Kesmodel to coach at Seton Keough

After 2 years off, he's set to lead Gators' lacrosse

High Schools

Notebook

After two years away from girls lacrosse, P.J. Kesmodel is ready to come back.

The architect behind Mount Hebron's rise to prominence in the early 1990s, Kesmodel has been hired as varsity coach at Seton Keough.

"I wanted to take a year off and see if I missed it," said Kesmodel, who left City College's program in 1999. "By last spring and into the summer, I decided I really wanted to do it again."

At City College, Kesmodel's Knights went from 2-9 to 13-3 in three years and won two Baltimore City championships. But he is best known for his eight years as the Vikings girls coach when he compiled a 114-12 record and won four state, seven county and eight regional titles.

There was some speculation that Kesmodel, 58, might return to Mount Hebron after Vikings coach Chris Robinson resigned last week. Kesmodel, however, said he prefers to start something new rather than take on the pressure of an established program that should return 11 starters and likely will dominate the area for a fourth straight year.

"I just don't like to coach in that situation. I like to build something. That's the fun part of it. I've done it a couple of times. It's very satisfying to build something that wasn't there, to put something in place that's going to continue."

Kesmodel, a guidance counselor at Mount Hebron, takes over a Gators program that has had a revolving door of coaches in recent years, but still managed to win the Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland B Conference title last spring.

"This Seton Keough thing kind of intrigues me because it sounds like there's some talent there and it sounds like the parents are very involved and very supportive."

The Gators remain in the B Conference, but Kesmodel said he aspires to move up to the powerful A Conference in a year or two.

Richmond fits Steenberge

River Hill basketball player Kevin Steenberge, a 6-foot-10 center who averaged nearly seven blocks a game as a junior, said yesterday that he verbally committed to play basketball for the University of Richmond.

Steenberge, who also averaged 15 points and 15 rebounds a game last season for the Hawks, was a first-team All-Howard County selection by The Sun.

A top student recruited by a number of schools, Steenberge said he chose Richmond because of its academic reputation and because he would get an opportunity to play right away.

"I visited the campus three times and it was just beautiful," Steenberge said. "I couldn't find anything wrong with it. I was ready to make a decision, and Richmond seemed like the right one."

Steenberge, who has participated in a number of elite basketball camps this summer, said he's interested in studying political science in college.

Hancock picks Northeastern

Second-team All-Metro basketball selection Jermaine Hancock of Abingdon will sign a letter of intent today to attend Northeastern University on a full scholarship.

The 6-foot, 145 pound, guard averaged more than 30 points last season for Edgewood, which made it to the Class 2A East regional semifinal.

"Northeastern has a pretty good team and it's a nice academic school," said Hancock, who will begin classes next month. Hancock, 18, who had a 3.0 grade-point average at Edgewood, also considered Radford, Quinnipiac and the Milford (Conn.) Academy.

Double duty for Moen

Brian Moen, already the Perry Hall boys soccer coach, has been hired as the boys lacrosse coach as well, athletic director Jeff Mann announced yesterday.

Walter honored

Arundel's Bernie Walter recently was among eight coaches honored by the American Baseball Coaches Association/Diamond Sports Company as regional Coach of the Year. No. 1 Arundel won a record-setting ninth state title in May, and Walter is Maryland's all-time winningest public high school coach, going 484-131 in 28 seasons.

Sun staff writers Lem Satterfield, Kevin Van Valkenburg and Sam Atkinson contributed to this article.