These days, it seems every Rye High School sports team contends for a section championship — and beyond — every season.
Since November 2023, 13 Garnet teams have won section titles. Nine advanced to state tournament semifinals, and five achieved the ultimate goal of winning a New York state championship. Football and girls soccer both claimed state crowns in 2023 and 2025, just a few months before hockey won its first state title this March.
So, how is it possible for a small-town public high school, with an enrollment of 900 students, to win so often?
Here are some hypotheses to help explain:
1. Today’s student-athletes in Rye are just … different.
“It wasn’t always like this,” said Jeannie Romano, a 1981 RHS graduate and retired RHS physical education teacher emeritus, who coached about 1,000 Rye sports teams in her career. “There were definitely great Rye teams over the years. Rye historically has always been competitive in sports. Back in the 70s and 80s, usually one Rye team every year was really strong. And there were plenty of great athletes who came out of Rye, but not quite the volume we’re seeing today.
“Something has changed. Underneath it all, they’re still kids just like they’ve always been, trust me. But no question, Rye is on an upswing in terms of championships.”
Thirty-nine graduates from RHS class of 2025 — from practically every sport the school offers — went on to compete in college athletics. There were 22 from the class of 2024, and 13 from the class of 2023.
That feels like a lot.
“One thing I’ve observed,” Romano said, “is that the athletic kids who arrive as freshmen at RHS are stronger, fitter, and more flexible than they used to be. They do year-round weight training. They have better diets, they sleep better. Many of them work with private coaches in the off-season. And they get more live-game, full-speed experience. By age 14, many of them have been exposed to high levels of training and competition, often in multiple sports. These kids are just more complete and more polished athletes than ever before.”
There’s also an argument to be made regarding the affluence of Rye families, which has grown over the decades. Families with disposable income — and kids who like sports — have opportunities for things like club travel teams, personal trainers, and year-round athletic skill development. With established in-town programs like Rye Youth Soccer, Rye Youth Lacrosse, Rye Youth Rugby, Rye Little League, Rye Youth Softball, and Rye Rangers Hockey, parents don’t have to look far to find effective development in a variety of sports.
2. The suburban legend.
Most families connected to RHS athletics know of a family in town — likely many — where one or both parents played a sport in college. There are also families in Rye, like many Westchester towns, in which one or more adults played for a U.S. national team, an Olympic team, or professionally. Their kids often become multisport athletes at RHS.
Being born of parents who played college sports hardly guarantees state championships, but it doesn’t hurt. And many of those parents help organize youth leagues and coach the kids when they’re young.
“No question, Rye has become a bit of a sporty town in the last 10 years or so,” said longtime Rye realtor and Rye resident Nicole Ball, from Compass Real Estate. “But people don’t typically relocate to beautiful towns like Rye because of athletic success. They come for many reasons.
“Certainly, the excellence and the reputation of Rye City Schools is a big draw. But so too are so many things about Rye, some of which are connected to the Rye schools.”
Ball and her husband, Jonathan, have two kids at RHS who compete for RowAmerica Rye, which has become one of the nation’s best youth rowing programs. With a team that includes many local athletes, RAR scored more points than any other club at the renowned Head of the Charles Regatta last October. The boys and girls varsity eight teams also repeated as national champions at the 2025 U.S. Rowing Youth National Championships.
“The allure of Rye is indisputable,” Ball said. “I think parents who choose Rye want to be able to offer their children not only great academic preparation for college and for the future, but also to do so in a supportive community that has vibrant student activities. And the fact that we live in a town that embraces all of those activities, including the athletic teams of the local schools, is a huge part of what makes Rye so special.”
But parents could not have known 15 to 20 years ago that their progeny would one day play on multiple championship-winning teams in Rye. Nobody plans that far ahead … do they?
3. Rye has a top-shelf athletic director and high-caliber coaches.
This one’s true and easy to prove.
Susan Reid was hired as RHS athletic director in July 2020, smack dab in the middle of a pandemic. Reid, who was recently awarded the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators State Award of Merit for 2026, can’t quite put her finger on why Rye teams happen to be doing so well of late. In spite of all the recent success, Reid knows the work at a high school is never done.
“I don’t believe there is one single factor for success, but rather a collective commitment to doing things ‘the Rye way,’” Reid said. “At the core is the quality and character of our coaches. We are fortunate to have veteran coaches who are not only knowledgeable in their sport, but deeply committed to developing young people as students, teammates, and citizens. These coaches lead with humility, model integrity, and prioritize growth over accolades. That consistency in leadership sets a tone for our athletes and for newly hired coaches as well.”
One of those veterans, long-time girls soccer coach Rich Savage, was inducted into the New York State High School Girls Soccer Hall of Fame last season, just before leading his team to its second state championship in three years.
“All of the coaches at Rye benefit from parents’ devotion to their kids’ athletic development,” Savage said. “The support from parents in Rye is unbelievable. I’m not sure other towns have what we have here in that category.”
Another factor Savage mentioned is that New York high school athletics is now divided into six classes, based on school enrollments. In decades past, there were only four. That allows RHS to compete against similar-sized schools in the postseason, a change Savage said “opened a lot of doors.”
“And RHS coaches aren’t here for the money,” he said. “Our coaching stipends are probably middle of the road compared to other county schools. But anybody who’s getting into the business of teaching and coaching for the compensation should have their head examined.”
“We also take pride in being a community that still values the ‘three-sport-athlete,’” Reid said. “Our best competitors are often those who embrace multiple seasons, learning different skills, building relationships with different teammates, and avoiding early single-sport specialization.”
The clearest example: Harvard-bound seniors Carson Miller and Henry Shoemaker, who captained Rye’s state championship football team in the fall, led the basketball team to the state semifinals in the winter, and now enter the spring lacrosse season with hopes of adding to their trophy collection.
“I think Rye High School’s recent success is due to a powerful combination of factors,” said Tom Proudian, head coach for boys basketball and defensive coordinator for football. “High school coaches play an important role, but the consistency and continuity of the RHS coaching staff is a huge differentiator.”
Rye practically has a murderer’s row of talented coaches, including boys soccer coach Jared Small, Section 1 large school coach of the year; girls basketball coach Margo Hackett; hockey coach Peter Thomas; and baseball coach Mike Bruno. Chief among Rye’s star lineup of coaches is football coach Dino Garr, the winningest football coach in New York state history.
Proudian also said all RHS coaches appreciate the support of Reid and the athletic department as a whole.
“Success can certainly build momentum,” Reid said. “When young athletes in town see what’s possible, they’re inspired to work toward it, but any success our teams are able to achieve is rooted in something deeper than wins and losses.
“Rye’s commitment has always been about developing high-character individuals who compete with purpose, represent their school with pride, and carry these lessons well beyond the field. That’s what sustains success over time and that’s what makes the community of Rye so special. I feel lucky to be a small part of it.”
And finally, the one question on everyone’s mind.
4. Could there actually be something in Rye’s water?
Who better to answer than Bill Madden, vice president of communications at Veolia, the regulated water provider for most of Rye.
“I’m not surprised to hear about all of Rye High School’s athletic success,” Madden said. “Veolia delivers the best drinking water in the world. But the delicious water in Rye has been unchanged for decades.”
So, it’s not that simple.
Are RHS athletic teams winning championships at an historic rate? Yes, they are. Is winning contagious? Probably. Do we know precisely why all of this is happening? No, but it’s fun to think about — and fun to watch.
Are a number of Section 1 schools going to celebrate quietly when Miller, Shoemaker, and the rest of the uber-talented class of 2026, graduate from RHS this spring?
Yes, they will.
A rundown of Rye High School’s athletic success since November 2023:
State Championships: 5
Football 2023, 2025
Girls Soccer 2023, 2025
Hockey 2026
State Final Fours: 9
Football 2023, 2025
Girls Soccer 2023, 2024, 2025
Boys Soccer 2025
Baseball 2025
Hockey 2026
Boys Basketball 2026
State Runners-Up: 1
Boys Soccer 2025
Section Championships: 13
Football 2023, 2025
Girls Soccer 2023, 2024, 2025
Boys Soccer 2024, 2025
Girls Basketball 2024
Boys Basketball 2026
Girls Lacrosse 2024
Boys Lacrosse 2023
Baseball 2025
Girls Volleyball 2025
Rugby* (NY Tier II Champions) 2025
*Rugby is not a sanctioned Section 1 sport
