Being No. 1 in the Baltimore Sun’s preseason basketball rankings, and completing the campaign in the same exalted position — for the third year in a row, mind you — is a feat not easily accomplished. At McDonogh, though, under IAAM Coach of the Year Brad Rees, the thought of such success comes with the territory.
Notre Dame Prep coach Jim Lancaster had a few obstacles to overcome on his way to complete a very satisfying indoor track season. Now in his 20th year of coaching and second at NDP, Lancaster and assistants Nate Jones and Tunde Oyediran made the very best of every situation facing the league in general and the Blazers specifically.
Dani Kell Steinbach, the Roland Park Country School co-director of athletics, acknowledged that the Reds’ swimming program has had its ups and downs in the B Conference. That is, before Toni Armstrong was brought on board prior to the 2022-23 season.
Under Kate Brendler, Bryn Mawr has confirmed its reputation as the premier high school squash program in the Baltimore area by claiming the league’s first three championships.
She was amply rewarded by her coaching peers, who elected her as the 2024 IAAM Squash Coach of the Year, for maintaining that exalted position.
While Terri Moeser will no longer be the Maryvale Athletic Director after 21 years on the job, her return to the classroom at the school will undoubtedly be a blessing for her students.
For her coaches at Maryvale and IAAM colleagues alike, her stature and experience have stood out for more than two decades.
Simply put, Moeser is among the best in the business and highly regarded by her peers.
Coach Casey Corkin’s halftime strategy was simple, straightforward and, fortunately for Indian Creek, successful at the C Conference championship game on Sunday at Stevenson University.
Basically, Corkin told his players that the best way to beat Glenelg Country School would be to attack the paint with freshmen forwards Stephanie Bunker and Ofundem Mbelem.
After winning three games in its first season of IAAM basketball play, Gerstell Academy knew the road to a championship would be long and arduous. There were landmark victories and gut wrenching defeats.
Sunday evening, Gerstell Academy reached the proverbial mountain top. The Falcons defeated John Carroll, 41-39, to win the IAAM B title at Stevenson University.
After receiving the IAAM A Conference basketball championship trophy Sunday afternoon, Ava McKennie couldn’t hold back the tears as her McDonogh School teammates hugged her.
The Eagles won their third title with a 54-53 victory over St. Frances at Stevenson University. Sophomore point guard Autumn Fleary finished with a game-high 27 points for McDonogh (25-4 overall), and Stanford University-bound post Kennedy Umeh added 16 and seven rebounds.
The top-two seeds in all three basketball conferences will compete for championship berths in the semifinal round.
All except one of the elimination games will be held on Thursday at the higher seeds, including No. 1 McDonogh (23-4, 16-0 league) testing fourth-seeded St. Mary’s (20-8, 10-6) and No. 2 St. Frances Academy (18-7, 13-3) facing third-seeded St. Vincent Pallotti (14-10, 12-4) in the A Conference.
Bryn Mawr coach Kate Brendler takes nothing for granted, even when her team is considered to be the odds-on favorite to continue its squash reign.
That was the case on Tuesday at the IAAM finals against Roland Park Country School, a longtime rival that never gives the Mawritians an inch without a fierce battle.
The way things look at the end of the regular IAAM squash season is that it will take a monumental effort for any of two-time defending champion Bryn Mawr’s rivals to knock off the powerhouse program from garnering a three-peat.
In a season of firsts for Mercy, its inaugural swim team garnered the C Conference championship on Monday at the Loyola University Maryland Fitness and Aquatic Center.
To say that Magic coach Abigail Werner was excited before the match is an understatement. “I felt like I was waiting for Christmas morning,” Werner said.
Roland Park Country School showed its resilience in the latter stages of the B Conference swimming championship meet on Sunday at the Loyola University Maryland Fitness and Aquatic Center.
Having a standout regular season doesn’t always translate into winning a swimming title.
Notre Dame Prep made sure that its swimmers’ stellar winter work went rewarded by capturing the A Conference championship on Sunday at the Loyola University Maryland Fitness and Aquatic Center.
It’s been a minute since Notre Dame Prep (2015) claimed its last A Conference swimming championship and Roland Park (2017) did the same in the B Conference. Mercy, on the other hand, has never owned a swimming crown, considering that the program is in its inaugural year.
Stars meeting expectations, then being complimented by an outstanding supporting cast of athletes resulted in team wins at the 2024 IAAM Indoor Track and Field Championship.
The only realistic chance that Maryvale had to prevent Mercy from winning its third consecutive edition of The Classic on Saturday was to hold Magic star guard Milan Brown relatively in check. Given the talented junior’s recent exploits on the hardwood, that was going to be something easier said than done.
The Mawrtians have continued to impress this winter, shaking off an opening non-league 4-3 setback to SquashWise before reeling off five straight wins over league rivals Garrison Forest, St. Paul’s School for Girls, Roland Park Country School, Notre Dame Prep and St. Timothy’s and one over Episcopal (Va.) by a combined, 40-4, score.
Nineteen IAAM schools will take part in the 23rd IAAM Indoor Track and Field championship on Friday, January 26 at the Prince Georges Sports and Learning Complex in Landover. First event starts at 3:45 p.m.
It’s time that the Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland took a bow — and what better time to do it than on the 29-member organization’s 25th birthday?
The offspring of the Association of Independent Schools and the Catholic League, the IAAM has been providing healthy athletic competition for a quarter of a century in the Greater Baltimore Metropolitan Area.
The IAAM offered nine varsity sports at its inception to the 14 in play today, with 400 varsity and junior varsity squads vying for championships.
A year after leading McDonogh to a taut 50-47 triumph over St. Frances Academy in the A Conference title game by capping off a 17-point, six-rebound effort with a game-winning three-point play in crunch time, the silky smooth sophomore guard is on her way to another banner season.
There are a variety of reasons why Erin Howland loves being the St. Paul’s School for Girls athletic director.
“There are new challenges coming at you every day,” said Howland, in her ninth year in the position. “That what makes it so much fun.”