While college teams scramble through the madness of March, trying to see who could get to the coveted championship game, members of the Roosevelt athletic department can easily shed some light on that subject. Like the Rider football teams of the 1970's or track teams of the 1980's this year Roosevelt's sports teams have had the opportunity to participate in and/or win the championship in their respective sports so much so that this could be referred to as the Year of the Rider.

The Lady Rider Cross Country Team.

This fabulous year started off with our Lady Rider cross country team who captured their first ever DCIAA Cross Country girl's championship in school's history. After placing a disappointing 2nd in last years' competition, the Lady Riders stayed focused on one goal...winning it all this year. The coaching staff instituted a rigorous practice schedule which included 7:00 a.m. and after school practices, and workouts on Saturdays and Sundays. The hard work paid off as the Lady Rider's placed multiple runners in the top 10 finisher's of every race, while capturing the East/West Championship and the DCIAA City Championship.

Members of the Lady Rider Varsity Basketball Team celebrate victory over Anacostia in the semifinals of the DCIAA Basketball Tournament.

Our Lady Riders' basketball team earned its' six consecutive appearance in the DCIAA Girls Basketball championship game, with this year being the most challenging. Coach Tyrone Pittman put together a challenging pre-season schedule that included schools like Holy Names, St. John's, Georgetown Visitation and Cal Poly of Baltimore all designed to give his team the type of competition that he would face in the playoffs. Added to a tough schedule was the fact that the Lady Riders had to overcome the injury bug that sidelined senior point guard Whitney Simms for a number of crucial games and the loss of senior leader Asyja Smith for most of the season. With the emergence of Raven Brooks (the areas fourth leading scorer), who put this team on her back, the Lady Riders overcame those obstacles and worked their way into the championship game before succumbing to the eventual city champions...HD Woodson.

Junior Varsity Basketball team.

While our varsity girls and boys basketball teams garnered all of the attention in their march to greatness, our junior varsity basketball team flew under the radar and conducted a march of their own. The JV Riders entered the DCIAA Junior Varsity Basketball Tournament in the middle of the pack, but quickly emerged as a front runner after blowout victories over School without Walls and McKinley Tech. Following a victory over archrival Coolidge, the Riders earned a berth in the championship game against Woodson, which was for some reason held in Woodson's gym instead of a neutral site. The Rider put up a valiant fight before succumbing to the Warriors.
Our boy's varsity basketball team started the year off establishing themselves as a force to be reckoned with. They played anybody and everywhere (e.g. New York, Virginia Beach, Maryland) in the quest to prepare for post-season competition. They defeated Hylton High school at their own site, a school in Virginia and perennial power who had not lost a home game in two years, as well as Severn High School to capture the Bob Ormland Memorial Basketball Championship held at St. Albans High School.
Our Riders captured their first DCIAA basketball championship since 1972 with a thrilling victory over Dunbar and earned its' first ever appearance in the boys city championship game against the Washington Post's number one ranked team Gonzaga High School. Though victory eluded our Riders in this game the seasons was extremely successful....With the spring season upon us we look for further success from our baseball, softball, tennis, outdoor track and golf teams. To be continued!

By Maurice Butler |  April 6, 2008; 12:46 PM ET
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Posted by: Athelia Knight | April 10, 2008 6:35 PM

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