Dear Reader, 

This past year at Manual RedEye, our sports editorial team and those on staff who also regularly contributed to the sports team showed up and showed out. As a team, we covered 78 sporting events across the fall, winter and spring. 31 were from the fall, 30 were from the winter and 17 were from the spring. However, in terms of the total number of sports articles published, including both Manual athletic events and sports-related articles in relation to local, state, national and international sports, sporting events, controversies, explainers, etc., we wrote 102 pieces. 

Eight of those articles were athlete profiles, something RedEye has done in the past, but not as consistent as we were able to do so this year. We took this reestablished idea as an opportunity to highlight those athletes, more specifically senior athletes, of all their accomplishments and dedication to their respective sports. 

Our sports team and members of RedEye’s social media team also took it upon themselves to create hype videos, highlighting underrepresented teams and the athletes on those respective teams. This year, those teams included boys’ and girls’ cross country, volleyball, boys’ golf, boys’ and girls’ soccer, girl’s lacrosse and softball. They also created hype videos for both the boys’ and girls’ basketball teams. 

In addition, we also set out to cover teams not just through a recap of a match/game, but through sneak peeks and throw backs. Some staffers previewed some teams’ seasons, like football, e-sports and cross country, while some reflected about some teams’ seasons, like field hockey. 

With those statistics and information in mind, one of the reasons we did so much and were able to accomplish so much was because we set two goals that we held close with us all year. Those goals of the sports team this year were to cover both boys’ and girls’ sports across the fall, winter and spring, while maintaining inclusive coverage of varsity, JV and freshman teams. With this being the predominant focus in planning out coverage, it is safe to say the end results were more than achieving and gratifying. 

It had been 12 years since a golf match recap had been published. It had been five years since an archery tournament recap had been published. While one swim and dive meet recap had been published last year, we were able to publish two this year. The last time RedEye wrote about swimming was in 2013. For the first time ever, since it recently became KHSAA sanctioned, we covered boys’ volleyball twice. 

While recaps about matches/games and/or tournaments have been written the past two, three years for some teams, we were able to amplify coverage for those teams. In 2022, only one article was published about the cross country team. This year, four were published. In 2023, three articles were published recapping boys’ and girls’ soccer games, combined. This year, a combined seven articles were published. We were able to cover wrestling twice this year, as compared to only once last year. Only one article was written recapping a bowling tournament last year, while this year, a total of five combined articles were written. Between 2023 and 2024, only two articles were published in regards to boys’ and girls’ tennis. This year, three were published. Last year, only two articles were published recapping lacrosse, specifically girl’s lacrosse. This year, a combined seven stories were written. From 2023 to 2024, only two recap articles were published for baseball. This year, we were able to publish two.

While we could probably say more regarding our success this year as part of the sports editorial team, and all the fun we had as a team, working through our busy schedules, school life, extracurricular activities and work, we think it is pretty safe to say, we have done quite a lot this year. While we can admit there is a lot more work to be done and that can be done, we leave you with one heck of a year filled with an abundant amount of coverage and highlights of Manual’s athletic teams and athletes who make sacrifices every day to play the sport they love with pride and dedication. Hopefully, dear reader, you were able to see this in what we have written. 

With the seniors signing off, 

Katie and Scarlett

And until next year,

Mayrin, Safa and Abigail