1. Mount St. Joseph Last season: 31-4, No. 2 The Gaels are loaded once again, with a quality front row of 6-foot-6 Louis Birdsong, 6-8 Dino Gregory and 6-9 Henry Sims and a bevy of quick, sharp-shooting guards. 2. Towson Catholic Last season: 26-12, ranked No. 7 Few high school teams have an inside-outside combination like Owls juniors Donte' Greene and Malcolm Delaney. First-year coach Josh Pratt has also inherited a strong supporting cast. 3. St. Frances Last season: 19-15, No. 11 Sophomore Sean Mosley, a returning All-Metro swing guard, and 6-7 forward Rashawn Alexander lead a deep Panther squad whose only question is chemistry. 4. McDonogh Last season: 23-6, No. 5 Former assistant coach Donta Evans takes the reins of a potentially powerful Eagles team led by Georgetown-bound Player of the Year DaJuan Summers, Joe Yermal and Brandon Herbert. 5. Walbrook Last season: 26-2, No. 1 The defending Class 4A state champs re- turn three starters in Baltimore City Player of the Year Rodney Spruill, Marc Davis and Eric Pitts, and a developing group of reserves from last season. 6. Southwestern Last season: 22-4, No. 6 All-Metro guard Jamal Barney and second-team All-Metro forward Juawan Rheubottom make the Sabers a City contender and threat to Walbrook in Class 4A. 7. Dunbar Last season: 23-3, No. 3 Graduation hit the defending state 1A champion Poets hard, but senior guard Marcus Taylor is back to lead the never-ending influx of talent at the East Baltimore school. 8. Randallstown Last season: 26-1, No. 4 Coach Kim Rivers, whose team has moved down to Class 2A after he led the Rams to a third 3A state title, is a master at reloading. He will build round second-team All-Metro guard Johnny Higgins. 9. Annapolis Last season: 20-7, No. 10 With the return of 6-5 Kevin Coates, Anne Arundel County's Player of the Year, along with high flying, 6-4 Daishawn Anderson, the Panthers could be in for their best season since 2003 (23-2) and add to their record number of 26 appearances in the state tournament. 10. Calvert Hall Last season: 23-13, No. 13 The rapid development of 6-7, 245-pound junior Braxton Dupree, who orally committed to Maryland, and the rest of the returning cast make the Cardinals a contender in the Baltimore Catholic League and Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference. 11. Arch. Spalding Last season: 21-12, No. 14 Guard Derek Young, 6-7 Danny Quinn and 6-4 Dan Palumbo will make the Cavaliers competitive in the Baltimore Catholic League and MIAA A Conference. 12. Douglass Last season: 19-7, No. 12 The Ducks have three key re- turning starters in seniors Antoine Smithson, Tyrone Flemming and Kendal Alexander, as they chase Randallstown from Class 3A North to 2A North. 13. Old Mill Last season: 23-4, No. 9 Coming off their first Anne Arundel County championship, second appearance in the state semifinals and a school record for wins, the Patriots were hit by graduation, but point guard Andrew Engel and 6-8 Rodney Stokes return to make another run in Class 4A East. 14. Howard Last season: 8-15, unranked Chris Moore, Howard County's Player of the Year at Centennial, transferred transferring to the Lions, bringing his 16 points and 10 rebounds per game with him. 15. Lake Clifton Last season: 9-14, unranked Guards Terrence Jones and Brandon Brown and forward Brandon Davis all started as sophomores last season.

By BILL WAGNER Staff Writer Maryland Gazette Coach Billy Lange is looking for a certain type of prospect to help rebuild the Navy basketball program. Lange wants quick, athletic players who can handle the ball and play tenacious man-to-man defense. He didn't need to travel far down the road to find a recruit who fits that profile perfectly. Navy picked up one of the top seniors in the Baltimore Catholic League on Monday when Archbishop Spalding combination guard Derek Young gave Lange a verbal commitment. Young, 6 feet 1 and 185 pounds, chose Navy over The Citadel, Vermont, Stetson and Central Connecticut. "Derek is a special kid who is a great fit for the Naval Academy," Spalding coach Mike Glick said. "He has tremendous charisma and a very engaging personality. He has a ton of energy and strong internal drive. He possesses all the skills necessary to do well at a service academy." Young averaged 9.5 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.1 assists as a junior at Spalding. He is the team's leading returning scorer and will likely start at point guard this season. "Derek works and plays as hard as any kid I've coached, which is really saying something," Glick said. "He is very, very athletic with a high level of intensity. Billy Lange loves those two traits." Young was a high-priority recruit for Navy, evidenced by the fact Lange and/or assistant Joe Burke attended all 10 days of Spalding's basketball camp to see the prospect. "Coach Lange did a great job of recruiting me. He showed me a lot of love and really impressed me with his enthusiastic personality," said Young, a Seat Pleasant resident who played at Suitland as a freshman. "I think Navy is an up and coming program and a great opportunity for me as a person. You are set for life with a degree from Navy." Young's commitment continues Spalding's streak of producing at least one Division I player every year since Glick arrived in 1999. It also continues a strong early performance on the recruiting trail for Navy, which has secured two other commitments. Trey Stanton, a well-regarded big man from Friendswood, Texas, picked Navy in early September. The 6-foot-9 power forward also considered Colgate, Centenary, Sacramento State and Air Force. "As soon as I went up there and met the young coaching staff, I knew it was the place for me," Stanton told Scout.com. "They have great energy and I know they're going to win. They're building something good and I want to be a part of it." Late last month, Navy nabbed North Carolina swingman Scott Brooks, who received numerous scholarship offers following a breakout summer campaign. Brooks, who averaged 12 points and five rebounds as a junior at Raleigh Wakefield, cited the team atmosphere he discovered in Annapolis. "It's a building program with a lot of chemistry," he told Scout.com.

3 Arundel High Schools Touched by Tragedy By Daniel de Vise and Ylan Q. Mui Washington Post Staff Writers Tuesday, August 23, 2005; Page A01 Three teenage boys returning from a Saturday night trip to a burger joint were waiting for a traffic light to change on Governor Ritchie Highway near Annapolis when a pickup truck struck them from behind, turning their car into a fireball and killing two of them. "They weren't doing anything wrong. They were just sitting there," said Kay Snyder, mother of David Snyder, 16, one of the victims. Kevin Durm, 16, died over the weekend from injuries he sustained when a pickup hit the vehicle in which he was riding while it was stopped at a red light near Annapolis. The three 16-year-olds were out enjoying the last moments of the waning summer before each returned to his high school. David, an incoming sophomore at the college preparatory Severn School in Severna Park, died Saturday night from injuries sustained in the back seat of the 1987 Volkswagen Cabriolet convertible. Kevin Durm, a junior at Archbishop Spalding High in Severn, was pronounced dead the next morning. Nick Kirby, the driver, came home yesterday after a brief hospital stay for treatment of a head injury. Friends said the Broadneck High School student suffered a concussion and a burned left hand. Police said Linda Lee Nichols, 47, the pickup driver, failed a breath test and was handcuffed outside the cab of her Chevrolet Silverado. They declined to divulge the result of the breath test. Nichols has not been charged, pending the outcome of an investigation, said Kristin Riggin, a spokeswoman for the Anne Arundel County state's attorney. Nichols could not be reached for comment yesterday. The teenagers were basketball buddies who hailed from the Anne Arundel bedroom community of Arnold. They had spent Saturday watching a DVD of "Kill Bill Vol. 1" and playing with crabs in the Magothy River before heading out to Wendy's for a late dinner. When David's parents went out, they left some money for the boys in case they got hungry. Kay Snyder told David to call her cell phone if they left the house. A short while later, David called to say they were leaving. Whether because of noise or poor reception, his mother never heard the call come in, and he left her a message. The boys drove five miles to Wendy's, got their food and headed back south down Governor Ritchie Highway, a busy north-south thoroughfare between Baltimore and Annapolis that many motorists take at freeway speeds. The youths hit the first stoplight at McKinsey Road, a brightly lit intersection flanked by strip malls, at 9:53 p.m. Also at that intersection was Richard Lee Martin, idling in his Buick, waiting to cross Governor Ritchie Highway and pick up his grandson after a shift at Dunkin' Donuts. As the teenagers' light turned red, Martin's turned green. Martin heard squealing brakes. Then he saw the pickup. "She put on her brakes just before she hit them. She was moving pretty good," recalled Martin, 70. "Just as soon as she hit it, it exploded and fire flew out of there. . . . It came right at me." 3 Arundel High Schools Touched by Tragedy The impact with the 6,400-pound pickup drove the 2,200-pound Volkswagen across six lanes of traffic into Martin's Buick, and it ruptured the convertible's fuel tank. "I looked up and [saw] two people slumped over in the front seat," Martin said. "I didn't see the other one." Kevin Durm, 16, died over the weekend from injuries he sustained when a pickup hit the vehicle in which he was riding while it was stopped at a red light near Annapolis. (Family Photo - Family Photo) That intersection is a hub of activity for teenagers from Arnold and Severna Park, and at that post-dinner hour, a few youths were at the 7-Eleven and Dunkin' Donuts. The crowd that gathered around the wreckage included a few of the boys' classmates, according to their families. Martin said he watched several young men open the front of the convertible and drag Nick and Kevin from the front seats. Someone ran to the scene with a fire extinguisher and doused the blaze before it could spread inside the vehicle and burn the passengers. A few minutes later, as rescue trucks arrived, Martin heard someone cry, "There's another guy in there." Rescuers pulled David from the back seat. Police handcuffed Nichols at her pickup, which was stopped 100 feet down the highway. She refused medical treatment. A mandatory breath test showed her blood alcohol level surpassed the legal limit, police said. None of the youths had been drinking anything stronger than Coke, police said. A police synopsis said Nichols had "made no apparent effort to stop" for the red light. David and Kevin were airlifted to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore. David was pronounced dead shortly after arrival. Flowers and a teddy bear sat yesterday at the intersection where the accident occurred, all but lost in the din as rescue trucks responded to another bad wreck. The teenagers had a friendship forged in the youth basketball and soccer leagues in the Broadneck high area of Arnold and Annapolis, a network in which David's father, Larry Snyder, is well-known as a coach. Family members said David had just made the varsity soccer team at Severn School. But his first love was basketball, and his favorite player was Michael Jordan. He hoped to follow in his father's path, perhaps as a star athlete at Duke University and then as a trainer or coach. Kevin, a talented shooting guard, was about to try out for the varsity basketball squad at Archbishop Spaulding. He "would be out at 2 a.m. playing basketball in the street," recalled Brian Durm, his older brother. According to friends, Kevin would take at least 100 shots in his driveway before every basketball practice. He played trumpet in the school band and cultivated a relationship with the best friend who had become a girlfriend six months ago. High school just days away, the boys spent Saturday being kids. They took a live crab from the river and chased David's mother around the house with it until she told them to stop. At a viewing for David yesterday evening, lanky teammates from the Severn basketball squad dotted the line that stretched out the door, across the parking lot and down the street, blocking traffic. The largest picture in the room depicted David as a child, a big grin on his face as he stretched his arm up high to dunk a basketball through a net. A classmate brought a basketball signed by David's teammates. Mark Bennett, 15, had played ball with David for several years and as recently as last Tuesday. He and David were on the same team that day, but it was David, with his aggressive skills, who was making all the shots. David good-naturedly teased Mark about his misses. "He'd say things that weren't funny, but when he said them, people would laugh," Mark said. On Sunday, Mark picked up the phone to call David to see if he wanted to catch a movie at the Annapolis Mall, maybe "The 40-Year-Old Virgin." But the phone rang as he held it. It was David's father. That's when Mark found out that his friend was dead. Other friends and family filed slowly by David's open coffin yesterday. One girl in a striped button-down shirt and flip-flops hung back. "Oh God, I don't think I can," she said. Her steps grew slower as she came closer to the coffin. Then she paused, her eyes full of tears, and turned away. Staff researcher Bobbye Pratt contributed to this report.

8/22/2005 The MIAA community joins member schools Severn and Archbishop Spalding in mourning the loss of two young athletes who were killed on Saturday night when a vehicle in which they were passengers was struck from behind, at a traffic light, by a drunk driver. David Snyder, 16, who played soccer, basketball and lacrosse at Severn, and Kevin Durm, also 16, a junior varsity basketball player last year at Spalding, suffered fatal injuries when their vehicle, a Volkswagon Rabbit, was struck from the rear by a pickup truck while stopped at the intersection of Ritchie Highway and McKinsey Road in Severna Park. A third boy, 16-year Nick Kirby of Broadneck High School, who was driving the Rabbit, suffered head injuries and was hospitalized, but is expected to recover. The Rabbit burst into flames when its fuel tank was ruptured, upon impact, and was pushed through the intersection where it stuck a third vehicle. Linda Lee Nichols, 47, of Annapolis, the driver of a Chevrolet Silverado, which caused the collision, failed a mandatory field sobriety test and was arrested. The case was forwarded to the State's Attorney Office for review and Ms. Nichols faces potential vehicular manslaughter charges. There was no evidence that any of youths had been drinking. According to family members, they were on their way to Wendy's Restaurant and planned to return home to play video games. "They were really in the wrong place at the wrong time - 10 seconds either way," Larry Snyder, David's father, told the The Capital newspaper. Snyder recently learned that he had made the varsity soccer team at Severn and was preparing for the fall season with the Admirals. Durm, according to his JV coach, was expected to make Spalding's varsity basketball team this winter. Those wishing to pay their respects to Snyder and his family can visit the Hardesty Funeral Home in Annapolis from 630-8:30 pm on Monday or from 9:00-10:00 am on Tuesday. The funeral will be private. A wake and public viewing will be held for Durm, who donated seven organs upon his death, at St. John the Evangelist in Severna Park on Thursday from 2:00-4:00 pm and again from 7:00-9:00 pm Thursday evening. Durm's funeral will take place Friday morning at 10:00 am.

By MICHAEL PIPER, Staff Writer Since it opened as an all-girls school in 1966, Archbishop Spalding has never built a new building from the ground up and as recently as seven years ago, many of the facilities athletic and otherwise, remained much the same as they were nearly a full four decades ago. That is changing in a hurry. Spalding bought 22 acres of farmland for $2 million in January of 2003 and broke ground on a 34,000 square foot athletic facility, scheduled to be opened in October. The new building will have eight new versatile classrooms and house a mobile computer lab of 30 laptops. The main attraction, however, is a drastically enlarged gymnasium big enough to seat 1,000 with standing room on either end. There'll be a fitness center complete with elliptical machines, stack machines and free weights and there will be new facilities for the athletic trainer. Rounding out the new building is an enlarged parking lot stretching down the south side of the school and locker room facilities big enough to accommodate every in-season team. Needless to say, the building has athletic director Lee Dove almost giddy with anticipation. 'It will be a tremendous focal point of pride for every kid in the school,' Dove said. 'It's just a tremendous accomplishment for our school to be in a position to open a new facility like this.' Dove explained that when people marvel at the facilities of Baltimore private schools Calvert Hall, McDonogh, Boys' Latin, Loyola Blakefield and the like, what they are looking at is schools that have been established for, in most cases, well over 100 years. Calvert Hall was founded in 1845. Boys Latin is in its 161st year of existence. What that means, of course, is sprawling alumni bases and a well-established endowment. Spalding, on the other hand, managed to save nearly $1 million and finance another $1 million, according to Dr. Michael Murphy, the school's president. Spalding then embarked on its capital campaign which has raised more than $2.5 million of an estimated goal of $3.2 million. The new athletic facility will come to a total of around $5.3 million. 'This school has only been around for 40 years (39 actually) and we're where we want to be in terms of enrollment (1,100),' Dove said. 'This new facility will allow us to expand so much in terms of what we offer, from extra curriculars to class offerings.' The facility's main draw, of course, will be its athletic aspects. Spalding has had a competitive A Conference boys basketball program for several years and this will only help draw prospective student-athletes to the Severn campus, which will have a facility equal to or perhaps better than those of its A Conference rivals. 'When you have student athletes at your school you want to give them the ability to do as much as they can academically and athletically,' Murphy said. 'We want our student-athletes to have every opportunity to compete at the highest level and (the new building) will help.' One advantage to all involved is the expanded practice space, particularly for winter sports. In the past, basketball practices have run until 9 or 9:30 p.m. With a pair of gyms scheduled to be ready for the winter season, practices should be finishing up around 7 or 7:30 p.m. The new gym is only part of Spalding's proposed expansion. It is referred to as Phase I in a two-phase plan that will eventually include a new softball field, a football/lacrosse complex (potentially including FieldTurf or some type of synthetic field) and a track in what is now vacant farmland not even suitable for practice fields. Those further projects could be a ways off, however. 'There's no time frame for Phase 2 right now,' Dove said. 'It all depends on how long it takes us to pay off (the new gym) and it could be a while.' As of now, Spalding has agreed to name the fitness center portion after the late Lt. James Love, a graduate of the school who was killed in the first Gulf War. The naming rights for the gym are yet to be determined. Spalding hopes to get Phase II underway next year,.