Synchronized swimming
It was a golden weekend for Marci Nelson of Laurel's Starfish Synchro Club.
Nelson, a resident of Ellicott City, brought home three gold medals from this past weekend's AAU-Junior Olympics Championship Meet in Alexandria, Va., helping her team qualify for the Regional Junior Olympics in Richmond, Va. later this spring.
Competing in the 12-13 age group, Nelson took first place in the Figures, Solo and -- with partner Melissa Hensley of Laurel -- Duet.
But she was far from the only success story for the Fairland Aquatic Center team.
All told, the Starfish won nine medals, including silvers in the 11-and-under and 14-15 team competitions.
Members of those teams included Melanie Adams, Vercera Harvey-White, Russell Hill, Laurel's Leslie Templer and Columbia's Beth Banisewski and Kai Jones in 11-under, and Hensley, Nelson, Laurel's Lyndsat Phillips and Columbia's Anya Vostokova in 14-15.
Vostokova also won a silver in the 14-15 Solo competition and a bronze in the 14-15 Figures, while Phillips teamed with Blythe Alexander of Glenelg to take the silver in the 16-17 Duet and also took the bronze in the 16-17 Solo.
Also swimming for the Starfish were Erin Sosinski of Columbia and Kristina Yoder of Laurel.
Swimming
Howard County swimmers led the Retriever Aquatic Club to a strong showing at last weekend's Star All-Star B Championship Meet in St. Mary's County.
Leading the way with wins were Kelly Whitaker of Columbia, who won the 12-year-olds 200 fly, and Kim Whitaker of Columbia, who took golds in the 100 back and 200 breast for 13-year-olds.
L A number of team members also swam to second-place finishes.
They included Jessie Goertler, 11, of Columbia (200 fly); Kristen Stoll, 12, of Columbia (100 free); Derm Walters, 15-over, of Columbia (200 IM, 200 breast, 400 IM); Lisa Stasivlewicz, 13, of Ellicott City (400 IM, 200 fly); Kurt Mueller, 13, of Ellicott City (200 breast); Christie Maskeroni, 14, of Ellicott City (200 IM, 200 breast); Sara Beck, 14, of Ellicott City (50 free, 100 free, 100 fly) and Nikki Sansbury, 15-over, of Ellicott City (200 back).
Other top performers were Ellicott City's John Linsao, fourth in the 15-and-over 100 breast, and Patrick Bonds, another county swimmer who placed third in the 12-year-old 100 back and 100 fly.
The meet was open to swimmers ages 11-18 who fell short of the minimum times requirements for the Maryland Zone Qualifier the previous week.
Outdoor soccer * Under-11 girls -- The Columbia Fury, a Soccer Association of Columbia team that earned Division I status after the fall season, fared well against some of the area's top teams over the weekend at the Chantilly (Va.) Invitational Tournament.
The Fury first defeated the Midlothian Blast, 4-0, and the Gunston Shooting Stars, 1-0, before falling to the MSI Falcons and Springfield Challenge -- the top two teams in the Washington Area Girls Soccer League Division I -- by a combined score of 5-0.
Katie Elliott led the team in scoring during the tournament with two goals -- both in the win over Midlothian -- while Ashley Evans, Molly Sunderdick and Emily Knapp added one each.
Also playing well were Sheena Alavi, Lindsay Pippen and Molly Walker.
* Under-12 girls -- The Columbia Eagles went 2-1 over the weekend in The Jefferson Cup Soccer Tournament in Richmond, Va.
Carla Pistorio's goal gave the Eagles a 1-0 win over the Richmond Strikers. Four goals from Sara Gibbs and one each from Martha Bielefeld and Natalie Klisas led the Eagles to a 6-0 victory over the Braddock Road (Va.) Blast. The Greensboro (N.C.) Twisters handed the Eagles their only loss, 1-0.
Deanna McCullough, Monica Tiburzi, Lindie McDonough and Kerry Sokol played well for the Eagles.
Indoor soccer * Under-14 girls -- For the second straight year, the Columbia Magic SAC premier team rolled to an undefeated season in its league at Myers Pavilion.
The Magic has gone 28 games without a defeat.
Members of coach Armando Gutierrez's team include Tonya Dedmond, Kathy Gaertner, Megan Galbreath, Lan Gardner, Leilani Ho, Katherine McQueen, Leslie Miller, Thema Napier, Melissa Schreibstein, Sarah Tollick, Diane Wootton and Megan Wright.
Basketball
All three age-group titles were up for grabs this past weekend in The Supreme Sports Club Basketball League.
* 8-9 boys -- The Junior Heat finished the season with a 9-0 record, edging the Junior Magic, 11-10. Ryan Eby paced the Heat, while Anthony Gaither led the Magic (6-3) with three points.
* 10-12 boys -- Chris Wirth scored a game-high 24 points to lead the Spartans (7-2) to a 40-36 win over the Tar Heels. Don Swan paced the Heels (4-5) with 20 points.
* 13-15 boys -- Three players scored in double figures to lead the Heat to a 60-58 victory over the Blazers.
Damon Cole (18 points), David Murrell (15) and Forrest Sauers (12) paced the Heat (7-2), while Troy Hines scored a game-high 22 points and Keilan Mathews and Clarence Mansell scored 15 and 12, respectively, for the Blazers (5-4).
* 10-and-under girls -- Tanae Jennifer scored 15 points to lead the Columbia Terrapins over Arbutus, 29-28, Sunday in the Arbutus League.
Other contributors for Columbia were Missy Moore (five points), Charity Stone and Fana Walcott (three each), Rashida Walcott (two) and Sarah Hobart (one). Sarah Costa, Lindsay Frank, Ashley Hooper and Shanee Johnson led the way on defense.
The win improved the Terrapins to 7-2 and strengthened their hold on second place.
* 9-10 girls -- Amy Larrimore scored two fourth-quarter baskets to lead West Virginia to a 22-16 victory over Villanova in the championship game of the Western Howard County Youth Basketball League.
Rashida Walcott and Fana Walcott paced the victors, scoring 10 and eight points, respectively. Defensively, Stephanie Dawson and Jenny Gilbert led the way.
For Villanova, Jodi Renfro had her best offensive game of the season with six points, and Meghan Shipley, Kristin Goetz and Carlye Fyfe also scored. Michelle Coleman and Karen Hild contributed with strong rebounding.
The Western Howard County Raptors used a second-half rally to send the game into overtime, then squeezed out a 40-39 victory over Columbia last weekend in the Arbutus Sunday Travel League.
Lisa Humphrey led the Raptors with 16 points, followed by Maria Masciantonio (seven), Jessie Wilson (six) and Erin Edell and Leah Jones (both with four).
Columbia was led by the play of Rachel Drum, Tara Murphy and Brianna Herring.
* 8-year-old boys -- Notre Dame overcame a four-point halftime deficit to edge Virginia, 21-20, in the Grey Division championship game of the Howard County Youth Program.
Matt Schoenfelder led the Irish with 11 points and got support on offense from Jeff Harrigan, Daniel Haines and Bob Pencek.
Joseph Wagner and E.J. Pittman combined for 12 points to lead Virginia.
Other members of the Gray Division champions, coached by Bob Pencek and Lou Dupski, were Joe Damiamo, Nathan Carrick, Drew Warren, Michael Franchetti, Jonathan Dupski and Matthew Cox.
In the Green Division, Georgia Tech scored wins over LSU and UCLA to earn a rematch with the Bruins in this week's championship game.
Playing out of the consolation bracket, the Yellow Jackets beat LSU, 32-8, and UCLA, 20-13, to stay alive in the double-elimination tournament.
J.J. Marchany paced the team in its first win with 18 points, while Mark Rohde scored nine to lead the way against UCLA.
Ice hockey The Howard County Squirt A Huskies couldn't have picked a more exciting way to end their season in last weekend's Haverford Hawks Spring Tournament.
Trailing, 3-2, in their final game against White Plains, N.Y., Matt Collins scored the tying goal as time expired to give the Huskies a 3-3 tie.
The goal evened the Columbia team's record for the tournament at 1-1-1, propelling them into second place.
In other tournament action, the Huskies opened with a 4-3 loss to eventual champion Haverford before coming back for a 3-1 win over Mount Lebanon, Pa.
Scoring for the Huskies were Justin Bridle and Danny Fritz (two goals each), Adam Levine, Ryan Fenton, Collins, Nick Graves and Wayne Lamanna. Derek Williams, Fritz, Kyle Fenton, Graves, Bridle, Matt Scott and Daniel Baron had assists.
The Huskies, coached by Joel Teske and assisted by Norm Williams and Scott Fenton, finished the season at 15-13-4. Justin Keller and Bridle led the team in goals and points, respectively, and goalie Kurt Carter finished with four shutouts and a 3.03 goals against average.
Other team members were Eli Martin, Adam Arnold and Mike Kelly.
Note: To submit information for the Howard County recreation roundup, call (410) 521-0505.