![]() Mortiz Mittendorfer ‘24, DeShannon Reed ‘27, and Nate Bonds ‘25 prepare to get treatment from NCS’ beloved Athletic Trainer, Holly Marshall. With many injuries plaguing athletes, they limit the team from having a fully healthy season. Most of these inconvenient injuries are due to either hamstring pulls or just hamstring tweaks in general. According to- -Marshall there have been three hamstring injuries in just the spring alone to runners such as Nate Bonds, DeShannon Reed ‘, and most recently newcomer, Jiale Qin ‘26. Some such as Bonds and Reed have carried these burdened hamstrings since the indoor season. “It delayed me a little bit,” said Bonds./ “It set me back but taught me to stretch more.” To truly show how much injuries affected the track team, runners are the first ones in Marshall's room before and sometimes the last ones to leave after practice. “Before practice I probably see about six and after about four,” Marshall said. Most people in the room are getting ice, helping stretching, or just even checking in with her about past injuries that may still need to be shown attention. Which is more than needed while going through an injury. “Holly checks my progress and where I am compared to where I was,” Reed said, “and then she evaluates what stretches I can do and how hard I should go in practice.” While coaches don’t like the time spent in Holly’s room before practice, it is important to the performance during practice. Practicing while hurt there will be more chances of performing at a lower level than at a healthy level. Also there are more chances of reinjuring that spot. “She [Holly] asked me to come before practice to check up on it. She knows how to help me do better during the practice and hold me from harder practices so I can work on it and let it heal,” Qin said, ”It will help me work on it without hurting it again or making it worse.” For the runners who were suffering from an injury earlier in indoor season and even tweaks this outdoor season are now back to running. For instance Bonds and Reed are now back to running the 4x100 relay and 100meter dash. For the more recent injuries, Qin, who is suffering from a pulled hamstring, is on the verge of returning to practice and is excited to run in his first meet. “I’m feeling better and ready to go for the next meet hopefully,” Qin said.
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![]() Chris Carter ‘25 rehabs his leg after a ground shifting injury. The road back from an injury is like a dance, two steps forward one step back. You have to play the slow game, and even when you’re done with rehab you’re not all the way healed. To treat an injury it’s a must to slowly work back to full 100 or ending with the injury being brought back 10 folds. This was no different for Chris Carter ‘25, who suffered a tibia fracture in the St. James football game in the early point of the season. ”The rehab was hard when I first started going in. I couldn't even bend my leg,” Carter said.”I was getting it forcefully bent and after all that I was walking really hard.” This shows the come back, having to get your body back into the action of moving and walking. It’s not just hoping back into full on running, jumping, or whatever. Rehab is like chess, not checkers. After a while Carter slowly began to walk smoother, when he got off the crunch of course, but this is due to the consistency of his rehab according to Carter. The beginning of a rehab program can be the most difficult. Not only because the injuries are fresh but because the mindset you have can either make you work harder or it can make you give up. For Chris his mentality drove him to get better. With this type of mindset it’s no wonder he made the incredible comeback he did. According to Carter himself he is still having pain when doing some activities, but he is still getting out and trying to do them. “My mindset was to get through rehab as fast as possible,” Carter said, “so I can get back to practicing and working out for indoor track and football.” As his rehab continued so did Carter’s growth – from barely being able to walk to starting to run again. Showing rehab isn’t deserving of the uncertain opinions it has connected to it. Many believe that rehab won’t work and some people are hesitant to go to rehab because they either believe they are fine or it won’t help. But others go in full force. The latter was the way to describe Carter’s attitude towards taking the measures needed to see health once again. The frustration behind getting back healthy can either motivate and drive people to get better or make them crash and burn. “After the bending was down [he could bend his leg], getting back to jogging then weights,” Carter said, explaining the progression of his rehab. These, otherwise seen as small, mile markers are huge for people when coming off mountain climb of an injury. Having to show patience through this long and drawn out process is one of the hardest parts of rehab, but one of the most important. “You want to go back to how you used to lift but you can’t,” Carter said, “The rehab took a long time and patience and just constant work.” Harping back to the aspect of consistency during rehab, it is incredibly important. This is so you can get whatever part is injured back to health by giving the muscle memory back to somewhat normalcy. “I think the consistency I had with rehab helped me get back to running faster cause while I was rehabbing I was ahead of schedule,” Carter said, ''I went everyday.” Carter is now running and lifting almost back to his max potential at a fantastic pace. Especially since when I first met him he was on a brace and crutches. Originally his crutches were to keep his foot off the ground completely, but later on it was to slowly put more and more weight on his leg as the time and rehab progressed. “After I finished rehab I was feeling happy cause I was ready to get back,” Carter said. Being able to come back to something a person cares about must be an incredible feeling. Also seeing the progress made from the point of the injury will give anyone a sense of pride. Chris is challenging everyone on the team with no second thoughts and is trying to get back to racing them out of the blocks, but Coach Booker always brings him back down to reality and makes sure he doesn’t hurt himself again. But soon he’ll be back coming out the blocks like he never left. “Oh yeah I'm going to be dusting people when I get back right,” Chris said. My response to the New Yorker article, "Can we get kids off smartphones?" by Jessica winter4/23/2024 ![]() I wouldn’t say smartphones are dangerous, but I would say depending on the uses, they can be harmful in ways. I say this because if used for just connection and necessities, phones are not a dangerous or harmful thing. On the other hand, if you use your phone for entertainment, which I must confess I am guilty of, it can be harmful. Like the article said, ”By the time that smartphones and social media were becoming omnipresent, in the late two thousands and early twenty-tens, children were also spending less and less time engaged in unstructured, largely unsupervised play with their peers.” I believe less engagement with peers in the real world actually doing things can lead to a decrease in physical and mental health and even social skills. A decrease in social skills can cause an increase in anxiety when in a social environment. I say this from experience., I get anxious in big crowds especially aroundof people I don’t know. So to circle back to the question depending on the use, phones could possibly be harmful to kids, young adults and even adults. ![]() By Jacob Johnson New Spanish international student, Cesar Suarez Cuenca ‘25, went to my grandmother’s house for Thanksgiving and ate Thanksgiving dinner for the first time. Cesar came to my house after the last day of school for Thanksgiving break ready to experience something new, relax, and play video games. Little did he know just because NCS stopped doesn’t mean my house stops, we kept going like a runaway train at full force. Eating Thanksgiving dinner for the first time, Cesar indulged in turkey, stuffing, dressing, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes with gravy, and a multitude of other things. “The food at Thanksgiving was really good”, Cesar said. “The idea of the whole family and no problems of who’s there and not having enough food, because there’s so much.” Cesar went from overindulging in amazing food to being dragged down to Norfolk to visit someone he didn’t even know. My mom, dad, aunt, uncle, cousin, grandfather, Cesar and I traveled four hours to Norfolk in two cars to see my uncle. It was obvious when on the way to our destination his favorite part was the sights he saw. ”I loved it. It was amazing because it was my first time out of Roanoke,” Suarez said. Seeing his reaction to driving over where the boats pass out of the naval base stationed in that part of Norfolk was a great experience in its own because it amazed him and for someone who’s grown around that, I kind of took it for granted. To finish the eventful trip My dad, uncle, Cesar, and I were packing up to go to the notorious wing restaurant, Hooters, but due to the pay-per-view fight, we couldn’t get in due to the up-charge they wanted. Although we left the hotel with intentions to go to the adult restaurant, we ended up in Buffalo Wild Wings. “I was excited but it was not that deep so no problem,” Cesar said when asked how he felt about the ending of that night. “But I would have liked to go to leave with the experience,” Photo by my father ![]() By Jacob Johnson Arriving in October as a new attacking midfielder from Puerto Rico, Gabriel “Gabo” Ramirez-Lugo ‘25, had a total of three points: one assist and one goal this season. “Even though joining a new team mid-season and not really knowing anyone and even speaking a different language, I feel I had a great overall season,” Gabo said. Even though he came in the middle of the season it was obvious that the connection with the team on and off the field was instant. “I had a great debut, like my first game, I had 17 clips [highlights of the game] in 30 minutes and even an assist,” Ramirez said. Gabo’s first game with the Raiders was Oct. 5. In that same game North Cross took the victory over Virginia Episcopal School 3-2. In his first game the only other people to get an assist were Maddox Haskins ‘24 and Hunter Basile ‘25. Gabo came to NCS late due to the fact former NCS student, Mika Droste ‘25, left for his home in Germany to begin working. Gabo took the opportunity to join the school through the help of the agency for the international students. Even though the season ended in an unfavorable manner with a loss in the state semifinal, the team still had an amazing run this season. “Well, the result of course wasn’t expected,” he said. “We hoped to put up a fight with a positive mindset after the quarters, but the other team outperformed us and took advantage of their many opportunities.” “I definitely felt like we should’ve done more,” Gabo said, “but at the end of the day, there was nothing left but to wish the best for the other team in the final.” ”Losing happens,” he said, “it’s what makes the sport so beautiful, just have to move on and focus on what the future may bring.” As they walked off the field, there were very strong emotions headed back and a lot of disbelief. “Just seeing the environment even though we lost I mean there were a lot of sad faces and I can’t blame them cause I was one of them,” Ramirez said. “There was a lot of ‘What happened?’ and ‘What needed to happen?’ from our guys.” “There are a lot of seniors now, but it was still really good and fun,” he said. “And in the end, there’s always next year. We’ll come back stronger.” ![]() By Jacob Johnson Throwing a PR of 37.3 ft in shotput and running 7.3 in the 55 meter dash marked Sander Frogner’s debut for the indoor track team after leading the state champion Raider football team defense in tackles and earning first team all-state honors. Frogner ‘25 came from Norway this year to expand his chances for playing in college and maybe one day professionally. Wanting to expand his already undeniably great talent, he asked football and track coach Shannon Taylor how he could improve. “I needed to be faster with the sprinters and stronger with the throwers and ST told me,” Frogner said. He walked in with a good feeling of confidence on track Jan. 11 at Roanoke College. For his first track meet the champion middle linebacker planned on throwing and running the 55-meter dash with the guidance of Coach Taylor. “I don’t really feel nervous, but I feel like I want to beat Eason at throwing,” Frogner said with humor, showing his competitive drive with his fellow outside linebacker. Even though this was his first time trying track, Frogner set on the big prize, qualifying for states. “Eason throws 38 at meets and I throw a little shorter, so probably 30-35,” Frogner said, “My goal before the end of track is to qualify for states in at least one thing.” The qualifying mark for shotput is 34,7. So he already achieved his goal of qualifying for states by practicing with throwing coach Brett Jones. At the Bulldog Invitational meet in Lynchburg on Jan. 27, Frogner ran 7.17 in the 55 meter dash.so now he is set to compete in two events at the state meet at St. Christopher’s on Feb. 18. ![]() This is a picture I took while I was taking Driver's Ed over the summer. I used to have hair like in the picture above until around August 3. I decided to cut it when I realized I have to do too much in the mornings just for it to look decent. I'm Jacob Johnson, y'all's new classmate. This is my 1first year at NCS, I am a Jjunior, and I am 15 years old. I was born and raised in Roanoke, but I went to Salem until this year. Can you tell I love black and red? |
Jacob JohnsonAbove left is a selfie I took while I was taking Driver's Ed over the summer. I used to have hair like in the picture above until around August 3. I decided to cut it when I realized I have to do too much in the mornings just for it to look decent. I'm Jacob Johnson, y'all's new classmate. This is my 1first year at NCS, I am a Jjunior, and I am 15 years old. I was born and raised in Roanoke, but I went to Salem until this year. Can you tell I love black and red? Archives
May 2024
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