County Champ

The object of the state regional wrestling tournaments, running tomorrow and Saturday at various sites, is to qualify wrestlers for the state tournament. Only the top four finishers in each weight classification will advance to the state tourney at Western Maryland College on March 1-2.One of the season's most dominant wrestlers has been Broadneck's Shawn Miller. The junior 112-pounder has pinned 22 opponents in winning all of his 27 matches. He pinned his way to the Anne Arundel County championship last weekend and will go after his second regional title in the Class 4A/3A Region IV tourney this weekend at Meade.

With one landmark victory behind it, the Broadneck girls lacrosse team now is looking for another. The Bruins' 9-8 win over Severna Park last week gave them their second county title in the past three seasons and marked the first time they had defeated the Falcons in the county final. In winning six county titles since the final began in 1996, the Falcons defeated Broadneck in three of them, including last season's 10-9 win. After knocking off Broadneck in the 2005 county final, the Falcons stumbled in the Class 4A-3A regionals and repeated what has become a trend among county girls lacrosse teams.

Yesterday's Class 4A-3A, Region IV wrestling tournament was a bittersweet one for Howard County.Of the 17 county wrestlers, only seven qualified for next week's ++ 4A-3A state tournament at Western Maryland College, but Howard High's five qualifiers were the best ever by the Lions (65.5), who were fifth in the 20-team tournament, won for the ninth time by No. 3 Old Mill.Mike Wiland (152, second), Mark Grinspoon (130, third), Josh Tzuker (140, fourth), Jason Shefrin (145, fourth) and Seth Eldridge (160, fourth)

Dulaney's girls lacrosse team repeated as Baltimore County champion yesterday thanks to getting off to a quick start - twice. The No. 7 Lions scored the first six goals of the game and, after a lengthy second-half injury delay, they scored five in a row. Those runs made the difference as the host Lions defeated Catonsville, 17-10. After each of those spurts, the Comets (9-4) rallied with their patient settled offense, pulling within three goals at the half and within five with 15:46 left in the game.

Try as he might, Owings Mills wrestling coach Guy Pritzker has trouble playing down the talent on this year's team.Returning are two-time All-Metro and state champ Steve Kessler (145-152 pounds, 72-0 career), region champ, county runner-up Willie Broadnax (189, 24-6), who was third in the state, Ari Dolid (140-145, 29-4), who was third in the county and region, and both Steve Kellner (125, third region) and Anthony Smith (Hwt., fourth region).Pritzker has veterans Erik Walder (103), Danny Selnick (130, 12-4)

County champ Northeast, the state's sixth-ranked team, lost a down-to-the-wire 1A-2A East Region battle, 148.5-143, to No. 5 Rising Sun over the weekend.Two of the Eagles' five individual titlists were state champion Kusick twins, Marty (112, 25-1) and Mike (119, 26-0), ranked No. 2 and No. 1 in the state, respectively.Other titlists for Northeast were fourth-ranked Matt Jewer (130, 26-1, 16 pins), second-ranked Steve Smiddy (140, 25-1) and county runner-up Jason Grunder (152, 19-6).Marty Kusick is a three-time county and regional champ and his four teammates are each two-time regional titlists.

Host Overlea's Joe Smith beat Sparrows Point heavyweight Jason Plienis, 7-4, for fifth place, securing yesterday's 158-157.5, Class 1A-2A North Region tournament victory over 10th-ranked Owings Mills and the rest of the 17-team field.Though Smith did not qualify for next weekend's state tournament at Western Maryland College, he made sure that by then 13th-ranked Overlea's coach Bruce Malinowski will have less hair than his infant twins, Nathan and Nicholas."He said he'd shave his head [if we won the regional]

When Chris Combs comes to wrestle, his opponent is usually back-pedaling."I like to dictate, dominate and control the match -- go right at the guy," said Combs, Old Mill's 112-pound sophomore county champ and region runner-up."

Several of the state's best wrestlers will take to the mat this weekend in the Class 4A-3A North Region tournament at Dundalk High. The regional, a qualifier for next weekend's state tournament at Western Maryland College, features 21 teams from Baltimore, Harford, Carroll and Howard counties, including fourth-ranked defending region champ River Hill, the two-time Howard County champ. Also contending is third-ranked South Carroll and Baltmore County champ Eastern Tech, ranked fifth. No. 7 Franklin, No. 13 Fallston and No. 14 North Carroll also will be there.

If you listen to Perry Hall coach Jerry Martin, Woodlawn's boys are an overwhelming favorite in county track."You can just give the trophy to them right now," said Martin, whose Gators won their second straight county crown a year ago.But Martin, citing a Warriors squad that brings the bulk of its indoor county champion squad outdoors, said, "That streak is coming to a halt this year.""We're not the same team we were indoors because we lost a couple of key figures to other sports," said Martin.

Arundel girls basketball coach Lee Rogers said winning county championship games "are nice, but getting to the state tournament is better and what we are focused on." That's coming from the county's most successful girls coach since the county finals for boys and girls - pitting the top two finishers from the regular season - commenced in the 1995-96 season. No. 6 Arundel claimed its fourth consecutive county title and its ninth in 11 years with last week's 62-53 win over No. 13 Old Mill.

Three years ago, Chesapeake track coach Skip Lee pulled an inexperienced freshman sprinter aside at the county track meet and told her that one day she would be an elite runner. "At the county championships as a freshman, I told her that I knew she had great things in store for her," Lee remembers telling Britney Foreman, now a senior at Chesapeake. "She looked at me with a look that said, `What are you talking about?' " Foreman might not have believed him at the time, but Lee's words have proved prophetic.

Three teams took different paths to successfully defend county championships this season. For the Centennial girls soccer team, it was a case of players stepping up to fill major voids left by graduation. The River Hill boys soccer team overcame an early loss to Atholton to stay the course. And the Mount Hebron field hockey team counted on balance to produce a winning formula. Here's a quick look at each team's regular-season highlights that enabled them to repeat as county champions.

HAGERSTOWN - The Winters Mill indoor track and field program traveled a familiar road yesterday. Winners of Carroll County championships on both the boys and girls sides last season for the first time in school history, the Falcons made sure the titles stayed with them for at least another year by walloping the field at Hagerstown Community College. The boys team outdistanced runner-up Liberty, 130-81. The girls squad was nearly as convincing, compiling 129.9 points to North Carroll's 93.2.

Anne Arundel County With perennial powers Old Mill, Arundel and Chesapeake firmly holding their ground and continued emergence from South River, Severna Park and potentially others, the county season promises to be competitive and deep. Defending champ Old Mill - a 194-193.5 winner over Arundel in last year's county tournament - is again top-to-bottom strong and will lean on Chris Volker (152) and Ed Roderick (160). Arundel returns Justin Bowser and plenty more, while Chesapeake will be particularly strong at the lighter weights with Shane Fraser (130/135)

When the volleyball season started, Franklin senior Meghan McDearmon wasn't thinking much about her team reaching the Baltimore County championship game. "I never thought we would get here," said McDearmon. "Last year, we weren't ranked, but this year, we started out winning and we kept winning. Then, we upset [three-time defending county champ] Towson and before you know it, here we are, county champions." McDearmon, Lindsey Shue and Mallory Lanahan paced a balanced offense with six kills each as the No. 11 Indians overpowered Loch Raven, 25-20, 25-12, 25-9, last night to win their first county crown since 1972.

DeMatha lost by four points to No. 2 Mount St. Joseph in the Archbishop Curley Tournament eight days ago, but one week made a big difference.The Hyattsville wrestlers, coached by Columbia resident Dick Messier, exacted revenge at yesterday's Annapolis Tournament. The Stags (217 points) had four individual champs in routing the runner-up Gaels (179.5, two champs) and dethroning two-time champion Altoona, Pa. (168, one).Of other Baltimore participants in the 13-school tournament, Calvert Hall was fifth in team points (122)

It was his first tournament victory, but Centennial junior Joon Kim handled winning like a veteran.The 189-pounder threw his arms in the air after scoring his fifth pin of the season in six matches over DeMatha's Josh Bender to become the Eagles' first-ever Annapolis Tournament champion."

River Hill won a record-breaking fifth straight Howard County wrestling championship last night, beating runner-up Atholton, 248-144, at Wilde Lake. The Hawks, who were state Class 4A-3A dual-meet runners-up last weekend, eclipsed the old mark of four straight titles recorded twice by Oakland Mills (1977-80, 1985-88) and matched by Hammond (1996-99). River Hill placed a finalist in nine of the 14 weight classes and won six individual titles. It was a night for close matches - six were decided by one point and one by two points.

The Anne Arundel County wrestling tournament, to begin today at South River, is the start of three demanding weekends - region and states to follow - that measure the degree of success for both teams and individuals. "This is what we preach at the beginning of the season and all year, working hard and trying to get to the point where we peak for counties, regions and states. This is what it's all about," said Old Mill coach Jim Grim, whose No. 8 Patriots are not only defending county champs, but also region and state titlists.