Wootton wins fifth consecutive girls tennis county title
The Patriots entered Thursday’s final round with a 16-15 advantage over traditional rival and two-time reigning Montgomery County Division I champion Walt Whitman, and four players in championship matches to the Vikings’ two.
Once sophomore No. 4 singles player Angela Wu and the No. 1 doubles of Georgia Bartels-Newton and Gabi Glueck won their individual titles, Wootton had clinched its fifth consecutive county championship and fourth straight with sole possession of first place.
The Patriots finished with 19 points, ahead of Whitman, which went undefeated during the regular season for the second straight year, in second place with 15 points. Winston Churchill and Richard Montgomery tied for third place with 14 points apiece.
“Whitman was the first Division I match we played and we really weren’t ready,” Wootton coach Nia Cresham said. “We lost, but it was 4-3, it was really close and after the match, I said to the girls, ‘I’m totally fine with this, we’re going to win counties.’ We always come back strong and win counties and that’s what we did. They just tend to do better at the end of the season.”
Bartels-Newton and Glueck lost only four games en route to their straight-sets victory over Whitman’s Mizuki Hanada and Lauren Envoy and Wu dropped only one game in her defeat of Churchill’s Carli Needle.
Wootton senior No. 2 singles player, Ruchi Nanda, avenged a regular-season loss to Richard Montgomery’s Piper Feldman for the Patriots’ third win Thursday, 7-6 (7-1), 6-1, as the draw’s third seed. Against an incredibly consistent Feldman, Cresham credited Nanda playing with more controlled aggression in the tournament final than the players’ previous meeting.
In a match lasting nearly three hours, Wheaton’s Ayana Akli upset top-seeded and three-time defending state champion Miranda Deng in three sets for the No. 1 singles title. Though Cresham said the Patriots have cherished Deng’s usual dominance, Wootton’s win despite the senior’s unexpected loss helped demonstrate the importance of every position on the team.
Other winners Thursday included Walter Johnson’s Stacy Ternovskaia at No. 3 singles, Blair’s Caitlin Lee and Gillian Lee at No. 2 doubles and Richard Montgomery’s third doubles, Grace Lee and Katie Kolodner.
The all-county Region II tournament is scheduled to begin Monday afternoon with finals scheduled for Thursday. Finalists in both brackets—girls singles and doubles—will qualify for the state tournament, which is played in the spring.
Walter Johnson girls cross country three-peats as county champion
Wildcats junior Abigail Green set a course-record (17 minutes, 46.62 seconds) to win her second straight county cross country title and lead Walter Johnson to its third consecutive team championship Saturday at Bohrer Park in Gaithersburg.
On a day where chilly wind gusts exceeded 25 miles per hour, according to The Weather Channel, Walter Johnson’s top five runners finished inside the top 20 to give the Wildcats a 54-109 advantage over second-place Thomas S. Wootton.
Bethesda-Chevy Chase finished in third place with 121 points and Montgomery Blair (138 points) and Walt Whitman (142) rounded out the top five.
Walter Johnson senior Katriane Kirsch and juniors Janet Scott, Sadie Keller and Sophia Scobell finished eighth, 11th and 19th, respectively, Saturday. Other top finishers included, Churchill’s Julia Reicin in fourth place; Blair’s Morgan Casey and Josephine Brane-Wright in fifth and seventh, respectively; Wootton’s Jessica Trzeciak in 12th; and B-CC’s Zoe Nuechterlein in 13th.
Richard Montgomery senior Rohann Asfaw continued his dominance of area distance running with his second consecutive county cross country title. Northwest claimed the boys team title with 87 points. B-CC (137) took second, and Churchill (162), Albert Einstein (162) and Wootton (165) finished third through fifth.
Juniors Adam Nakasaka (third place) and Josh Fry (ninth) were B-CC’s top finishers. Other area top 20 performers include Wootton sophomore John Riker (sixth), Whitman’s Aaron Bratt (seventh) and Joshua Engels (10th), Richard Montgomery freshman Garrett Suhr and junior Joachim El-Masry in 12th and 13th, respectively, and Churchill’s Vicente Rudolph (16th).
The Class 4A West Region meet is scheduled for Nov. 3.
Image left of Abigail Green via Jeff Sullivan
Walter Johnson girls, boys soccer earn top region seeds
The Wildcats are seeded to sweep the all-county Class 4A West Region’s Section I on paper, but rankings and win-loss records mean little in brackets ripe with parity, coaches agreed.
The winner of the primarily Bethesda/Potomac/Silver Spring-based top section, will face the Section II winner for a spot in the state tournament.
“[To get through] you’re going to have to defend really well and it’s really scoring goals at the right time; anybody can win,” Walt Whitman boys coach Dave Greene said. “Anything can happen, you can’t look past [anyone]. All the games were close, nobody got blown out.”
The same rings true for both the boys and girls teams.
Walter Johnson senior and University of Wisconsin recruit Cammie Murtha leads the Washington, D.C., area with 23 goals. But spread scoring coupled with stingy defense has led to the Wildcat girls’ resurgence this fall—they’ve outscored their opponents, 69-5, with nine shutouts.
In addition to Murtha, 12 players have scored for Walter Johnson (13-1) and, led by CJ Maloney with 10 goals, six have netted at least four.
Third-seeded Whitman (7-2-3), the only team to have beaten the Wildcats this season, is scheduled to host Northwood Thursday with the winner to play at No. 2 Churchill Nov. 1. The Vikings and Bulldogs played to a scoreless tie during the regular season.
Churchill should benefit this postseason from the return of playmaker Jane Olcott from surgery to repair a ruptured eardrum. The Bulldogs’ 52 goals have come from 19 players, with defender Frannie Phillips leading the way with five. Olcott’s presence adds another dimension to Churchill’s attack. Her older sister, Molly, and Phillips anchor the Bulldogs’ backline that’s given up only three goals, two of them in a one-goal loss to Walter Johnson. With no one person for opponents to hone in on, Churchill is difficult to defend against.
With an athlete the caliber of senior forward and Princeton University women’s basketball recruit Abby Meyers, the Vikings can never be counted out. Whether or not she’s the one doing all the scoring, her sheer athleticism requires attention, which opens up scoring chances for her teammates. Mary Dimitrov leads Whitman in scoring with eight goals, followed by Blair Ellis with six. Chelsea Cahill and Ellie Harris have scored four goals apiece and Meyers has four. The Vikings’ youthful defense is led by sophomore central defender Morgan Wiese.
Six-time state champion Bethesda-Chevy Chase (7-5) nabbed the fourth seed and will host fifth-seeded Richard Montgomery, which also finished 7-5, but the Barons won the teams’ regular season meeting, 3-0. B-CC has implemented a more aggressive approach this fall in attempt to increase scoring numbers and Lili Barrett has surfaced as a reliable playmaker in the offensive third. The Barons are still adjusting to their new style and have posted some inconsistent results, but as a perennial postseason contender, it would be foolish for teams to look past them.
Thomas S. Wootton’s girls are seeded third in the region’s bottom section that’s led by top-seeded Northwest (13-0-1) and No. 2 Quince Orchard (8-4). The Patriots are led in scoring by Rachel Feldman (seven goals), Jenna Cohen (six) and Caroline Wang (six).
Walter Johnson’s boys (13-1) are led by one of the county’s most dynamic scoring tandems: Justin Hahn (nine) and Zion Friday (six goals, eight assists). But the Wildcats’ goals have come from all areas of the field.
No. 2 Whitman has won eight straight games and outscored its opponents, 27-5, since a surprising 4-0 defeat to Walter Johnson Sept. 20. Adam Deutchman and Andreas Djurhuus have surfaced as primary scorers with 10 goals apiece.
B-CC and Churchill are seeded third and fourth, respectively. B-CC has been competitive with the region’s top teams and recently bounced back from a surprising 1-0 loss to Sherwood by defeating the Quince Orchard (10-2), the favorite to come out of Section II. And Churchill, led in scoring by Jack Stern (four), Dan Cohen (three), Ryan Hughes (three) and Darius Siahpoosh (three), has proven with a win over Walter Johnson and one-goal loss to Whitman, that it is just as capable as any other team to win the region.
Churchill field hockey seeks first region title since 2005
The Bulldogs enter the Class 4A South Region tournament, scheduled to begin Tuesday, as the bottom section’s top seed. Led by Alexandra Sperling (11 goals), Faith Kean (nine) and Jenny Langerman (six), Churchill has outscored its opponents, 39-2, and has shut out 11 of 13 teams played. A strong backline has enabled the Bulldogs’ offense to take more chances, coach Cay Miller said earlier in the season, and has been at the center of the team’s success.
After a first-round bye, the Bulldogs, looking for their first state tournament appearance since 2005 and state title since 1983, are scheduled to host Einstein Thursday. The winner—Churchill defeated the Titans, 6-0, during the regular season—faces either No. 2 Wootton or No. 3 Richard Montgomery for a spot in the region final. Churchill defeated the Patriots and Rockets by a combined score of 7-0 during the regular season, though Miller has stressed to her team throughout this fall the importance of focusing on the present and each individual game rather than look at the possibilities that lie ahead.
Walter Johnson and Walt Whitman are seeded first and second in the region’s top section. The Wildcats are scheduled Thursday to host a Montgomery Blair team it defeated 3-0 last month; Whitman is scheduled play B-CC—the Vikings won the teams’ regular season meeting 3-2.
The region final is scheduled for Nov. 2.
Games to watch this week
Football
Landon at Georgetown Prep, 2 p.m. Saturday
Boys soccer
Landon at Bullis, 6 p.m. Tuesday
Field hockey
B-CC at Whitman, 7 p.m. Thursday
Bullis at Holton-Arms, 4 p.m. Thursday
