The best high school badminton players on the East Coast converged at Pikesville Saturday for the finals of the Baltimore County tournament. By the end of the day, medals had been distributed players from seven of the league’s high schools.
In boys’ singles, Yong Chen from Catonsville defeated teammate Jasper Chyou, completing an impressive fall.
“I thought he was the best boys’ badminton player I’ve ever seen in eight years of coaching,” said Towson coach Cary Sonneborn, whose team won the county team for a fifth straight season last week.
Dulaney’s Kun Leng defeated teammate Chris Fowler, 15-13 and 15-7, for the bronze.
In girls’ singles, Dulaney’s Helen Gao won in dominating fashion over Franklin’s Stacy Sumedi 15-4 and 15-0. Towson’s Diana Reighart rallied for a three-set decision over Loch Raven’s Erica Tuckey, 11-15, 15-13 and 15-10.
Cody and Eli Sherlock of Dulaney avenge a loss in the county team championship game to Towson’s Justin Thau and Simon Townsend-Last, 15-6 and 15-12, for the boys’ doubles crown. Dulaney also earned the bronze as Jesse Dong and William Zhang defeated Loch Raven’s Zach Surock and Scott Hinton in another exciting three match set, 15-7, 11-15 and 15-10.
Towson won the girls’ doubles gold medal with Samara Cohen and Laura Stec defeating Perry Hall’s Esther Liu and Vivian Truang, 17-14 and 15-8. Hereford’s Jessie Gee and Julie Ashwood took bronze when they defeated Franklin’s Elisabeth and Alyssa Sooklal 14-17, 15-1 and 15-7.
Towson also grabbed gold in mixed doubles as Becky Spencer-Strong and Jibirl Kedir defeated Dulaney’s Fan Wu and James Chu. Chu and Wu had beaten the Towson pair in the team championship game Wednesday.
Pikesville’s Anna Dizik and Praneeth Thalla defeated Western Tech’s Samrath Uberio and Destiny Allen for the bronze medal.
