Glenelg

The Glenelg High School marching unit was selected by the WashingtonDistrict Football Officials Association as the outstanding marching unit in the Maryland, Virginia and Washington area for 1990.The football officials vote annually on the best halftime performances of games they have officiated. The officials cited the Glenelg unit for "outstanding and magnificent performances" during the fall football season.

This fall, Glenelg (17-1) went into the field hockey season without Alyssa Parker, one of just two girls to ever finish a high school career in the nation with more than 100 goals and 100 assists, and captain Mary Kate Olson. Together they accounted for most of Glenelg's scoring in back-to-back championships over the past two years, whether it was scoring the goals or assisting on others. In the Class 2A title game Saturday, five different players scored as the Gladiators continued their run by winning a third straight title, 5-1, over Poolesville.

Fourth-seeded Glenelg used its height advantage to dominate play at the net and score a 15-9, 7-15, 15-1, 15-6 victory over top-seeded and host Liberty in a Class 2A, Region I semifinal last night.Glenelg (12-4) will meet third-seeded Allegany, which defeated second-seeded North Carroll in the other region semifinal, in the region final.Liberty, which lost to Mount Hebron in last year's state final, finished 11-5.Marisa Davidson and Debbie Snyder helped the Gladiatorcontrol play at the net. Davidson used a variety of kills, dinks and blocks and Snyder relied on blocks and thunderous kills.

Picking the turning point of the District V girls basketball championship game between No. 6 Meade and No. 9 Glenelg is difficult. Was it Glenelg's zone, its 3-point shots, Emily Russo's 26 points, Sam Heisig's rebounds, the underhand layup Danielle Burris made from an impossible angle or something else that was the tipping point in the Gladiators' 59-55 overtime victory? "When they came back in the third quarter and they won that quarter, we started giving up and getting frustrated," Meade's Imani Bailey said.

Howard County's two best softball teams needed extra innings to decide the county champion, and Glenelg pitcher Casey Schmidt hit the go-ahead homer in the top of the eighth to lift the No. 6 Gladiators over host Howard, 6-3. Schmidt homered twice for Glenelg (17-2) in her four at-bats and also pitched well, striking out six in four innings. Trailing 3-0 and held in check for six innings, the Lions (16-2) scored three times in the bottom of the seventh to tie it but could not complete the comeback.

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)

Sam Heisig scored 17 points and Danielle Burris added 13 as No. 9 Glenelg beat visiting River Hill, 47-39, Thursday to claim sole possession of the Howard County title for the second year in a row. Had River Hill won, the two would have shared the title. "It was there for the taking," River Hill coach Teresa Waters said. Missed free throws doomed the Hawks, who hit seven of 18 as Glenelg made 16 of 22. As Howard County champion, Glenelg will face Meade, the Anne Arundel County champion, in the District V title game Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Oakland Mills.

Glenelg senior shortstop Leah Allen has to go way back to recall her first memory with a bat in her hand. When she was 2 years old, Allen would go to the backyard with her father, Harold, and play with a Wiffle ball and bat. She signed up for an organized softball league as soon as she was old enough. A four-year starter, two-year captain and returning All-Metro first-team selection, Allen is the do-it-all catalyst who has led the No. 2 Gladiators to an 9-0 record so far this season.

Dennis Pagel figured to spend this season pitching mostly in relief behind Glenelg ace Sean Lookingbill.Instead, an injury to Lookingbill gave Pagel an opportunity and the Glenelg junior has become his team's most effective starter, posting a 6-0 record with two saves.Yesterday he got the starting assignment against second-place Atholton in a game crucial to Glenelg's county championship hopes, and the left-hander two-hit the Raiders through 6 1/3 innings before Mike Goldberg finished up.The 6-3 victory was Glenelg's third against Atholton this season, and Pagel was the winning pitcher in all three.

Glenelg's junior-senior prom was Friday night. And Glenelg's baseball team suffered from post-prom fatigue yesterday afternoon, making five errors.But the league-leading Gladiators (9-4, 9-1) squeezed out a 6-5 victory over upstart Hammond anyway.Hammond (7-6, 4-4), one of the league's biggest surprises, rallied for three runs to tie the game 5-5 in the top of the seventh.The rally featured a leadoff home Baseballrun by Matt Cyran, an RBI single by David Brewer and a throwing error by sophomore Glenelg shortstop Mike Goldberg on Jeff Busick's two-out grounder.