2010-11 Fall Sports Preview: Raptors begin year No. 2

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EAST RIDGE GIRLS CROSS COUNTRY

Young bunch a year older, but how much better?

In nearly each of the East Ridge girls cross country team’s meets last season its top five finishers were three eighth-graders and two freshmen. This year, the young bunch is a year older and the Raptors return all of their frontrunners for the 2010-11 season.

Last season, the Raptors girls ran to an eighth-place finish at the Suburban East Conference championship and a sixth-place finish at the Section 4AA meet.

Like last year, East Ridge will be led by All-Conference and state qualifying runner Bailey Ness, who is a freshman, along with fellow classmates Erin Kenney, Abbey Beissler, Sarah Moechnig and Sammy Warwick and sophomores Maddi Zavoral and Taylor Jackson.

East Ridge head coach Chad Cronin said all of the varsity girls runners return from last year and he expects the team to be deeper this season.

“This team did very well last year and I expect that they will move up in places,” Cronin said.

Cronin said he believes Roseville, Mounds View and Hastings will be Eat Ridge’s toughest competition in the Suburban East and in the section — along with section foe St. Paul Central.

The Raptors travel to Northfield on Sept. 3 and Sept. 17 for meets at St. Olaf College — which Cronin said will be good meets early on. Additionally, its meet in Blaine on Oct. 7 will be its last before the SEC championships.

“I am very proud of these girls and am excited to see how well they do,” Cronin said. “They had a good inaugural season with a great post season.”

— Patrick Johnson

EAST RIDGE BOYS CROSS COUNTRY

Raptors hit the road hard in offseason

The East Ridge boys cross country team returns all of its varsity runners from last season and head coach Chad Cronin said he anticipates a huge improvement this year, mostly because he said the team worked very hard this summer.

“I am very proud of these boys,” Cronin said. “There are many who logged many miles this summer and I anticipate that really paying off.”

Last season, the team finished 10th in the Suburban East Conference championships and in 12th place at the Section 4AA meet.

In 2009-10 Nate Roese, now a sophomore, led the Raptors boys in every race, earning All-Conference honors and came one spot shy of a state meet berth, finishing 11th at the section championships.

Along with Roese, East Ridge returns senior captain Aaron Lawrence, freshmen runners Ryan Schiferl, Sam Scholz and Ryan Mathis, juniors Tom Dierberger and Quint Larson, sophomore Alex Slette and eighth-grader Zachary Gehl.

Cronin said he expects Stillwater, White Bear Lake and Roseville to be the teams to beat in the SEC and in the section.

The Raptors travel to Northfield on Sept. 3 and Sept. 17 for meets at St. Olaf College — which Cronin said will be good meets early on. Additionally, its meet in Blaine on Oct. 7 will be its last before the SEC championships.

— Patrick Johnson

EAST RIDGE BOYS SOCCER

Raptors gaining ‘a sense of team’

After being tossed together from separate programs last year, this season’s East Ridge boys soccer team has “much more of a sense of team,” according to coach Phil Walczak.

Like the other ERHS fall programs, the boys soccer team features seniors for the first time in 2010, with Walczak’s club boasting five in Joaquin Valdes, Thomas Bearrood, Robbie MacNamara, Andy Guerra and Joel Buhler.

MacNamara and Guerra captain this year’s team, with Buhler joining East Ridge as a foreign exchange student hailing from Sweden. The Raptors welcome another newcomer to the program from Mahtomedi in the form of Justin Pahl.

Walczak looks to Joey Lewis as the team’s starting goalkeeper as the Raptors plan to improve on last season’s 2-14-1 record.

“We’re another year older and another year stronger,” Walczak said. “It’s a technically gifted group with a strong, fast game. It’s also still a very young team, so age and maturity will be an issue.”

East Ridge will look to get its first victories over its intra-district rivals when the Raptors host Woodbury on Thursday, Sept. 23 and Park on Thursday, Sept. 30.

—Tom Carothers

EAST RIDGE VOLLEYBALL

Game on!

After an impressive inaugural season, the East Ridge volleyball team looks to improve on last year’s 16-12 campaign that saw the Raptors soar all the way to the sectional semifinals before bowing out to eventual 4AAA champion Stillwater.

With the leader of last year’s club, Katie Plummer, departing in the off-season to pursue an employment opportunity in Florida, Lindsay Ashburn takes over as the coach of this year’s talent-laden club that is chock-full of senior talent, including Cassie Yurick, Melisa Sieben, Dale Hoeffel, Felicia Ulrich and Kate Kelzenberg to name but a few.

The Raptors get their first crack at the team that ended their initial season as they host the Ponies on Thursday, Sept. 16. East Ridge takes on cross-town rival Woodbury on Tuesday, Sept. 21 and plays intra-district rival Park on Tuesday, Oct. 5, with a trip to New Life Academy on Tuesday, Oct. 19.

—Tom Carothers

EAST RIDGE GIRLS SWIMMING & DIVING

Raptors expected to be among top conference, section teams

In its inaugural year, the East Ridge girls swimming and diving team went 6-6 in a competitive Suburban East Conference, earned third place at the Section 1A championships and sent seven Raptors to the Class A state meet.

With every single varsity swimmer returning to the pool in 2010-2011 East Ridge head coach Luke Weyandt said this year will be fun.

The Raptors will be led by senior captains Kaeleigh Wilson, Paige Harris and Bailee Meyer, along with senior Alyssa Kong, juniors Melanie Rabino and Rachel Treadway, sophomore Jenna Karrow and freshman Meredith Ubel.

Last year, Kong, Rabino, Treadway and Ubel each qualified for the Class A state meet in two individual events while divers Karrow and Meyer reached state in diving. Ubel, Rabino, Kong and Wilson also earned a trip to state in the 200-yard freestyle relay and Kong, Rabino, Treadway and Ubel teamed up to qualify for state in the 400-yard freestyle relay.

At state, Karrow, Meyer and Kong each earned All-State honors. Karrow finished second and Meyer took fifth overall in the diving and Kong took sixth place in the 200-yard freestyle.

In 2010-11 East Ridge makes the jump from Class A to Class AA — out of Section 1A, where it finished behind section champion Northfield and runner-up Red Wing — and into Section 3AA, where it will compete with section favorites Woodbury, Cretin-Derham Hall, Hastings and Rosemount for spots at the state meet.

The top teams in the SEC are expected to be Stillwater, Hastings, Cretin-Derham Hall, Mounds View and Woodbury.

East Ridge hits the pool for the first time this year on Thursday, Aug. 26, with the conference relays and takes on rival Woodbury on Wednesday, Oct. 27 in the two teams’ final meet before the SEC Championships.

— Patrick Johnson

EAST RIDGE GIRLS TENNIS

Raptors add 17 new players

According to head coach Jon Rydberg, the East Ridge girls tennis team begins its second year with an increase in depth from its inaugural season.

Coming off a 4-12 overall season, Rydberg said the team is still very young with a lot of room to improve.

In addition to returning top singles players Meghan Tomai and Hannah Strom and top doubles duos of Leah Robinson and Emily Mueller and Maddie Blake and Taylor Anderson, along with the rest of last year’s squad, the Raptors have roughly 17 new players out for the team for the 2010-11 season, including promising newcomers Natalie and Nicole Robinson, Amanda Casby and Anna Bearrood.

Rydberg said he expects Cretin-Derham Hall, Stillwater and Mounds View to be the top teams in the Suburban East Conference and the Raiders and Mahtomedi to be the section’s top teams. Key dates this season will be the Raptors’ Aug. 30 match with section foe St. Paul Central, and conference matches against Roseville and Woodbury on Sept. 7 and 16, respectively.

“Our team is looking forward to competing at a higher level this year,” Rydberg said. “I will enjoy watching them succeed where they did not last year.”

— Patrick Johnson

Tags: 2010 fall preview, cross country, sports, volleyball, soccer, swimming