A new season is set to begin

RANDOLPH — An annual fall tradition — the return to school — took place last week.

Another fall tradition takes center stage as the high school sports season gets underway.

The Randolph volleyball team took part in a pre-season Jamboree Monday night at Laurel.

The Randolph cross country team will compete Thursday afternoon at Hartington, while the RHS varsity volleyball team travels to Homer Thursday night for a triangular with Homer and Cedar Catholic

The Randolph football team will take the field for the first time Friday night when the Hartington-Newcastle Wildcats come to town. Local coaches and athletes are excited to get the season underway.

Randolph football coaches and players are excited to get on the field and compete, despite the looming presence of COVID-19.

“The coaches and players are very excited to get on the field for an actual game,” RHS football coach Mark Lech said. “Besides the normal beginning of the year practices, they also have not competed since last winter.”

Randolph volleyball coach Rob Engel feels the same way.

“We are really excited to be back on the court, all of the uncertainty of the COVID situation has been tough mentally, but once we get back out on the floor, all the hard work will be worth the wait.”

Senior Keely Pinkelman said the team knows it has to take it one day at a time this year.

“The fear is going back up as the number of cases are going back up,” Pinkelman said. “We all love volleyball so even if the season is cancelled, we are just trying to make the best of it right now.”

For more on the local sports teams, check out the articles on page four of this week’s Randolph Times.

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