25/26 MCPS High School Athletics thread

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Forgot to mention that Watkins Mill HS will be playing Thomas Johnson(Frederick, MD) in football on Saturday 8/23 at BCC's field for some reason

If the date is 8/23, it is a scrimmage. Likely a multi-team scrimmage.

The first regular season game is September 5th.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some notable non-county football matchups this fall

Quince Orchard
8/30- @ Dunbar HS in Washington DC
9/19- vs Stone Bridge(Ashburn, VA) Stone Bridge is led by former Washington Redskins DL Kedric Golston and his son Kedric Golston II is heading to Tennessee as an Edge rusher

Damascus
10/11- vs Westminster(MD)

Seneca Valley
8/22- vs St Johns Catholic Prep(Frederick, MD). This game is a scrimmage and probably won't count officially

The 8/30 and 8/22 dates are scrimmages. First official regular season games are 9/5.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a teacher here in MCPS and a big fan of HS sports I thought maybe we could have a thread here dedicated to the upcoming year's HS athletics here in MCPS. Judging by a lot of the posts I read here, this thread will likely go untouched and buried but maybe there are a few of us who want to talk about whats happening in the county athletically.

First big news: Baba Oladotun, the country's #1 HS basketball player for the Class of 2027, is officially reclassifying up to the Class of 2026 and will remain at Blake HS for his third and final year before graduating early. This is big news as there was a ton of speculation that he would be transferring to the newly opened St James Academy down in Springfield, VA. What's also big is that MCPS typically doesn't see a lot of kids reclassify for athletics. If you weren't planning on going before, you might want to make sure you get a chance to see a Blake HS basketball game this winter.

Don’t most elite athletes reclass down instead of up?

No. The truly elite ones almost always reclass up to jumpstart their pro eligibility windows. A player like Baba can add 10s if not 100s of millions to his eventual net worth by starting that window earlier

How does a student reclassify their graduation year? Is this only available to atheletes? If so why?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a teacher here in MCPS and a big fan of HS sports I thought maybe we could have a thread here dedicated to the upcoming year's HS athletics here in MCPS. Judging by a lot of the posts I read here, this thread will likely go untouched and buried but maybe there are a few of us who want to talk about whats happening in the county athletically.

First big news: Baba Oladotun, the country's #1 HS basketball player for the Class of 2027, is officially reclassifying up to the Class of 2026 and will remain at Blake HS for his third and final year before graduating early. This is big news as there was a ton of speculation that he would be transferring to the newly opened St James Academy down in Springfield, VA. What's also big is that MCPS typically doesn't see a lot of kids reclassify for athletics. If you weren't planning on going before, you might want to make sure you get a chance to see a Blake HS basketball game this winter.

Don’t most elite athletes reclass down instead of up?

No. The truly elite ones almost always reclass up to jumpstart their pro eligibility windows. A player like Baba can add 10s if not 100s of millions to his eventual net worth by starting that window earlier

How does a student reclassify their graduation year? Is this only available to atheletes? If so why?

I am pretty sure regular students can do it as well. One would likely have to contact their guidance counselor about it. Back in 2002 when I went to a MCPS HS we had a kid graduate a year early because he took an extra English class over the summer. I am sure something like that can be arranged still but again you have to coordinate it with your counselor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How is girl's flag football resonating in your schools? We're going into the second season. Our school lost almost every game but now has a new coach who seems really dedicated to building a strong team.

Speaking of youth sports and flag football, a new league in MoCo: https://leagues.teamlinkt.com/uarise-bethesdamd?fbclid=IwY2xjawMCurpleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETEwS0x5VHFYYmpGT0Y3ZjVzAR7u8ZOb6FDT45ecW5eH7WswnE89y7RfGX4l9klsL8tPpPZ4hohLtKgcSriv5g_aem_9vu7s4NJr0LOtYiIBvkbJA

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The sad thing about the rise of flag football at the HS level is that it might be a death sentence for Field Hockey. A lot of schools were already having difficulty recruiting for it and now with a new growing and popular fall sport it's bound to cause more issues there

Yup. They said flag football was mostly new athletes, but even losing a few field hockey players can leave schools without enough players for JV and make it harder to maintain a program.

Gaithersburg HS Field Hockey had like 10 total players last year and this year it sounds like they might not even have that many. Pretty sure Watkins Mill didn't even field a team last year

Yeah, many of the Lacrosse players who played field hockey in the fall switched to flag football last season. The NFL cache was a big draw.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How is girl's flag football resonating in your schools? We're going into the second season. Our school lost almost every game but now has a new coach who seems really dedicated to building a strong team.

Speaking of youth sports and flag football, a new league in MoCo: https://leagues.teamlinkt.com/uarise-bethesdamd?fbclid=IwY2xjawMCurpleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETEwS0x5VHFYYmpGT0Y3ZjVzAR7u8ZOb6FDT45ecW5eH7WswnE89y7RfGX4l9klsL8tPpPZ4hohLtKgcSriv5g_aem_9vu7s4NJr0LOtYiIBvkbJA

Is this one of the leagues funded by the Washington Commanders? I saw they just invested a TON of money in local flag football

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The sad thing about the rise of flag football at the HS level is that it might be a death sentence for Field Hockey. A lot of schools were already having difficulty recruiting for it and now with a new growing and popular fall sport it's bound to cause more issues there

Yup. They said flag football was mostly new athletes, but even losing a few field hockey players can leave schools without enough players for JV and make it harder to maintain a program.

Gaithersburg HS Field Hockey had like 10 total players last year and this year it sounds like they might not even have that many. Pretty sure Watkins Mill didn't even field a team last year

You’re correct, Watkins Mill did not have a field hockey team last year. Gaithersburg must have had 11, because they were able to play a full field last season. The 23/24 season, Watkins Mill didn’t have enough players for a full field.

[Anonymous]

What's the best way to learn more about the swimming landscape in MCPS? We're DCC (well, for this year anyway!), and DC 8th grade would like to consider athletics when listing HS preferences.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a teacher here in MCPS and a big fan of HS sports I thought maybe we could have a thread here dedicated to the upcoming year's HS athletics here in MCPS. Judging by a lot of the posts I read here, this thread will likely go untouched and buried but maybe there are a few of us who want to talk about whats happening in the county athletically.

First big news: Baba Oladotun, the country's #1 HS basketball player for the Class of 2027, is officially reclassifying up to the Class of 2026 and will remain at Blake HS for his third and final year before graduating early. This is big news as there was a ton of speculation that he would be transferring to the newly opened St James Academy down in Springfield, VA. What's also big is that MCPS typically doesn't see a lot of kids reclassify for athletics. If you weren't planning on going before, you might want to make sure you get a chance to see a Blake HS basketball game this winter.

Don’t most elite athletes reclass down instead of up?

No. The truly elite ones almost always reclass up to jumpstart their pro eligibility windows. A player like Baba can add 10s if not 100s of millions to his eventual net worth by starting that window earlier

How does a student reclassify their graduation year? Is this only available to atheletes? If so why?

Any student can graduate early. MCPS only requires 21 total high school credits (four of math and four of English). So it is very easy to get ahead by just taking a class or two in the summer.

Students are NOT allowed to reclassify down a year (to voluntarily extend their high school years to graduate a year later) in MCPS though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a teacher here in MCPS and a big fan of HS sports I thought maybe we could have a thread here dedicated to the upcoming year's HS athletics here in MCPS. Judging by a lot of the posts I read here, this thread will likely go untouched and buried but maybe there are a few of us who want to talk about whats happening in the county athletically.

First big news: Baba Oladotun, the country's #1 HS basketball player for the Class of 2027, is officially reclassifying up to the Class of 2026 and will remain at Blake HS for his third and final year before graduating early. This is big news as there was a ton of speculation that he would be transferring to the newly opened St James Academy down in Springfield, VA. What's also big is that MCPS typically doesn't see a lot of kids reclassify for athletics. If you weren't planning on going before, you might want to make sure you get a chance to see a Blake HS basketball game this winter.

Don’t most elite athletes reclass down instead of up?

No. The truly elite ones almost always reclass up to jumpstart their pro eligibility windows. A player like Baba can add 10s if not 100s of millions to his eventual net worth by starting that window earlier

How does a student reclassify their graduation year? Is this only available to atheletes? If so why?

Any student can graduate early. MCPS only requires 21 total high school credits (four of math and four of English). So it is very easy to get ahead by just taking a class or two in the summer.

Students are NOT allowed to reclassify down a year (to voluntarily extend their high school years to graduate a year later) in MCPS though.

The state of Maryland

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What's the best way to learn more about the swimming landscape in MCPS? We're DCC (well, for this year anyway!), and DC 8th grade would like to consider athletics when listing HS preferences.

Here is a place for some info on swimming in MCPS: https://mcps.swimtopia.com/.

Some basics: Every school has two practices per week for swim and one "regional" dive practice per week. Meets are all on Saturdays. Most schools, there are no cuts. The exception being a few of the "W" schools - as you can imagine, the more affluent areas happen to also have larger numbers of students who swim.

For the DCC, the hierarchy of swim programs would be Blair (generally toward the top of the county - Division I or Division II depending on the year), then Wheaton or Einstein (generally Division III), then Northwood (competitive in Division IV), then Kennedy (generally not very competitive, even in Division IV).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a teacher here in MCPS and a big fan of HS sports I thought maybe we could have a thread here dedicated to the upcoming year's HS athletics here in MCPS. Judging by a lot of the posts I read here, this thread will likely go untouched and buried but maybe there are a few of us who want to talk about whats happening in the county athletically.

First big news: Baba Oladotun, the country's #1 HS basketball player for the Class of 2027, is officially reclassifying up to the Class of 2026 and will remain at Blake HS for his third and final year before graduating early. This is big news as there was a ton of speculation that he would be transferring to the newly opened St James Academy down in Springfield, VA. What's also big is that MCPS typically doesn't see a lot of kids reclassify for athletics. If you weren't planning on going before, you might want to make sure you get a chance to see a Blake HS basketball game this winter.

Don’t most elite athletes reclass down instead of up?

No. The truly elite ones almost always reclass up to jumpstart their pro eligibility windows. A player like Baba can add 10s if not 100s of millions to his eventual net worth by starting that window earlier

How does a student reclassify their graduation year? Is this only available to atheletes? If so why?

Any student can graduate early. MCPS only requires 21 total high school credits (four of math and four of English). So it is very easy to get ahead by just taking a class or two in the summer.

Students are NOT allowed to reclassify down a year (to voluntarily extend their high school years to graduate a year later) in MCPS though.

The state of Maryland

This is true. My 10th grader went to talk to the counselor about graduating early (unbeknownst to me). Apparently, the counselor was quite supportive and gave her a specific roadmap for it (in terms of what classes needed to be done junior year or in summer) which really irritated me. Of course, I'd have to sign off (and didn't). But the kid viewed my position as unreasonable since the counselor made it sound like a good idea. I don't know why the counselor reacted to her request so positively!

[Anonymous]

I think Kennedy had a state winner in diving this year. Schools with popular magnets like Blair and Wheaton generally have pretty good swimmers and Einstein’s is “manned” with lots of decent summer and club swimmers. Swimming is weird because a few strong club swimmers/divers can make the schools season.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: I have watched Baba at almost every home game since he started at Blake. It has been amazing to watch him mature as an athlete. He is an amazing athlete and displays good sportsmanship behavior. He is worth going to see. But if you plan to go, Blake’s BB games are often sold out so you need to get your tickets early. And if you’re lucky, at halftime you will get to see Blake’s champion D1 Poms team perform.

The Blake Poms are certainly good, but they are not the D1 champions. I believe they got 3rd last year.