BOYS BASKETBALL
Player of the Year
Brett Burrier
Winters Mill
This senior forward raised his game to a new level for the Falcons by adding inside punch to his outside flair. Noted in past seasons mainly for his perimeter shooting, the 6-foot-5 Burrier this winter emerged as more of all-around threat, showing vast improvement in his play down low to average a Carroll County-best 20 points per game and rank among the county's leaders with 7.5 rebounds.
He also shot 51 percent from the field, including a county-best 46 percent from three-point range, and even filled in as the team's back-up point guard for a month. He finished his high school career as Winters Mill's all-time leading scorer, and will most likely attend a prep school next season in the hopes of eventually becoming a Division I college player.
Coach of the Year
Dave Herman
Winters Mill
What could have been a disastrous season for Herman's team turned into one to remember, with the Falcons (18-5) finishing 6-0 in Carroll County and claiming a Monocacy Valley Athletic League Piedmont Conference title. The season began with starting guard Devon Lesniak fracturing both wrists against Century in early December. He wound up missing a total of six weeks over two stints.
Then, in late January, Herman dismissed starting point guard Jimmy Dorsey, the reigning county Player of the Year, for violating a team rule. Despite all the adversity, the Falcons never stumbled, rolling to their third straight county title. Herman, who has coached Winters Mill since the school's opening in 2002, credited players who were able to adjust to multiple positions, helping fill the voids.
First Team
Name School Class Pos.
Chuck Andrews Century Senior Guard
Kevin Carr Westminster Senior Guard
Steve Janowitz North Carroll Senior Guard
Brett Burrier Winters Mill Senior Forward
Brandon Eckard F. Scott Key Senior Forward
Brett Harman Westminster Senior Forward
Colton Weaver Liberty Junior Forward
Cammeron Woodyard Winters Mill Junior Forward
Second Team
Name School Class Pos.
Devon Lesniak Winters Mill Junior Guard
Ryan Miller Liberty Junior Guard
Andre Powell F. Scott Key Senior Guard
Spencer Sleight Liberty Junior Guard
Brandon Beccio Century Senior Forward
A.J. Capece North Carroll Senior Forward
Cody Simmons Westminster Senior Forward
Matt Duerr Century Soph. Center
Note -- Teams selected by Rich Scherr after consultation with The Sun staff and area coaches.
BOYS TRACK
Performer of the Year
Nick Hruch
Liberty
The versatile senior played a big role in Liberty's second-place finish in the Class 2A-1A state meet. Hruch won the state championship in the high jump, and gave the Lions important points with third-place finishes in the 500 and 800. He also ran on the 3,200-meter relay team that took third. And he did it all on a swollen ankle.
Hruch, who is headed to Bucknell next year, finished second in the state in the high jump last year.
Coach of the Year
Bobby Ward
Liberty
The Lions finished second to Poly by eight points at the Class 2A-1A state meet, which went right down to the end. The Lions tied Century for the county championship and then won the Class 2A-1A West regional title. Versatile athletes such as Nick Hruch and Eric Liberatore came through under pressure, and their versatility gave Ward a lot of options in each meet.
The Team
Name School Class
Erik Adami North Carroll Senior
Chris Antol Liberty Junior Ian Becker North Carroll Senior
Ben Burden North Carroll Senior Brent Dawson Century Senior
Brendan Dulaney Westminster Senior Nick Hruch Liberty Senior
Theron Johnson Century Junior Arthur Leathers F.S. Key Junior
Eric Liberatore Liberty Junior John Lopez Westminster Senior
Brendan Morales Westminster Sophomore
Note -- Team selected by Jeff Seidel after consultation with The Sun staff and area coaches.
WRESTLING
COACH OF THE YEAR
David Dodson
North Carroll
Dodson's Panthers (16-1) were unbeaten against Carroll County in dual meets, earning both the league dual meet and 4A-3A North regional duals and tournament crowns. A 4A-3A dual meet state semifinalist for the second straight year, the Panthers rebounded from their county runner-up finish to South Carroll by qualifying 10 wrestlers out the 4A-3A North regional for states. Four of the Panthers' six regional finalists won titles. At 4A-3A states, Jason Thomen (215 pounds) was a runner-up, Tom Goretsas (125) was third, Kyle Lemmon (112) placed fourth and Jeremy Seipp (119) was fifth.
First Team
Weight Name School Class 103 Chris Antrobus Century Soph.
112 Kyle Lemmon North Carroll Soph. 112 Rion Reiter South Carroll Soph.
119 Jeremy Seipp North Carroll Soph. 125 Tom Goretsas North Carroll Senior
125 Alex Grassi Century Senior 130 C. J. Naper South Carroll Senior
135 Will Sharkey Winters Mill Soph. 140 Steve Willingham South Carroll Senior
145 Patrick Morris Century Junior 152 David Menasche Winters Mill Senior
160 Zac Stavish South Carroll Junior 171 Tyler Mullen South Carroll Junior
189 Shane Eyler F. Scott Key Senior 215 Jason Thomen North Carroll Junior
285 Eddie Digman Liberty Senior
Second Team
Weight Name School Class
103 Brian Lillehaug Westminster Soph.
112 Jake Pennington Winters Mill Soph. 119 Gus Mohlhenrich Winters Mill Freshman
125 Will Linscomb F. Scott Key Junior 130 Adam Morrell Winters Mill Soph.
135 Bryan Hoff North Carroll Soph. 135 Ricky Pownall Westminster Soph.
140 Stephen Peters F. Scott Key Junior 145 Brian Dressler Liberty Junior
152 Chris Stout North Carroll Junior 160 Joe Riebau Liberty Junior
160 Davonn Tate Bowling Brook Senior 171 Luke Benko Winters Mill Senior
189 Joe Camlin Winters Mill Junior 215 Dan Will Westminster Junior
285 Jacob Banks F. Scott Key Senior
First Team
Name School Class Pos.
Kelsey Franklin South Carroll Junior Guard
Allyson Lethbridge F. Scott Key Senior Guard Jen Peters Winters Mill Junior Guard
Katie Schwarzmann Century Soph. Guard
Caitlin Bach North Carroll Fresh. Forward
Olivia Fajardo Winters Mill Senior Forward Stefanie McLallen Century Soph. Forward
Alex Mercer Liberty Senior Center
Second Team
Name School Class Pos.
Megan Bach North Carroll Junior Guard
Alex Held Westminster Senior Guard
Nicole Ruane Century Soph. Guard
Sam Scurci South Carroll Senior Guard
Tommeaka Brown F. Scott Key Senior Forward
Meagan Elfert Westminster Senior Forward
Christine Maher Car. Christian Senior Forward
Julie Niblock Century Junior Center
Note -- Teams selected by Rich Scherr after consultation with The Sun staff and area coaches.
GIRLS BASKETBALL
Player of the Year
Katie Schwarzmann
Century
The sophomore played well beyond her years for the Knights, providing the offensive and defensive spark that propelled them to the Carroll County title. The athletic point guard also an All-County pick in soccer and lacrosse led the county with 6.1 assists per game, flawlessly running Centurys offense while seemingly always finding open teammates. She also contributed 10 points per game, shooting 36 percent from three-point range, and nearly four rebounds.
Her biggest contributions, however, may have come on defense, where she led a unit that gave up just 39 points a game. Schwarzmann kept constant pressure on opposing point guards and set a single-season school record with 127 steals, averaging a county-best 5.8 per game. She already has broken the schools all-time steals mark with 218 after just two seasons. Coach Joel Beard said Schwarzmann is "as competitive as any player I've ever coached, male or female."
Coach of the Year
Joel Beard
Century
Despite having a team that suffered numerous injuries and was loaded with underclassmen, Beard led Century to a turnaround season, helping the Knights improve from 11-13 to 16-8, including 6-0 in Carroll County. Among this seasons highlights were three wins over defending county co-champions Westminster and Winters Mill, and a 6-0 start. The team was led by its sophomore class, which included three All- County selections.
Beard is used to having success in basketball. He coached the boys team at Randallstown beginning in the mid-80s twice leading the Rams into the state semifinals and also had brief stints as coach of the Randallstown girls and Pikesville boys before coaching freshman football and boys basketball at Hanover (Pa.) High for seven years starting in 1992. He has coached girls basketball at Century since the schools inception in 2001, and earned county Coach of the Year honors in 2003 following the Knights first season at the varsity level.
GIRLS TRACK
Performer of the Year
Katie Hursey
North Carroll
Hursey had been undefeated for nearly two full cross country seasons before Mount Hebrons Liz McCarter surprised her with a late kick and won the Class 3A state championship in November.
It was payback time for Hursey this winter. The seniors late kick allowed her to pull away from McCarter and win the 1,600 at the Class 3A-2A state title meet. That seemed to set the tone, as North Carroll went on to win its first state title.
Hursey, headed for Syracuse with McCarter, also won the 3,200 and ran on the third-place relay team. Shes one of the states top distance runners despite not taking up the sport until her junior year.
Hursey, who had lost to McCarter in the West regional race just days before the state race, also won the 3,200 at the county and regional meets.
Coaches of the Year
Jim MacDonald and Rob Johnson
North Carroll
MacDonald and Johnson were determined to build a program that had enough depth to fare well at the bigger meets, and the Panthers did just that this season.
North Carroll easily swept the Carroll County, Class 3A-2A West regional and Class 3A-2A state championships. The latter was the teams first indoor state title.