CLARKSBURG’S PYLES, NORTHWEST’S ZARATE LEAD THE 2014 ALL-GAZETTE INDOOR TRACK TEAM, B-3
SPORTS ROCKVILLE | WHEATON
www.gazette.net | Wednesday, February 26, 2014 | Page B-1
RM’s pinning machine
HOW THEY RANK FINAL BOYS The 10 best boys’ basketball teams in Montgomery County as ranked by The Gazette’s sports staff:
Rank
School
Record Pts
1.
Bullis
24-3 60
2.
Montrose Christian 15-5 54
3.
Springbrook
20-2 48
4.
Gaithersburg
19-2 42
5.
Clarksburg
17-4 36
6.
Montgomery Blair 18-3 30
7.
Rockville
16-5 22
8.
St. Andrew’s
18-7 15
9.
Poolesville
17-5 13
10.
Magruder
17-7 10
Wrestling: Fitzpatrick is 39-0, with 33 first-period pins n
BY KENT ZAKOUR STAFF WRITER
Others receiving votes: None.
BEST BET
Kennedy at Walt Whitman, Friday: The two played as recently
as Feb. 21, a 46-30 Whitman win, but nothing was on the line then.
TOP SCORERS
Name, school A. Trier, Montrose Christian J. Friedman, Sandy Spring J. McKay, McLean N. Segura, The Heights W. English, McLean J. Stern, Hebrew Academy I. Kallon, Wheaton K. Williams, Kennedy B. Thompson, Covenant Life A. Tarke, Gaithersburg
PPG 25.5 22.1 21.1 19.8 19.6 19.4 19.3 19.1 18.7 18.1
FINAL GIRLS The 10 best girls’ basketball teams in Montgomery County as ranked by The Gazette’s sports staff:
Rank
School
Record Pts
1.
Damascus
19-3 60
2.
Walt Whitman
19-2 54
3.
Paint Branch
19-2 48
4.
John F. Kennedy 16-3 40
5.
Holy Child
6.
Thomas S. Wootton 15-6 30
7.
Poolesville
16-5 24
8.
Good Counsel
16-13 16
9.
Jewish Day
16-1 14
10.
Seneca Valley
15-5 5
24-3 38
Others receiving votes:
TOM FEDOR/THE GAZETTE
James H. Blake High School’s Martha Sam competes in the 300-meter dash on Feb. 18 at the Class 4A/3A state championship at the Prince George’s Sports & Learning Complex.
Short on numbers,
LONG on TALENT
BY ERIC GOLDWEIN STAFF WRITER
The James H. Blake High School indoor track and field team brought only five girls to the Class 4A state meet, none of whom had been there before. Butfacingdeeper,moreexperienced competition, the team wasn’t intimidated. Quite the contrary. With a small squad — and only three open event participants — the Bengals not only earned third place, but sent a
Bengals bring only five girls to state indoor track, earn third place n
message that there’s a new era for Blake track and field. Under first-year coach Brandon Tynes, Blake finished with 34 points, just behind Clarksburg (34.5) and within reach of first-place South River (43.5) of Anne Arundel County.
Elaina Gu won three state titles Saturday after failing to score a single point at 2013 state meet n
BEST BET
Montgomery Blair at Walter Johnson, Friday: The Blazers won
both earlier games, but the second came down to the wire (48-47).
TOP SCORERS
1905877
See TALENT, Page B-2
PPG 20.3 19.2 19.0 18.4 18.3 17.9 17.7 16.7 16.3 16.2 15.6
See PINNING, Page B-2
BRIAN LEWIS/FOR THE GAZETTE
Richard Montgomery High School’s Thomas Fitzpatrick shows his enthusiasm Saturday after pinning Wheaton’s Tim Mallet to win the 220-pound county championship.
Churchill’s reliable junior key to state runner-up
Gaithersburg 1.
Name, school K. Prange, Damascus S. Addison, Wootton L. Belton, Bullis D. Lerner, Jewish Day K. Colston, Paint Branch J. Karim-Duvall, Churchill D. Harris, Paint Branch B. Beckwith, Quince Orchard K. Porter, Bullis D. Walker, Watkins Mill K. Meredith, Northwest
Each of Blake’s five runners stepped up in the Jan. 18 state championship meet held in the Prince George’s Sports and Learning Complex in Landover. Junior Martha Sam won the 300 meters and set a school record (40.01 seconds) while placing third in the 55 meters (7.32) for Blake, which did not have any girls participate in last year’s indoor state meet. “I’m pretty happy with the way we
On the first day of football practice in August, Blake Godsey noticed that there was something different about Richard Montgomery High School senior Thomas Fitzpatrick. “I saw him come down to the field and I was like, ‘Oh my God. Look at that beast.’ He was huge,” said Godsey, who is the Rockets junior varsity football coach and Fitzpatrick’s wrestling coach. “He looked exactly like [Rocky IV movie character] Ivan Drago.” Fitzpatrick, a 220-pound chiseled football player and wrestler, spent the offseason recovering from a left knee injury — he partially tore his anterior cruciate ligament and completely tore the lateral meniscus — suffered during an offseason wrestling practice session. During his rehabilitation, Fitzpatrick embarked on an aggressive weight lifting and cardiovascular exercise regimen — not just to recover — but to make himself bigger, stronger and faster. “Starting late February [2013], I was in the gym every single day. The injury just drove me to be better,” he said. “Worked on my leg, leg workouts, upper body, everything. ... “I realized the only way to get
BY JENNIFER BEEKMAN STAFF WRITER
BILL RYAN/THE GAZETTE
Winston Churchill High School’s Elaina Gu swims the 500-yard freestyle on Feb. 1 at the Montgomery County Public Schools Championships.
It’s not really in the nature of Montgomery County’s top swimmers to go into a race expecting anything less than first place — the sport in general attracts some of the most internally driven athletes. But Winston Churchill High School junior Elaina Gu entered the 500-yard freestyle event at the Washington Metropolitan Interscholastic Swimming and Diving Championships earlier this month about 100 percent she was not going to win — 2012 Olympic gold med-
alist Katie Ledecky had already set a American mark during the preliminary round the previous evening. Gu didn’t back away from the event, though. TheBulldogsneededahighscorersoshewentafter the race and finished second behind Ledecky, but way ahead of the rest of the field to earn the Bulldogs those 21 points, their only in the event. Churchill went on to win its second Metros title in three years. “Elaina is a person that no matter what I ask her to do she comes in full force,” Bulldogs coach Brendan Roddy said. “She brings her ‘A’ game no matter what, it’s the competitor in her. If she is in a bad mental space or not in the mood to do something, I would never know and the team would never know, she comes in ready and will-
See CHURCHILL, Page B-2