Season's Greetings

Spring sports at Rivendell Academy are starting up this time of the year and I went around to try and figure out what to expect this year.

The first team to start practices this year was the Rivendell Academy baseball team. Last year, they went 9-5 and lost in the second round of the playoffs to Rutland High School. This year, they have moved down to Division 4 and feel like they are poised to make some noise in the offseason. I talked to some kids and coaches from the team and found out some interesting things. Many believe that they could have gone further in the tournament but had a series of unlucky and unfortunate events that caused the game to rapidly get out of hand. Talking with starting pitcher Dashiel Fukushima and first basemen Lucas Streeter, they believe that the team is in a great position to win because they have a good core of returning players, and with proper development and hard work, they will be looking good.

The other bat-and-ball sport ramping up is the Rivendell softball team. Last year they finished 12th (0-9) and lost in a tough game to People’s Academy. This year, the girls are looking towards the future. The team does not feature many seniors and has high hopes to continue developing and become a force to be reckoned with by the time the season is over. They are currently working with a limited group of girls and hope to have the full team ready soon. They are also still accepting new kids.

Rivendell’s last spring sport is track and field. This team of 3 travels to Oxbow high school for practices everyday and is led by senior Owen Pelletier. I also interviewed him for some insights on how last season went for them. He told me that he finished in the top 15 in the long jump at New England's (the regional event for all athletes in new england), but was still disappointed because the previous year he had jumped further in long jump and knew he could have done better, saying, “I finished better as a sophomore so I decided out of rage to not compete in 100 or high jump, which I regret.” This year Owen has set some new goals for himself and plans on competing in New England’s again. He says his goals are to jump 22 feet in long jump reach 6’6” in high jump and run 11.00 in the 100 meter, all of which are within reasonable distance of his current personal records.

Fun fact about Owen: on which is the fastest animal he can still beat in a race: “A horsefly can travel about 22 mph, so we’d be neck and neck. But he has wings and I don’t so that is a little unfair.”

With all of the action, the Spring is shaping up to be a fantastic season to be a Rivendell Academy Raptor! Hopefully everyone comes out to support all of the athletes that help make Rivendell great, as we wish them good luck in the upcoming season.