Atholton
The junior varsity volleyball team was 7-0 after last Wednesday's stirring victory over Mount Hebron. The Raiders overcame a 12-2 deficit in the first game and came back to win it, 17-15. They took the second game, 15-11.
Three sophomores are the heart of the team, including center Jaime Naecker, middle hitter Chrissy Gavin and outside hitter Kim Ruprecht.
Naecker is the team's best all-around player. She's quick, serves well, dives for loose balls and leads by example.
"I feel really lucky to have her," coach Kathy Swingle said. "She's extraordinary for a JV player."
Centennial
Sophomore goalkeeper Dave Austin is an unsung hero for Centennial's junior varsity soccer team.
When varsity coach Bill Stara decided to keep freshman goalkeeper Luke Timmons on the varsity team, it left the JV without a keeper. Austin, a midfielder, stepped up to take the job.
"It takes courage to sacrifice yourself for the betterment of the team," Stara said. "He's doing a great job."
The Eagles (2-2-1) beat Hammond on Tuesday, 2-1, and Austin was a key factor in the comeback victory.
Glenelg
The Gladiators' golf team played the spoiler role, beating Mount Hebron by four strokes Tuesday, and helping Centennial win its fifth straight county golf championship.
While the Gladiators were winning at Hobbit's Glen, the Eagles beat Howard, Hammond and Wilde Lake at Turf Valley.
In one of the tightest county title races in recent years, the Eagles finished 19-2, followed by Mount Hebron at 18-3 and Glenelg at 17-4.
The individual county championship tournament is Tuesday at Hobbit's Glen starting at 1 p.m.
Hammond
When goalkeeper Tommy Lea scored on a penalty kick against Centennial in a varsity soccer game Tuesday, it marked the first time Hammond had scored on Centennial in at least six years.
Hammond has had three coaches in that time, so current coach Rich Corkran had something to celebrate, although Centennial won, 5-1.
Howard
Sissel Gorset, an exchange student from Norway, is the leading runner on the girls varsity cross-country team.
In her first competitive race, the Howard County Invitational, the 17-year-old senior finished 14th among 143 runners. She finished fifth in a competitive meet with Mount Hebron and Oakland Mills. And Tuesday she won her first race in a meet with Wilde Lake and Hammond.
"She keeps pace with our boys team during practice and hates to lose to them," coach Martin Goode said. "I tell her the main thing is to have fun, and she must be, because she always runs with a smile."
Mount Hebron
Four Vikings basketball players won a three-on-three tournament at Western Maryland College on Oct. 10.
Sandra Benson, Kristen Lloyd, Tierney Clark and Alicia Mosley took top honors in the girls varsity high school division. They went undefeated in the double-elimination event that included 10 teams.
Oakland Mills
Chad Barr and George Robinson, who hope to help the Scorpions to their sixth straight county boys basketball title this winter, teamed with Hammond's Kris Jefferson on Oct. 10 to win a three-on-three competition at Western Maryland College.
The trio went undefeated and beat teams from schools such as Thomas Johnson, Liberty and Mount Hebron.
Wilde Lake
Wilde Lake boys varsity basketball coach Paul Ellis, who resigned after the Wildecats' loss to Milford Mill in the Class 1A regional playoffs last season, again will guide Wilde Lake's team this season, along with assistant coach Jerry Keith.
Ellis, a guidance counselor, worked at Glenelg last year, and the travel time was one factor that influenced him to resign. But now he's stationed at the Howard County School of Technology just a few minutes away from Wilde Lake, and the veteran has decided his coaching days are not over after all.
He may have a tough time taking the Wildecats to the playoffs, however. Dunbar, a national power, joined the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association in September, and the MPSSAA placed the Poets in the same Class 1A region as Wilde Lake.