Athlete of the Month is a series where MyRye.com profiles the best athletes of each month throughout the academic year, as selected by Rye Athletics. Today, we look at senior Henry Shoemaker of the Rye Boys Lacrosse team, who earned Rye High School’s Athlete of the Month honors for May 2026.
On a team with several offensive threats, Shoemaker always seems to find himself near the top of the points leaderboard. On senior night on May 18, he recorded a remarkable six asisst and eight points, both season highs. The attacker later racked up seven points (including four assists) against Yorktown on May 27 to help Rye clinch the #1 seed for the sectional tournament. Shoemaker led Rye in assists in a game more often than anyone else on the team.
“Henry does so much for our lacrosse team with his athleticism and vision,” Garnets Head Coach Jeremy Guski told MyRye.com. “Shoe is a playmaker and he will do whatever the team needs him to do in order to be successful. In addition, he has excellent vision and he loves getting his teammates involved.”
What is perhaps most impressive about Shoemaker is that lacrosse is arguably his third-best sport. Throughout the 2025-26 academic year, the senior set the Rye Football receiving yards single-season record and won a state championship, as well as led the Rye Boys Basketball team in points per game en route to a regional championship. His recognition as May’s Athlete of the Month serves as a testament to his entire body of work as an elite three-sport athlete, from football practices in August to playoff lacrosse in June.
“Henry has a determined approach and he is willing to put in the extra work,” Guski raved. “Since all three teams he played for had playoff success, his body has had no time off. He never uses that as an excuse. If anything he uses it to motivate himself to work even harder.”
Shoemaker’s high school athletic career will continue so long as the boys lacrosse team keeps winning. Their most recent victory earned them a section 1 championship and propelled them to the regional tournament. Whenever the season does come to a close, the Harvard Football commit will have capped off a sensational athletic career as a key contributor and leader across three separate highly successful programs.
“Henry and the other seniors will be missed tremendously,” Guski concluded.
Shoemaker becomes the ninth and final Rye High School senior to win Athlete of the Month this academic year, joining Beau Whaling (girls lacrosse, April 2026), Will Weinman (hockey, March 2026), Phoebe Greto (girls basketball, February 2026), Jack Anderson (wrestling, January 2026), Carson Miller (football, December 2025), Clare Nemsick (girls soccer, November 2025), Lex Cox (boys soccer, October 2025) and Emma Lunstead (volleyball, September 2025). One of those nine athletes will win Athlete of the Year, as chosen by the Rye Lion’s Club.
