By Katherine Kelly, Reporter and Designer
Winter sports are hitting mid season, and there are noticeably few junior and senior girls participating. Girls have the option to participate in winter cheer, wrestling, and basketball, yet there are only eight female upperclassmen, compared to the 18 male upperclassmen who are playing winter sports.
The girls cheerleading squad has one senior, Anne Kehl, and five juniors, including co-captain Presley Roggenbuck. Although Roggenbuck is excited about the upcoming winter season, she recognizes there is a smaller turnout than previous years.
“A lot of senior girls quit cheer this year,” said Roggenbuck, “which is why the upperclassmen count is down.”
Roggenbuck has been in Winter Cheer since her freshman year, and Fall Cheer since her sophomore year. She did not expect to make captain, but she is hoping to be captain next year for fall and winter cheer as well.
“A lot of girls even quit the first week because they had negative expectations for the season,” said Roggenbuck. “But the girls who stuck with it turned out to become very lucky because our new coach, Corrine Pruett, is fantastic.”
Roggenbuck said she is looking forward to the opportunity to get to know so many underclassmen. She’s excited to continue this season alongside Kehl.
The majority of cheerleaders have little to no experience, so this presents a fresh start with a new coach and new participants.
The lack of female upperclassmen in wrestling is a given, as it is a predominantly male sport. Nonetheless, there are 11 upperclassmen boys in wrestling, compared to the one female participant.
“I think there are a large amount of senior athletes, but not a large amount participating in this season’s sports,” said senior female wrestler Peytra Gard. “They also do sports that are club and not done through the school, which already takes up their time.”
Such winter club sports include skiing, snowboarding, rowing, and cross country.
The girls basketball team has a grand total of one upperclassman. Eva Anderson is the lone senior. She enjoys having a younger team, arguing that the girls will have lots of success in the upcoming couple of years with nine freshman girls.
“It has allowed others to really step forward, and to have younger girls hold more relevance on the team, which is incredibly exciting,” said Anderson. “The meaningfulness of this year rests in the fact that we will have so much growing to do over the next few years as a program.”
The girls team has focused on building the team up, to ensure that the underclassmen have a good four years on the team.
“Those boys have always played, that’s simply it,” said Anderson, referring to the boys basketball team. “You aren’t seeing new faces on that team this year, which is awesome and shows long-term commitment from those boys.”
The boys varsity team has no freshmen, and three sophomores, showing just how many more upperclassmen are are playing in boys winter sports than with girls.
Kehl, Gard, and Anderson are the senior girls in winter sports.