Men's college soccer
Blast defender Dello-Russo named assistant at Maryland
Former Maryland standout Michael Dello-Russo (Wilde Lake), a defender with the Blast of the Major Indoor Soccer League, was named an assistant coach at his alma mater Monday. Dello-Russo, who played for Maryland from 2001 to 2005, was a two-time captain for current head coach Sasho Cirovski and was instrumental in guiding the Terps to their first national championship since 1968 as a senior in 2005. The center back helped Maryland to 11 shutouts that season. The Columbia resident finished his career with 20 assists, 11th most in school history. Dello-Russo spent 3 1/2 seasons with FC Dallas of Major League Soccer and played for the Austin Aztex of United Soccer Leagues Division I in 2009 before joining the Blast. Dello-Russo fills one of two assistant coaching positions vacated by Russell Payne (Glenelg) and Rob Vartughian in early December. Payne is now the head coach at Army, and Vartughian will be an assistant coach for the Philadelphia Union of MLS.
College basketball
Morgan State's Holmes, Thompson honored by MEAC
Morgan State senior guard Reggie Holmes (St. Frances) was named the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Player of the Week, and teammate Kevin Thompson (Walbrook), a sophomore forward, earned Defensive Player of the Week, each for the third time this season. Freshman forward James Cotton of UMES was named Rookie of the Week. ... St. Mary's junior point guard Alex Franz (Cardinal Gibbons) and York sophomore forward Paul Kouvaris (Cardinal Gibbons) were named Capital Athletic Conference co-Players of the Week.
Women's honors: : Loyola sophomore guard Miriam McKenzie (Oakland Mills) was named Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Player of the Week. ... Maryland freshman forward Diandra Tchatchouang was named Atlantic Coast Conference Rookie of the Week for the second time this season. ... Stevenson junior guard JaQuelia Conley, a Columbia resident who attended Montrose Christian, was named CAC co-Player of the Week. ... Bowie State junior guard Brianna Taylor was named Central Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Newcomer of the Week.
Et cetera
Ex-chair of NFL concussion panel denies link to disease
Under questioning from Congress, a doctor who used to lead the NFL's concussion committee stuck to his position that there is no proven connection between football head injuries and brain disease. Members of the House Judiciary Committee expressed frustration at the oral and written testimony delivered at Monday's hearing in Detroit by Dr. Ira Casson, a neurologist from New York and former co-chairman of the NFL's panel on head injuries. "There is not enough valid, reliable or objective scientific evidence at present to determine whether or not repeat head impacts in professional football result in long-term brain damage," Casson said. Lawmakers had made a big deal out of Casson's absence at an Oct. 28 hearing on the same topic, and they went after him in direct questioning Monday. Rep. Linda Sanchez, a California Democrat, also took shots at the league. She has compared the NFL's stance to that of tobacco companies who denied a connection between smoking and lung disease. "I find it really ridiculous that he's saying that concussions don't cause long-term cognitive problems," Sanchez said. "I think most people you ask on the street would figure that repeated blows to the head aren't good for you." Sanchez noted that the league formed its concussion committee in 1994, and wondered aloud whether the league's recent moves on concussions took far too long to come about. "It seems to me that the NFL has literally been dragging its feet on this issue until the past few years," Sanchez said. Casson resigned as co-chairman of the NFL's committee on mild traumatic brain injury in November.
Indoor football: : Center Gus Kosmakos (Dulaney), who twice earned Offensive Player of the Year honors at Towson University and helped propel the Mariners to the American Indoor Football Association's leading rushing offense in 2009, has re-signed with the Mariners for 2010. Kosmakos is an assistant coach at Towson. The Mariners will open their third season March 6 in Harrisburg, Pa., and begin their home schedule at 1st Mariner Arena on March 14 at 4 p.m. against the New Jersey Revolution.
Men's college lacrosse: : Senior Ryan Alexander (St. Vincent Pallotti), junior Bobby Cooke (Mount Hebron) and senior Ryder Henry were named tri-captains at St. Mary's.
- From Sun staff and news services