By Contributing Writer Moriyah Campbell (‘28) and Anna Schroth (’28)
The fall season kicks off with a strong start to the sports teams at Jamesville-Dewitt High School. In a large sweep of the fall sports teams at J-D, RamPage welcomes team captains to share some information about their sport.
Tennis
The tennis team is off to a great start this season. Despite a loss of 14 seniors from last season, they are on a great roll and are positive about their meets. Team captain Kendall Cabiles (‘26) says that they only have one competitor, East Syracuse-Minoa. Cabiles has been on the team for three years now and says that she has improved more and more each season. Her position on the team is second doubles which is one of the most important positions. Cabiles’s personal goals are to better her serve and make it a fun season for the girls on her team. She prepares for her games by doing a pre-game warm up with all the girls from the team. The song that gets Cabiles hype and ready for her games is “No Hands” by Waka Flocka Flame. Cabiles looks up to a lot of people like Billie Jean King, Serena Williams, and Amanda Anisimova who are all American tennis players.
Junior Yara Farah is also a captain and has been on the team for four years. Farah’s personal and team goals are to win states. One player that has stuck out to Farah is eight-grader Asha Viswanathan, who is confident and has been making strides in improvement this season. The team has been preparing in many ways like giving each other words of encouragement and of motivation. Farah says that the team’s biggest competition is Oneida.
Cross Country
The cross country team has been doing outstanding this season. Junior Emmerson Ridiz is one of the captains on the J-DHS cross country team and has been on the team for three years. Ridzi and the team face fierce competitors this season, from ESM, to Baldwinsville, and even to neighboring schools like Fayetteville-Manlius. The team is confident about beating them. One of her personal goals for this season is to connect the team together more with team bonding activities. Her goals for the team are to get faster, beat more teams, and to have better motivation.
Volleyball
The Jamesville-DeWitt Girls Volleyball team is not one to miss this season, according to senior captain Riley Tuite. Having lost five senior starters last year, they have a relatively new starting line-up this year, said senior captain and starting middle Aaliyah Anderson. Ellyana Deng, senior captain and also a starting middle, said, “One player that’s been standing out so far this season is (sophomore) Zoie Van Beveren … She has been moved around from position to position and is killing it in every one. She’s doing a great job adjusting for the team.” Tuite says that the team has lost to Burnt Hills in regionals the past three seasons and a big team goal for her is to beat them this year.
Anderson said she looks up to her older brother and is proud to be repping his number on the court. She also said that besides their traditional round of ‘Circle Passing’ before each game she also likes listening to music. Her favorite pregame hype song is “WHATCHU KNO ABOUT ME” by GloRilla and Sexyy Red. Anderson has been on the team for over four years and is looking forward to a great season.
Gymnastics
Sophomore Gemma Ricciardiello has been on the Jamesville Dewitt/Fayetteville Manlius girls gymnastics team for four years. Her goals for this season are to beat New Hartford and compete in four events in sectionals. One way her and her teammates prepare themselves for a meet is by screaming “I AM AWESOME!!” in the mirror before they compete. Ricciardiello says she looks up to professional gymnasts Sunisa Lee and Laurie Hernandez.
Junior captain Ailey Babikian has been on the team for three years and, according to Ricciardiello, is a great asset to the team. She hopes to make states and says her team is aiming to win sectionals this year, having come in second in the year prior. When asked her favorite pregame hype song, she replied, “anything from Hamilton”.
Soccer
Freshman Carmen Schroth claims that the Girls Varsity Soccer team is bound to have a fun and successful season with their captains, seniors Lindsay Parker and Madelyn Murphy, and junior Liliana Santoro leading the way. Murphy says they are a close knit team with many goals for their season, like going far in sectionals and continuing to improve their communication and chemistry on the field. As a team, Parker and Murphy said they enjoy having dance parties in the locker room to get themselves hype before their games. Santoro said her favorite pregame hype song is “This is Me” by Demi Lovato.
Murphy, a midfielder, has been on the team for nearly four years and looks up to J-D alumni Megan Baker as she was a captain at the time that Madelyn was a freshman on the team. Santoro, a center midfielder, predicts a big competitor for her team this season will be East Syracuse-Minoa and this game will push their team to their limits. Parker named freshman Amelia Wormuth as one player she thought was standing out so far this season. “She can take the ball and just dribble by anyone,” said Parker.
Swimming and Diving
The Girls Varsity Swimming and Diving team is having an interesting, yet successful start to this year’s season, having lost nine seniors last year and gained fourteen freshmen. However, sophomore Maria Fisher said senior captains Kayla McQuaid, Nora Barnello, and Sinead McDevitt are positive role models for the team and are doing a fantastic job bringing the team together.
Barnello says the team prepares for a meet by carb loading at the team’s pasta dinner the night before. McQuaid says she focuses on getting a good night’s sleep. In Barnello’s opinion, a big competitor for the team this year will be Liverpool. Someone that McQuaid says she looks up to is her older brother Luke Mcquaid, who is now attending Wentworth University.
