Gladiators

Glenelg senior Aaron Browning won the state Class 2A pole vault title Saturday, soaring a foot higher than he ever had.Browning's best outdoor mark had been 12 feet. But he vaulted over the 13-foot mark during the state track championships in Westminster.Despite his effort, Glenelg narrowly missed the Class 2A state track title.Wilde Lake finished second in Class 1A.The pole vault was one of the final events of the Class 2A meet, and Browning's victory gave Glenelg 10 points in its effort to edge Surrattsville for first place.

New Glenelg girls lacrosse team. New attitude. Still rankled by a two-goal loss to River Hill last week, the Gladiators produced a far different result as they humbled host Centennial, 9-4, yesterday. The victory helped Glenelg improve to 10-2 overall and 6-2 in Howard County. The Gladiators also jumped into a tie for second place with the Eagles, who own an identical county mark and fell to 8-5 overall. Glenelg ends its regular season with a home contest today against Wilde Lake (4-6, 3-5)

Kristi Greer became the top scorer in Howard High School girls basketball history Friday night with a four-star performance, and the restof the Lions followed Greer's lead, as Howard smothered Glenelg in asurprising 58-32 blowout.Greer, the 5-foot-6 senior guard who broke the 1,000-point barrier two weeks ago against Wilde Lake, played on her own level for much of the night before finishing with 23 points and 16 rebounds, both game highs. But it was her basket with just under five minutes left in the fourth quarter -- and the game long outof reach -- that gave the home fans what they had come to see.Greer dribbled into the lane, spun away from one Glenelg defender, then split two more Gladiators with a strong move to the basket before sinking an underhand, four-foot shot to score her 21st point of the night.

Chuck Struhar saw a pleasant vision as he watched his Glenelg High School softball team wear out visiting Hammond en route to an important 7-1 victory Wednesday."

Citing health concerns and the need to spend more time with his family, Dennis Cole has resigned as football coach at Glenelg High School."I'm not sure whether I'm retiring. I don't think I'm hanging (it) up forever," said Cole, who has spent the last nine years as the Gladiators' head coach."I'm going to be out for a couple of years at least."Cole, who worked for nine years as an assistant coach at Glenelg before assuming the head coaching job in 1982, said he had thought about stepping down since July, when he found out his wife Rita was pregnant with their fifth child.

The Glenelg wrestling team has long had its sights on the state tournament, and the No. 5 Gladiators are taking the toughest road possible to make sure they're ready when the time comes. Yesterday, it meant a visit to Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association power Mount St. Joseph, and the Gladiators responded with a 37-30 win over the No. 2 Gaels. Senior Chris Stinnett (140 pounds) returned to the lineup after missing a month with an injured shoulder and was one of four Gladiators to get pins, with senior Tim Chase (160)

Fourth-ranked Wilde Lake has fast forwards, aggressive midfielders and stingy defenders, but there's one more thing that every good soccer team needs to be successful."

On the scoreboard, Centennial and Glenelg had very different experiences at yesterday's round-robin Liberty Lacrosse Invitational in Sykesville.The Eagles had the tougher schedule, and paid the price. Centennial lost to host and No. 9-ranked Liberty, 14-4, in the morning, then came back in the afternoon and was defeated 15-5 by No. 3 Bryn Mawr.Glenelg blew a three-goal halftime lead and needed overtime to defeat Bel Air, 7-6, in its morning contest. The Gladiators had it easier in the afternoon, upending Bethesda's Walt Whitman, 14-5.

Before the season, Glenelg boys soccer coach John Bouman said his team could possibly beat six of its seven county opponents. At the time, several opposing coaches thought he was exaggerating the extent of his team's talent.But on Monday, the Gladiators vindicated their coach with a 2-1 victory over Howard, a team that was ranked fourth by The Sun in the Baltimore metro area for most of the season.It evened Glenelg's league record at 3-3 and followed earlier victories over Mount Hebron and powerful Wilde Lake.