Radnor Sports Roundup 22-23: Edition #14

Edy MacKenzie, Editor-in-Chief

As the fourth quarter gains speed and exams loom ahead, we all need a break from the immense amount of stress associated with the current times. So put down the pencil, blow off the books, and read about Radnor’s spring sports—they don’t disappoint! Better yet, spend your momentary break actually outside like our spring athletes. But not before you read the Roundup, of course.

In addition to thanking our wonderful spring writers for bringing the Roundup to life, I’d like to give a special nod to our photo gallery for this edition. That nice spring weather provides the perfect backdrop for our photographers to work their magic. I strongly recommend “oohing” and “aahing” at their creativity before reading further.

—Edy

 

Baseball – Jacob Farhy

While the Raptors may not be exactly where they want, things are certainly trending in the right direction for the boys. Since the absolute low of the season, a 15-2 loss vs. Haverford High School, Radnor has strung together some solid performances. Despite the bats recording just 4 hits in a home loss vs Ridley, junior pitcher Andrew Barbarisi turned in a stellar outing against one of the better hitting teams in the league. Quickly turning the page, the boys looked ahead to what they thought would be a tough matchup vs. Marple Newtown’s Tigers. But clearly sophomore sensation Danny Armstrong didn’t think the matchup was too tough, throwing a seven-inning 11-strikeout gem in route to a 7-0 statement victory. Carrying the momentum over, the Raptors took care of Interboro the very next day after scoring eight unanswered runs after falling behind 8-3 to begin with. The offensive explosion was largely fueled by sophomore catcher Matthew Szychulski, who recorded three hits in the victory. Next up came a daunting game against the ace of the Aces of Lower Merion. While the game ultimately ended in a 6-5 loss, the offense scored a lot more than they were expected to, with second baseman Joe Krasowski recording two singles that day. But despite the loss, the Raptors are confident that more wins lie ahead.

 

Colorguard – Sofiia Kuzmenko

At their competition at Abington, Radnor Color Guard took first place in both the TIA and MAIN circuits with scores of 88.27 and 85.47, respectively. This past weekend, the team earned a score of 88.11 in championships for the MAIN circuit, taking third place out of 22 teams and becoming 2023 MAIN Scholastic A bronze medalists. The guard has two more competitions, ending with the TIA championship in Wildwood, New Jersey on May 7th. If you want to check out the production in person, the team is holding a preview show on May 2nd, at 7:30 p.m. at the high school.

 

Crew (girls and boys) – Anna Conen

Radnor Crew recently finished their annual, highly anticipated mulch fundraiser. The fundraiser concluded with one Saturday morning when instead of the usual practice, members of Radnor Crew Club packed bags of mulch into cars and delivered orders. Although the fundraiser is over, donations are always welcome (yes, this is a shameless promotion).

This past weekend, Radnor Crew competed in the fifth and final Flick/Horvat Regatta of the season. It was a busy Sunday, with Radnor competing in 12 different heats across the girls and boys. The girls had a novice 8+ place second in flight 1, a JV 4+ place seventh in their category, and a lightweight 4+ place fifth in their category. The girls team also had a boat place third in the Girls 2nd varsity 8+ category and a boat place second in the varsity 8+ event. The boys had a novice 8+ place seventh, a JV 4+ place third, a novice 4+ place fifth in flight one, a lightweight 4+ place second in flight one, and a first-place finish from a varsity 4+. The boys also had a varsity 2x place fifth in the third flight of their category and another place 4th in their heat. This past Sunday was a successful day for Radnor Crew as well as an extremely long one, but as any member of the team will tell you, the food at the hospitality tent makes it all worth it. Even though this year’s flicks are finished, there is still much to look forward to in the season. Next weekend, Radnor Crew takes on the City Championships! 

 

Lacrosse (boys) – Parnia Nasrullah

Since last you read this blurb, the boys team was up against Springfield at home. They kick-started the weekend with a close victory of 6-5. Next, the team was up against Penncrest at home on April 19th. That swift victory with a score 14-1 led them to their game against Marple Newtown on April 20th. At this point, are we even surprised they won this game with a whopping score of 11-6? They then played an out of league game against Springford at home. The team played hard and brought another victory home! Tuesday, the team beat Lower Merion at Encke and continued their winning streak. Today, the team plays Garnet Valley at 7:30—let’s hope they can end the season with an astounding winning streak! Good luck!

 

Lacrosse (girls) – Angela Esgro

After a tough loss against Archbishop J. Carroll High School this past Saturday, Radnor Girls lacrosse has chosen a new focus for the remainder of the season: accountability. The team is shaping a more disciplined offense and defense, and their new adjustments have quickly proven successful. Radnor pulled away a big win against Lower Merion High School (16-12) on Tuesday night. However, the team’s work this week is far from over. On Thursday afternoon, Radnor Girls Lacrosse faces Garnet Valley High School on Encke Field for a crucial Central League game. The team returns to Encke this Saturday at noon where they will then face Wissahickon High School. As the regular season begins to wind down, Radnor Girls Lacrosse looks to make an immense comeback throughout the remaining games.

 

Softball – Naomi Gross

Radnor Softball is mid-season as the weather warms up. With the newly-established home run fence on the varsity field, center fielder Audrey Rubenstein took advantage and christened the fence with a homer earlier this month. The team pulled off two more victories against Upper Darby (6-4) and Lower Merion (7-2) on April 13 and April 24, respectively. Radnor Softball looks forward to their senior night on Wednesday, May 10, against Harriton High School for a night game at home field. After lots of diving drills this week, you can expect some great catches in the following games!

 

Track & Field (girls)  – Niva Menon 

As the girls track team preps for their race at Penn Relays, they have truly shown how awesome they are throughout the season. On Wednesday, April 19th, our runners participated in their final Central League meet at Springfield High School. Distance runners Zoe Margolies and Stephanie Pratt both competed in the 400 meter dash placing top 5, and Courtney Kearns ran a stunning 800 meter race dominating first place. Emma Hyde took her A-game to the track placing 2nd place in the 1600 meter run. Finally, the infamous 4 by 400 team consisting of Stephanie Pratt, Zoe Margolies, Kayla Cormier, and Courtney Kearns took home first place, securing a great day in the books. Later on in the week the team took on the Great Valley R. Kellerman Invitational; with suns ablaze the Radnor girls track and field team stuck it out for a long day at the track, taking home 4th from Emma Hyde in the 3200 meter run and 6th from the 4 by 400 meter run. The season’s not over yet, so keep a lookout for more special news from the team!

 

Track & Field (boys)  – Niva Menon 

Also prepping for the Penn Relays, the boys track and field team has shown nothing but their best. Wednesday, April 19th marked the boys last Central League meet at Harriton High School, their sprinters, hurdlers, and distance runners all truly showed their top game. Sprinters Lionel Dunbar and Amir Bryd both placed top 3 in their respective sprinting events and distance runner Curtis Conner placed 4th in the 1600 meter run. Hurdlers Mason Shieh and Owen Lim both placed top 5 in the 110 meter hurdles, Shieh placing 2nd overall. The relays showed off their baton passing talents by both coming in second for the 4 by 100 and 4 by 400 meter races. And finally, our no.1 jumper Ethan Catoe and no.1 thrower Liam Janschka both placed 1st in their respective events. To say the least, the boys left the meet with lots of medals in hand. On Saturday the boys track and field team met up with the girls team at the Great Valley R. Kellerman Invitational, where Curtis Conner showed his skills by placing 4th overall in the 3200 meter run. Mason Shieh placed 4th overall in the 110 meter hurdles. High jumper Noah Wampole placed 3rd overall and discus thrower Liam Janschka placed 3rd as well. Once again Ethan Catoe placed 1st overall in the triple jump and finally the 4 by 100 THROWERS relay placed 3rd overall at the meet, showing that they are not only strong but speedy too. As the boys keep training there is much more to come from them!

 

Ultimate Frisbee (girls)- Sarah Tachau

The sky was eerie over Encke field on the morning of Sunday, April 16th. It was the first ever Radnor Invitational tournament since COVID, and RGUF stepped onto the turf full of excitement, decked out in pink and glitter. Little did they know, the team would be walking off the field with four injured players. Nonetheless, the girls secured not one, but two significant wins in their first two games of the day against Science Leadership Academy (SLA) and Abington Friends. Facing up against LM, one of the current best teams in the nation, the girls prepared to have fun rather than stress competition. Despite a tough loss and an intimidating Callahan by LM, RGUF was unphased… that was, until they got absolutely demolished by Strath Haven’s zone defense. The girls took the following week to recover and polish up their form, making a strong comeback in their next game against Garnet Valley, in which they won 12-2. Highlights spanned across the team, including, but not limited to, 3 goals and 3 Ds by the lightning fast Hannah Yao, 4 Ds from legend Nayra Garcia, and 3 goals by the one and only Sam Gasink. Safe to say, a little broken arm here and there or some shin splints won’t stop RGUF. The injuries did, unfortunately, cut down on their numbers for the following HipHop tournament. Because only 7 players attended, Radnor girls combined with Haverford “HUDA,” to compete against Pennsbury, LM, and SLA/Masterman. Although the team faced three losses, the girls played with ultimate (ha ha) energy, putting up a hard defense against LM and SLA/Masterman, two highly ranked teams.

 

Ultimate Frisbee (boys) – Sarah Tachau and Antonio Westby

Coming out of spring break, Radnor Boys Ultimate was feeling the odds swing back in their favor, ending the week back with an intense, 15-8 win against formerly undefeated Shipley. The weekend after, Radnor hosted its first Invitational Tournament since COVID. Once they made quick work of Springfield, the boys had two narrow 1 point losses against LM and Salesianum from Delaware. They finished off the tournament by fighting a hard scrap with Haverford, heading home with team goals in mind. These were definitely achieved, because even after a rough test against Harriton on Tuesday, Radnor showed out in PHUEL’s Hip Hop tournament. The boys demolished Methacton and Abington Friends 13-4 and 13-3. Even when going up against Wissahickon, 4th in the country and best on the east coast, Radnor scored 6 points on the opposition. Already in the championship bracket, Radnor flushed a game against Masterman and fought hard against LM, painfully losing on the last point. Redemption was in their favor when they faced Haverford again, winning on a dramatic extra time master play. The boys placed 5th in the city-wide tournament, and proved that Radnor could be the fastest improving team in the area. They look to continue making leaps and bounds in the upcoming Cities tournament to keep their 8th in the league ranking and secure a spot at States.

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