Three Teams Looking To Win State Championships

Three RHS winter sports teams have achieved league championships in their sports: Girls Basketball, Boys Basketball and Hockey.  Not taking these accomplishments lightly, all three teams now have their sights set on getting a good seed in their respective MIAA postseason tournaments, with an eye to getting the ultimate prize, a State Championship.

RHS sports reporter Matt Dalton sat down with Lou Casey, Matt O’Brien and Danielle O’Brien to get their thoughts on the postseason tournament which will begin the week after February Vacation.

Below please follow the links to the latest Veritas print stories on each of these three sports.

Nothing but the same for Lady Dogs by Harry O’Brien

Hockey Team Repeats as SSL Champs by Mark Shields

Boys Basketball Team Wins SSL Championship by Danielle O’Brien

 

Swim and Wrestling Teams Finish Up Their Seasons

February 15, 2018

As we get to the February break, two out of the five athletic teams have finished up their seasons.  Both the wrestling and swim teams had successful seasons and competed well in every meet or match.  Congratulations to both!

The following stories appeared in the most recent print Veritas which came out on Weds. Feb. 14.

The 2017-2018 Wrestling Team

Matty O’Brien, Veritas Sports Editor

The 2017-2018 season has had some ups and downs for the wrestling team.

During the season, the team was hit with injuries to two of its top wrestlers, senior captains Adam Russo and Will Breadmore. Both Russo and Breadmore were South Shore League All-Stars last year as juniors. These injuries would stop many teams dead in their tracks; however, the Dogs have been able to keep pushing forward and have forged a nice season for themselves.

Although the Dogs came up short on a third consecutive league title, losing to a skilled Cohasset team, they are primed and ready to make an impact at sectionals, and the state tournament.

After leagues, wrestling shifts into an individual sport where the goal is to have as many wrestlers survive and advance through sectionals, states, all-states and so on. Heading into sectionals Assistant Coach Peter Harrison touched on the team’s new goals.

“We are hoping to get two or three kids a sectional championship and their name on the banner,” said Harrison.

Two kids expected to make a run through sectionals, states, all-states, and hopefully further are senior captains Cam Smith and Jimmy Fitzgerald as they have a combined record of 30-1, 15-0, and 15-1 respectively.  Other wrestlers expected to make an impact are senior captains Adam Russo and Brad Seder. Coaches have lofty expectations for this senior group.

“We are hoping our senior captains can take us far into states, all-states and even New England’s,” said Harrison.

Although many wrestlers are not competing at this point of the season, as some do not survive and advance as far as others, one can still find the whole team practicing after school every day.

In the words of Coach Harrison, every wrestler continues to practice, until the “last man is standing.”

He added, “It’s great for everyone to continue to practice even if they are done competing. We’ve had years that we will have one kid competing all the way ‘til New England’s in March, but the whole team will still show up to practice.”

By maintaining the team aspect of wrestling during the individual season is truly something special at Rockland High School. That many athletes are no longer competing yet go and battle at practice every day is a testament to the culture of the team. Senior captain Jimmy Fitzgerald is thankful for the lessons he’s learned throughout his wrestling  career.

“Wrestling has taught me you can never take anything for granted; everything you achieve, you have to work for,” said Fitzgerald.

The unsung hero for the team this season is Brad Seder. The senior captain has worked hard for four seasons, and was a leader throughout this season on and off the mats.

The Dogs are looking to make noise throughout their sectional, states, and all-state tournaments coming up. Look for some added names on the team’s banners as many Dogs could have a stellar run through tournament competition.

The 2017-2018 Swim Team

Veritas Staff

The Rockland High School boys’ and girls’ swim teams honored their seniors on Friday, Jan. 26 before their meet with Scituate.

Julie Margolis, the swim teams’ coach called the night a success and praised all her swimmers along with the seniors.  “We had a lot of fun tonight. The kids swam great. There were lots of best times despite losing.”

Wins have been hard to come by this year for the hard-working swim teams but that is not the point, says Margolis. “Our goals this season were to have fun and to improve our strokes. Everyone has done so,” she said.

Specifically she points to the fun atmosphere at practices where students enjoy learning and trying new things.  “We’ve had a fun year. The kids have all earned some personal best swims and continue to get better every week. Most are even trying different events.”

She added, “Almost everyone can do a flip turn and most have at least three strokes legal for meets.”  These are big accomplishments for her swimmers since many are largely inexperienced unlike many of their opponents.

With such a positive outlook regarding all her swimmers Margolis did not want to single out one or two as unsung heros.  She believes that all of her swimmers are unsung heroes. “These kids come Monday through Thursday, 7:45 p.m.-9 p.m. every week and work really hard. Most hadn’t even had swim lessons and have learned to swim and race in legal strokes. Every time out in the pool these kids work so hard to improve and to win but it’s really hard to compete with other towns that have town pools or year round swim opportunities.”

Margolis also feels that her swimmers have to overcome a lack of notice and respect at school.  She said, “These kids hear all day at school ‘that’s not a sport; swimming is for sissies,’ and much worse.”

She wishes that the school would give them as much attention as the other sports. “They [swimmers]  continue to come to meets discouraged because every other team at the school gets announced for their games but not swim.”

Junior John Ellard who switched over to swimming after being in the basketball program for two years has similar feelings about the swim team not being recognized as much. “Swimming isn’t really a popular sport at RHS. We don’t have any faculty or students attend our meets regularly, a lot different from basketball. For next year, I’ve made it my goal to hype up the swim team more. We put in as much hard work and dedication as everyone else, and deserve to be recognized for it.”

For Ellard, one of the positive aspects of being in the swim program is the ability to do other things as well as be on the swim team because they practice at night. “With swimming, I can play a sport at a varsity level while also becoming more involved in [after] school activities.” Ellard admits that he misses being part of a great basketball program. “With all of the success they’ve had, I do miss wearing that uniform alongside my teammates.”

But swimming has brought new challenges and opportunities.“I’m definitely happy that I switched over to swimming. The team is phenomenal, our coach is outstanding, and the sport itself is challenging in a good way.”

Swimming has also given Ellard the opportunity to meet new people.

“Another pro [of joining the swim team] is that I get to become so close with a variety of students. Being able to develop close relationships with people that I wouldn’t have otherwise, is definitely a plus.”

Coach Margolis would love to expand the program and hopes that with more student participation they could even add a diving team next year.

 

Images Magazine Nationally Recognized

Sean Fitzgerald and Elizabeth Kelly are editors of Images Literary Magazine this year. Veritas photo

Shane Rosczewski

2-12-18

Images Magazine, has been selected to receive a rank of Excellent in the 2017 National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Program to Recognize Excellence in Student Literary Magazines. Receiving congratulations were advisors Chad Bigsby and Chris Neal, and the students who produced this exemplary publication. The NCTE said, “You have inspired a love of writing and built a community around the written word that your students will remember for the rest of their lives.”

The mission of NCTE’s Program to Recognize Excellence in Student Literary Magazines (PRESLM) is to encourage all schools to develop literary magazines, inspiring excellence in writing and school-wide participation in production.

372 schools across the country submitted their publications to the program.  Images was one of eight to receive an Excellent ranking in Massachusetts.

Last year’s editors, Lauren Zaremba and Lulu Lima (Class of 2017) were cited for their contributions.

This year the senior editor is Sean Fitzgerald and the junior editor is Elizabeth Kelley. They are working together to carry on the tradition of excellence that the magazine has attained.

Anyone may be a part of Images and can submit artwork, poetry or stories.    Images’ on-line webzine can be found here.

A sample from the last Images’ webzine is below.