Senior send off: Sports Editor Dylan Manfre says goodbye to The Rider News
By Dylan Manfre
I ended a blog post when I was about to graduate from Metuchen High School in 2018 saying, “Well, I guess it’s off to covering Rider.” Four years later as I prepare to depart from Rider, I can say I have told the stories about some of the most incredible athletes I have ever met.
I always knew at some point this day would come. It is time for me to say farewell to The Rider News, the best organization I will ever know.
When I DM’d the former sports editor Rob Rose on Twitter in July 2018 asking for a story, I never could have imagined everything that followed after writing that first field hockey season preview.
It transformed into covering women’s basketball and some amazing moments like Stella Johnson getting drafted to the WNBA, Rider field hockey winning the Northeast Conference championship in 2020 and, of course, men’s basketball senior guard Dwight Murrary Jr. hitting a floater to defeat Iona ending the men’s basketball team’s quarterfinal curse.
Because of The Rider News, I accomplished my goal of covering the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) basketball tournament — even if the 2020 one was canceled because of COVID-19. Many people know the tournament’s logo was my iPhone lock screen for two years because that event was my biggest dream to cover.
But even through the pandemic, The Rider News persevered. When sports were canceled, my former co-editor Shaun Chornobroff and I kept things going with stories that otherwise would not have been told and I firmly believe that. Now, Shaun is going on to lead the paper next year as the executive editor. I always knew he would do that and I’m so proud of him.
Working for The Rider News has been the best experience I ever could have asked for and it has made me who I am today. After graduation, I’ll be covering the Maccabiah games in Israel and attending graduate school at the University of Maryland. None of that is possible without the newspaper and the multitude of people associated with it.
I will miss working with the staff, laughing at the jokes our editors make and seeing the conversational critiques the copy desk makes on our stories. Those are small moments I will always cherish.
I am so proud of the work The Rider News has done and will continue to do in the future. I know the new editors will serve the Rider community with the same passion that I and all those who came before me have for this award-winning publication.
When I quit track and cross-country in high school after I developed tendonitis in my ankles, I stopped trying to be a great athlete because I wanted to write and report on those who will be great athletes.
Thank you, Rider, for always supporting and uplifting me. It has been the biggest honor to be your sports editor.
Nobody needs any advice from me but I will leave you with this: support women’s sports, support the mid-major conferences, always try to find the stories that are not being told and most importantly, love what you do.
Well, I guess it’s off to covering the 21st Maccabiah in Israel and then Maryland.
Farewell, The Rider News.
May we meet again.
