, girls basketball, girls winter track, boys basketball, boys winter track and boys and girls wrestling teams. This was the inaugural season for the combined Copiague/Lindenhurst girls wrestling team.

Coaches called athletes up front to be recognized and celebrated for both their individual and team achievements during the season. They also distributed individual honors, including the Coach’s Award, Most Improved Award and the MVP Award, to worthy recipients. Special memorial awards were also presented to members of the wrestling and basketball teams. For basketball, Matthew Brown was awarded the Carmyne Payton Award. The Jim Mahoney Award was presented to basketball player Marko Myroniuk. Wrestler Kenneth Meza Betanco received the Anthony Cipriano Award.

Eight Golden Eagle awards were presented to students from each team with the highest cumulative grade point average. This year, Sara Mierzejewski (girls bowling), Yoervin Espinal Francisco (boys bowling), Desmond Conley Jr. (boys wrestling), Alina Estevez (girls wrestling) Ja’Nyah Martin (girls basketball), Marko Myroniuk (boys basketball), Bielka Perez (girls winter track) and Jonathan Valle (boys winter track) were recipients.