tag:weblogs.baltimoresun.com,2008:/sports/highschool/varsityletters//150 2008-07-03T21:32:34Z Sun reporter Milton Kent's blog covering high school sports Movable Type 3.36 tag:weblogs.baltimoresun.com,2008:/sports/highschool/varsityletters//150.112023 2008-07-03T21:27:53Z 2008-07-03T21:32:34Z

Talbot Watkins was hired as the varsity baseball coach at Annapolis Area Christian School, athletic director Joe Palumbo announced today. Watkins replaces Manny Branco, who left AACS for the coaching job at Southern High School. Watkins was an assistant on...

baltimoresun.com Talbot Watkins was hired as the varsity baseball coach at Annapolis Area Christian School, athletic director Joe Palumbo announced today. Watkins replaces Manny Branco, who left AACS for the coaching job at Southern High School. Watkins was an assistant on the Eagles' baseball team during the 2005-06 season. He spent the last two years as the junior varsity head coach. tag:weblogs.baltimoresun.com,2008:/sports/highschool/varsityletters//150.106063 2008-06-05T13:16:07Z 2008-06-05T13:34:03Z

Dunbar football coach Lawrence Smith has received an impressive award from a group of his peers, namely coaches, as he was named the Black Coaches and Administrators National High School Coach of the Year at the organization's national convention last...

Milton Kent Dunbar football coach Lawrence Smith has received an impressive award from a group of his peers, namely coaches, as he was named the Black Coaches and Administrators National High School Coach of the Year at the organization's national convention last week in Atlanta. Smith, who took over the Poets last August after former coach Ben Eaton died of a heart attack just before the season, guided Dunbar to its second straight Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association 1A title, a perfect 14-0 record and the No. 2 ranking in the Baltimore area. tag:weblogs.baltimoresun.com,2008:/sports/highschool/varsityletters//150.105905 2008-06-04T18:51:38Z 2008-06-04T18:59:35Z

The Philadelphia-area private school that hosted one of the nation's top high school basketball recruits is apparently set to close the school and the basketball programs, perhaps as early as tomorrow. American Christian Academy, located in Aston, Pa., will not...

Milton Kent American Christian Academy, located in Aston, Pa., will not only drop its varsity sports programs, but will close entirely, amid criticism from a former coach that it was one of those diploma mills that the NCAA has taken increasing interest in in recent years. The school, which is run by the First Baptist Church of Aston, had been home to Tyreke Evans, the Most Valuable Player at this year's McDonald's All America Game. Evans, who was the subject of an intense recruiting war, has committed to play basketball at Memphis next fall. ]]> tag:weblogs.baltimoresun.com,2008:/sports/highschool/varsityletters//150.105740 2008-06-04T10:53:40Z 2008-06-04T13:42:42Z

In previous posts here, I've scoffed at the wisdom of kids committing early to colleges, particularly for football, especially since the signing date isn't until next February. However, if the trend of schools leaning on potential recruits to make their...

Milton Kent the trend of schools leaning on potential recruits to make their decision as quickly as possible, so as to gather as much talent as possible as soon as possible, the prospect of an early signing date that we floated here last week might not be a bad one. Of course, more rules could be enacted to further limit the contact of college coaches, but, as one recruiting expert noted, the genie of pressuring kids to declare early is out of the bottle and is not likely to put back in any time soon. ]]> tag:weblogs.baltimoresun.com,2008:/sports/highschool/varsityletters//150.105483 2008-06-03T14:25:44Z 2008-06-03T14:30:29Z

You'd have to go a long way to find moments as sweet as yesterday's Sun Athlete of the Year luncheon, during which the top 20 male and female high school athletes, as selected by a panel of Sun reporters and...

Milton Kent yesterday's Sun Athlete of the Year luncheon, during which the top 20 male and female high school athletes, as selected by a panel of Sun reporters and editors, were honored. From the list of female finalists, which included Erin Brooks of Seton Keough, Winters Mill's Cassie Cooke, Deanna Dydynski of Mount Hebron, Severna Park's Julie Gardner, Miriam McKenzie of Oakland Mills, Archbishop Spaulding's Christine Nairn, Sarah Parks of Centennial, John Carroll's Erika Stasakova, and Bailey Webster of St. Paul’s, Allyson Carey, who starred in two sports at John Carroll and led the school to a perfect girls lacrosse season and the Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference title, was chosen the female Athlete of the Year. On the boys side, McDonogh soccer star Chris Agorsor, who earned national high school Player of the Year honors, was named the male Athlete of the Year from a list that included Josh Asper of Hereford, Dunbar's Tavon Austin, Nick Elko of Arundel, Tyler Fiorito and Josh Fitch, both of McDonogh, Sean Mosley of St. Frances, Meade's Justin Murdock, Lee Reynolds of Poly and Loyola's Steele Stanwick. Both Carey and Agorsor gave moving, heartfelt remarks about the meaning of sports in their lives, as well the roles of their parents, coaches and teammates in their success. However, the emotional moment of the program may have come when Jen Schmidt of the Friends School accepted the Hayley Milborne Award for Integrity, named for the former Roland Park golfer who disqualified herself last year at the IAAM Conference tournament because she mistakenly played the wrong ball. Schmidt, who suffers from rheumatoid arthritis, spoke movingly about her parents and her desire to bring attention to the malady that has given her continuous pain since she was in the fourth grade. It was, to be sure, a very special day. ]]> tag:weblogs.baltimoresun.com,2008:/sports/highschool/varsityletters//150.105169 2008-06-02T12:20:41Z 2008-06-02T12:24:23Z

Normally, if the football coaches of the Southeastern Conference think something is a good idea, then it must be bad for everyone else, because no one does self-interest better than them. But an idea floating around from them, to open...

Milton Kent an idea floating around from them, to open a very short early signing window between Thanksgiving and December 1 in addition to the February national signing date, appears to be worth studying. The one potential sticking point to the plan, which received approval at a recent SEC coaches meeting, but was voted down by the league's athletic directors for further examination, is a clause that would prohibit a kid from signing a letter if they've taken an official visit before the official contact period. ]]> tag:weblogs.baltimoresun.com,2008:/sports/highschool/varsityletters//150.104851 2008-05-30T17:00:28Z 2008-05-30T17:34:32Z

We're wrapping up the just-completed school athletic year by taking a look at some of the most notable moments and occurrences. Next up is The Sun's Stefen Lovelace: On my first real year on the job, I’d have to say...

Milton Kent The Sun's Stefen Lovelace: On my first real year on the job, I’d have to say it’s difficult to pin down which is the most memorable event I’ve seen. Winters Mill’s run to the Class 2A boys basketball state championship, upsetting perennial powers Gwynn Park and Randallstown in the process, comes to mind. Seeing an injured Steele Stanwick hoist the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference SFX trophy in lacrosse, after upsetting the undefeated and No. 1-ranked team in the country in Gilman is another. But what trumps them all is Dunbar’s memorable run in football for their second straight 1A title. Seeing Tavon Austin dance on the field is one of the great pleasures of this job. Seeing the way the Poets’ players responded to coach Lawrence Smith is heart-warming. And most importantly, seeing those kids recover from a catastrophic loss of former coach Ben Eaton, and respond the way they did all season long was exciting, inspiring and emotional all at the same time. This might’ve been only my first year, but I doubt I’ll see a story quite like that one in a long time.]]> tag:weblogs.baltimoresun.com,2008:/sports/highschool/varsityletters//150.104779 2008-05-30T13:10:37Z 2008-05-30T13:33:54Z

From Oregon, here's a story that has something of a local tie. It seems that a 6-foot-1 12-year-old has been banned from playing basketball at a private basketball facility in Beaverton, Ore., and the kid's coach thinks it's because the...

Milton Kent Jaime Nared, is a girl and the league is an all-boys league? Jaime's coach, Michael Abraham, thinks she is being punished for her parents' decision to have her play with children her own age, whom her skills are apparently superior to, rather than with older girls. By the way, here's the local tie: Jaime Nared's father, Greg, is a former University of Maryland point guard, and her older sister, Jackie, recently signed a letter of intent to play basketball at College Park this fall. ]]> tag:weblogs.baltimoresun.com,2008:/sports/highschool/varsityletters//150.104596 2008-05-29T15:59:17Z 2008-05-29T16:17:12Z

As the curtain drops on another school athletic year, we'll be featuring some of the memories of our scholastic sports reporters about what they saw and observed in this space. First up: The Sun's Glenn Graham: The 2007-08 school year...

Milton Kent The Sun's Glenn Graham: The 2007-08 school year brought many memorable moments and standout efforts, from the amazing skills of McDonogh soccer standout Chris Agorsor to Hereford wrestler Josh Asper's successful quest for a fourth straight title to the dogged determination and baffling changeup of Chesapeake-AA junior pitcher Lauren Gibson displayed in registering a second straight no-hitter in the Class 4A softball championship. The one game that stood out the most, however, was the Class 2A boys soccer championship game between River Hill and Loch Raven. It had pretty goals, spectacular saves, a prideful comeback, overtime drama, and both emotional cheers and tears in the end. River Hill took an early advantage with two first-half goals before Loch Raven, with the help of an incredible individual effort from senior Steve Ehatt, rallied to send the game into overtime. River Hill and its do-everything catalyst Jake Pace ended up having the final say with an emphatic header to win the game.]]> tag:weblogs.baltimoresun.com,2008:/sports/highschool/varsityletters//150.104516 2008-05-29T10:41:17Z 2008-05-29T13:12:13Z

Normally, legends games have all the artistic appeal of watching oatmeal get cold, but when the legends are former Dunbar boys basketball players, well, then you've potentially got something really spicy. The Dunbar Poets Nation will gather tonight at the...

Milton Kent ladidi_12@verizon.net. ]]> tag:weblogs.baltimoresun.com,2008:/sports/highschool/varsityletters//150.104264 2008-05-28T10:47:28Z 2008-05-28T13:24:24Z

Not to get all Chicken Little here, but if a recent New York Times story is accurate and there are agents truly flooding the ranks of high school athletics, then we really are reaching a point where some kind of...

Milton Kent a recent New York Times story is accurate and there are agents truly flooding the ranks of high school athletics, then we really are reaching a point where some kind of intervention, probably from a federal governmental agency, is going to happen and will almost certainly be warranted. True, as the Times piece points out, this kind of thing has been going on, more or less, since Kevin Garnett skipped college to go straight to the NBA 13 years ago, and seems to be focused on elite-level athletes, but it still threatens the integrity of high school sports, which are still perceived to be relatively pristine. There's nothing inherently wrong with a kid showcasing his skills to try for a college scholarship, but all he or she should get from that is a varsity letter or a trophy, not cash. Don't forget that the NCAA's roots came from then President Theodore Roosevelt's warning that he would clean up college sports if the schools themselves didn't. The states have simply got to do more to police high school sports, or else they'll find the federal Department of Education, or even worse, Congress, getting involved. ]]> tag:weblogs.baltimoresun.com,2008:/sports/highschool/varsityletters//150.104095 2008-05-27T17:09:14Z 2008-05-27T17:23:21Z

The deal isn't official yet, but apparently there's something in the works to pit one of Florida's top high school football teams against a Mississippi school that has the nation's longest winning streak and (surprise, surprise) television is involved. Apopka...

Milton Kent Apopka (Fla.) is on the verge of accepting an offer to play South Panola, which has won five straight Mississippi titles, in mid-September in a game that South Panola coach Lance Pogue has said has been set up by ESPNU. Apopka coach Rick Darlington told our sister newspaper, The Orlando Sentinel, that his team might get "beat half to death, but it can't hurt us." Those are great words going into the battle, huh? Just wondering: Does Apopka really have to leave the state of Florida to find a team that could beat them half to death? Where is the school's athletic director or the area's superintendent to tell the coach that leaving Florida to play in a television game is counter-productive to the school's educational mission? No doubt, they'll be off somewhere cashing ESPN's check and counting the money. ]]> tag:weblogs.baltimoresun.com,2008:/sports/highschool/varsityletters//150.104020 2008-05-27T12:25:20Z 2008-05-27T13:10:22Z

Which is more important in assessing the wear and tear on a pitcher: the number of innings pitched or the number of pitches thrown? That's the issue at the heart of the forfeiture that cost South Hagerstown a chance at...

Milton Kent The South Hagerstown administration told The Sun that the coaching staff lost track of Knight's innings in the midst of all the rainouts in recent weeks, and while it is a rule violation, it's an understandable one. The thing to wonder, however, is whether the number of innings that a pitcher works is as important as his pitch count. Under NFHSA rules, a pitcher who comes in to throw one pitch in an inning to get one batter out is treated the same as one who throws 40 pitches in an inning, namely, they both technically have worked an inning. Sorry, but from this perspective, that makes no sense. The objective of the rule is clearly to keep kids from wearing their arms out too soon, and while that's an admirable goal, it's probably better accomplished by requiring coaches to keep pitch counts and applying limits to the 10- and 14-day thresholds. ]]> tag:weblogs.baltimoresun.com,2008:/sports/highschool/varsityletters//150.103654 2008-05-23T17:31:35Z 2008-05-23T17:57:33Z

Megan Finn is alive and doing well. The former Overlea field hockey player who collapsed on the practice field September 25, 2004 and was saved when her coach, Jenna Zava, performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on her, is 19 years old, lives...

Milton Kent the column that appears in today's sports section about tomorrow's screening conducted by the Heart Hype campaign of the Johns Hopkins University. The screening, to be held at the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association's state track and field championships at Morgan State, may help medical volunteers detect the presence of HCM, a thickening of the heart muscle that in some cases restricts the flow of blood out from the heart. HCM is, according to medical professionals, the leading cause of sudden death among people aged 30 and younger, and often goes undetected during a regular physical examination. An electrocardiogram or EKG, which measures the electrical impulses of the heart over time, can provide signs of the presence of HCM, but the exam can cost up to $1,000 per test. Tomorrow's tests are free, and do not require pre-registration. However, students under 18 who plan to take the EKG must have either parental permission or the parent present at Morgan tomorrow to give permission. You can get a permission form online at the MPSSAA's Web site. Megan McColgan, whose HCM wasn't detected until after her attack, spent four weeks in the hospital four years ago. She has spent a good chunk of those four years since visiting doctors at the University of Maryland Hospital Center here in Baltimore, seeing them once a month until this March, when the frequency of visits was changed to once every three months, because of the progress she's made. She's taking a fairly high dose of a beta blocker twice a day as well as aspirin, and there are limits to what she can do in terms of exertion. But the dosage of the beta blocker has been reduced in recent months, reducing the incidents in which Megan would feel dizzy upon standing up or out of breath. Megan, who goes for walks and takes Pilates classes, hopes that when she sees her cardiologist next month, he'll clear her to resume taking ballet classes. In addition, she's hoping to get the green light to consider having a baby. In an interesting twist, Megan said she has taken courses on how to administer the EKG, and she'll take a test in July to receive a license to give the EKG. During her classes, her teacher used her as a guinea pig of sorts, to show her classmates what an abnormal EKG looks like. She said she spoke to the class often about her experiences, and you get the feeling that, with the twists and turns her life has taken, no one will be more proficient, or at least more empathetic in administering an EKG than Megan McColgan. 'I loved it,' Megan said. 'I learned a lot about myself from taking that class and I can't wait until I get into some scrubs and run an EKG machine and help out other people with it.' ]]> tag:weblogs.baltimoresun.com,2008:/sports/highschool/varsityletters//150.103557 2008-05-23T12:44:19Z 2008-05-23T13:18:27Z

Three area high school golfers have received scholarships from the George E. Sonnefeld Foundation to go toward their college education. This year's recipients are Carver's Gabriella Biondo, Chapelgate Christian Academy's Michael Lovaas and Severna Park's Eric Robinson. Biondo will attend...

Milton Kent DiLonardo2@aol.com. ]]>