The AD’s report
Finishing what they started way back in February, our varsity boys soccer and track teams wrapped up their postseasons with some thrilling accomplishments last week.
Boys’ soccer advanced to the 1A East Regional Tournament and traveled to Alta Vista High School last Monday night (June 2) for a quarterfinal playoff game. They took that game in overpowering fashion, winning 4-0 on the strength of Amrit Tamang’s hat trick and Ben Estes’ outstanding goalkeeping.
Last Wednesday (June 4), the team traveled to West Point High School for a semifinal game and a chance to qualify for the state tournament. The Rapp faithful again made the trip in great numbers, supporting their team throughout the game. It was a tight game, with Rapp surrendering an early one-goal lead before Tamang drilled a shot into the upper right corner to knot the score at 2-2.
West Point cranked up the pressure, using their advantage in speed to get the ball down ahead of our defenders, but Estes continued his superhuman performance, as he had all through the playoffs. Unfortunately with about five minutes to go, the Pointers had a throwin deep in our end of the field and scored a goal off of a header with a shot that was just impossible to stop.
With time winding down Rapp did their best to tie the score again, but, as the clock hit zero, West Point had won the game and the trip to states. Although the Panthers’ season is over, our team has much to be proud of, as their coach told them in postgame remarks, and much to look forward to next year.
Congrats go out to seniors Shane L’Amoreaux, Estes and Tamang, all of whom were selected to the All-Rapp River Conference Team. Kudos also to Steven Hensley, Jack Massie, Tamang, Nivardo Loya, Austin Huff, L’Amoreaux, Daniel Schlosser, Josh Racer and Estes, all of whom earned RRC All-Academic honors by virtue of their 3.4 (or better) GPAs.
Varsity track wrapped up its season last Saturday (June 7) in Radford at the VHSL 1A/2A track championship. It was a banner day for the girls’ team, with two state championships earned by standout runner Julia Wood (see article on page 1) and a fourth-place finish by the team overall — the highest a Panther track team has finished at states in decades.
In addition to Wood’s record-setting day, Emily Allen finished eighth in the 1600 (1mile), garnering valuable points for the Panther team. In the 300 Meter Hurdles, three of the girls — our fantastic freshmen — finished in the top eight (pointscoring) positions. Sara Garcia took third (possibly breaking a school record, verification to come), Julia Estes took seventh and Jessica Thorne eighth, leading coaches Stephens, Puskar and Maffei to dream big about the prospects of the future.
In the 400 Meter Dash, Rapp’s lone qualifier, Emma Endre, finished sixth, adding to the team’s point totals, and in the 100 Meter Hurdles Jessica Thorne finished fifth. Runner Kayla McGhee finished out the day for Rapp, competing in the 800 Meter run, running a good race but finishing out of points contention.
Those two teams accomplishments concluded the spring sports season, but Rapp athletics is still plenty busy, with open weight rooms (for all athletes, with former male and female Panthers mentoring) scheduled for 6 to 7 p.m. Monday (June 16), followed by football open weights and conditioning from 7 to 9 p.m. These opportunities will be offered every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday through the summer, with a full summer schedule released soon.
Don’t forget that our next (and final) $10 sports physicals will be offered from 2 to 4:30 p.m. Thursday (June 19) at the Rappahannock Medical Center in Washington. Remember, find all the most current athletic news at rappahannockathletics.org.
— Jimmy Swindler