The first snow fall of the year arrived and with the new crestfallen flakes comes the second edition of the Radnor Sports Roundup, this time winter sports taking the spotlight. Winter break is finally upon us but our winter athletes don’t plan on slowing down. Pack filled schedules, team travels, and competition await the athletes for the 12-day hiatus from school.
Make sure Radnor packs the student sections, don’t hibernate this winter, come out and support! Good luck to all our athletes this season, we wish you the best!
-Tatum
Girls Basketball – Bree Simpson:
The winter season has officially begun, and the Radnor Girls Basketball team is off to a great start with a record of 3-1! Their first game was away against West Catholic where the court was small, and their student section was large. Even through the negative cheering coming from West Catholic’s supporters, the girls managed to pull away with a win, the final score being 51-28! The next game was Archbishop Prendergast, which once again, had an extremely loud student section. The game started off strong with Radnor holding a significant lead, but in the third quarter, Prendy started to close in and eventually took the lead by the fourth, resulting in the girls’ first loss. Nevertheless, RGB got back up on their feet and sealed the next two games against West Chester East and Harriton with two victories. The girls look to dominate the rest of their season!
Boys Ice Hockey – Mohammed Badri:
Winter is here which means RAHO is back to chase another CLC. The boys are rumored to have a picture of the 2023-24 squad framed in each of their rooms that they kiss before they go to sleep at night, hoping the winning DNA is slowly seeping into their systems. After a couple rough showings against difficult opposition, the young roster (which has been relying on some underclassman contribution so far) ended up with a 3-2 OT win over Springfield thanks to Freshman Marcus Berlansky’s sneaky goal. As of the writing of this article, RAHO is preparing for a big showdown with Lower Merion, and we hope future stag Stephen Sucher can lift the gentlemen to another win. Good luck to the guys this Friday and kick ace!
Girls Ice Hockey – Grace Kimlinger:
It’s finally the most wonderful time of the year, and Radnor Girls Ice Hockey Team is back! Off to a solid start this season, the team has a 4-4 record. All their wins have been by a large margin, like their 10-0 win against Pennridge. The 13-man squad, led by coach Eric Lynn, has a promising season ahead and is currently ranked 4th in their league. Looking towards the future, RGIH has 7 more games this season, though none until after the new year. Good luck to Radnor Girls Ice Hockey with the rest of their season!
Girls Indoor Track – Grace Kimlinger:
For Radnor runners, winter means indoor track season! Practices began November 19th and since then, RGTF has gotten to work, embracing the cold and wind that come along with a new season. Led by senior captains Nahla Cooper, Kayla Cormier, Nora Elliott and Isabella Flores, the team looks strong with a diverse groups of sprinters, distance runners, hurdlers, and jumpers. While the season doesn’t amp up until January, the team had a strong showing at the Ursinus Icebreaker Meet on December 7th. Despite a long day trapped inside the dry, crowded indoor track facility, RGTF had many strong showings and got off to a great start! In the 400m dash, senior Kayla Cormier raced her way to the podium with a 3rd place finish in a time of 1:02.17, followed by freshman Isabel Schaal in 15th. Later on, dynamic duo Katelyn Anderson and Coco Conner worked their way to 3rd and 4th in the mile, respectively, followed by Nora Elliot in 12th. In the 3000m, freshman Clara Murphy placed 7th, in her first high school race! To finish off the meet, RGTF’s distance medley relay got bronze, out of a competitive field of 7 teams. In the coming weeks, RGTF is training hard for a blazing season, with their next meet on the 29th at the Burdette Invitational at Lehigh. Keep an eye out for an amazing season!
Boys Indoor Track – Dean O’Donnell and Will Snyder:
Over the past few weeks, the Boys Winter Track team has been preparing for a successful season. With the competition starting up, the team used this week to thoroughly train for their first meet this Saturday, December 12th. Many sprinters use the winter season as a training platform for spring, preparing for the much-awaited 4X100 meter relay. As for the distance runners, they look to continue their efforts from a solid cross-country season in the fall. Coach Manion and Walsh began increasing the mileage for the distance runners, striving for the improvement of their athletes. With the first meet at Lehigh University around the corner, the boys’ winter track team looks quite strong this year.
Cheerleading – Abigail Merschel:
Radnor Cheerleading’s winter season officially started! This time of year includes competition and basketball season. These past few weeks we competed at three competitions – UCA Regionals, Reading Regionals, and our first local competition at Haverford High School. When not competing, the team practices endlessly perfecting our competition routine and preparing cheers and stunts for Boys Basketball. Recently, we cheered on our boys basketball team against Harriton and look forward to a great season with RBB! Coming up for Radnor Cheerleading, we have the PIAA District 1 Championship at Central Bucks South, hopefully securing an invitation to PIAA States taking place in January, and a local competition at Springfield High School. A lot to look forward to this upcoming season for Radnor Cheerleading!
Boys Squash – Alec Howard:
Radnor squash is hard at work after a heart-breaking 7-0 loss to Conestoga. Although the team faced multiple mental blows, RASQUA saw hard fought matches from number 2 player Harrison Gurk, and number 1 player Alec Howard, both losing out 3-2. As the season continues, this young team, composed mostly of freshmen, continues to practice their craft and perfect their game. As well as the underclassmen, upperclassmen Felipe Gallino, Sachin Bhatia, and Alex Sareen are ready to put the hard yards in after all losing in straight sets. As Radnor gears up for their second match of the season against Haverford, the boys squash team will accept nothing but their best.
Girls Swimming – Ava Preate and Sophie Mascioli:
It’s finally that time of the year! The air is colder, days are getting shorter, all tell tale signs that our swimmers are about to break out their caps and goggles and start wowing us with fast times, and an amazing instagram presence (follow if you don’t already)! The girls kicked off their season with an amazing win over Strath Haven last Thursday December 4th. The Raptors really showed up and showed OUT, with a whopping 104-74 point win over the Panthers. Juniors Orlaith Dill and Elise Flanagan were stellar, taking high point winner and runner up, respectively. Our divers also had an amazing night, Orlaith Dill impressively placing 1st and our very own Sophie Mascioli taking 3rd! Radnor walked off with 40 Central’s cut times, and 14 District consideration times. I’m sure we will be hearing of many more great things from RADSwim this year especially with an amazing group of senior girls leading the way; Lexi Kim, Alice Lake (Davidson College commit), and Julianna Frascella. Looking ahead, we have a home meet against Springfield December 11th, and an away meet at Upper Darby December 18th. Hoping to see you all there to cheer on our girls! Until next time, and as always let’s go Raptors!!
Boys Swimming – Johan Mattison:
After weeks of practicing, the Radnor Boys Swim Team started their long-awaited 2025 season with a win against Strath Haven last Thursday, December 4th. Led by captains Dylan Feher, Jackson Farhy, and Alex Yu, the boys are ready to take on the rest of the competition this year. As swimmers endure difficult practices six days a week, the coaches created workouts that push them to their limits. Despite the intensity, the team approaches each practice with enthusiasm and a drive for improvement. With 40 Central cuts and 14 District considerations already recorded so far, they have already shown that their hard work and dedication are paying off early in the season. As the team prepares for its next meet against Upper Darby on December 18th, we wish the best of luck to the boys for the rest of the season!
Wrestling – Will Antik:
The Radnor High School Wrestling season kicked off with the teams first official event on Saturday, December 6th. Despite the brutal 5:30 AM departure, the team wrestled exceptionally well, walking away with a 4-2 team record. Senior captains Kyle Tomczak and Chase Dilella both recorded a perfect undefeated record (6-0 for Chase, 3-0 for Kyle). Additionally, Freshman Alex Stasen began his high school wrestling career by going 6-0, also having a perfect record. Alex’s future as a high school wrestler looks hopeful after his immaculate performance this past Saturday. The squad earned every win thanks to the team’s month-long preparation of putting in loads of demanding work, six days a week. Next, the team will travel to Springfield-Delco High School on Wednesday (December 10) and look to improve their record to 5-2 and get their first in-league win.
Extra Edition (closing out Frisbee)
Girls’ Ultimate Frisbee – Anrui Xu:
RGUF ended the fall season with a fun, competitive experience at the annual KitKat high school tournament! On Sunday, October 26, the team took on Pennsbury, Brooklyn Tech, and Strath Haven. In the spirit of Halloween, the players dressed up as Minions while the coaches donned Gru and Lucy’s signature outfits. In the wake of graduating several key players last year, a new core has emerged for Radnor: senior Anrui Xu (one goal, six assists, seven blocks), junior captain Lela Liu (3G, 4A, 3B), and junior captain Graci Gill (2A, 1B). The three members of the handler trio worked tirelessly, playing in 31, 30, and 30 out of the 34 total points in the tournament, respectively. Xu and Gill put their throwing practice to use by unleashing a series of upside-down hammer throws to disrupt opposing defenses, while Liu relentlessly deployed electrifying cuts. Their efforts were elevated by Haverford senior April Cetintas (7G, 8B), who competed for RGUF in the absence of her own school’s team at the tournament. In addition, sophomores Claire Yuan and Vijaya Caplan made impressive deep catches and freshman rookie Ava Parsons debuted in her first frisbee tournament with a spectacular diving grab to reel in a disc. Although Radnor dropped games to Pennsbury and Strath Haven, they kept their spirits up throughout the day and continued to cheer on their teammates. Their energy (and stress levels) reached a peak during a sudden-death universe point against Brooklyn Tech, when RGUF pulled out the 8-7 victory on a short goal-line pass from Xu to Cetintas. At the end of the day, the team posed for pictures in their Minions costumes, jubilantly celebrating stealing both the moon and their first win of the school year. Another cause for celebration arose on November 5th, when RGUF alum Olivia Cohen Freue received an invitation to try out for USA’s Under-20 National Team. With the fall season finished, RGUF is looking forward to training through the winter off-season and getting ready for a busier spring season!
Interested in writing about Radnor sports for the Roundup? Contact Tatum Brown ([email protected], 610-213-9307) or stop by the next Radnorite meeting.
