Muhlenberg High's Sydney Gring, Reading High's Ruben Rodriguez are named Reading Eagle Athletes of the Year

Jun. 29—Sydney Gring and Ruben Rodriguez came out of their final high school competitions with gold medals around their necks and smiles on their faces.

Muhlenberg's Gring earned gold in the Class 3A 200 free at the PIAA Swimming and Diving Championships at Bucknell University's Kinney Natatorium, accomplishing a long-desired goal.

Reading High's Rodriguez helped the Red Knights defeat Roman Catholic 63-56 in overtime in the PIAA Class 6A boys basketball final at Hershey's Giant Center, capping a title-filled career.

Now the two have added one last honor to their impressive resumes after being selected as the female and male recipients of the 18th annual Reading Eagle Athlete of the Year awards.

Each will receive a $1,000 scholarship from the Reading Eagle and Colonial Fitness, the award co-sponsor. Each of the 10 finalists will receive a plaque of recognition.

Gring and Rodriguez were selected from a field of nearly three dozen athletes who were nominated by their schools. The awards are based on athletic performance, character and leadership displayed throughout the 2022-23 school year. Each Berks school was invited to nominate up to four athletes.

The award winners, finalists and semifinalists were selected by a committee of the Reading Eagle sports staff and a representative from Colonial Fitness.

The other female finalists were Wilson's Erika Culp, Wyomissing's Cadi Hoke, Twin Valley's Sarah Ann Miller and Exeter's Megan Unruh.

The other male finalists were Exeter's Anthony Caccese, Wilson's Cameron Jones, Berks Catholic's Josiah Jordan and Twin Valley's Ean Winchester.

The other female semifinalists were Berks Catholic's Caraline Herb, Gov. Mifflin's Jayleah Pletz, Wilson's Natalie Riccitelli and Berks Catholic's Aubreigh Uba.

The other male semifinalists were Wyomissing's Drew Eisenhower, Wilson's Takoda Heckman, Daniel Boone's Tucker Hogan, Fleetwood's Jake Karnish, Hamburg's Kevin McFarland and Xander Menapace and Gov. Mifflin's Tyler Minick.

Gring had a spectacular senior season in the pool for the Muhls, first in water polo, then in swimming, and joins sister Cameron as the first siblings to win the award. Cameron won in 2020.

In the fall, Gring was the Berks Player of the Year and a first-team All-State selection in water polo after registering 72 goals, a program single-season 64 assists, 111 steals, three field blocks and 67 kick outs. She helped the Muhls reach the state tournament for the first time, where they finished fifth.

"She was a complete, all-around player," Muhlenberg water polo coach Steve Stambaugh said.

In swimming, Gring was even more impressive. She repeated as the Berks Swimmer of the Year and earned All-Berks honors for the fourth time.

She won District 3 Class 3A gold in the 100 free and 200 free, raising her career total of district medals to 16 (including relays), seven of them gold.

She won state gold in the 200 free in 1:47.02, then finished her high school career by winning a silver medal in the 100 free in 49.15. That gave her a career total of 12 PIAA medals, including the one gold and four silvers.

In addition as a senior, she set Berks records in the 200 free, 50 free, 100 fly and 100 free, and was an All-American in seven of the eight individual events: 200 free, 200 IM, 50 free, 100 fly, 100 free, 500 free and 100 back. She holds six Central Penn League records.

She is continuing her academic and swimming careers at the University of Pittsburgh.

"Sydney is a rare and unique individual whose presence has made an enormous impact on our program and whose absence will be sincerely felt with graduation," Muhlenberg swimming coach Todd Eisenhofer wrote in a letter of recommendation. "It has been such a pleasure to cross paths with this fine young woman.

"In the teaching and coaching professions, we have the opportunity to influence our students during an impressionable time of their lives. While I hope this has occurred, I know that Sydney has made more of an impact on me than I could ever make on her. I am a better person and coach because of her and I am honored to have been part of her educational and athletic journey."

Rodriguez heads to Rider University, where he will continue his basketball career, as perhaps the winningest player in county hoops history. In his career, he helped his teams go 107-13 and win two county titles, four District 3 titles (including one at Muhlenberg as a freshman) and two PIAA Class 6A titles.

As a senior, the 6-2 guard led the county in scoring at 21.7 points per game to help the Red Knights go 32-1 and win their second straight county title, third straight district championship and second state title in three years.

He was named the Class 6A Player of the Year in Pennsylvania and was a first-team All-State selection for the third year in a row. He is believed to be the first player in Berks boys basketball history to be a three-time first-team All-State pick.

Rodriguez finished his career with 2,008 points to rank seventh on Berks' all-time list.

"Ruben just epitomizes the city of Reading," Red Knights boys basketball coach Rick Perez said in May. "He's not 6-6, he doesn't jump through the roof, he doesn't have incredible athleticism, but what he does have is heart. He has desire, he has love.

"Anybody who has watched him has been inspired, because he just brings a joy to the game, a passion to the game."

If his on-court accomplishments weren't enough, Rodriguez managed to stand out on the football field, as well.

He was an All-Berks selection and was named the Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 1 Co-Receiver of the Year after compiling 933 receiving yards and 12 touchdowns in 2022. He also made three interceptions.

"He made a huge sacrifice because you never know what can happen when you're playing another sport," said Reading High football coach Troy Godinet, a first-year head coach in 2022. "You already have Division I offers, you already have the opportunity to play Division I basketball. And yet, he came out to pretty much be there for the other kids on the football team and to be here for our program.

"That's not a selfish thing. He's a very selfless kid and he wants to do what he can do for other people on a regular basis. I think that's the strongest thing about his character."