ROCKINGHAM — Officially closing out the 2019-2020 athletic school year is the second “honorable mentions” list of top sports moments from the past nine months.
In the second installment of moments that just missed our Top 10 countdown, we’ll take a look at five final moments, some away from the playing surface, as well as a couple more from Richmond’s boys’ soccer, track and field and football teams.
Track and field teams sweep lone SAC meet of spring
On the same afternoon that the NCHSAA announced all spring sports would be indefinitely suspended due to COVID-19, the Richmond track and field teams participated in their only Sandhills Athletic Conference meet of the season at Scotland High School.
Both the boys’ and girls’ teams would run away from the competition, defeating Scotland and Seventy-First High School. The Raiders earned 242.5 points to earn the meet victory, while Scotland took second in the three-team event with 148.5 points and Seventy-First finished third with 63 points.
Richmond led the way in jumping (61 points), sprinting (60 points) and throwing (50.5 points). Junior Dalton Stroman took first place in the high jump and triple jump to pace the Raiders.
The Lady Raiders also won big, posting 254 points. Earning second place was Seventy-First with 151 points and host Scotland rounded out the scoring with 83 points. As a team, the Lady Raiders recorded eight first-place finishes, notching points in sprints (60 points), relays (40 points), hurdles (31 points) and distance (27 points).
Junior Jakerra Covington won the 100-meter dash (12.10 seconds), took first in the high jump (5 feet, 2 inches) and her mark of 17 feet, 7 inches was good enough for first place in the long jump.
https://richmondobserver.com/sports/item/7898-raiders-win-track-and-field-meet-at-scotland.html
Raider soccer outlasts Jack Britt in PKs, sweeps Bucs
In boys’ soccer action, one of the most exciting moments of the fall 2019 season came at home on Oct. 9 against SAC foe Jack Britt High School. It was the second meeting of the two teams and a win for head coach Chris Larsen’s team would make it the first season sweep of the Buccaneers since 2007.
The Raiders and Bucs played a scoreless 90 minutes of regulation and neither team scored in the additional 10 total minutes of overtime. That sent the game to penalty kicks, a rule the NCHSAA revoked last week for next season.
Richmond would go a perfect 5-for-5 in the shootout round, and capitalized on a Jack Britt error to earn the 1-0 (5-3 PK) win. Larsen sent two lefties, sophomore Alex Medina and senior Noah Jordan, and three righties, Luke Hawks, Noah Aiken and Drew Davis to the line.
After Medina, Jordan, Hawks and Aiken already made their shots, and a Jack Britt player sailed his shot over the crossbar, Davis stepped to the line with a 4-3 lead. The senior center back toed a ball that went middle to the right side, sparking a celebration from the Raider bench.
Raiders, Lady Raiders sign to further college playing careers
The tradition of Richmond student-athletes continuing their respective playing careers at the college level continued this school year. A total of 18 athletes signed their Letters of Intent or Letters of Commitment at various times throughout the last nine months.
In the fall, senior softball player Kayla Hawkins and senior cross country runner Devon Tillman became the first two Raiders to sign. Hawkins will be heading to Coker University, while Tillman will run for Pfeiffer University.
Following suit were senior cheerleader Allexis Swiney and senior football player D’Marcus Harrington. Like Hawkins, Swiney will be a part of Coker’s student body, a member of the gymnastics team, while Harrington will play Division I football at Campbell University, having signed during the early period.
On National Signing Day in February, 12 more Raider football players signed to various programs. They were: Noah Altman (Brevard), Zyier Baldwin (Louisburg), Dereck Barringer (Barton), Brian Bowden (Fayetteville State), Jaheim Covington (South Carolina State), Xavion Lindsey (Fayetteville State), Javon Little (Greensboro), Armond Martin (Greensboro), Omarion Mason (Greensboro), Justin Morman (Greensboro), Gavin Russell (Barton) and Joerail White (Shaw).
Most recently, wrestler Joey Nicholson signed with UNC-Pembroke and soccer player Avy Lucero committed to Johnson & Wales University.
Football program eclipses the 500 all-time win mark
Entering the 2019 football season, the Raiders were just 10 wins shy of reaching the 500-win mark. Behind a seven turnover performance against Seventy-First on senior night, the Raiders made history.
Richmond defeated the Falcons 45-6 to reach the milestone, and added three more wins before the season was over. Dating back to Richmond’s inaugural season in 1972, the Raiders have won 503 of their 619 games, having lost just 111 games and five ties for an all-time winning percentage of 81.26 percent.
“This is just a huge honor and I’m thankful to the Lord for bringing me and my family here and to be a part of that while we’re here,” third-year head coach Bryan Till said, as he recorded his 28th win as the Raiders’ coach. “One day these kids will tell their kids about this and it’s great to be able to etch our names into the tremendous history and tradition.
“It’s an honor, and it’s kind of heavy in a good way,” he added. “And we’re thankful for all the guys who played before us to put us in this position.”
Adeimy earns doctorate while using intramurals as dissertation
The final honorable mention steps outside the realm of high school sports and into the classroom of middle school intramurals. Over the past school year, Allen Adeimy, the physical education teacher and athletic director at Ellerbe Middle School, completed and successfully defended his doctoral dissertation at UNC-Greensboro.
Using his morning intramural program, that is broken into four “seasons” throughout the school year and uses a variety of small-sided sports, Adeimy sought to see the positive impact on students and their performance in the classroom.
