Laurel Product Finds Basketball Home At Wingate

Chase Smith, a graduate of Eleanor Roosevelt, was the top defensive player for his college team while Laurel High track ends season in state meet.

Chase Smith, when he played basketball for the Laurel Boys and Girls Club, was teammates with Wesley Dunning, who played this past college season for Division I Hampton. Another standout player at the time was Andre Dawkins, who eventually moved to Virginia, Smith said, and was a member of powerhouse Duke this past season. Smith, a former Laurel resident, felt he also had the ability to play at the Division I level after he averaged more than 17 points per game as a senior at Eleanor Roosevelt High in Greenbelt. But after looking at opportunities at Division I Howard and other schools, Smith decided to attend Division II Wingate, near Charlotte. Smith made visits to Wingate in North Carolina, Bloomfield in New Jersey and Wheeling Jesuit in…

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Laurel High Athletic Director Nears End of Tenure

Terry Parfitt, who will step down in June, looks back on events in his career, including a tornado that hit Kirby Field nearly 10 years ago.

Terry Parfitt, during many years as an athletic director and soccer coach at Laurel High, has had to deal with hiring new coaches, one-goal losses and the suspension of student-athletes, such as was the case with the Spartans' football team after a game with High Point in 2009. But perhaps the most trying moment came nearly 10 years ago with an incident that had nothing to do with personnel moves. Several minutes after a home girls soccer game at Laurel's Kirby Field, a tornado roared north from College Park and passed directly over the west side of Laurel High and through the field, which had just 30 minutes earlier been the scene of a game. By the time the storm hit that September day in 2001, Parfitt and Lou Slavin, his assistant soccer…

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Laurel High Names New Head Football Coach

Todd Sommerville, an assistant coach for four seasons at Parkdale, takes on a new challenge with the Spartans.

Laurel High announced Friday morning that Todd Sommerville has been named the new head varsity football coach. Sommerville, a graduate of Franklin High School in Baltimore County, has been an assistant coach at Parkdale High in Riverdale for four seasons and was the defensive coordinator during the 2009 season. Sommerville teaches physical education at Parkdale and he played football at Franklin High and at Division II Catawba College in North Carolina. Sommerville was one of seven candidates interviewed on Thursday, according to long-time Laurel Athletic Director Terry Parfitt. All seven are or have been assistant or head coaches in Prince George's County schools, according to Parfitt. The four-person search committee included principal …

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High School Sports Notebook

High School Sports: Laurel Prep Roundup

Leon Porter, a St. Vincent Pallotti High grad from Laurel, is having another strong college hoop season; Laurel High prepares to interview 10 candidates for varsity football coach position while boys basketball beats Bowie on Tuesday.

Leon Porter of Laurel admits he had never heard of Dominican College during his early days at St. Vincent Pallotti High. But during his senior season, a coach and athletic department administrator from the school in New York  came to see him play basketball for the Panthers. They must have been impressed, as Porter ended up playing as a freshman last season for the Division II school. And the decision to play at Dominican, in Orangeburg, N.Y., has worked out well for all involved. Porter, who helped Pallotti to the B conference title game in 2009 in the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA), was the freshman of the year in the conference last season for Dominican and this year he led the team in scoring, assists, steals and …

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