Sports are essential to the RMHS community because they have the ability to bring people together. Although some people may not be huge supporters of sports, it is undeniable they create bonds that strengthen confidence and friendships that can last a lifetime.
Sports require teams, and teams require commitment, passion, effort, and love. One of the many sports practiced and competed at Reading Memorial High School is cross country. The sport is rather intriguing, as you race not only for your team and school, but for yourself. I interviewed Morgan Miller and Devyn Neary to understand what this particular sport and its players go through.
Morgan and Devyn are team managers, so they record everyone’s times during races. When asked what a regular practice schedule would look like, Morgan responded with, “At practice the workouts range from distance runs to speed workouts. The distance runs can be up to about 7 miles and the speed workouts can be up to 3 miles in total on the track.” The team practices at these heights, so that they have the greatest chance of winning the 3-3.2 mile course in meets that everyone on the track team participates in.
The year has been off to a great start. So far, both the boys and girls cross country team have won their first dual meet against Wilmington, and have aspirations of winning more. Reading biggest rivals in cross country are Woburn and Lexington, mainly because they are the two strongest teams in the league. Reading will face Woburn as visitors, on Tuesday, October 9th, at 3:30. After that, Reading will face Lexington on Tuesday, October 23rd, at Reading Memorial High School at 3:30.
When asked what the team does to prepare for meets such as these, Morgan stated, “The day before a meet we have a pre-meet, which is about a 30 minute run. On race days for our warm up, we usually run most of the course, as a way familiarize ourselves with the course.”
The Reading cross country team seems to be off to a fantastic start, and I am extremely excited to see what the continuing season has in store for them. I wish the best of luck to Reading’s cross country team!
I interviewed Alex Palermo on how the Reading Girls Soccer team’s season is going so far. Alex is one of the four captains of the Reading Girls soccer team. The other captains are Brynn Lambroff, Megan Gilgun, and Kayla José. The girls soccer team is also off to a great start. Last year the team lost 15 of their seniors, most of which were starters. This left them anxious for the upcoming season but their loss has not seemed to hold them back as they have been doing tremendously. The team consists of players from all grades all of which have spectacular talent. Their variety seems to be playing a role in their success as so far their current record stands with 3 losses, 2 ties, and 1 win. Their biggest win was against power house Lexington. The final score was a 1-0 victory. The reading rockets still have many more games to go as they will be facing their biggest rivals Winchester and Stoneham soon. The team’s goal is to hopefully make tournament this year as their team is filled with potential. Their schedule is shown below be sure to check out some of their upcoming games!
Lastly, I interviewed Jess Liu to learn more about the success of the girls volleyball team this year. The girls volleyball team is currently undefeated in league with a record of 10-1. The players suffered one out of league loss to division 1 powerhouse Lynnfield. With their 10 wins in their league, the varsity team has already made it to the state tournament. The team is very close this year considering most members of the team are upperclassmen, the varsity team consists of 8 seniors, 4 juniors and 1 sophomore. Leading the team on their incredible record are their four captains Hannah Gohr, Ainsley Cohen, Riley Diloreto and Gemma Cenci. Their biggest win was against Belmont on their “volley for a cure” night. Belmont was also undefeated and a very hard team for them to compete against in past years. Last year, the rockets were 4 games away from making the tournament, so making the tournament this year was a huge accomplishment. The rockets have yet to play their rival Andover, but they have very high hopes of beating them this year. Make sure you go support your rockets for all of their games posted down below!