Gallery • 33 Photos

Photo by Margarita Moreland.

As the autumn leaves provide a scenic element to the high school, the Radnor Sports Roundup Edition #2 stays focused on the fields surrounded by the unfolding foliage. Every athlete knows that the scariest part of Halloween is the prospect of playoff elimination and that LM is the fall season’s social highlight. Therefore, beware of what is arguably the spookiest Roundup ever published. BOO!

All that aside, for the Fall sports ending this edition, congratulations on your respective seasons. For seniors, your team will miss you. For everyone else, we’ll see you next year!

I’d like to thank our Sports Editorial Board again for their amazing coverage and steady commitment to this series. You all make this possible! So, in the midst of LM week, the Roundup delivers another update on Radnor’s sports spirit (ghost pun intended).

 —Edy

Cheerleading – Trinity Emery

The Radnor cheerleaders enjoyed celebrating our team’s seniors, including Captains Brooke Struyk and Kelsey Dunkel, at the last Radnor Raptors football game. Thankfully, the football team left home field victorious against the Penncrest Lions with a very well-played game that finished with a score of 28-26. The cheerleaders performed a taste of the routine that is to come at the Lower Merion rally and game. This Radnor football victory also secured a place in the playoffs. Be sure to come and cheer on the football team along with the cheerleaders.

Crew (girls and boys) – Anna Conen 

Radnor Crew Club has been very busy recently—and in multiple states. On October 23rd, both Radnor Boys (RBCC) and Radnor Girls Crew Club (RGCC) rowed in the Head of the Charles Regatta in Massachusetts. Chloe Ernst, one of RGCC’s captains, described the experience as “a super special memory that I am going to have forever.” The boys returned to Head of the Charles for year two after competing in the regatta in 2021. This year, they had boats competing in the men’s youth fours category, where they placed 39th out of 90 boats, and the men’s under 17 fours category, where they placed 13th out of 21 boats. This year was the girls’ first experience at the Head of the Charles. They had a boat in the women’s youth eights category, placing 57th out of 89 boats. “I think that it was a really great experience for our team. Overall, I’m really proud of how we did,” says Ernst. 

Returning back to the more familiar scenery of Pennsylvania, on Sunday, October 30th, Radnor Crew competed in the Head of the Schuylkill regatta. RBCC truly was busy on Sunday, with boats competing in 6 categories. The boys had a varsity four place 23rd out of 61 boats, a JV four place 11th out of 48 boats, a frosh/novice eight place 32nd out of 42 boats, a varsity eight place 46th out of 59 boats, a JV eight place 32nd out of 55 boats, and a JV double place 27th out of 37 boats. RGCC’s frosh/novice boat raced for the first time at the Head of the Schuylkill, placing 20th out of 29 boats. The girls also had two eights competing in the varsity eights category, placing 18th and 40th out of 48 boats.

Field Hockey – Olivia Brubaker

Radnor Girls Field Hockey ended their regular season on a high note, defeating Bonner Prendergast 9-0 on senior night after a tough loss to Conestoga (2-4) earlier that week. RGFH advanced to the semi-finals of districts after defeating Oxford 5-0 this past Tuesday and Mount St. Joseph’s (3-0) on Thursday to qualify for States. Although the team lost to #2 ranked Villa Maria last Tuesday, RFGH looks forward to their upcoming games. They play to determine seeding on Friday before heading into the tournament this Tuesday. They will face some tough matchups, but the team is in strong form and looks to continue building into the offseason.

Football- Olivia Brubaker

In their return to Prevost Field two weeks ago, Radnor Football fought neck and neck against Conestoga, but ultimately fell 27-40. RAFO kicked off their first home game under the lights and celebrated senior night this past Friday against Penncrest. They defeated the Lions 28-26 with touchdowns from Tucker Graham, Amir Byrd, Tommy Deshan, and Bryce Cohen, clinching a spot in the playoffs. Although excitement has been building for the highly anticipated LM game, Radnor football will take on WC Rustin this Friday in the first round of the Playoffs This will postpone the rivalry game but not the festivities.

Soccer (boys) – Margarita Moreland

On Tuesday, October 18, the Gents traveled to Conestoga High School and did not disappoint. Set-piece specialist Michael Savadove scored off of a Danny Rosenblum throw with seven minutes left in the game, ultimately bringing home a win. That following Thursday, the boys played Upper Darby on their away field; Pablo Strid, Michael Savadove, Jacob Shalev, Devin Karadagli, and Nate Lucchesi scored a total of five goals against Upper Darby’s zero. To kick off (no pun intended) the District 1 Playoffs, the boys defeated Upper Moreland when Michael Savadove net one for the Raptors. Coming off a hot streak, Radnor faced Springfield on Encke Field in the semi-finals. They battled it out and even went into overtime, but fell short when Springfield secured a golden goal. In the end, Radnor Boys Soccer had a successful season, with a 14-4 record. Thank you seniors!

Soccer (girls)- Edy MacKenzie

Radnor Girls Soccer finished out their regular season with a hard fought game against Conestoga. Unfortunately, RGS lost 1-0, but the team continued preparing for the upcoming district tournament. At the #5 seed, Radnor met against #4 seed Gwynedd Mercy. Although RGS had defeated the monarchs in the regular season 2-1, the final score finished in a 3-0 defeat for the raptors. The seniors emotionally said goodbye to a program they unanimously considered one of the most memorable experiences of their high school lives. In a celebratory banquet last Sunday, the teammates reflected on their time together, looking forward to a new era of RGS.

Tennis (girls) – Mia Xie

The two doubles teams representing Radnor recently competed in the District I Doubles Championship. Junior duo Emma Fox and Sophie Carter, who plays first doubles for the team, reached the second round of the tournament and nearly pulled off an upset against the 6th seeded Spring-Ford team. Leina Ciarrocchi and Mia Xie, who were seeded 4th, made an incredible run to the semifinals, booking them a spot in the state tournament. After an intense battle against Conestoga, Leina and Mia came out with the win to claim 3rd place at districts and are now preparing for states, which will take place in Hershey starting Friday, November 4.

Volleyball – Chayse Hevesi

The 2022 Girl’s Volleyball season is officially in the books! With a total of six victories in the past few months, the varsity team has experienced exponential growth. After losing to Lower Merion (0-3) and Garnet Valley (0-3), the team secured a strong win against Upper Darby (3-0) on October 19th. Junior Sam Gasink and setter Caroline Monahan contributed greatly to the team’s success, along with senior Delaney Flynn’s fantastic serves. 

Head Coach Sam Lucas assumed her position as the chief director of RGV this summer. Over the past three months, our teams have gotten much stronger and gained more confidence. During the End-of-Season banquet a few weeks ago, Coach Sam said that this might have been the best season in many of the varsity girls’ volleyball careers; this is no small feat, and definitely spurs hope for the future of RGV! Vani Kuber, a member of the team, said that “the end of the season was so fun! All of us are close, and we worked really well together.” One thing is for sure: as the sun sets on 2022 volleyball, everyone at RGV can feel satisfied and proud of our improvement. 

Cross Country (boys and girls) – Zoe Margolies

After a week break, both varsity teams headed over to Lehigh University last Friday for Districts, with five combined personal records. On the girls’ side, there was Amelia Dole, Sonia Dougherty and Zoe Margolies, and for the boy’s side, Nate Halberstadt and Luke Bodden. Captains Amelia Dole and Sammy Rosin had a lot to say about the race, the last one of their 4-year cross country adventure. Amelia exclaimed that Districts “was a great way to end the season as everyone ran so well.” Sammy exclaimed that “despite the 7 AM departure and chilly weather, our team showed up to Lehigh with high spirits and plenty of energy. Districts is always an especially exciting meet since it’s the last chance to PR and spend time together as a team. Everyone has worked so hard this entire season, and whether people are happy with their races, they should be proud of that.” Qualifying for states this Saturday at Hershey, Zoe placed 19th overall with a 1 second personal record and Luke Bodden placed 6th overall with a 4 second personal record. Both are very excited to represent Radnor this weekend. 

The cross-country team also celebrated their season last night at the Great American Pub. Like every year, the banquet was a rager. Letters and awards were given out, awesome speeches were presented, and many tears were shed. Awards include the Best Newcomer (given to Emily Decker and Curtis Connor), Most Improved (given to Nathan Rigler and Emma Hydester), Coach’s Award (given to Max Rubenstein and Gardener Sheehan), and Outstanding Runner (given to Luke Bodden and Zoe Margolies). Despite both teams losing a majority of their runners to graduation last year, Radnor Cross Country had a fantastic season and ran some awesome races! They’re going to miss our awesome captains and seniors so much, but this is just the beginning: see everyone at track!

Ultimate Frisbee (girls) – Elena Chang

The girls team remains undefeated after their second game on Monday the 24th, beating Haverford with a score of 4-3. According to freshman Mia Kripke, “We fought hard in the cold rain.” After clinching a win against the Haverford girls, the team had a friendly mixed scrimmage that left everyone in high spirits. The girls hope to end the fall season on a positive note facing Lower Merion today.

Ultimate Frisbee (boys) – Sarah Tachau and Antonio Westby

On October 15th, the boys JV had their first games at the Cardinal O’Hara Tournament, winning 3-1 after playing with so much heart. As for varsity, last Wednesday the boys, along with a handful of girls, traveled to Methacton for a mixed game; their strong display resulted in a 11-5 win. The triumph featured some impressive snags from Luke Tobin and Antonio Westby with one of his signature layout defensive blocks, and high quality performances from the girls who joined.

Interested in writing about Radnor sports for the Roundup? Contact Edy MacKenzie ([email protected], 610-517-2515) or stop by the next Radnorite meeting.