Howard County is often thought of for its high school soccer and volleyball, but we do quite well in other sports and at other levels, too. For example, the Howard Community College men's cross country team placed ninth at the NJCAA Division III National Cross Country Championships held Nov. 7 in Canandaigua, N.Y. There were 23 colleges represented at the meet.

Brian Allen was the Dragons' top finisher. He placed 17th with a time of 29:07 for the 8k race. Mark Kauffman (28th, 30:20), Ben Greason (52nd, 31:35), Sean Hughes (69th, 32:45), Jamie Lara (74th, 32:50), Nate Carriere (78th, 33:25) and Corey Robins (83rd, 33:49) followed.

Kristin Rhodes was 62nd in the women's race with a time of 24:20.

"Like any nationals meet, it was a very tough field and a very tough course," HCC coach Steve Musselman said. He likened the course to a longer version of Hereford, where the state high school cross country races will be held on Saturday.

Howard Community College was recognized as the sixth-ranked team for the past decade. The cross country coaches association ranked teams based on their finishes the past 10 years.

Norbel Nighthawks win title

The Norbel Nighthawks won the Chesapeake Athletic Conference cross country title Oct. 29 at the Jemicy School in Owings Mills. It is the first cross country title for Norbel, which is in Elkridge.

The Nighthawks placed four runners among the top 10. Daniel Genega won the race and was followed by teammates Perry Rosendale (second), Alex Applebaum (third) and Anthony Orendorff (ninth). Darian Mobley and Caitlin Johnson round out the team.

Bravehearts win silver division

The Covenant Community School Bravehearts just returned from the Homeschool National Tournament in Omaha, Neb. After the first round of pool play, the Bravehearts were still in the Gold Division, but the second day's results (1-1-1) bumped the team into the Silver Division, which they won.

Outside hitter Lillie Happel, an Ellicott City resident, was named MVP of the Silver Division. Teammate Meredith Runkle, a setter, was chosen for the all-tournament team.

Parrish excels in Prince George's

We received a note from former Howard High School coach Dan Ross who wonders why our county did not jump at the chance to hire DaLawn Parrish as a varsity football coach. DaLawn was all-world when he played at Howard High School, where he graduated in 1995.

DaLawn went on to have three great seasons at Wake Forest making the dean's list as well as the Atlantic Coast Conference all-academic team.

DaLawn was an assistant at Wilde Lake, then became the head coach at DuVal High School in Prince George's County before taking the reins at Dr. Henry Wise High School. His team is the top-ranked team in the Class 4A South playoffs which begin this weekend.

I happen to agree with Dan. DaLawn Parrish is the type of person and coach that could only enhance Howard County football. If we have an opening for a head football coach in the near future, I would hope that we would at least approach DaLawn. We need coaches who can teach by example and coaches who can motivate young people to do the right thing and DaLawn has already proven that he can do both and do them well.

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