County Tournament

South Carroll wrestling coach Pete Olson has set the stage for the second North Carroll-Francis Scott Key wrestling confrontation tomorrow in the Carroll County tournament at Liberty High."

With 12 of a possible 14 wrestlers advancing to Saturday morning's semifinal round, Glenelg leads the team standings of the Howard County wrestling tournament, 107-96, over defending county, regional and Class 4A-3A state champion River Hill. Glenelg (2007, 2008, 2011) and River Hill (2000-2004, 2009, 2012) have combined to win 10 Howard County tournaments since 2000. The Hawks, who won the Howard County regular-season title, advanced 10 wrestlers into the semifinals, including defending county champions Cory Daniel (195)

The 24th Howard County Wrestling Tournament is shaping up as a historic occasion.Hammond stands to make the most notable history this weekend at Atholton. The Golden Bears, who never have won the county tournament, are favored to win it after a 13-1 season, which included two tournament championships and their second straight 7-0 romp through the county dual-meet schedule.But the Bears have plenty of company, beginning with Oakland Mills, everyone's old nemesis.The Scorpions have won the past three tournaments and 13 of the past 16. Under coach Steve Carnahan, who returned this year following a four-year hiatus, Oakland Mills is poised for a run at another title.

The Maryland State Wrestling Association has found a way to let Broadneck senior Collin Harrell wrestle after the controversial end to his final postseason. Harrell has been invited to the Haswell Franklin Maryland Senior All-Star Classic March 6 at McDaniel College. The tournament, which pits the highest finishing seniors in the puiblic and private schools in an all-star competition. Two weeks ago, Harrell was ejected from North County High School and not allowed to compete in his 138-pound weight class at the Anne Arundel County tournament after getting involved in a conflict between his mother, Melloni Harrell and North County assistant principal Laura Dudeck.

Lauryn Taubman is an active young lady.She has played ice hockey the last four years -- the first three on Wilde Lake's club team and last season on an all-girls squad.She has played flute and piccolo since fourth grade and is on Wilde Lake's marching band and wind ensemble.She is taking an English course at Howard Community College to prepare herself for Syracuse University and goes twice a week to the Cable 15 television station in Ellicott City as part of a mentorship program.Oh, yes, she also hasn't lost a tennis match this season and is expected to be seeded No. 1 in singles when the Howard County tournament begins Thursday.

Back on Jan. 11, in the 152-pound championship bout of the ninth annual Arundel Invitational, Annapolis' Chip Cochran wrestled one of hisbest matches of the season.The muscular senior, ranked No. 2 by the Maryland State Wrestling Association, scored a four-point takedown for an early 4-0 lead and held off McDonough's No. 5 Chris Hawkins to win, 7-3.A flattering photo of Cochran appeared in this paper the following Monday. It showed Hawkins at a point in the match when he was nearly pinned by Cochran, who maintained a tight hold as the Charles County grappler struggled to free himself.

Arundel junior Emre Ucal joined the Wildcats' tennis team this spring with an impressive and seemingly overqualified resume. It started in his homeland of Turkey, where he was once ranked 16th in the country at the youth level. When his family moved to the United States four years ago, Ucal became a U.S. Tennis Association tournament player, winning the Maryland State Indoor boys under-16 championship last May. With a powerful serve, pounding ground strokes and eight years of winning tennis, what could Ucal possibly find new and so enjoyable on the courts of Arundel High?

12 Randallstown boys basketball players who scored in last week's 82-19 victory over Baltimore County rival Carver A&T. The Rams' top two scorers had 14 and 10 points, with no others scoring in double figures. 25 Pins in 28 bouts for Owings Mills' unbeaten state runner-up Ben McCree (160 pounds) heading into this weekend's Baltimore County tournament. The defending county and regional champion decked two 189-pounders in the Eagles' win over Milford Mill and loss to Hereford last week.

Newly crowned state dual meet 1A-2A champion North Carroll will be out to add the Carroll County wrestling tournament championship to its list of honors today.The second-ranked Panthers (13-1) are favored heavily to win their eighth straight county tournament title and 11th in the last 12 years. North Carroll has blitzed its nearest county competitor, Francis Scott Key, twice in dual meets this season.Eighth-ranked Key (11-2-1) may find itself in a tough fight to hold on to second place this year, with South Carroll coming on strong behind outstanding sophomore 160-pounder Mike Chenoweth.

Five Owings Mills wrestlers won individual titles, as the Eagles compiled 230 points en route to winning the state 1A-2A Region II tournament yesterday at Overlea High School.The Owings Mills victory also marked the end of a string of five straight regional championships for Aberdeen. Aberdeen, which has won the past three 1A-2A state championships, finished second in the team competition with 158 1/2 points.All told, nine Owings Mills wrestlers advanced to tournament championship bouts and 11 finished among the top three in their weight divisions to qualify for the 1A-2A state tournament, which begins Friday at Western Maryland College.

4 Seed for Centennial's 119-pound junior Dan LeRoy, who won the county tournament Saturday. He upset Glenelg's second-seeded Brendan Conway, 4-2, in overtime to claim his first county crown and also was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Wrestler. 22-0 Regular-season record of Mount Hebron's girls basketball team, which completed its first perfect regular season with a 50-47 win over Oakland Mills on Saturday. Junior guard Brittany Bowen scored 13 points to lead the Vikings, who were down by eight points in the closing minutes of the first half before rallying for the win.

This is not your father's pingpong game. Forget those skinny wooden rackets and one-on-one games to 21. Today's fast-paced table tennis matches feature paddles padded with sponge and covered in smooth rubber for greater spin control and speed. Players in singles or doubles face off in best-of-five games only to 11 points each. At the Maryland Circuit Table Tennis Tournament in Carroll County during the weekend, 36 enthusiasts competed for cash prizes as part of a monthly competition. Organizer Yvonne Kronlage said the purse would be 50 percent of the entry fees for the weekend.

Carroll County schools superintendent Charles Ecker said he told Kim Hobin in early December that a 45-day disciplinary suspension being served by her son, South Carroll wrestler Cam Hobin, would end in time for him to be seeded for participation in Saturday's county wrestling tournament. But this morning, Ecker said, he will have to sit Kim Hobin down in his office at the Board of Education and tell her that he was wrong. Ecker said he was informed of Hobin's ineligibility "about 10 days ago" by county athletics coordinator James Rodriguez, who cited rules in the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association's winter bulletin.

Success fails to elude Hammond's Taweel Sport Wrestling BOYS Hammond's Vince Taweel, a two-time All-Metro wrestler, went 5-0 last week to improve to 28-1 on the season and 103-7 for his career. The 140-pound junior won twice to pace the Bears to the Class 2A-1A state duals title on Tuesday, and won three more times during Friday and Saturday to earn his third straight Howard County tournament title along with the Bears' second straight county team crown. Taweel, 17, earned his 13th pin of the season in a state duals semifinal win over Liberty, followed by his 100th career victory, 8-7 over Hereford's state champion Josh Asper in the state duals final.

Paced by Mike Vakas (135 pounds), Abe Hunter (145), Xavier Rathlev (152), Mike Vandeven (160) and Tom Mulligan (215), first-place Broadneck had a 141.5-to-123 lead last night over Old Mill at Annapolis, which advanced Greg Saumenig (112), Dallas Evans (125), Tim Lubuglio (130), Justin Sobleskie (140), John Sillaman (215) and Justin Faithful (275) into today's Anne Arundel County tournament finals. Arundel (third) advanced defending Class 4A-3A state champ Justin Bowser (125), Nicole Woody (103)

12 Randallstown boys basketball players who scored in last week's 82-19 victory over Baltimore County rival Carver A&T. The Rams' top two scorers had 14 and 10 points, with no others scoring in double figures. 25 Pins in 28 bouts for Owings Mills' unbeaten state runner-up Ben McCree (160 pounds) heading into this weekend's Baltimore County tournament. The defending county and regional champion decked two 189-pounders in the Eagles' win over Milford Mill and loss to Hereford last week.

4 Seed for Centennial's 119-pound junior Dan LeRoy, who won the county tournament Saturday. He upset Glenelg's second-seeded Brendan Conway, 4-2, in overtime to claim his first county crown and also was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Wrestler. 22-0 Regular-season record of Mount Hebron's girls basketball team, which completed its first perfect regular season with a 50-47 win over Oakland Mills on Saturday. Junior guard Brittany Bowen scored 13 points to lead the Vikings, who were down by eight points in the closing minutes of the first half before rallying for the win.

BOYS PLAYER OF THE YEAR Doug Ferguson Liberty, senior Already a two-time county champion heading into this season, the senior rededicated himself to the sport, with impressive results, to say the least. Ferguson finished with a 24-1 mark, including his third straight county singles title with a 6-0, 6-0 win over North Carroll's David Watson. He then went on to win a regional title, after last year losing in the finals, and advanced to the semifinals of the state tournament. After filling out physically following last season, Ferguson improved his court coverage, as well as several other aspects of his game, including serves and ground strokes.

In his final year as coach of Westminster's golf team, Jeff Ibex on Saturday coached the Owls to a notable first, as they captured the inaugural Carroll County golf tournament by beating Liberty by 10 strokes. Paced by freshman Spencer Gifford's 6-over-par 77, including a sizzling 37 on the back nine, and Tim Evelius' 80, the Owls negotiated the stiff breezes at Bear Creek Golf Course in Westminster to fire a foursome total of 326, including a respectable 83 by Doug Politz, who only recently earned a starting spot.

Arundel junior Emre Ucal joined the Wildcats' tennis team this spring with an impressive and seemingly overqualified resume. It started in his homeland of Turkey, where he was once ranked 16th in the country at the youth level. When his family moved to the United States four years ago, Ucal became a U.S. Tennis Association tournament player, winning the Maryland State Indoor boys under-16 championship last May. With a powerful serve, pounding ground strokes and eight years of winning tennis, what could Ucal possibly find new and so enjoyable on the courts of Arundel High?