ERHS Cross Country - Preview, Midseason, and Recap Report

By Dejen Mengis
Staff Writer
The Raider

The Eleanor Roosevelt High School Cross Country team has been known for its dominance in Prince George's County; and it does not look like they are slowing down.

The boys varsity team started off their season strong with a fourth place finish at the Maymont Park Cross Country Course, led by fifth place finisher junior Charles Bollinger. The girls’ side looked strong as well, finishing in seventh place in the Coastal Girls Division, led by race winner ERHS junior Amirah Johnson.

The Maymont course is known for showcasing some of the best talent throughout Maryland and Virginia. Yet amid the competition, the team performed well.

“A lot of people improved on their personal best,” said Coach Gregory Johnson. Johnson took over the head coach job amid the preseason resignations of coaches Timothy McMahon and Sherman Turner. Since then McMahon has followed former coach Desmond Dunham to a post as a part-time volunteer coach at the University of Maryland and Turner has loosened the time conflicts between coaching and his job.

Last year Coach Johnson took over as head coach of indoor and outdoor track. This season, however, marks Johnson’s first as head coach of the cross country team.

Although Coach Johnson believes that it had a “good combination before” he thinks the team’s performance is not expected to drop.

Despite the team’s success, however, many still expect it to perform better. “We have a ton of potential and we’ve made a lot of improvement, but we’re not all the way there yet,” commented junior Carl White.

A major goal of the team this year is to perform better at the state meet than they did last year, at which they finished 14th overall. “We have very high expectations,” added White.

“Our team will be very good this year at the state championship,” predicted sophomore Justin Ahalt.

The girls have also found success this year, which seems to be focused around junior Amirah Johnson.

“I am very pleased with our performances this year,” said Johnson. “I think we will do well and get a good place at states.”

The state meet, held at Hereford High School, is widely known for being one of the toughest courses in the country. However, the team’s assurance that they will be “very good at the state championship” makes it hard to doubt their future success.

4th seeded Roosevelt football loses at 1st seeded Wise 6-0 in first round of playoffs

Volleyball Update

Roosevelt volleyball fell to Bowie tonight in the South region final. Football plays at #1 Wise in the first round of the playoffs tomorrow

Boys Soccer Falls to High Point in Regional Semifinal

By Naveed Siddiqui

Editor-in-Chief

The Raider

In a season that had many ups and downs, the Eleanor Roosevelt High boys soccer team saw its season abruptly end in the 4A regional semifinal game against High Point on Thursday. The Raiders fell to the Eagles 6-5 in a shootout after a 1-1 regulation and two extra time periods could not decide the winner.

It was only fitting that a shootout would decide this matchup of two evenly-matched county powerhouses. ERHS finished the regular season 9-1, with the only loss coming on the road against High Point early in the season.

Shots were difficult to come by in regulation as both teams showed stellar defense. The Eagles scored on a breakaway shot in the first half that bounced off a diving GK Chris Bonnell. The Raiders responded in the second half after a long throw-in by senior Jeff Hopper. On a carom near the goal, the ball deflected off the head of junior Rene Pizarro into the net.

The shootout held true to its name. The Eagles and Raiders traded goals for five rounds, but after a sixth High Point goal, ERHS senior captain Harif Balogun’s shot was saved, ending the magical season for the Raiders.

Reflecting on the season, there are nothing but positives to look at in players’ minds. A 9-1 record, beating the defending state champion Bowie Bulldogs, a spotless home record, and a Prince George’s County championship are just a few of the many great accomplishments during the Raiders’ 2009 season.

For Pizarro, the likely captain of next year’s team, all that is great, but the one thing he takes away from this season is the great chemistry the team had. “We all had high hopes for ourselves, but we managed to turn the soccer team into a family, and we managed to turn practice into a place where you'd want to be, because we were all close,” he says.

Senior captain Chris Bonnell believes the county championship banner that will be raised in the gymnasium epitomizes the greatest accomplishment of the team. “We will be remembered forever. It is something that hasn't been done in several years which distinguishes our class [from] all of the others.”

Chemistry, along with working on the little things in practice, helps to build a team emotionally, mentally, as well as physically. Bonnell, the emotional leader of the team, believes the past four years represent a vital part of his life.

“Regardless of what any record says these four years playing soccer at Eleanor Roosevelt High School have been one of, if not the most important and special experiences of my life,” he says. “There is no bond or experience I have ever gone through that was the same. I can say with no exaggeration that those people are my family and I love every one of them.”

It will be difficult to replace one of the winningest senior classes in school history; a class that went undefeated at home dating back to its junior varsity days in 2006. Pizarro says out of all the great things the class of 2010 players brought to the table he will miss “their talent and desire to win” the most.

The team will lose ten seniors from this past season. Pizarro believes the key to success in subsequent years will be the play of the younger members of the team.

“I feel like we have the responsibility to teach and help out the underclassmen because they will play an important role in the team next year. We have to make sure they understand and want success as much as [we do].”

The 2009 season did not end the way the team would have wanted. But the players cannot dwell on the last game for too long. There are too many great memories to look back upon, and too much hope to look forward to.

Roosevelt football loses on Senior Day to Suitland 6-25

Boys Soccer vs. Laurel - Regional Quarterfinal

The ERHS Boys Soccer team will play the Spartans of Laurel on Tuesday at 2pm at Roosevelt. This will be the last soccer game at home for the Raiders this season.