THE GAZETTE
Wednesday, July 31, 2013 g
Page B-5
QO lineman makes the most from his second chance Broxton, not Braxton, earns scholarship to play football at Baylor
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BY
DAN FELDMAN STAFF WRITER
Jarell Broxton, coming off a lost season due to academic ineligibility, was eager to make an impression during the Quince Orchard High School football team’s preseason practices his junior year. But that plan got off on the wrong foot when defensive coordinator John Kelley repeatedly called him “Braxton.” “Braxton” this, Braxton” that. Over and over again. Eventually, the reserved Broxton,
who’d hoped to let his play do the talking, had enough. “For the first time ever, I heard him speak up,” Quince Orchard coach Dave Mencarini said. “And he said, ‘My name LACKAWANNA COLLEGE ain’t Braxton. It’s Broxton Broxton!’” Establishing himself at his latest stop, Lackawanna College, has come much easier for Broxton. Despite never playing a game on the offensive line in his life, Broxton committed to Baylor University as an offensive guard.
The 6-foot-5, 328-pound Broxton — who earned the nickname “Bunyan,” as in Paul Bunyan — played defensive line at Quince Orchard. At Lackawanna, he spent one season on the defensive line and missed another with injury. But he was so impressive as an offensive lineman during spring practice in preparation for his upcoming third season with Lackawanna, Broxton earned scholarship offers from Wisconsin, Arizona State, UCLA, Syracuse and Florida Atlantic. Finally, he could take the low-key approach he wanted to use as a junior at Quince Orchard. “He’s always the first one to practice, and he works really, really hard, and he doesn’t say anything,” said Lackawanna coach Mark Duda, who also works with the team’s offensive
linemen. “… You know the kid is going to do exactly what you ask to the best of his ability every day. And that is all anybody could ask for, and that’s what’s going to make him kind of special compared to a lot of people that are out there.” It’s a marked change from when Broxton became academically ineligible at Quince Orchard, leaving junior college his only route. “I’m surprised and proud of the fact he made it through junior college,” Mencaraini said. “Because it is not easy. … There are so many reasons why he could have given up. But he didn’t do that, and that’s a testament to his character.” Duda, whose bio boasts of producing 200 Division I scholarship players in his 20-year tenure, called Broxton one
the top five recruits he’s coached. “The kid is the genuine article,” Duda said. “… It’s been a pleasure to have him. I know I’m only going to have him 16 more weeks, but I’ll enjoy every day I have him.” Broxton said staying on the right course at Lackawanna wasn’t quite as difficult as it seemed. “Just knowing that this was a second chance to do what I wanted to do, which was go to a good school for football,” Broxton said. “And I used it.” Then, on the field, it was simple. “You go all out, and you get noticed,” Broxton said. dfeldman@gazette.net
Diving help on the way for the Wootton swim team Westwood wins third straight county Dive League all-star meet
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BY JENNIFER BEEKMAN STAFF WRITER
The Thomas S. Wootton High School girls’ swimming and diving team had to work extra hard to win its first Washington Metropolitan Interscholastic Swimming and Diving Championship since the mid-1990s this past February. The Patriots entered the swimming portion of the competition in a 76-point hole behind then-defending champion Winston Churchill after the diving championship was held earlier in the week. The Patriots might not have so much to make up in next winter’s title defense, however. On Thursday at the Manor Woods pool, rising Wootton freshman Regan Westwood won her third straight Montgomery County Dive League all-star competition and has presented herself as a possible top 10 contender next year. The win came only one week after Westwood returned to practice following a minor right shoulder dislocation that forced her to withdraw from the 2013 USA Diving zone championships earlier in the summer. The 36-year-old MCDL has acted as a platform for many future high school — and national — stars. Patriots coach Jacqueline Emr said she will gladly welcome any points Westwood might be able to add to the team’s diving lineup.
After two consecutive wins in the girls 11-12 age division, Westwood won her girls 13-14 debut Thursday as one of the youngest in the field, a challenge she will face the entire 2013-14 high school season. But Westwood said she is eager to contribute however she can to a Wootton team poised to win its second straight Metros championship. “I’ve heard [that Wootton needed points in diving]. I heard from friends who dive in high school and I have a couple neighbors on the dive team and they were like, ‘We’re so excited for you to come, we needed a boost.’ It’s exciting to know I might be able to help. It’s nice to know you’re actually going to be able to do something for your school,” Westwood said. Her Patriot Pride puts her mother, Meg, in a bit of a predicament. A 1986 Churchill graduate and former three-year varsity diver, the elder Westwood said she will always be a Bulldog at heart but said she can still fully support Wootton. The younger Westwood said she and her mother share in a fun rivalry at home. “I am proud of the Churchill team but I’ll be rooting for Wootton. I guess I have to,” Meg Westwood joked. Regan Westwood actually comes from a family of divers. Meg Westwood dove for Colgate (N.Y.) University and her husband, Mike, competed for Penn State. The two coached at the college level for several years at George Mason (Meg) and James Madison (Mike) universities and Mike Westwood even traveled internationally as U.S. National Team coach for several years. But the two, Meg Westwood
said, decided they would not put any pressure on their children to pursue the sport that brought them together. They didn’t have to. When the Westwoods joined the Potomac Woods pool when Regan was 7, she immediately gravitated toward the springboards. Her younger brother, Quinn, has also taken to the family trade. He won the boys 9-10 age group at the Division III championship July 21 and finished seventh at all-stars in his first year out of the 8-under group. “It’s kind of funny, every dive meet I go to, someone will be like, ‘You’re Mike Westwood’s daughter, I’ve known you forever.’ But I don’t know half the people who talk to me. It’s really cool, though, to be able to carry on the family tradition,” Regan Westwood said. She does that in more ways than one. Meg Westwood said she sees a lot of herself in her daughter’s elegant dives. Training these days, which includes a lot more dry land work than it used to, Meg Westwood said, makes for better overall athletes. Regan Westwood combines incredible fundamentals and technique with a grace that cannot be taught. That foundation could take her far in her first year of high school diving and beyond. “[Regan] is a very elegant diver and a very confident diver. I think that is her strength. I see her developing real good fundamentals that I think will give her longevity in the sport. It’s very exciting to see,” Meg Westwood said. jbeekman@gazette.net
Kastles pay tribute to Olney twin brothers n
Pro tennis team honors pair at county tennis foundation event BY JENNIFER BEEKMAN STAFF WRITER
Olney residents Brian and Mark Salewski are the Bryan Brothers — the winningest doubles pair in men’s professional tennis history — of Maryland Special Olympics tennis. “We’ve been calling them that for years. They’re similar to the Bryans. They’re not quite identical. One is slightly taller than the other. One (Mark) is left-handed,” said Greg Overkamp, who works with the Montgomery County Tennis and Education Foundation and coaches the county’s Special Olympics tennis contingent. In June, the 22-year-old Salewski brothers joined forces to defeat teams from counties across the state to win their seventh straight Summer Games gold medal at the Maryland 2013 Summer Special Olympic Games, held at Towson University. Their performance earned them the opportunity to compete at the National Special Olympics Games, scheduled for June 14 at Princeton University in New Jersey. The Salewski brothers were selected to play both singles and doubles there, Overkamp said. The brothers were honored for their remarkable accomplishments at a ceremony held
before the Washington Kastles’ July 24 World Team Tennis home match. On Sunday the Kastles, led by International Tennis Hall of Fame member Martina Hingis, whom the Salewski brothers got to meet last Wednesday, won their third consecutive World Team Tennis title. The twin brothers from Olney received their awards in front of the sizeable crowd in attendance at the Montgomery County Tennis and Education Foundation’s pre-match Party with the Pros fundraising silent auction. Though Montgomery County as a whole ranks in the nation’s top 10 wealthiest counties, according to 2011 Census Bureau data released in 2012, there are many pockets within the region with families in need that should not be overlooked, MCTEF President Paul Sommers said. “Montgomery County has a million people and it’s very diverse in every sense of the word,” Sommers said. “People are mistaken if they think people are not in need. And if they’re not in need, they might not have access to recreation programs.” An extension of the Montgomery County Tennis Association, the MCTEF is a nonprofit organization created in 2006 and aimed at “providing healthy and educational opportunities to underserved Montgomery County youth using tennis as the vehicle to teach sportsmanship, self-discipline and a strong work ethic,” according to its website. jbeekman@gazette.net
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GREG DOHLER/THE GAZETTE
Potomac Woods diver Regan Westwood competes in an all-star diving meet Thursday at Manor Woods Swim Club.