Fall sports may be winding down, but the excitement isn’t over yet since all of our teams have a lot to be proud of–either because they’ve had a great season or made it into the playoffs!
This year, our cross country team has had a very successful season, winning every conference meet and ranking 2nd overall in the NCISSA 2A Division. On Wednesday 10/16, they won the conference championship and had multiple all-conference runners named: JT Wingfield (Jr.), Reid Gross (Fr.), Thomas Vaughn (8th), Elizabeth Chesnutt (Fr.), Elizabeth Kibbe (Fr.), and Charlie Crumley (Sr.), who also was awarded Runner of the Year in the girls division and holds the first-place spot in the conference rankings for female runners. Also deserving some recognition is freshman Reid Gross, who broke the school record (previously held by Gabe Winham ‘23) in the 5K by 40 seconds. This has been an exciting year for our cross country team, and if you want to see this talent before the season wraps up soon, you can watch them compete in the state meet on October 25th at WakeMed Soccer Park.
Our boys varsity soccer team had a good season which unfortunately ended after a hard-fought loss (3-0) against St. Thomas More on 10/17, ending the Eagles’ participation in the state tournament with the second round. In pre-tournament conference play, the varsity Eagles lost only Faith Christian School (1-0), putting them second in the conference. A lot of this success was due to goalkeeper Mitchell Hinson (So.), who had an impressive 72 saves this season for the Eagles. The team has also benefited from having so many experienced players. The varsity boys had eight seniors on the team: Thomas Honey, Carter Ingram, Hank Berry, Christopher Harper, Colin Agan, Henry Dunton, Lowell Brantley, and Stone Ramey. Many of these seniors were part of this year’s starting lineup, and Colin Agan led the team in both goals (19) and assists (13). Speaking of leading, sophomore Oscar Seale, who plays right mid, says, “I will miss the seniors; they did a great job of leading the team.” That kind of team spirit and chemistry shouldn’t be underrated. Senior Christopher Harper’s favorite part of the season was “how close the team was and how well they played together.”
Next, let’s take a look into our varsity girls tennis team and their exciting season. The Lady Eagles ended the regular season with a 9-1 conference record (14-6 overall) and took home the title of CIC Conference Champs. Abbie Hooks was our #1 seed and had a record of 9-6, and she is also on our 1 seed for doubles with Katie Kos (So.); Hooks and Kos had a record of 11-5. This year’s team had 5 seniors: Abbie Hooks, Frances Tharin, Isabella Daza, Grace Bone, and Mary Powell. Sophomore Sarah Dunn Sawyer said, “I’m going to miss the seniors; they are such great leaders on our team and really make the game fun to play.” Unfortunately, their season ended with a loss on Thursday 10/17 against Epiphany School in the 2nd round of state playoffs. All-State and All-Conference honors will be awarded on November 1, and we’re sure some of our players will be recognized!
Our varsity volleyball team competed in the conference championship on October 11 and came out victorious after a close 5 sets, securing the title of Conference Champions with a 9-1 record, losing only in conference play to Faith Christian School. Hannah Garris (Jr.), Landry Miller (Jr.), and Berkeley Miller (So.) were awarded All-Tournament Team honors, and McKenna Rogers (Jr.) earned the title of Tournament MVP. Garris, Rogers, and the Miller sisters also earned All-Conference, and Kaylee Wright earned All-Conference Honorable Mention. Clearly, this is an Eagle team with plenty of talent! Seeded 5th in the state with a 17-3 record, the team moved on to the state tournament, playing in the first round on Tuesday 10/15. The Eagles took a quick 3-set win against Epiphany School, advancing to the second round of the state tournament, which they also won. After their 3-set win against Village Christian Academy, they moved on to the 3rd round of playoffs to face Berean Baptist Academy, which is located in Fayetteville. Sadly, after 4 sets, the Lady Eagles’ winning streak came to an end. Middle hitter Berkeley Miller says, “Even though it’s so hard to lose, I am still so proud of our team and how much we accomplished this year.”
Finally, let’s look at our varsity football team (4-4 conference, 4-6 overall). They had many challenges going into this season, having lost many talented players who graduated last year. In addition, the Eagles had a change in coaching staff just two weeks before their first game when Coach Mo Jones, a former assistant coach who has been a part of the RMA football program for over a decade, took the reins. Although the team would love to have a deeper bench, the upside is that, since the team is small in numbers, many players–such as Kaiden Pulley and Ayden Lovely–get to play both sides of the ball and enjoy more playing time. Just last week (on 10/18), we celebrated our four seniors—Cameron Dawkins, Wyatt Wells, Micah Boseman, and Colin Agan—at the game against Faith Christian School. Even though we came up short (62-41 L), many of our players still had great games. Quarterback Gehrig Miller (Jr.) threw for 411 yards and 5 touchdowns, even running into the endzone from 17 yards out. Our first six points were scored by senior Micah Boseman, who also led our teams in tackles with 12. Will May (Fr.) chipped in with an impressive 11 tackles for the night. Kaiden Pulley (Jr.) and Ayden Lovely (Jr.) had two touchdowns each that game. Our boys have a bye this week and will begin state playoffs on Friday, November 1st.
While we’re sad to be saying goodbye to this awesome fall sports season, we’re looking forward to the next chapter in RMA sports as we welcome in winter sports–basketball, track, and swimming–next month.
