When Will Bowers of Archbishop Spalding signs with the University of Maryland today, he will become the first Anne Arundel County basketball player to receive a full scholarship from the Terps directly out of high school.
Bowers is among dozens of local high school seniors planning to sign national letters of intent during an early signing period that begins today. In doing so, they acknowledge acceptance of athletic scholarships to NCAA Division I programs.
The signing period for basketball and other sports -- including lacrosse, baseball and softball -- extends through next Wednesday.
The 7-foot, 250-pound Bowers orally committed to the defending national champions in late July and will make his decision official today at a signing ceremony at Spalding in Severn.
"Everything at Maryland fit into what I was looking for -- the location, coaching staff and their reputation for developing big men," said Bowers, a second-team All-Metro selection as a junior.
Bowers averaged 12.2 points, 6.0 rebounds and 61 blocks for the Cavaliers (29-7), the Baltimore Catholic League/Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference champions last season.
With Terps big men Tahj Holden and Ryan Randle leaving after this season, Bowers knows coach Gary Williams will need help inside.
"It should be a perfect fit for Will as a center forward in the Terps' flex offense," said Spalding coach Mike Glick.
"Will has a great upside. He runs the floor very well, has great hands and passes well, can take it inside or out with his soft touch. And he rebounds and block shots. There is no doubt in my mind that Gary will make him a better player."
After visiting 17 schools in April, Bowers narrowed his choices to Maryland, Stanford, Notre Dame and Connecticut. In the end, he decided for Maryland partly because the school's proximity to his Hanover home will give his parents, Bill and Karen Bowers, a chance to see him play.
"That was also important to me," said Bowers, who has a 3.3 grade-point average and scored 1,310 on the SAT. "We're a close family."
Gus Durr, a 6-6 forward and Bowers' teammate at Spalding, will sign for a basketball scholarship at Mount St. Mary's in Emmitsburg.
In girls lacrosse, 16 of 18 players on the Howard County Heroes 2003 team plan to sign with Division I programs, including Mount Hebron All-Metro first-teamers Kristen Waagbo with Duke and Laura Cipro with NCAA runner-up Georgetown.
Another player, River Hill's Brittany Friedrich, will play Division I at La Salle, which does not participate in the national letter of intent program.
The Heroes team, coached by Kristen's father, Steve Waagbo, and Tim Hastings, finished the summer season 22-1 and won the high school division of the Vail Lacrosse Tournament in Colorado. It also went undefeated in the summer's All-Star Express recruiting tournament in Annapolis.
The team's success is indicated by the number of players signing with top-level Division I schools. All 18 girls on the Heroes' 2002 team are playing in college -- 17 in Division I.
Among the eight Heroes planning to sign from Mount Hebron, which finished No. 1 last season and won its sixth straight state championship, are Lindsay Dutch, Renee Cipro (Laura's twin) and Karen Long, all going to Penn State along with River Hill's Jennifer Green.
Centennial's Kelly Renzi is headed to North Carolina, Franklin's Meghan Higgins and Catonsville's Becky Clipp to Maryland and Mount Hebron's Noelle Hopper and Seton Keough's Angie Martin to Boston University. Mount Hebron's Maria Bosica and Hammond's Kelly Berger will sign with James Madison and Mount Hebron's Kelyn Laws with Ohio State. Meg Ferguson will attend Duke.
Severn has seven boys lacrosse players who will sign with Division I programs today: second-team All-Metro goalie Kip Turner, Virginia; Ben Staines, North Carolina; Mike Phipps and Doug Lehner, Maryland; Will Deane and Evan Crowther-Washburn, Delaware; and Pete Montaner, Colgate.
Gilman's Anthony Triplin, a standout receiver on the Greyhounds' nationally ranked 10-0 football team, is headed for Johns Hopkins, where he will be a lacrosse defenseman. Triplin has said he will also play football.
Expected baseball signings include Gibbons third baseman Nick Popp with Campbell and River Hill pitchers Kevin Marrie and Mike Anton with Coastal Carolina and Virginia Military Institute, respectively. In softball, Spalding's Keri Lounge, a three-time All-Metro second baseman, made an early commitment to play for Maryland.
Sun staff writers Glenn P. Graham, Lem Satterfield and Jeff Zrebiec also contributed to this article.