Talk:Wellington C. Mepham High School

Mark Belger?
Mark Belger should not be added to this article on the grounds that he is not notable. Just because he held a record in high school does not make him notable. And how do you quantify "successful" runner? You cite no sources to prove anything. If he's not notable enough to have his own article on Wikipedia, then he's not notable enough to be included in this list. &mdash;  Hello Annyong  (say whaaat?!) 20:02, 1 February 2009 (UTC)


 * Within the running community, especially that of Long Island New York, Belger is a well known athlete. He held the high school world record in the 880 yards as a junior in high school. Belger's Sophmore and Junior records still stand today, that he ran in 72 and 73 respectively. Here is a legitimate source:


 * Belger in high school won many of the top high school meets in the country in the 880 yards in successive weekends which is extremely difficult for a runner of any caliber.


 * After graduating from Mepham, Belger attended Villanova. There he continued his running success. To this day he has won ten golden watches from the Penn Relays Carnival, the most prestiges high school and college meet in the country. (a golden watch is traditionally to be awarded to the first place team.)


 * 


 * Those two sources highlight his success at the Relay Carnival.


 * Its also not as much of a credible source but there is a discussion about Mark Belger going on currently on Dyestat.

The people discussing him are active in the Long Island running community, including his former coach Paul Limmer, and other coaches in the area. Forums are not always refutable but the statistics given on dyestat by coaches are sound.


 * Ask any athlete that has ever seen Mark Belger compete, and they will tell you that he is likely the greatest middle distance athlete they have ever seen. If you also view his statistics, you can see his unparalleled success. Though he does not have a wikipedia page devoted to him, he is an athlete hat deserves one. He may not be as famous as Amos who also graduated from Mepham, but track is a sport that gets much less public attention than the NFL.

--173.3.166.153 (talk) 20:51, 1 February 2009 (UTC)


 * You know, I have a feeling that you pose a conflict of interest towards Belger. Perhaps you're a friend of his, or maybe you're Belger himself. I don't really know, but that has to be taken into account here, since COI is a considerable issue on Wiki.
 * As to your links: The Penn Relays link is a blog, which is not a credible source - and it's just a random list, as best as I can tell. The only one you've given so far that seems acceptable to me is the Sports Illustrated link. A single source isn't acceptable under the Wiki bio criteria; multiple credible sources are needed. If you think that you can create an article for him and have it stick, then register an account and make your article. Until there's a standalone article for Belger, he shouldn't be included in the list on this page. &mdash;  Hello Annyong  (say whaaat?!) 20:57, 1 February 2009 (UTC)

Athletics and alumni additions
I'm going to revert this edit once again for a few reasons. The first, and most important, is that it's adding way too much weight to the article. In an article that's only a few sentences long, having an enormous section about all of the awards that the team has won is just too much. Further, all of the text that was added was copied verbatim from http://www.mepham.org/track.html, which is a violation of Wikipedia's copyright and plagiarism rules, and therefore cannot be added. And a primary source - in this case, the Mepham Alumni organization - really shouldn't be used to justify the text on the page; per our guidelines on sourcing, it really should come from secondary sources like newspapers.

The text that was added was also largely inappropriate. Text like "The Pirates are best known and have the most championships for their robust Cross County/Track & Field and Wrestling programs." is pushing a point of view - to whom are they best known? And who's to say that they have the most championships? The source given - the alumni page - certainly doesn't say that anywhere. And if it's based on comparing their track results to every other team in Nassau County (or NY, or the US, or anywhere?) then that's original research and cannot be included.

As to the notable alumni: the criteria for inclusion on lists like that is that the people have their own articles. All of the actual notable alumni have their own articles; compare that to the list of Lifetime Service winners and people like that, who are relatively unimportant in the grand scale of things. Wikipedia is not meant to be a place to glorify or extol or anything like that, so to add a list of minor people isn't right.

There is a link on the bottom of the page to the alumni page, so if people want to see track and field stats, they can click through there. —  Hello Annyong  (say whaaat?!) 16:15, 2 August 2010 (UTC)


 * As a solution, I've started an athletics section that has a bunch of references. I think it demonstrates that the school's athletics program is fairly strong, but does so within Wiki guidelines: that of reliable references and appropriate weight. —  Hello Annyong  (say whaaat?!) 16:46, 2 August 2010 (UTC)

unencyclopedic content in athletic section.
There is nothing in the current version of the athletic section that belongs there. The school article guidelines are very clear on what an athletic section should have. A mention of the conference the school competes in, and the size classification; a listing of sports offered; any accomplishments as state or national champions; and discussion of anything notable about the athletic program, as referenced by citations from reliable sources. One mention of a hyperbole description of the school's wrestling program in a newsletter from a college does not make the term notable. County and conference championships are not encyclopedic. And check me if I am wrong, but isn't "Kickline" a music department thing? If not, what is it? In any case, they weren't state champs, so it doesn't belong. In short, I will be rewriting this in a few days. If there are any state championships to write about, it would be grand if someone could add them, as I am not completely sure how to search for sources for high school champs in New York. Gtwfan52 (talk) 22:54, 18 January 2013 (UTC)
 * I found a previous edit that listed the only state champion team as wrestling in 1964. I guess my concerns about the puff description of the wrestling program were valid; I would think the "cradle of wrestling" should have a bit more achievement than that!  I will re-add the wrestling champ as soon as I can verify it. Gtwfan52 (talk) 23:28, 22 January 2013 (UTC)

sexual assault at football training camp 2003
The current description seems different from the following two accounts: "Eventually, the four players were arrested in the attacks. Two of those players served time in juvenile facilities in Pennsylvania and two were sentenced to probation. None returned to a Bellmore-Merrick school. Also, the two head coaches who chaperoned the trip were fired from their football jobs and were suspended from their teaching positions." http://www.hanknuwer.com/?s=mepham Newsday/Matthew Chayes and John Valenti and "On Nov. 21, Carney and his senior lineman pal, Phil Sofia, 17, pleaded guilty in juvenile court in Honesdale, Pa., to three counts of involuntary sexual deviate intercourse." from http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/sports/ringleader-hazing-pack-troubled-teen-blamed-leading-vicious-attacks-article-1.522605 203.7.99.17 (talk) 13:38, 24 June 2015 (UTC)


 * There is no need to mention any names in this story. Other than that, what is your point? John from Idegon (talk) 17:55, 24 June 2015 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just added archive links to 1 one external link on Wellington C. Mepham High School. Please take a moment to review my edit. If necessary, add after the link to keep me from modifying it. Alternatively, you can add to keep me off the page altogether. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/20071013234108/http://www.newsday.com:80/about/ny-iholi032405story,0,3917086.htmlstory to http://www.newsday.com/about/ny-iholi032405story,0,3917086.htmlstory

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