It may be the coldest time of the year, but Roosevelt’s winter teams are on fire! Read how they’re doing here!
Dance
Roosevelt’s dance team began their Saturday at 7AM with a group breakfast and makeup application session. What may seem an obscure start to the weekend is just another competition day for the squad. With hair in order and makeup set, they headed off to Edmonds-Woodway High School for their first competition of the year. Despite first-competition nerves, the team proved that hours of after-school practice and dedication pay off, clinching the second-place trophy out of the thirteen hip hop teams performing. “Competitions can be pretty stressful, especially the first one, but everyone did a really good job,” explains senior and team co-captain Olivia Mora. While the team has been practicing and wowing Roosevelt students at spirit assemblies all year, the competition season is only just beginning. Already, the dancers are in high spirits, excited for future competitions. Junior Maya Sellier voiced her enthusiasm, “I’m really proud of the team for taking home the second place trophy and I’m looking forward to next week’s competition.” While thrilled with the trophy, Mora explains that she is especially happy about team dynamics: “Every year the team changes so it takes us time to see what works for us and we are in the midst of that. We are all good friends though so practices are fun and we enjoy being around each other.” With a strong start and cohesive team, one can only look forward to more great performances from the dance team. Their next competition is on Saturday, the 24th.
Girls’ Basketball
Women’s basketball continued their strong season with two more games. They played Garfield on the 15th and won 59-53. The first half was very close with the two teams neck and neck. However in the third quarter, Roosevelt pulled ahead to secure the victory. The second game, against Bishop Blanchet, did not go as well. Roosevelt lost 62-35. Roosevelt will have two more games next week. The first, against Franklin on the 22nd, will be held at Roosevelt. The next one, against Nathan Hale, at Nathan Hale high school. The season has been overwhelming positive so far for the Roosevelt Girls team. They have only three losses to their eight wins.
Wrestling
It was an exciting week for Roosevelt wrestling. The undefeated Riders went head-to-head with the undefeated Fighting Irish of O’Dea High. After a few JV matches, the meet began in earnest. In wrestling, if a team has an athlete in a weight class that the other team doesn’t, they win 6 points automatically without a match, the same as getting a pin. Knowing that they would automatically lose points due to an incomplete roster’ Roosevelt was determined to do their best in their matches. Freshman Kalija Rowe was pinned in the first match, but Junior Eli Teagle equaled the score with a pin of his own. While senior Bradon Blackstone suffered a narrow loss, this was followed by tight, hard-earned wins for seniors Erik Choi and Trygve Groh. O’Dea took down sophomore Z McCray, a loss quickly amended by pins from juniors Conrad Austin and Rory Hayashi. Senior Matt Dickenson and junior Spear Kajumulo went on to earn wins as the heavyweight matches began. However, O’Dea automatically took the 220 lb. match by forfeit and then defeated senior Nathan Forst. The score was 31-24 with Roosevelt in the lead and only two matches left: 113 lbs., which O’Dea would take by forfeit, and 106 lbs.. Roosevelt wrestlers quickly realized all they needed was to make sure their 106 lb. wrestler freshman Tony Chen didn’t lose. Seeing the rookie walk on the mat was nerve-wracking for the team until right off the bat, Chen dominated the match, taking a pin in a little over 90 seconds. The fans and athletes erupted into cheers, celebrating another year of being dual meet champions. It was by far the most thrilling moment of the year for the squad. Roosevelt, now the only undefeated school in Metro, still has a dual meet with Bainbridge tomorrow, the 19th.
Boys’ Swimming
“This week we focus on just working hard in order to finish the season strong,” explained swimmer Andrew Neel. The Riders had a break this week from meets, but not from working hard as they poured their energy into their practices instead. Since their loss to Garfield at their last meet, the team’s been able to focus on what they need to improve on. Roosevelt only has two more seasonal meets before metros, meaning that at each practice they are working on how to qualify for the post season meets. Their attitudes towards metros, says Neel, is “if you are close to a time or want to make metros, get after it and work hard. That also goes for other post season meets too.” In order for a swimmer to participate in metros and compete in a certain event, they must score a qualifying time for that event. Neel says he is hopeful that many swimmers on the Roosevelt team will qualify and be able to compete at metros. Everyone on the team is supportive of all the other members. They all work on how to improve their own times along with helping others improve theirs. The team has positive attitudes about their season, but know that their work isn’t done. Catch their next meet coming next Friday, the 22nd.
Gymnastics
Roosevelt’s gymnastics team flipped into action at last Friday’s meet in West Seattle. While only participating against two other teams, Ballard and West Seattle, team co-captain Claire Schwartz explained that the meet proved highly competitive: “Ballard is a really great team so they took most of the top places.” Despite pressure from another strong team, Roosevelt held its own, taking second place and achieving a team score of 137 out of a possible 200. Schwartz took first on vault, winning second place all around, but was the only Roosevelt gymnast to place in the top six. Despite this last meet’s stiff competition, Schwartz is enthusiastic, “We got a good team score, but we are still hoping to score higher in upcoming meets.” The team is currently prepping for their senior night which will be held at Roosevelt on Tuesday the 19th.
Boys’ Basketball
The basketball season is drawing to a close as the team played both Bishop Blanchet and Garfield High School this last week, one a close game and the other, a crushing loss. Their game against Blanchet ended with a score of 45-50 while the game against Garfield ended with a score of 30-82. The team was left disappointed after the game against Garfield, but as always they aspired to remain optimistic. Sophomore Finn Festor was short and direct with what he felt the team needed to improve on: “passing, catching, and finishing plays.” The upcoming game is an away game against Seattle Prep, scheduled for 7:30 on January 19th.
