A Review of Fall Co-Curriculars at Randolph Union

As the fall co-curricular season comes to a close, RU Connected has observed a great season. Smaller and less recognized sports teams have seen outstanding growth in team size. Co-curriculars are an essential part of any school, and RU’s successes have garnered interest from students and community members alike.

While there have been many successes, there are also some challenges with our co-curricular rosters and other topics. A reason why the rosters can be an issue is because when a student takes interest in adding a new sport or expanding an existing one, they may have to be taken off of other sports rosters. There are also constant issues with students being hurt or injured during games and practice, with concussions being a common issue throughout the years. Additional challenges stem from funding and insurance considerations, with a notable example being football. Many students have requested or wished for football to be an option as a co-curricular, though the equipment can be very costly. A further issue for the idea of football is the field for football would require a lot of attention, due to the wear and tear that the sport would cause to it.

However, not all hope is lost for those interested in sports Randolph cannot offer. Collaboration with other schools regarding these sports can happen. As of now, this hasn’t come around to commonly requested sports such as football, but it is not out of the question. Spaulding and Harwood have historically been partners to Randolph, as schools are required to coordinate with the nearest district. While Randolph does have a large selection of sports and clubs, there will always be interest for something more. Athletic Coordinator Nick Bent is very open to potential new extracurriculars, recommending for students interested in new activities to create polls and fliers. Once they have garnered interest, they should find a sponsor, then bring it back to him. A recent example of a student-driven effort was the establishment of eSports just last year, and even more recently a proposal for an archery club has been introduced.

In the following sections of this article, RU Connected will take a deeper dive into each co-curricular program at RU.

MIDDLE SCHOOL BOYS SOCCER

By Finnegan Barden and Zain Abadi

The middle school boys soccer had an up and down season. While certain members of the team had individual success and enjoyed being part of the team, the overall season left something to be desired. Players interviewed by RU Connected noted that there were some issues with teamwork and communication during the season that largely went unresolved. With that being said, the players acknowledged that the team has a solid base of 8th grade players who will surely be a great addition to the high school team in years to come.

MIDDLE SCHOOL GIRLS SOCCER

By Aiden Murphy and Van Harper

While an initial glance at the Middle School Girls Soccer team’s record may not look very promising, a closer look points to reasons for optimism in the future. During an interview with team coach Chris Armstrong, he noted that every game was “really close and had opportunities to score.” He stated that as the season went on he saw great success in general skill development, particularly in regards to improvement in ball control and teamwork.

HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS SOCCER

By Kai Pratt

The Varsity Girls soccer team has been faced several challenges this year. Their team numbers have been declining due to popularity growing in other sports. Varsity Girls soccer had top two goal scorers graduate last season and only had two seniors this season, one of whom hasn’t played before. Along with this they had 3 juniors and the rest of the 11 players were sophomores and freshmen. They didn’t originally have a lot of players so all of their freshmen were expected to play at the varsity level without any prior experience of being on varsity. Due to their main scorers graduating last year the rest of the players had to step up to get the shots. Even though their track records of wins and losses did not look so good it didn’t reflect how much their team had grown and how well they had played.

HIGH SCHOOL BOYS SOCCER

By Finnegan Barden and Kai Pratt

The Varsity boys soccer team started this season off with high hopes of winning their first soccer banner. They were well on their way to achieving this goal as they rattled off three wins to start the season. The team then encountered their first bit of adversity when they met one of their rivals, U-32. They played their best, getting a few good shots on the goal but lost 3-0. This was a large improvement from last year when they got beat 7-1. Following that loss the team faced Springfield and they showed up in the right headspace while Randolph didn’t. Following these two losses the team locked in and won four games in a row. Their winning streak was again disrupted when they met another one of their rivals, White River Valley. It was a close game with White River Valley leading from the start, until Randolph tied up the game with three quick goals. The two sides continued to battle it it out until the last minute when White River scored the winning goat. Randolph’s next game was against White River Valley again, this time at their home field. They played “their style of soccer” and beat them 5-1. Their next game was another rematch, this time against Springfield. Both sides played well with Randolph coming out on top 2-0 for a decisive victory. Another two victories brought them to the playoffs where they defeated White River Valley once again. Next they moved on to their next game again against Green Mountain. They fought hard in this game but despite their efforts they lost 2-0. Coach Casey said, “such a fantastic, fun, exciting season with a really great bunch of soccer players and young men.”

BASS FISHING

By Liam Allyn

While many of this year’s RU Bass Fishing members are new to the team, they quickly fell for the sport hook, line, and sinker. Over the course of the season, the students improved greatly. When the team wasn’t tying knots and jigging lures, they were attending VPA hosted tournements. Their biggest catch this year was an 11 lb pike, and the team had a great season, looking forward to years to come. Focus was at times an issue but the team was able to overcome these challenges.

VOLLEYBALL

By RU Connected

The RU Volleyball team exceeded the expectations of many this season, winning 7 games. This was a dramatic improvement over last season, when the team only secured 1 win. The team this year was also much more organized in roles while playing, due to the tactical knowledge that Rozahlyn Smith, and her mother, the assistant coach, brought to the team. The team was supported by a strong cast of upperclassmen and was able to beat traditional powerhouse teams such as Middlebury and St. Johnsbury Academy. The team also benefited from the return of junior Ella Messier, who made a strong comeback from an ACL injury that sidelined her last season. However, the team struggled with morale and communication at times as they adjusted to new tactics and positioning. Junior Kaleigh Jarvis-Chabot acknowledged that there were times the team gave up against opponents that they could have beat. Looking ahead to next season with a strong group of upperclassmen, they are expecting to make it deeper into the playoffs. Two of their senior members Kalynn Messier and Kirstin Rubins will be graduating this year, so the team hopes to recruit new players for the upcoming season.

THEATER

By Kai Pratt

The theater program has a talented pool of upperclassmen this year. A few shout outs to the seniors of theater this year, such as Karizmah Hosmer, Lily Deyette, Korey Leicher, and Parker Cornell. Karizmah has become the head of the makeup team. Lily is the head of the costume team. Korey is now the assistant Director and Parker is the head of props. It’s been a challenge balancing out the upperclassmen and lowerclassmen within terms of acting. Trying to give the upperclassmen the roles that they try out for yet balancing it out with giving lowerclassmen the experience.

Although with that challenge has also come success, there has been a huge amount of growth within theater. New opportunities are appearing for the theater department, such as a few trips and visits from a variety of artists. They recently had a visit from Strike Anywhere where they introduced sound painting to the group. Future trips for the theater group include a trip to Montreal to see the Addams family which will be entirely in french. There’s another trip coming up later in the year heading down to New York to see the musical Chicago. These opportunities will provide a variety of professional experience for the group to learn from.

CROSS COUNTRY

By Zain Abadi

According to Kara Merrill, guidance counselor and cross country coach, this season has been without struggles. In fact, instead of struggles, the team has been killing it. The team’s four seniors, who have been committed to the sport since 7th or 8th grade, have been phenomenal this year in supporting newer runners. Although they knock heads to decide who the “true” team captain is, Kara sees the Seniors as very successful in that they bring positive energy, patience, and kindness to every practice, and will soon be running in the New Hampshire Marathon as individual endeavors. Cross country is by nature mostly not competitive and more individual, so Kara measures a season’s success by individual improvement. And individual improvement there has been, with every kid on the team having leaps and bounds of improvement, setting new goals, hitting new PRs, and walking away from the season feeling good about themselves.

ROBOTICS

By Aiden Murphy

This year’s VEX V5 Robotics Competition known as “High Stakes” has recently begun, and the Randolph Union High School continues to partake in the competitive season. Adaptability is a must as the gameplay changes every year, however some elements do stay the same. For example, every match always includes two “Alliances:” Red and Blue. Each Alliance will have two randomly selected teams, so they can be matched up with another team from a different district, or even go up against a team from their own school. There are many other rules and requirements, so it is suggested that anyone interested in VEX Robotics should talk with Coach Tim Moynihan at RU.

After weeks of preparation, the RU Robotics teams, 3042R, 3042U, and 3042H, had their first tournament in Thetford Academy on November 2nd. The day-long endeavor contained extensive teamwork and strategy, as they worked with and against many teams across Vermont and New Hampshire. Even with some early challenges for the 3042 teams, they reported that they had high hopes regardless. 3042R had problems with the coding of their robot, ending the day with a record of two wins and four losses. Teams 3042U and 3042H struggled with scoring, and both ended on a record of three wins and three losses. Overall the members enjoyed the opportunity and had much to learn from the experience.