Carolyn Correa, a rising senior at Pallotti High School, will have a new varsity basketball coach next season. But her new coach is actually one of her former teachers.

As a second-grader at St. Mary of the Mills, which is across the street from Pallotti, Correa's teacher was Josh Pratt. At the time, the late 1990s, Pratt was a varsity assistant basketball coach at Pallotti.

Last month Pratt was named the new head coach for the Pallotti girls varsity basketball team. He spent the previous four years as the boys varsity coach at Towson Catholic. Pratt was also an assistant boys coach at Spalding.

"I am very excited," said Laurel resident Correa, who was a junior reserve last season for head coach Debbie Skelly. "I think a new perspective will help our team." Correa also plays field hockey and softball at Pallotti.

Skelly stepped down after 10 seasons as the head coach. She wants to spend time with her two grown children.

Correa said Shelby Lyles and Jackie Henehan, a pair of rising seniors, may come out for the team next season. Lyles was one of the top players for the Pallotti lacrosse team this spring and Henehan has been a soccer standout for the Panthers. Henehan, who also had Pratt as a teacher in elementary school, played junior varsity basketball as a freshman at Pallotti and has made a verbal committment to play soccer at Towson University.

Pratt coached at least two boys at the high school level who are now in the NBA. Jarrett Jack played as a sophomore at Pallotti, went to Georgia Tech and was a guard this past season for the Indiana Pacers. At Towson Catholic, Pratt coached Donte Green, who played in college at Syracuse and is now with the Sacramento Kings.

What will it be like to have a coach who has worked with big-time players? "Some people might be nervous, but I think it's great," Correa said.

"It was needed," she said of the coaching change.

The Pallotti girls are in the B conference of the IAMM but Pratt has said he hopes to eventually move the program to the A level. The Towson Catholic boys are in the A conference of the MIAA.

Soccer teams prepare for regionals

The U.S. Youth Soccer Region 1 (East) Championships will be held July 2-7 in Barboursville, W.Va., and will include two teams from Laurel. The U-17 Laurel Lightning and the U-18 Laurel Wildcats won state titles in late May in Montgomery County and will advance to the regionals. The opening ceremony will be held July 2 at Marshall University.

The U-18 Wildcats are coached by Mike Vawter, the former head girls varsity soccer coach at Pallotti. He stepped down from the Pallotti post after last season and has been replaced by Michele Rodriguez-Smith, a former college coach.

The U-18 Wildcats won the state title with four goals in overtime in a 5-1 win over Freestate. The team has several players who were freshmen with college teams in 2008.

Among the college players with the state champ U-18 Laurel Wildcats are Hannah Lapp, a graduate of Blake High in Montgomery County. She was a freshman last season for St. Bonaventure, a Division I program in upstate New York.

Lapp, a midfielder/forward, started all 20 games and had two goals and three assists for the Bonnies, who were 11-8-1 overall. Lapp's father, David, was teammates with Bonnies head coach Manoj Khettry at Earlham College in Richmond, Ind.

Taylor Stetka (Atholton) was on the roster last season for Edinboro (Pa.) College as a freshman midfielder. She played in 18 games with 10 starts for a team that was 7-11-1 overall.

Taylor Goss, who played at the Friends School in high school, was a freshman at Wittenberg University in Ohio last season. The team was 11-4-6 and made the NCAA tournament in Division III. Goss had three goals and one assist in 21 games, with 10 starts.

American Legion baseball

Laurel American Legion Post 60 began its summer baseball season with an 11-3 loss June 2 to Sandy Spring.

The head coach is Douglas Drewyer, whose son, Austin, was a pitcher this spring for University of Maryland-Baltimore County. Austin is a graduate of River Hill.

Laurel is slated to host Bowie on June 14 at noon at Marriotts Ridge High School in Howard County. Post 60 hosts Cissel Saxon on June 15 at 5:30 p.m. at Wheaton Regional Park and plays a road game against Wheaton on June 16 at 5:30 p.m. at Cabin John Park.

The roster includes Highland residents Joe Kolodrubetz and Codi McIntyre and Marriotts Ridge graduates Bryce Garlpay, Kevin Kratochwill, Nicholas Marinelli and Mitchell Smith. Nick Meyer (Mt. Hebron High), a Post 60 player, pitched in four games this spring for Stevenson University.

Barry named all-CAA

Laurel resident Cortney Barry (Reservoir), a sophomore at the University of Delaware this past season, was named all-Colonial Athletic Association in women's swimming for the second straight year. She gained second-team honors in the 500- and 1,650-freestyle events. She set school records and met the NCAA provisional qualifying standard in both events during the CAA meet at George Mason in Virginia. In the 500 freestyle, she finished in 4:46.64. Later, on the final day of the event, she posted a time of 16:24.87 in the 1650 freestyle.

Nick Rivers (DeMatha), of Laurel, was on the Delaware baseball roster this spring as a freshman. Rivers played last summer for Silver Spring-Takoma in the Cal Ripken, Sr. Collegiate Baseball League. Devin Rivers, of Laurel and Northwest Shoals Community College, is on the roster this summer for Silver Spring-Takoma.

Pallotti seeks coach

Pallotti High is looking for a head varsity volleyball coach as of June 5, according to athletic director Steve Walker. Greg Norris, the head coach in 2008, resigned after the season. Earlier this year Jason Monjes was named the Pallotti head coach, but he resigned about a week later without having met the team.

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