A Look At Parkdale's Winter Sports Teams

The winter sports programs at didn’t enjoy a banner year, but several had strong campaigns.

The boys’ basketball team was the most successful after finishing above .500, and although a few other programs failed to live up to expectations, some finished strong and built a nice foundation heading into next year.

“Of course you would always wish that they would do a little bit better,” Parkdale athletic director Lawrence Brown said recently.  “Maybe chemistry could be in play for some of the guys on the basketball team, because even though they had senior guys, they hadn’t played all four years together. So, chemistry does make a difference, whether it’s basketball, football, whatever it may be.”

GIRLS BASKETBALL

The Lady Panthers were blessed with an abundance of height but struggled to 4-17 record, including a 3-15 mark against Prince George’s County 4A competition. They lost to Laurel in the first round of the 4A South region playoffs, 46-37.

Senior guard LaPria Saunders led team in scoring at 9.5 points per game, while senior forward Sophie Lepzem added 9.1.

“I thought that probably we would do little bit better because of the height,” Brown said, “but we had real young guards, and so because of that aspect, we weren’t as successful as we should have been.”

Junior post players Candace Washington – who missed time with injury – and Nicole Griggs (6.7 points per game) should lead the Panthers next season, while freshman guards Raynall Bell and Kareema Conteh (5.1 ppg) should be better with a year of varsity experience under their belts.

INDOOR TRACK

The Parkdale boys failed to record a point at the 4A East Region meet, but the girls finished 11th out of 15 teams.

“They were still a real young team,” Brown said, “and hopefully outdoors we might get some experience out there. They didn’t do as well as they probably expected to.”

Sophomore runner Esther Omolola narrowly missed out on a berth in the state meet despite running with a cast on a broken wrist that she sustained in an auto accident. She finished fifth in the regional  1,600 meter race with a time of 5:51.81 and seventh in the 3200 (13:30.06). 

Tochi Ukwu finished fifth in the girls’ shot put with a toss of 30 feet, four and a half inches.

SWIMMING

Both Panthers’ squads finished in eighth place at the 4A/3A Central Region meet in Laurel last month. Senior Robert Bailey won the 50-meter freestyle in a time of 23.16 seconds, and finished second in the 100 free with a time of 50.97.

On the girls’ side, sophomore Rochelle Perry finished fourth in the 50-meter free with a time of 27.74 and the fourth in the 100 free (1:00.80).

WRESTLING

One Parkdale squad that exceeded expectations was the wrestling team, which finished second in the Prince George’s County Tournament despite having several seniors decide not to come out for the team prior to the season.

The Panthers opened the 2010-11 campaign with just six grapplers back from the previous year’s team, which finished third at the county championships.

That inexperience didn’t seem to bother them, though, as PHS got County runner-up finishes from 140-pounder B.J. Yates and 171-pounder Edgar Campos.

“We still did extremely well with that very young team,” Brown said, “and I think all of them are coming back except for two people. They’re going to be extremely strong next year.”