What a difference a year makes.

After narrowly missing a gold medal last season, Dulaney senior Josh Chang came back and finished the job yesterday, winning the boys singles title in straight sets to lead the Lions to a sweep of the singles events at the Baltimore County badminton championships at Pikesville.

The Lions, who beat Pikesville for the county team championship Tuesday, finished the afternoon with three medals. The Panthers rebounded from Tuesday's loss to take home a tournament-high four medals after having seven semifinalists start the day.

"It's a wonderful feeling," Dulaney coach Sharon Spangenberg said. "If you had told me in the beginning of the year that we'd have a team championship and two singles champions, I would have said no way."

Chang won methodically, dispatching Pikesville's Syed Sherazi in the semifinals, 15-4, 15-7, then beating Dulaney teammate Kevin Smit in the final, 15-5, 15-10.

Dulaney senior Ying Tao won the girls singles gold after shutting down the power game of Dundalk senior Elizabeth Soellner in the final, 15-10, 15-6. Soellner won her semifinal match, 15-1, 15-1, but couldn't overcome Tao's quickness in the final.

"I got really, really nervous when I heard the score [of Soellner's semifinal]," said Tao, who finished the year 15-0. "And I had played the girl she beat earlier in the year and it was a close match, so I think that made me even more determined."

Franklin junior Lauren Tannebaum, who lost the lopsided semifinal to Soellner, came back to win the girls singles bronze despite playing on a sprained right ankle.

Like Chang, Hereford's boys doubles team of Mark Bye and Jeff Schleigh won gold yesterday after taking second place last year. The pair of 6-footers used a big height advantage to beat the bracket's top-seeded team, Pikesville juniors Jason Appelbaum and Brian Hirshfeld, 15-6, 15-2.

Seniors Kristen Lyon and Mary Kellam completed the boys-girls doubles sweep for the Bulls, surviving a tough first-set test from Laura Evans and Maria Zumer of Franklin before settling down and winning, 15-12, 15-5.

Pikesville's only gold medal came via Kaitlin Geller and Jordan Manekin, the top seed in the mixed doubles bracket. They beat Quincey Renwick and Jeremy Wilson of Towson, a team they edged in three sets in the regular season. It took only two sets yesterday, 15-6, 15-7.

It was the second straight county championship for Manekin, who won a boys doubles gold last season.