State Title

A year ago, Century's Angela Flister and Alice Mercer left UMBC after the state championship lacrosse game with plenty of regrets. Tuesday night, they did not. The No. 3 Knights' only two senior starters combined for five goals and junior Hayley Bordner added five more in a 12-9 victory against Queen Anne's in the Class 3A-2A final for Century's sixth state title and the third for the Class of 2012. "Last year, Alice and I regretted every second," said Flister of the 8-4 state final loss to Marriotts Ridge.

After losing to perennial powerhouse Severna Park in last year's Class 4A/3A state championship game, the Westminster girls' lacrosse team had waited for the chance to play the Falcons again. The Owls arrived at UMBC Stadium Wednesday night, but had to hold off for another day when lightning storms forced the postponement of the scheduled meeting between last year's state finalists. But an extra day to prepare for the rematch didn't matter, as Severna Park took an early six-goal lead and cruised to its second consecutive championship victory over the Owls, 13-6, on Thursday at UMBC Stadium.

McKenzie Hannahs never expects to see her name in the headlines. A defender in three sports, the Fallston senior resigned herself long ago to doing her job consistently well in the shadow of her high-scoring teammates. That role, however, has paid off in a way that none of her peers can match -- with four straight state championships. Hannahs might be the first athlete in state tournament history to win titles in three distinctly different sports -- basketball, lacrosse and soccer -- over four successive seasons.

It was one of the most improbable endings in the history of the state softball tournament. Liberty let several crucial scoring opportunities slip away in the first six innings of Friday's Class 2A state championship against McDonough at Maryland's Robert E. Taylor Stadium. The Lions, however, refused to quit and loaded the bases in the seventh with no outs and trailing by two runs. Rebecca Oneto tied the game with a single up the middle. Sammy Bost then stole third, but slid past the bag. The third baseman missed the tag, allowing Bost to get to her feet, and instead of trying to get back to the bag, she just took off for home, sliding safely for the walk-off 3-2 victory as three McDonough players scrambled around her. The Lions, who were appearing in their first championship game in 29 years, clinched their first-ever softball title.

The Catonsville Junior B team defeated North County, 13-8, to win the Maryland Youth Lacrosse Association state championship. Catonsville advanced to the state title game after beating Lutherville-Timonium, 7-4, in the MYLA league championship game. After losing its first game of the season, Catonsville reel off 12 straight victories in the MYLA league. Head coach Bob Krabbe's squad was anchored by a stellar defense that included longsticks Chris Krabbe, Jake Bredeck, Patrick O'Ferrall and Tommy Sadler, backed by goalie Ben Ames.

It was a good weekend at Morgan State University for track and field athletes from Aberdeen and Perryville high schools at the Maryland State Track and Field championships. Perryville senior Cody Richardson led the way, winning the lone state title among the locals, while a handful of other top five performances highlighted the action. After placing fourth in the 110 hurdles in 15.25, Richardson won the Class 1A state title in the 300 hurdles in 39.01. Richardson also turned in an 11th place effort in the long jump.

Michael Spahr threw a 17-yard touchdown pass to Jude Merkel on the opening drive of the second half to lift Urbana to a 6-0 victory over Wise in the Class 4A state championship game Friday night at M&T Bank Stadium. The Hawks of Frederick County, led by first-year coach Ryan Hines, finished their season at 13-0 as they took home the program's fourth state title. It was the ninth shutout by Urbana's defense this season. "We just kept our heads up. Coach told us to believe," Merkel said.

— It was almost symbolic that Digital Harbor converged together as one on the floor of the University of Maryland's Comcast Center after winning the Class 2A state championship Saturday against Easton. What began as a roster filled with talented transfers ended in one giant, unified heap at center court. After a tight three quarters, Digital Harbor pulled away near the end for a 64-46 victory. It was the second state championship appearance and victory for the Rams, who won the Class 1A title in 2009.

The Hereford girls have won six straight Baltimore County indoor track and field championships and regional titles three of the past four winters. But the Bulls had never captured a state title. The No. 3 Bulls ended that drought Tuesday night when they outlasted Milford Mill to win the first indoor state title in school history. The Bulls scored 65 points to beat the Millers (54) and win the Class 3A championship at the Prince George's Sports and Learning Complex. "This has been our goal all season," Hereford coach Brad Duvall said.

Alyssa Semones is one of the highest-scoring athletes in Westminster history. A standout in soccer, basketball and lacrosse, the senior has scored 1,212 points on the basketball court, second all-time in program history, and has 226 goals in lacrosse. She has 70 goals and 48 assists this season, and has led a balanced No. 4 Owls lacrosse team to a 15-0 record and a berth in the state semifinals for the fourth straight year. Semones, who has a 4.3 GPA, is considering majoring in kinesiology when she attends Penn State next year.

When Northwest second baseman J.J. Jan lifted a fastball deep to center field in the bottom of the 12th inning of the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association's 4A state championship game Friday evening, there was nothing left for Arundel to do . Arundel, the East Region's fourth-seed had been within an out of winning - twice - only to see Jan's hit drive in the game-winning run in a 7-6 Northwest victory at Maryland's Shipley Field....

The Century girls' lacrosse team added to its trophy case again on Tuesday, earning its sixth state championship with a 12-9 victory over Queen Anne's in the Class 3A/2A title game at UMBC Stadium. Century used a familiar formula to win its sixth state title. Haley Bordner, Alice Mercer, and Angela Flister provided the bulk of the scoring in the Knights' 12-9 Class 3A/2A championship win over Queen Anne's, which was playing in its first title game. Bordner scored five goals and added an assist for the Knights, who tallied five unanswered goals in the final 5:09 of the first half to turn a 5-3 deficit into an 8-5 halftime lead.

This championship was for Tracy Vander Kolk. The sophomore on the Severna Park girls lacrosse team died of undisclosed reasons May 10. Even though her teammates have been in mourning, the Falcons still managed to advance through the state playoffs, finding strength from one another and the support of the Anne Arundel community. Their resilience culminated in Thursday night's Class 4A-3A state championship game at UMBC, where No. 8 Severna Park knocked off Westminster, 13-6.

In both the classroom and running track, Liberty standout Ashley Ross has shown a knack for getting things done in a quick and efficient manner. She maintains a 4.4 GPA and will be graduating a year early to attend the Naval Academy in the fall. She first plans to add to her impressive track resume as she closes out her high school career competing in four events (200 meters, 400, 800 relay, 1600 relay) at this week's Class 2A state track and field championships. The No. 2 Lions are the defending champions.

It has been a familiar scene the past two days at UMBC: lacrosse sticks flying everywhere, a mass celebration, then the traditional team photo with the state championship plaque proudly displayed. When it was the South River boys' turn, after a stunning, 10-8 comeback win over Westminster in the Class 4A-3A final, the sticks flew a bit higher, the celebratory pile came together quicker and the smiles were broader. The No. 8 Seahawks had more to enjoy than bringing home the program's second state championship Wednesday at rainy UMBC Stadium.

The Hereford-Glenelg boys lacrosse Class 3A-2A state title game has been postponed to 4 p.m. tomorrow at UMBC due to lightning. The game was originally scheduled for 8 p.m. Wednesday night, but officials are trying to wait out the weather to finish the South River-Westminster boys lacrosse game that started earlier afternoon. The teams have 2 minutes, 33 seconds left to play and is scheduled to resume at 7:33 p.m. The Severna Park-Westminster girls lacrosse Class 4A-3A state title game has been tentatively scheduled to begin.

Aberdeen is going to look back at Saturday's Class 3A state title game as one that slipped away. The second-ranked Eagles took the lead in the final minute but they turned the ball over three times, missed a few game-tying shots and watched Frederick score the game's final six points to capture a 76-71 victory at UMBC's RAC Arena. Aberdeen ran into trouble when guards Jimmia McClucksey fouled out with 41 seconds left in the fourth period after scoring 13 points. Point guard Lakeia Hayden (seven assists)

Nothing separated the Calvert Hall and Archbishop Curley baseball teams until the bottom of the sixth inning of the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference championship final on Tuesday. A miscommunication on a foul ball, gave Calvert Hall's Colin Gimblet a second chance at the plate with two out and a runner at second base. When Gimblet got his second chance, he used it, driving a single through the gap to center field, bringing home Alex Pastorius for the only run of the game . A half-inning later, Calvert Hall had won, 1-0, claiming its first title in three years.

A year ago, Century's Angela Flister and Alice Mercer left UMBC after the state championship lacrosse game with plenty of regrets. Tuesday night, they did not. The No. 3 Knights' only two senior starters combined for five goals and junior Hayley Bordner added five more in a 12-9 victory against Queen Anne's in the Class 3A-2A final for Century's sixth state title and the third for the Class of 2012. "Last year, Alice and I regretted every second," said Flister of the 8-4 state final loss to Marriotts Ridge.