Atholton's boys indoor track team suddenly is looking good enough to challenge Oakland Mills for the county title this season.
The Raiders had an outstanding meet Saturday at the Baltimore Metro Invitational, finishing fourth behind three Class 4A schools, Old Mill, Woodlawn and Perry Hall. Atholton is Class 2A.
More than 30 schools participated.
"The competition was really tough," said Atholton girls coach Earl Lauer, who doubled as boys coach Saturday when Pat Saunderson had to leave early to attend a wedding.
One surprise was junior Zach Tropf's victory in the two-mile run. Tropf, a cross country runner who was cut from the basketball team, posted a time of 10 minutes, 12.7 seconds to beat out two highly regarded runners -- one from South River and one from Old Mill.
The three ran together until the final three laps, when Tropf pulled away. His winning margin was 17 seconds.
Atholton's two-mile relay team also won, in 8:51.5. The team included Brandon Hartz, Tropf, Chad Boothe and Ben Rhode.
"It's as good as any two-mile team around right now," Lauer said.
Atholton also finished second in the mile relay and in the 880 relay.
The mile team included Ed Chang, Ed Lebard, Jared Howard and Max Clifford, who ran a strong 53.9 anchor but was beaten by a strong effort by a Woodlawn runner.
The Raiders had a 30-yard lead heading into the final leg but lost by five-tenths of a second.
The 880 team consisted of Olie Motamedamin, Clifford, Howard and Lebard and it finished 1.4 seconds off the lead.
Chang finished second in the 500-meter run, and Howard was third in the 300-meter run. Adrian Valdes finished sixth in the shot at 41 feet, 10 inches.
Atholton finished 13 points behind third-place Perry Hall and 22 points behind first-place Old Mill.
Three All-Americans
Centennial's boys soccer players won a lot of local honors this fall to go with a state Class 3A championship. Lost amid the excitement was the fact that three of its players were named All-Americans by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America.
Goalkeeper Brock Yetso, the Baltimore Sun's All-Metro Player of the Year, sweeper Ben Stephenson and midfielder Matt Laycock all played in an inter-regional tournament in Cocoa Beach, Fla., last month and were chosen among the best 18 players in their age groups to become All-Americans. All three will be honored at NSCAA's All-American banquet Jan. 14 in Washington.
Stephenson and Laycock, who are sophomores at Centennial, also are members of the national under-17 team that will train in Raleigh, N.C., Dec. 26 through Jan. 1.
Short-handed
Mount Hebron's tough loss to Loyola last Friday in boys basketball, 71-66, probably wouldn't have happened had the Vikings been at full strength. Kevin Tonkins, who leads the team with 12.3 rebounds, is out for as long as three weeks with a muscle pull in his stomach.
Starter Todd Petrlik played despite the flu and a jammed thumb.
Loyola, which has better depth than Mount Hebron, trailed by as many as 14 points in the first half before rallying. The Dons also were missing a starter, Jason Shigley (flu).
Carroll County is 0-for-11
Through Monday's boys basketball games, Carroll County teams have not fared well against Howard County teams. Their record is 0-11.
South Carroll and Liberty each have lost four times. Westminster lost twice and North Carroll once.
The closest any Carroll County team came to winning was a three-point loss by South Carroll to Oakland Mills. Glenelg beat North Carroll by 24 and Atholton beat South Carroll by 21.
Hill sets a record
When senior forward Michael Hill scored 39 points against Thomas Johnson in Oakland Mills' season opener he established a new school single-game scoring record, said coach Dave Appleby.
9- Hill also held the old mark of 36 points.