THE GAZETTE
Wednesday, August 14, 2013 r
Page B-3
Enjoy it now, high school sports go by way too fast The 2013 fall season will go by quickly, student-athletes shouldn’t leave any regrets
n
BY
KENT ZAKOUR STAFF WRITER
Growing up, my parents always told me to enjoy my childhood because it would go by quickly. So, naturally, I ignored them thinking that I had all the time in the world. But they were so right (Don’t tell them). While some days have seemed to take forever throughout my 27 years of life — I am beginning to lose some of my hair, but my boss tells me I am
still young — the weeks, months and years have gone by quickly. Today marks the first official day of public high school fall sports practice throughout the KENT ZAKOUR state of MaryASSISTANT SPORTS land. Exactly ten EDITOR years ago, I was a senior at Col. Zadok Magruder High School, preparing for my final season of competitive football under the late Eddie Ashwell. I was eager with anticipation, but dreaded the lengthy two-a-day prac-
tices and hot days. I couldn’t wait for practice to be over, but lived for my brothers and best friends on the field and eagerly anticipated Friday nights. Before I knew what happened, the season — all 10 weeks of it — was over along with my football career. After the season was over, I had the opportunity to play at a NCAA Division II or Division III school, but I opted to forgo all the offseason work and practices for the college life at a big school at Penn State. It was the biggest mistake of my life. There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t regret not playing college football. So, in Happy Valley, I did the next best thing: Become a sports writer. I’m
blessed that I received the opportunity to come back and work for my hometown paper — the same one that wrote about me as a lineman and wrestler — for the past five years. It’s been interesting — for better and worse — covering student-athletes that have experienced many of same things I did in high school. While changes to the newspaper landscape have undoubtedly been felt at The Gazette over the past decade, we still strive to provide the best high school sports coverage in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties. Jennifer Beekman (girls’ soccer, tennis), Nick Cammarota (boys’ soccer, cross country), Dan Feldman (football) and Travis Mewhirter (vol-
leyball, field hockey, golf) will provide you with day-to-day coverage of your favorite high school teams. Sports editor Ken Sain and I will pinch hit when needed, and I will also be keeping tabs on the local colleges. Over the next three weeks we will be highlighting all of the high school sports and teams in the area. In the Aug. 28/29 papers our football preview will run with the other sports either the week before or the week after. kzakour@gazette.net
The Gazette’s sports staff is on Twitter. Follow us @Mont_Sports and @PG_Sports. Use hashtag #mdpreps this fall to stay connected for scores from Montgomery and Prince George’s counties.
County golfers lead Maryland to win Schaap, Feldman help state defeat Virginia n
BY
TRAVIS MEWHIRTER STAFF WRITER
PHOTO FROM J.GUAY/SHODANPHOTOS
Walt Whitman High School graduate Ian Ross competes at the International Canoe Federation Junior & U-23 Sprint World Championships in Canada where he finished 8th overall in the U-23 C1 1000 meters.
Whitman grad sprinting toward Olympic consideration in canoe Ross likely to contend for spot on Team USA in 2016 Olympics in Brazil n
BY JENNIFER BEEKMAN STAFF WRITER
Typically, throwing up is a sign that something is wrong. But don’t be alarmed if you catch 2011 Walt Whitman High School graduate Ian Ross getting sick behind a tree before heading to the start gate for a major sprint canoe race. It usually means he’s ready to go. “There’s always a puke before the race. I get super nervous. Most people think that’s [weird]. But it’s nervous energy, kind of like butterflies, and once I get them out, I feel ready to go,” Ross said. Whatever Ross is doing, it’s working. The 6-foot-5 Bethesda native has positioned himself as a prime candidate to represent the United States at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Brazil. On Friday, Ross, 20, followed up an eighth-place finish in the C-1 (one-person canoe) 1,000-meter race at the International Canoe Federation 2013 U-23 Sprint World Championships in Canada with a gold medal performance in the 5,000 meters at the U.S. Sprint National Championships in Oklahoma City. Ross was seeded to win the 1,000-meter race by a wide margin — he won the event at the U.S. National Team Trials in April
— but it was cancelled due to thunderstorms and flash flooding that cluttered the course with debris. Ross is next scheduled to compete against the world’s best, regardless of age, at the 2013 ICF Sprint World Championships from Aug. 27 through Sept. 1 in Germany. “When I was at Junior Worlds in Russia, I got killed. This time it was a much closer regatta. It was a really positive experience to take away, I can see I’m getting better, I see the results,” Ross said. Ross has reached an entirely new level of paddling since moving to Georgia two years ago to train under 2009 USA Canoe/ Kayak Sprint Coach of the Year Claudiu Ciur at the Lanier Canoe and Kayak Club; he also attends college at the University of North Georgia. In 2011 Ross got third at U.S. Nationals in the C1 1,000 meters. A year under Ciur’s tutelage and he was the 2012 champion by 15 seconds. He dropped another 12 seconds this year. One major improvement has been Ross’ physicality, he and Ciur agreed. In addition to remarkable endurance, paddling requires a tremendous amount of core and leg strength — canoe athletes kneel in the center of the boat. Ross’ height, and subsequently his reach for productive strokes in the water, are an advantage and he is finally growing into his lengthy frame, Ciur said. Paddlers tend to enter their peak years in their late 20s, Ross
said, and much of that has to do with the time it takes to build the endurance and musculature necessary to compete at the highest level of paddling. “Those guys [at senior worlds] are just bigger. They have spent hours and hours in the weight room and it takes while to get to that point. You can’t just blow up in a year. It takes years and years of smart lifting to get really fast,” Ross said. The opportunity to get on the water year-round has also helped propel Ross forward. His strong catch — the beginning part of his stroke where the paddle enters the water — helps him build speed but he said he is working on his exit in order to improve his ability to maintain that speed and conserve more energy. In addition to achieving his own personal goal, Ross said competing at the Olympics is something he would like to do for his father, who once missed the cut by .08 seconds. Ross actually comes from a family of paddlers, both sprint and white water. His younger brother, Whitman senior Gavin, was a member of the 2013 Junior World Championship Team and the two have started to look at racing together in a C2 event in Rio as a real possibility, the elder Ross said. “[World’s] is another step for us, another test to see where we are and how to move forward to get ready for Olympic qualification,” Ciur said. jbeekman@gazette.net
KEEPING IT BRIEF Rockville graduate misses cut for fourth straight time at PGA Championship After 18 holes of the PGA Championship, Danny Balin sat just two shots back from Tiger Woods. The Rockville High School graduate was just a few birdies away from being even with the world’s No. 1 golfer with 54 holes to play in a major champi-
onship. At the close of day one of the PGA, golf’s fourth and final major tournament — which Balin has qualified for four straight years — the assistant professional at Burning Tree Country Club was 3-over par, just below the cut line. But day two at Oak Hill Country Club would not be so kind as Balin shot 8-over par in his final 13 holes to card a 78, ballooning his score to 11-over and seven above the cut.
Of the 21 club pros in the tournament, none made the cut, and Balin finished sixth among them. Notables on the PGA Tour that Balin finished in front of were former U.S. Open champion Lucas Glover; Shaun Micheel, who won the PGA at Oak Hill in 2003; and Masters and U.S. Open champion Angel Cabrera (he withdrew after the first round). — TRAVIS MEWHIRTER
Errol Clarke spoke of nerves on Saturday. His, so he claimed, are battle-tested, tried and true from the spring golf season at DeMatha Catholic High School and a full schedule during the summer junior tour circuit. On Sunday during the final round of the Capital Cup, hosted by TPC Potomac at Avenel, there would be no golfer facing a greater test of nerves than Clarke. Standing over a 15-foot par putt on the 18th green after scrambling from shin-high rough with his Maryland squad up three matches to one over Virginia in the Ryder-Cup style event, the DeMatha senior had the opportunity to all but seal up the fifth straight tournament victory for the home state. With roughly 20 or so players, fans and officials watching, Clarke hit the ball down the hill, perfectly along the break and into the heart of the cup while his Virginia opponent, Yoo Jin Kim, three-putted for bogey to lose one down. “I still can’t breathe right now,” said Clarke, who provided three points in Maryland’s eventual 13-11 victory throughout the two-day, 54hole event. “I’m just enjoying this feeling right now. I was feeling really nervous. I was re-
GREG DOHLER/THE GAZETTE
Luke Schaap tees off Saturday afternoon during the Capital Cup Golf Tournament at the Woodmont Country Club in Rockville. ally nervous over the putt. I just tried to put a good stroke on it.” Clarke’s victory was preceded by a dominant 2 and 1 win from Thomas S. Wootton’s Justin Feldman and a 3 and 1 victory from Winston Churchill’s Luke Schaap as well as a 3 and 2 win from teammate Peter Knade. Though at first it wouldn’t appear that Feldman, who made the turn four up, would need a similarly nerve-wracking putt to close out Virginia’s Ian Hildebrand, it would eventually be drawn out all the way out to the 17th, a 190-yard par-3 hole over water. Feldman, after missing left and chipping off a down-slope, faced a 6-foot sidewinder of a putt that would either seal the match or extend it to the 18th. Just as he did with his 10-foot birdie putt on the 16th, he ran it right in, follow-
ing it up with a subtle fist pump and a not so subtle deep inhale. “That was the biggest putt of my life right there,” he said as he walked off. Schaap, a sophomore who, like Clarke, would finish undefeated in the tournament, used the 17th as his closing grounds as well, though he needed no outlandish grinding par or a 6-foot save. “I just like playing with a team because golf is so individual,” Schaap said after Saturday’s play in which he and Clarke went 2-0. “It’s fun to play as a team.” The trio of local golfers went 7-1-1 in the tournament. “I really enjoyed this tournament,” Clarke said. “I really enjoyed this tournament. This is — and you can quote it — this is the hardest match I’ve ever had.”