It may be the coldest time of the year, but Roosevelt’s winter teams are on fire! Read how they’re doing here!
Boys’ Basketball
The winter season of sports proceeds and Roosevelt Boys basketball trudges on, nearing the end of the season. Varsity played two games this week and was able to grab a win after a disappointing loss. The riders played against Seattle Prep and against Franklin. Against Seattle Prep, the team played a good game, says Junior Gabe Spach, however they couldn’t maintain the high performance the whole game resulting in a loss. In the game against Franklin, the team exhibited a strong first half and while falling off slightly in the second half, were able to secure a win. Roosevelt is scheduled for an away conference game at Nathan Hale on Wednesday, January 27 at 3:30a. Spach claimed, “If we do our job and do the little fundamentals, we should win [that] game.” Spach, along with the team, are hopeful for these upcoming games.
Girls’ Basketball
Girls Basketball had a strong week, dominating Franklin on the 22nd, beating them with a final score of 52-31. Roosevelt is currently ranked 4th in Metro 3A. “I feel that this basketball season has been great so far,” says Junior Harmony Baniaga, “Basketball is not very easy; you just have to work hard and play hard [and] also, have fun.” Roosevelt’s next game will be against rival Nathan Hale. It will take place at Nathan Hale on the 27th at 7:30 pm. Two days later they will play Chief Sealth at 6:30 at Roosevelt. As the season comes to a close, players are excited about their progress as a team and what will come next. “Our hope for the rest for the season is to strive more and to give our best,” says Baniaga.
Wrestling
After their monumental victory the week before, Roosevelt’s wrestlers enjoyed a fairly lax week. They traveled out to Bainbridge where they handily won 48-21. After that, they anticipated dual meets at Garfield High against Garfield and Ballard. Their match against Ballard, the Anchor Cup, never occurred as Ballard didn’t actually attend the meet which made for an easy victory. They beat Garfield 50-21, leaving only two more meets for the rest of the season. While there were wins all around for Roosevelt wrestlers, the highlight ultimately proved to be the athletes’ visit to Ezell’s Famous Fried Chicken, located right outside Garfield. Sweaty matches precluded greasy fingers as the wrestlers stormed the vendor, elated by their victory. “I should’ve got more,” lamented junior Eli Teagle. They will have away meets against Chief Sealth and Frankling this Thursday, the 28th, at Franklin High.
Boys’ Swimming
After a strong victory, Men’s swimming feel confident in their performance at last friday’s swim meet, January 22nd. Roosevelt competed against West seattle and Chief Sealth, two relatively small teams who they defeated 112-68 and 112-45 respectively. Two weeks ago on Friday, January 8th, was the swim team’s previous meet, which was a loss to Garfield. However, the team is feeling refreshed having had a break from meets for a week. They were able to move past the loss to Garfield with positivity and on to this last week’s meet against Chief Sealth and West Seattle. The team competed with renewed confidence which showed in their competition against the two other schools.The general mood of the team is upbeat and strong as the regular season starts to come to a close. Their next meet is against Nathan Hale this coming Friday the 29th.
Gymnastics
Green and gold streamers and balloons filled the Roosevelt gym Tuesday evening to mark the gymnastics team’s senior night. Juniors on the team had prepared gift baskets and each member had composed a note to each of the four seniors. Team co-captain and senior Claire Schwartz remarked that the meet felt particularly special and, as junior Celine Tang remarked, “Everybody was in a pretty great mood.” Despite the festive atmosphere, the team ultimately struggled on the mat, taking fourth place in the meet against Ballard, Holy Names, and Ingraham and securing a team score of 134 out of 200. Several factors may have been involved in the meet’s ultimate score. Junior Ravenna Collver noted the skill of the opposing teams: “We were competing against some of the better teams in the city, like Holy Names, who [have] some really good gymnasts.” Tang reflected, “I think the team could have done better, including myself.” Their placing aside, Roosevelt still had several successes with Claire Schwartz placing in every event and juniors Rachel DeJaen and Isabel Mcgough placing for floor. DeJaen noted that the meet also proved enjoyable because it was the first meet in which several freshmen had the opportunity to compete, adding, “A lot of new people competed this week which was great because we all supported each other.” With one more regular season meet to go, the team is ready to work. “We didn’t do as good as other meets, so hopefully this inspires the girls to work hard during practice because we have the ability to get higher scores,” explains Schwartz. The team’s work will be tested at Metropolitan gymnastics in Kent on January 30th at six in the evening.
Featured Photo: Girls’ basketball takes on Cleveland. Photo by Conor Courtney.
