{"id":1290,"date":"2020-11-30T18:07:57","date_gmt":"2020-11-30T23:07:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/?p=1290"},"modified":"2020-11-30T19:10:13","modified_gmt":"2020-12-01T00:10:13","slug":"winter-sports-preview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/winter-sports-preview\/","title":{"rendered":"Winter Sports Preview"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nick Marshall returns to the Hawks boys basketball team, eager to lead his group to success in his final season as a Hawk. (photo courtesy of Tim Morgan)<\/em><\/p>\n

By: Gabe Kamins, Co-Editor-in-Chief<\/p>\n

There has been a lot of uncertainty in Howard County within these past few months. Winter sports conditioning, originally scheduled to begin November 16th, has been canceled. The potential for students and teachers to return to school for the second semester has already been diminished, as Howard County recently announced that they would be going virtual through at least April 14th. As COVID cases rise, so do questions. Prom? Graduation? Vaccine? It\u2019s all up in the air right now. While life has certainly not been easy for these past nine months, there is a glimmer of hope: winter sports are currently set to begin on December 7th. Not only would they serve as a way for students to stay active, socialize with their friends, showcase themselves to colleges, and play the sports they love, but the return of winter sports would provide everyone involved with a sense of normalcy – something that is desperately needed. With that said, the Hawks boys basketball, girls basketball, wrestling, cheerleading, and track teams are gearing up for the new season, ready to welcome sports back to Howard County.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Hawks boys basketball team figures to be amongst the best in the county for the 2021 season. Led by senior guard Nick Marshall, a recent Loyola University commit who averaged 17.2 points per game last season, and high-flying senior forward Ethan Smith, the expectations are undoubtedly high. But will they be ready to go come December 7th? Senior center Grant Heidebrecht certainly believes so. \u201cI truly believe that we will be more than ready for December 7th, as well as for when the games start on January 4th,\u201d he explained. Even though the announcement that the season would be officially starting on December 7th was made on very short notice, the Hawks have been training for months with the assumption that they would be hitting the hardwood at some point this winter. When the announcement became official, Grant was thrilled. \u201cI was very excited to hear that sports will start back up,\u201d he recalled. \u201cI am looking forward to getting back with my teammates [and] just want to be able to share more memories [with them].\u201d Grant is just one of many talented returning players that the Hawks will call upon this season. Nick and Ethan figure to be the main cogs of the team, but Coach Graves will also be expecting a very productive season from junior Tishe Saliu, who showed plenty of promise last season. Senior guard Christian Myers will surely provide a spark, and players like Levi Lawal and Myles McDuffie should contribute greatly on both ends of the court.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Coach Waters has made the Hawks girls basketball team into a perennial powerhouse, and with many key players returning in 2021, another successful season should be in store. One of those key players is Erin Devine, a junior guard and stellar athlete who recently committed to Rutgers University to play lacrosse. Erin was \u201csuper excited\u201d to hear that sports would be resuming soon, especially after her favorite sport, lacrosse, saw its season canceled this past spring. As the number of COVID-19 cases continue to rise throughout the state of Maryland, Erin isn\u2019t too concerned about the virus affecting sports – assuming everyone stays as safe as possible. \u201cAs long as everyone is wearing their mask to and from games and practices, and is socially distancing outside of sports, it will be okay,\u201d she explained. Joining Erin on the court will be fellow juniors Caroline Duffy and Anhyia Smith, while many other players, including junior Kaitlyn Heitzmann and senior Kyndall Moore, will look to fill the void left by star guard Kennedy Clark, who is playing basketball at Union College. While the team has been \u201chaving small conditioning sessions recently to start preparing for the season,\u201d Erin admits that the season suddenly starting could definitely take some adjusting. \u201cIt might be a little rough in the beginning because it\u2019s been a while since we all have played together, but I think that once we get into our groove and everyone gets into shape, we\u2019ll be good,\u201d she explained.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In a time where people are being encouraged to stay six feet apart from each other, it may be surprising to imagine that it\u2019s almost wrestling season. But as senior Jonah Richardson puts it, it\u2019s already been wrestling season this whole time. \u201cThe students who want to wrestle have been doing so, just not through the school,\u201d explained Jonah, referring to the many tournaments and meets that River Hill wrestlers have participated in throughout the pandemic. Jonah, who finished second in the county championship and third in the state championship in 2020, is just one of many elite wrestlers returning to the team in 2021. The Hawks, who took fourth place in the county championship as a team last year, will welcome back senior Michael Crisitello, a 2020 county champion and fifth place winner in the state tournament. Jonah and Michael, also an All-County linebacker for the football team, form one of the best duos in the county and will be joined by many other talented wrestlers, including junior Dylan McCullough, junior Nick Bakhtiar, and senior Aiden Mihalik, to name a few. Jonah believes that the fact that all of the team\u2019s key wrestlers have been \u201cpracticing all offseason\u201d will help ensure that there\u2019s no rust at the start of the season. The program has been one of River Hill\u2019s best these past 25 years, with two state championships, nine county championships, and ten regional championships. 2021 should be another great year for the River Hill wrestling team.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unlike the other winter sports, cheerleading will be taking advantage of the uncertain times and unique schedule in order to focus on skill development rather than competition. Because they will be competing in the Fall, the River Hill cheer team will use the Winter for \u201cskill progression and conditioning instead of cheering at games and competitions,\u201d explained team captain Samantha Steinberg. Though she was \u201csurprised\u201d when she found out that she would be cheering at the school in the winter, Samantha was also \u201cextremely excited\u201d to be back with her teammates. Since June, Samantha, as well as many other competitive cheerleaders, have been practicing while still following the COVID-19 protocols. However, the Hawks have not actually been able to practice together as a team since the pandemic. \u201cIn the beginning, it might be difficult [to practice as a team on such short notice], but I feel that we will quickly adapt and be ready,\u201d said Samantha, noting the fact that the Winter is for progression. While she is not extremely concerned due to the fact that she has been practicing on her competitive team for months now, Samantha acknowledges that \u201cit is necessary that we strictly enforce COVID-19 protocols throughout the athletic season\u201d in order to ensure a safe environment for Winter sports.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

While it\u2019s great for the team to be able to get together and practice as a unit, the good thing about indoor track is that its members have been able to practice whenever they want during the pandemic. Senior Faith Meininger believes that the fact that the team has \u201cbeen trying [their] best to keep each other motivated to run during this time\u201d will ensure that they\u2019re ready to go come tryouts. Faith, who was \u201cvery excited\u201d yet \u201cslightly nervous since it had been so long since competing\u201d when she heard the news that sports would be returning, is one of the best runners in the state of Maryland and will be looking to end her high school career on a positive note. In addition to having a chance to get back on the track, Faith believes that the return of winter sports will \u201cbe good for everyone\u2019s mental health.\u201d The expectations are high in 2021 for a Hawks track team that has been one of the best in the county recently, and Faith Meininger is a big reason why.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Until they hear otherwise, River Hill winter sports athletes are preparing for their seasons to start on December 7th. Even though it may seem like a significant challenge to start up sports in the midst of a pandemic, Maryland is just one of the few states to not have the majority of schools playing sports right now. Even so, multiple counties in Maryland – as well as many private schools – have been successfully playing sports during the pandemic due to their strict protocols and the determination of athletes and coaches to do whatever they can to ensure that kids have a chance to play. Yes, these are challenging times. But if everyone in Howard County can follow the protocols that are in place, then sports can officially return on December 7th.<\/span><\/p>\n

UPDATE<\/b>: On Monday, November 30th, Howard County announced that it would be postponing the start of the winter athletic season to January 4th, 2021. While this is unfortunate news for the athletes who were ready to play come December 7th, the hope is that it will be safer to begin athletics in January.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nick Marshall returns to the Hawks boys basketball team, eager to lead his group to success in his final season as a Hawk. (photo courtesy of Tim Morgan) By: Gabe Kamins, Co-Editor-in-Chief There has been a lot of uncertainty in Howard County within these past few months. Winter sports conditioning, originally scheduled to begin November…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":1291,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/VYLMGR633VG45BRBAXHOIA3EKQ.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1290"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1290\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1292,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1290\/revisions\/1292"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}