Athletes Worth Watching | Annapolis June 2009
By Pat O'Malley
Photos by Larry French
JASON GONOS
St. Mary’s High School
Football & Lacrosse
Harvard University has gained a bonafide student/athlete who has impeccable credentials academically and athletically in Gonos. With a 4.37 grade-point-average and numerous academic honors, Gonos, a team captain in two sports, has established himself as one of the premier defensemen in the state as well. Christine Bervid, St. Mary’s Communications Coordinator, says of Gonos, who will major in engineering, “he defines scholar athlete.” This spring Gonos became the first Saint to win the $8,000 scholarship as the grand prize winner of Greater Baltimore Chapter of the National Football Foundation award. Gonos captained the MIAA B Conference football champion Saints in the fall and was a DigitalSports.com and consensus All-Metro linebacker and second-team All-State. In lacrosse, the sport he will play at Harvard, the 6’1”, 200-pound Gonos was leading the Saints to one of its best seasons in school history with a legitimate shot at the MIAA A Conference title. “Last year’s team was good, but I think this year’s team has really come together,” says Gonos, hoping to go farther than any team in his four years of varsity lacrosse. He credits youth coach Tony Liberto for inspiring him to become a defender. Gonos, who has received among many prestigious awards, the St. Mary’s Citizenship and Spirit Awards for 2006-08, is a Parvis Scholar (at least 4.0 GPA and Christian and community commitment), Maryland Distinguished Scholar honorable mention and member of the National Society of High School Scholars and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. He is the son of Jake and Marsha Gonos.
EDDIE PALMER
Archbishop Spalding High School
Baseball
The last three years Palmer has been one of the metro area’s top catchers and was named second team All-Metro by the SUN last season as a junior after batting .369 with 10 doubles, two triples, four homers, and 30 RBIs— numbers he was about to surpass at the time of this writing. He already had seven homers as the Cavaliers approached the MIAA A Conference playoffs where they finished as runner-up to Calvert Hall last spring. “Eddie is having another great season and is a leader behind the plate for us,” says Spalding’s seventh-year coach Steve Miller of his MVP of 2008. Palmer, who swings the bat well and has a strong arm, says the MIAA A Conference has been tough and balanced this season and as a senior on a very young Cavaliers’ team has been somewhat surprised with his team’s success, “A lot of people did under-estimate us because we lost a lot to graduation, but we’re proving we are something to deal with it. I’ve been trying to lead these guys, show them what to do and how to carry themselves on the field as much as I can. Playing baseball here has been the best time of my life. I’ve learned how to be a good person in general and to work for what I want later in life through coach Miller and his coaches.” Palmer is headed to St Joseph’s University in Pennsylvania where he will study physics. He boasts a 3.8 grade-point- average, 1,690 SAT score, and is a member of the National Honor Society and the Fellowship of Christian athletes. “I hope to be on more of the engineering side of it later in life,” says Palmer. “I’ve worked hard at academics.” Palmer is the son of Eddie and Maureen Palmer.
ASHLEY THOMAS
Broadneck High School
Softball
Along with Kourtney Salvarola, Thomas gives the Bruins one of the top 1-2 duos in the state as they seek to win what has been an elusive state championship for the two juniors. The Bruins came into the season with four wins in their last six games against two-time 4A State champion Chesapeake. Thomas and the Bruins have been unable to win the Class 4A East Regional because of Chesapeake. It’s been frustrating. “The rivalry is intense,” says Thomas, who plays summer ball with a lot of the Cougars. “Kourtney and I help each other out a lot. We are close friends. We know we can beat them and losing to them is pretty frustrating because we have to hear it from them.” Thomas led the county as a sophomore last year in RBIs (38) and triples (8), which tied the state record. She batted .397 (31-for-78) with three doubles and five homers and pitching she was 8-1 with a 1.32 ERA. The team and Thomas have adjusted very well to coach Reese Kiple, Salvarola’s stepfather who succeeded James Ware. The revered Ware suddenly passed away last summer. “Mr. Kiple really knows the game because he also coaches in the summer (with Wagner’s Gold) and the players all knew him,” says Thomas, who has a 3.5 grade-point-average and hopes to play at a school in North Carolina or Georgia. She is daughter of Bill and Debbie Thomas.
CHELSEA THOMPSON
Broadneck High School
Field Hockey & Girls Lacrosse
Thompson is one of the Bruins top go-to players and leaders in their quest of unseating Severna Park as the Anne Arundel County and Class 4A/3A State champions in lacrosse. Going into the final weeks of the season, the senior attack was one of the county’s leading scorers. In a 16-9 regular season romp over Severna Park that broke the latter’s three-year 47-game winning streak, Thompson tallied three goals. “We have a great bunch of girls and a lot of balance,” says Thompson. “This is a key year for us and our attack is really on. We have goals on our lockers and the main goal is a state championship.” A consensus second-team All-County performer by the local media with 23 goals and 28 assists as a junior last year, the Bruins’ team captain has really stepped up her senior year and has received a lacrosse scholarship to UMBC. “I’ll be majoring in business and communications. I would love to work in the Ravens’ marketing department,” she says. Thompson, who has a 3.0 grade-point-average, credits coach Karen Tengwall for her personal development because the coach’s “door is always open” to her players
and is “like a second mom to me.” Also a captain in field hockey, Thompson was a second-team All-County selection. She is the daughter of Mike and Kathy Thompson.
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