Spalding

Archbishop Spalding High School recently announced the winners of its scholarship competition.Full-tuition scholarships went to Anna Swartwood, who attends St. John the Evangelist School, and Stacey Conrad, a student at St. Rose of Lima School.Half-tuition scholarships were awarded to Jason King, of St. Jane Frances School; Maria Piazzola, of Arthur Slade Regional School; Beth Pryor, of St. Pius X School; and David Sayre, of Arthur Slade Regional School.Christopher Douglas of St. Mary's Elementary School was the first alternate.

If the second-ranked Archbishop Spalding High softball team has a favorite number this season, it must be zero.The host Cavaliers (7-1) shut out their seventh opponent, beating No. 9 Severna Park, 7-0, yesterday behind the three-hit pitching of junior Rachel Synowski.Synowski pitched her sixth shutout of the season, striking out seven and walking one. Synowski is 6-1 with 73 strikeouts in 45 2/3 innings, and she hasn't allowed an earned run this season while limiting opponents to 16 hits.

In last season's Catholic League softball championship, Archbishop Spalding used scratch hits and a no-hitter from Kim Sheridan to manufacture a 10-0 five-inning shutout over Catholic.In this year's tournament championship, the Cavaliers (18-1) belted out 12 hits in a five-inning 11-0 massacre of the Institute of Notre Dame for their third straight tourney title.Only this time, Sheridan proved to be human.After firing a no-hitter in Wednesday's 5-0 semifinal win over Seton Keough, the 14-1 hurler's bid for a second-straight tournament no-hitter was derailed by leadoff hitter Tiffany Wilkinson's first-inning bunt single.

This is the kind of pitching depth that softball coaches dream about, but seldom attain.Two days after Archbishop Spalding's Crystal Ray threw a five-inning no-hitter to defeat Seton Keough, Kathleen O'Hara allowed only four base runners in a 7-0 victory over Mercy at Randazzo Park.Two poised sophomore windmillers. Two reasons the Cavaliers are expected to defend their Catholic League tournament championship with little resistance."I've been blessed," said coach Linda Taylor, whose team went 18-0 last year.

What a turnaround!Archbishop Spalding's boys soccer team, 1-16-1 a year ago, took a 10-7 record into yesterday's Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference semifinal at No. 2 Calvert Hall.The Cavaliers gave the top-seeded Cardinals a tough match, too, before being eliminated by 1-0.The match meant that six of Spalding's losses have been to Calvert Hall (3) and No. 3-ranked, second-seeded Archbishop Curley (2) and 11th-ranked McDonogh (1), the tourney's third seed."This has always been a talented group that needed to learn how to play together," said fifth-year Cavalier coach Rick Carlson.

Top-ranked Archbishop Spalding faces a stern boys basketball test at Gonzaga High and American University in the nation's capital this weekend.The Cavaliers (4-1) have been paired with the nation's No. 9 team, Philadelphia's Roman Catholic (3-0), in the first game of the Gonzaga D.C. Classic at 3: 15 p.m. today at Gonzaga.Among the eight teams in the tournament, which features four games at Gonzaga today before shifting to American University tomorrow and Sunday (7: 15 p.m. championship), are the host Purple Eagles (5-2)

The Archbishop Spalding boys and girls athletic teams are having quite a spring. No other metro-area school is ranked in all four of the spring's major polls - baseball, softball, boys and girls lacrosse - as the Cavaliers are. Each of the four teams plays in the A Conference of either the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association (boys) or Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland (girls). The golf team is competing for an MIAA B Conference title, as is the undefeated tennis team.

JIM MCGUIRE, a Crofton Kiwanis Club member who serves as adviser to Archbishop Spalding High School's Key Club, calls Susan Lange "one of the most incredible people I ever met." A senior at Spalding, Lange has been active in the school's Key Club since her freshman year, taking part in a variety of projects, from Special Olympics to parties at a local nursing home. During her junior year, she was club treasurer. Last spring, she was elected lieutenant governor of the Key Club's District 14, coordinating and energizing the club's service groups in eight area high schools.

Standing on the Calvert Hall soccer field, Archbishop Spalding coachBrad Rivera shook his head as he read the scoreboard's final tally: Home 5, Visitor 0.His Cavaliers had just lost to Calvert Hall, the area's No. 2-ranked team and winner of 14 Maryland Scholastic Association A Conference titles since 1970. Most observers expected the lop-sided score.Most, that is, except Rivera, who one month earlier called this year's team the Cavaliers' best."This year is our year," he said then. "If we don't do it (win the MSA A title)

St. Paul's coach Rick Collins said he repeatedly preached the importance of rebounding and defense to his Crusaders throughout the season.And that's why they made Collins a happy coach yesterday.St. Paul's forced 18 turnovers -- which turned into 23 points -- and dominated the boards on the way to an 82-70 victory over Spalding in a Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association B Conference quarterfinal at Gilman.Top-seeded St. Paul's (15-6) plays fifth-seeded John Carroll today at 4 p.m. at Gilman in one semifinal.