Zoey Whittington and Lisa Meyd were members of two different Baltimore County championship teams as juniors at Catonsville High.
As seniors, neither the two-time All-County basketball backcourt standout (Whittington) nor top-notch soccer defender (Meyd) could produce a second consecutive county crown, yet the pair continued to shine and emerged as leaders in two sports and co-winners of the Catonsville Times Athlete of the Year award.
Whittington also made her mark as dominant sprinter on the outdoor track team, running the 400 meters at an elite level while earning a track scholarship to the University of Pittsburgh.
Meyd, who will attend St. Mary's College of Maryland, concluded her fourth season on the varsity softball squad as a slick-fielding shortstop, who batted .364 and racked up a .496 slugging percentage.
She was moved to shortstop out of necessity in the middle of her sophomore season.
"She is a great catcher, but we needed a shortstop," said coach Bill Nelson, noting Meyd batted .394 with a .530 slugging percentage as a sophomore and a .351 batting average the following year.
Nelson admired the way Meyd shined in the spotlight.
"Come game time, nobody plays harder," Nelson said.
When she wasn't swinging the bat, Meyd devised other ways to get on base.
"She is fast and she laid down a lot of bunts for hits," Nelson said. "She was smart enough to know when they were playing her deep."
The All-Division shortstop may have earned similar accolades if she stayed at catcher.
"She would have been our starting catcher all four years, without a doubt, if we didn't move her to shortstop," Nelson said.
Meyd was center back on the varsity soccer teams during her junior and senior seasons, and may have been there earlier if she didn't have standouts Abby Wilson and Kellie Christian patrolling the defensive third for coach James Fitzpatrick.
"Lisa is a classic gamer," Fitzpatrick said. "You knew when the whistle blew you were going to get 100 percent out of Lisa."
At 5 feet,7 inches, Meyd had the stature to score off set plays. In the back, her deceptive speed helped her thwart enemy scoring runs before they materialized.
"She is quick, and that is what helped her the most," said Fitzpatrick, who noted the 2010 county championship game and a late-season 1-0 triumph over Loch Raven as two signature moments for the Comets' top defender.
Meyd also adapted to her role as co-captain during her senior year, making "it a positive on and off the field," according to Fitzpatrick.
Whittington displayed similar attributes, albeit in a different realm.
Being a leader on the track team meant leading nearly all of her sprint races during her entire high school career.
Whittington was a three-time state champion in the 400 and four-time 1,600 relay state champion, who also claimed the 100, 200 and 400 titles at the county meet three straight years.
Despite being a national-caliber sprinter, she loved being a key contributor to Comet relays.
In 2011, she anchored the state champion 800 and 1,600 relay squads, won the individual 400 and was third in the 200.
Her coach marveled at the way she volunteered to run the 800 relay, even though it may have hurt her individual performances.
"She came up to me and said, 'I want to run the 4 by 200,'" Sheetz said.
Whittington was equally as dependable in practice.
"She is a team leader, and likes to have fun and is very social," Sheetz said. "But when the work needs to be done, she does it. She rarely missed practice. For us, she was a team player."
When Whittington finished third in the 200 meters at the state meet, she was obviously distraught at missing a chance to vault her team into the lead.
Catonsville finished tied for second in the Class 3A meet, just 1.5 points behind state champion Huntingtown.
"She was pretty mad after the 200 because she didn't run a good race, but she finished where she was seeded," Sheetz said.
Whittington ran the race about an hour after she won the 400 in 54.78, 1.16 seconds ahead of Lakisha Parker, of Northwood.
The top-seeded Parker came back to win the 200 ahead of Huntingtown's Mercedes Jackson and Whittington.
"What drives her is she likes to compete, and she likes to win," Sheetz said.
That competitive desire is what drove her to the basketball court for three season on the varsity.
Although she skipped her sophomore season on the hardwood to run indoor track, she missed basketball and returned to the court for her final two years.
She came back to score over 1,000 points in three seasons while winning a Baltimore County championship as a junior.
She averaged 15 points, 6.2 rebounds, 5.1 steals and 4.2 assists as a senior and rarely left the court for the 18-7 squad.
"As a senior, she took the responsibility of being a senior leader to a new level," Mohler said. "She was a senior leader in every sense of the word."
Mohler is well aware of Wittington's track exploits, and feels she could have had a standout college career on the court.
"She could have gone on in basketball and been an elite mid-level Division I guard," Mohler said. "We know she's world class in track, but she's in a class as an athlete not too many people attain."
One of his lasting memories was when Whittington calmly sank two free throws with five seconds left to tie the game at 51 in the Comets' 59-57 overtime victory over Western, of Baltimore City, in a regional playoff quarterfinal.
"With five seconds left, she needed to make two to tie the game and she did," Mohler said. "I'm sure she played all 36 minutes of that game with intense pressure — and that's all you need to know. She will be truly missed."