In the Richard Montgomery High School football stadium Wednesday night, a sideline packed with teenage girls jumped and cheered as their Springbrook High School teammate ran with a football down the field.  

Eventually, an opposing player from Albert Einstein High School brought the runner to a halt by capturing one of the detachable flags hanging from her uniform. But that didn’t take away from the students’ excitement of almost scoring getting a touchdown in one of the first-ever Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) girls flag football games.  

Wednesday night was the kickoff for the school system’s high school girls flag football season, making MCPS one of four Maryland districts to add the sport to their roster of high school athletic teams while also providing county students an opportunity to participate in a typically male-dominated sport.  

“I’ve been watching football all my life,” said senior Kesare Bakare, a co-captain of the Gaithersburg High School flag football team. “I wanted to be able to play it in an actual [team] setting.” 

Flag football has been gaining popularity over the years, according to CBS, because the fast-paced sport poses less risk of injury when compared to tackle football. The biggest difference between flag and tackle football is the lack of tackling, but there are also other rule differences. The size of the playing field also is smaller and there are fewer players on the field than in traditional football, according to NFL flag football. Organized flag football leagues for all genders have increased over the years, and the sport also will be debuting at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, according to USA Football. 

For Montgomery County, the idea of bringing girls flag football to schools came from student surveys identifying interest in the sport, MCPS Director of Systemwide Athletics Jeffrey Sullivan told MoCo360. After discussions with the Baltimore Ravens and athletic wear company Under Armour brought in grant funding for equipment and uniforms, the sport became a reality for MCPS. Grant funding also paid for other expenses, including coach stipends, transportation and awards, according to MCPS.  

More than 600 students are playing flag football this fall, according to Sullivan. “With every checkpoint, it has more than exceeded the excitement level and the experience for our student athletes and coaches,” he said. 

MCPS joined Baltimore City and Washington County public schools to pilot the girls flag football program this fall, while Frederick County Public Schools entered its second season after piloting the sport last year.  

Wednesday’s opening night took place at four county high schools: Richard Montgomery and Thomas S. Wootton in Rockville, Paint Branch in Burtonsville and Seneca Valley in Germantown. All 25 teams took part in opening ceremonies held at all four high schools and 24 got their first taste of competing in flag football during games played that night.  

“I was at Wootton and Seneca Valley, and the energy was just–it’s hard to put into words,” Sullivan said. “My job ultimately is to create opportunities and spaces for student-athletes to thrive. … It’s really surreal when you’re watching it unfold in front of your eyes.”  

In the lead up to the sport’s debut, Sullivan said the district tried to “build momentum.” It held skills clinics for players interested in joining, opportunities that Tina Fitzpatrick, athletic director at Einstein High School in Kensington, said helped get more students involved.  

“We’re not just like dropping it out of nowhere,” Fitzpatrick said. “It’s not up to just our schools to get it off the ground, but we’ve done it kind of together as a collective county effort, which I think shows in the amount of girls that are participating.”  

For Bakare, along with her co-captains Yvette Larios and Edita Kentale, both juniors, joining the Gaithersburg High team came down to wanting to try something new and get involved in a sport they loved. 

“I used to watch YouTube videos of people [playing] flag football,” Kentale said. “I was like, ‘I want to do this. … I want to be part of a team sport where we’re all working together.’ ”  

The three also play other sports, with Bakare and Kentale participating in track and field and Larios swimming and playing soccer. None of the trio had played flag football before, though, an aspect of the new sport that Fitzpatrick said makes it more approachable.  

Larios said the members of the Gaithersburg team have grown close in part because they are learning flag football strategies and rules together. After clinics in June, tryouts and practices for teams began in mid-August in preparation for the September opening.  

“These girls, they’re all brand new,” Larios said. “We’re all starting at the same level and we’re growing together. So, it makes us even closer.”   

However, learning the new sport wasn’t easy, the players said. 

“When you’re not used to people coming at you, a natural instinct is to block or push them away right? So, with flag football, you can’t do that,” Larios said. “So learning how to not push people away when they’re running at you … is really hard.” 

And there are aspects of the game and plenty of new vocabulary that the girls said they had to get used to. It took a lot of repetition to remember lingo such as “blitzer” or “line of scrimmage,” and even more repetition to memorize strategic plays. 

Despite the challenges, they said they learned about the value of teamwork–especially Kentale and Bakare, who typically compete in non-team sports.  

“One of my coaches said, ‘How you do anything is how you do everything,’ ” Kentale said. “We need to all work together because if one person is down and we don’t try everything to pick them up, it’s going to affect us as a team and how we play.” 

Plus playing flag football has been a lot of fun, both for the players and Jeremy Brown, coach of the Gaithersburg High team. 

“I’m just having a lot of fun working with them and seeing them compete,” Brown said. “I’m coming up with a scheme and what not to win games, but I’m also teaching a lot about the sport and strategy.” 

Brown said providing students with more opportunities to play sports gives them the chance to learn how to be a team member as well as how to lose and to deal with adversity. 

“If an opportunity comes up and you feel like you’re down to do it, having options like this is really, really good,” Larios said. “You learn more about yourself as an individual, and you also learn more about opportunities that you can get.”  

Those new opportunities are reflected in the division names for the 25 flag football teams: Dreamers, Pioneers, Innovators and Trailblazers. Sullivan said the divisions were intentionally named “for what our students are doing with this initiative.”  

“This really allows girls … an opportunity to play football for some of us [who] actually enjoy the sport,” Kentale said. “It shows that women can also do anything.”  

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Silver Spring resident Jian Li found he’d landed more than a huge fish when he reeled in a 38-pound yellowedge grouper while on a charter boat off Ocean City last week—he’d also landed a record-setting catch. 

The 43-inch fish caught Aug. 27 by Li, who fishes as a hobby, set the first record in Maryland for the heaviest yellowedge grouper in the Atlantic division, according to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) 

“When he pulled it up, we [were] really excited,” recalled Xicheng Zou, Li’s friend who was also on the boat. “Everyone dreams [of catching] a big fish.” 

Zou said that Li, a native of China who was unavailable to speak to MoCo360 on Wednesday, goes fishing three or four times a year, and this was the first time he reeled in a fish of that size. 

“The reason it got a state record was because of its remarkable size, and it was only 10 pounds under the world record,” Erik Zlokovitz, who works in recreational fisheries outreach for the DNR, told MoCo360 on Wednesday. 

Li’s catch was just 10.6 pounds lighter than the 48.6-pound yellowedge grouper that holds the International Game Fish Association world record, according to the DNR. That fish was caught off Dauphin Island, Alabama, in June 2012. 

Zou and Li were two of four anglers who headed out Aug. 27 on the Tiderunner, a charter boat operated by Capt. Chase Eberle. 

After an unsuccessful attempt at fishing offshore for mahi mahi, the fishermen tried “deep dropping,” or fishing in deep ocean waters, at Poorman’s Canyon off Ocean City. They sank false albacore strip baits attached to heavy sinkers 420 feet down to search for large bottom fish, according to the DNR. 

All four hooked large fish, but only Li was able to reel in a catch, according to the DNR. Zlokovitz noted that yellowedge groupers are more typically found between the waters of North Carolina and Brazil, but that anglers have been catching more yellowedge in the canyons off of Maryland, Virginia and New Jersey due to the use of the deep-drop fishing technique. 

After docking, the anglers took photos with Li’s record-breaking fish. According to a DNR press release from Wednesday, Sunset Marina staff in Ocean City weighed the grouper on a certified scale and DNR biologist Gary Tyler confirmed the species.

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The Bullis School community is mourning the loss of head football coach Ray Butler after the “deeply respected” coach and mentor died Monday night, the school announced Tuesday.  

According to a statement from the Potomac private school, Butler died peacefully, surrounded by family. The statement didn’t specify the cause of death, but a GoFundMe started by a Bullis parent said Butler suffered a massive brain hemorrhage on Aug. 24 and was in the ICU.  

“His passing has left a significant void, particularly among the students and athletes who were inspired by his guidance and care,” the statement said.  

Butler began his time at Bullis as a member of the security team and an assistant football coach. In these dual roles, he was “more than just a protector of the campus”–he was also a mentor and “positive force” in the lives of Bullis students, the statement said. Butler took on the role of head varsity football coach in 2023.  

As a head coach, Butler continued to “shape the lives of his players with his calm demeanor, compassion, and unwavering dedication,” the school’s statement said.  

“He committed himself fully to them — in-season or out, rain or shine, win or lose,” the school said.  

According to NBC4 Washington, Bullis Head of School Christian G. Sullivan said in a letter that Butler made a “profound impact” on the lives of students.  

“His legacy at Bullis will be remembered not only for the victories he led but for the countless lives he touched with his kindness, patience, and steadfast dedication,” the letter said. 

Shawn Yancy, a news anchor for NBC4 in Washington, D.C., and the mother of two former Bullis football players, paid tribute to Butler during the station’s 11 p.m. broadcast Tuesday night, saying Butler had a “remarkable impact.”  

“For him, it was always about the young men, it was always about the kids that he coached,” Yancy said. “He was … a gentle, kind man but his spirit and his motivation were huge.”  

Social media also lit up with tributes to the coach, including from other private school football programs including the Potomac School.  Others, including parents, former students and County Councilmember Will Jawando shared that Butler had been a pillar in the community. 

Bullis’s statement said funeral arrangements for Butler will be shared once they’re available. The school didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.  

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Bullis School student Quincy Wilson, who won an Olympic gold medal this summer as the youngest male member ever of the U.S. men’s track team, was the star attraction at Sunday’s Washington Nationals game against the Chicago Cubs at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C.

Wilson, a junior at the Potomac private school, wore a white Nationals jersey as he threw out the ceremonial first pitch to start the 1:30 p.m. game. He then participated in the traditional Presidents Race held at every home game, waving to the crowd.

The team celebrated the teen’s appearance on social media, calling him “the FASTEST KID ALIVE.”

Wilson’s appearance proved to be Nationals fans’ only opportunity for a celebration as the Cubs trounced the home team 14-1.

In addition to being the youngest U.S. male track Olympian, Wilson took home a gold medal in the 4×400-meter relay from the 2024 Olympics Games held in Paris this summer.

Wilson watched from the stands as his teammates brought home the gold—the third straight Olympic gold medal for the U.S. team in the relay.

Wilson earned the medal by running the opening leg for the U.S. team in the first round of the race, putting the team in seventh place when he handed off the baton. His teammates–Vernon Norwood, Bryce Deadmon and Chris Bailey–made up ground to finish in third place, sending the team to the relay final.

With his appearance, Wilson made history as he became the youngest man to compete in track for the United States at the Olympics.

In June, Wilson fell short by tenths of a second to become the youngest male member to compete as an individual with the team at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials in Eugene, Oregon.

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Pleasant View Park, a nearly 10-acre park with amenities including a bicycle pump track, community garden and large grassy lawn, is expected to open in Gaithersburg this fall, according to city officials.

The opening of the park at 10901 Darnestown Road comes nearly three years after construction began in November 2021. As of Aug. 21, the park was in the final phase of completion, according to the project webpage. A specific opening date has not been set.

In addition to the bicycle skills course – a circular loop with berms and rollers that cycylists can ride without pedaling – garden and large green space, the park will also have an outdoor fitness zone, walking trails, visitor plaza and pavilions with picnic tables

The land where the park sits originally was used from 1955 to 1975 as a fire control radar site of the U.S. Army NIKE Missile system, according to the city. After 1975 the site was home of the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s National Laboratory Campus, where consumer products were tested.

Named after the Pleasant View community, one of the first free Black communities established in the county after the Civil War, the “park’s name honors the historic significance of that community and the beauty of its natural surroundings,” Gaithersburg Mayor Jud Ashman said Monday in an email statement to MoCo360.

“Pleasant View Park will add to the city’s diverse landscape of parks [and increase] access to outdoor amenities for residents and visitors. We are excited to welcome residents to Pleasant View Park soon,” Ashman said.

The community garden at Pleasant View Park will also be the city’s first, according to Ashman.

Plots are allotted to gardeners on a lottery-based system, according to the community garden webpage. Those interested in renting a plot must submit an application to enter the lottery, although this year the plot allotment has already been finalized.

Eighteen raised-bed plots are available, six of which measure 48 square feet and cost $30 per year and 12 that are 32 square feet and cost $25 per year. Individuals and families are limited to one plot per household/family, according to the community garden website.

The park will have a parking lot and a Ride-On bus stop is located at the park entrance on Darnestown Road.

Here are photos of the park in August:

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Montgomery County’s outdoor pools are closing for the season, but a pool in Gaithersburg will open its waters for dogs to enjoy at its annual Pooch Pool Party this weekend.

The party, hosted by Montgomery County Recreation, will be held from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at the Upper County Outdoor pool at 8211 Emory Grove Road.

Pooches of all ages and sizes are welcome to lap around the pool, play with toys and other canine friends and frolic in the waters, according to a news release.

Pet owners are allowed to wade in the pool only up to their knees due to health concerns, according to the recreation department.

Pre-registration is required for admission to the event and tickets are still available. Tickets cost $10 for county residents. Non-residents pay $25 per ticket, which includes a $10 activity fee and $15 non-resident fee.

Tickets can be purchased at this link.

According to the event page, each dog must be accompanied by an adult. In addition, owners must provide written proof of current rabies vaccination to be allowed into the event, and dogs owned by county residents must have a current dog license (available from the county police department).

After the event, the pool will be closed and cleaned for the winter, according to the recreation department.

Here is a video from the last year’s pool party:

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Though the end of summer is just a few weeks away, there is still time to explore several new attractions that have been added to parks around Montgomery County this summer, such as a new mountain biking course, a dog park, pickleball courts and campgrounds equipped with camping essentials.

Here are a few places to check out:

New mountain bike trails

This summer, Montgomery Parks opened a new mountain biking course called Gravity Mountain Bike Park in Wheaton Regional Park at 2000 Shorefield Road.

The mountain bike park, geared toward mountain bikers and BMX riders, has an easier green course and a more advanced blue course. Both routes cater to moderately experienced riders and feature dirt and wooden berm turns, rollers, drops, and ride-through features, according to Montgomery Parks.

“This new bike park is a great spot for adventure riders to build their skills on challenging terrain. Once riders start the course, it’s all downhill with multiple challenges to navigate,” Bob Turnbull, Montgomery Parks’ natural surface trails program manager, said in a July press release.

According to Montgomery Parks Director Miti Figueredo, the county Planning Board in 2022 approved an updated master plan for Wheaton Regional Park, which is more than 50 years old. The plan includes projects to update the park with new amenities that “better serve the community” in the surrounding area.

The creation of the mountain bike park, one of the master plan’s recommendations, is the first new project coming out of the updated plan, according to Figueredo.

“It feeds right into our goals of getting people outdoors in nature, having fun and getting exercise, and connecting with each other,” Figueredo said.

Columbia Local Park reopens with pickleball courts, dog park

Obsessed with pickleball or just starting to learn the sport? This summer county fans gained more places to play with the opening of courts at Columbia Local Park in Burtonsville.

With an abundance of pickleball courts in locations ranging from neighborhood parks to facilities dedicated to the sport, pickleball has surged in popularity in the county in recent years. North Bethesda, in fact, is the home of the headquarters of JOOLA, a table tennis and pickleball manufacturer.

Pickleball courts aren’t the only new amenity at the park at 14900 Old Columbia Pike. After nearly a year under renovation, Columbia Local Park reopened earlier this summer with a new dog park, futsal court, and a new seating area with solar charging tables, according to Figueredo.

The nearly 11,000 square-foot dog park has two sections, one for big dogs and the other for small dogs, and is primarily paved with large mounds of artificial turf in each space, according to planning documents.

According to Figueredo, Columbia Local Park, acquired by the parks department in 1969, needed a “park refresher.” With the renovations complete, the space has received a “complete facelift,” she said.

“One of the things that we do over time is we go into some of our older parks that need updating, that maybe have some kind of amenity that’s no longer used, and we swap it out and put something new that people really are going to make a lot of use of,” Figueredo said, noting the park had an underutilized asphalt area that was repurposed as the pickleball courts.

Go camping

Need a last-minute vacation? Campsites at Little Bennett Regional Park in Clarksburg are still available.

This summer Montgomery Parks added three new sites at Little Bennett Campground’s Loop C that are equipped with camping essentials, according to a press release. The new sites include a canvas tent on a wooden platform, two camp chairs, a propane stove, a lantern, a picnic table, a fire ring with a grill top and an electrical outlet.

“Little Bennett Campground has camping options for everyone,” Laura Favin, assistant manager at the campground, said in the release. “The new canvas tent sites offer the best of both worlds: the rustic charm of camping with the convenience of modern comforts, so you can spend more time exploring and less time setting up.”

Little Bennett Campground, at 23705 Frederick Road, spans 3,700 acres of forest and meadows and offers access to more than 25 miles of trails for hiking and biking, according to Montgomery Parks.

Other campground amenities include hook-up sites for recreational vehicles as well as yurts, cabins and group camping areas, according to the parks department. In addition, the full-service campground has bathhouses with sinks, showers, toilets and drinking fountains within walking distance of each site.

For more information about the campground and to make a reservation, visit the campground website. There is a two-night minimum for all reservations.

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Six athletes with ties to Montgomery County won nine medals in the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics, with many of them setting records and making history.  

Here’s who is bringing home medals to the county:  

Katie Ledecky 

Ledecky, a Bethesda native and graduate of Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart in Bethesda, won four medals for swimming during the 2024 Paris Olympics: gold in the women’s 1500-meter and 800-meter freestyle, a silver as part of the women’s 4×200-meter freestyle swimming relay and a bronze in women’s 500-meter freestyle.  

Ledecky made history several times over, setting a record for the most medals won by a female swimmer with a total of 14 medals. She also became the second swimmer to win the same event at four consecutive Summer Games and the first woman to do so.  

Nine of her 14 medals are gold.  

Arriving home at the Dulles airport yesterday, Ledecky told NBC News4 that it hasn’t sunk in that she’s the most decorated female Olympic swimmer, but she was excited to have time to relax.    

Erin Gemmell  

Another Stone Ridge alumna, Erin Gemmell, took home one silver medal in the women’s 4×200-meter freestyle swimming relay.  

Gemmell visited her former swim club, the Potomac Woods Swim and Tennis Club, on Monday, answering questions, signing autographs and posing for photos, according to social media posts from the swim club.  

Gemmell said winning a silver medal was amazing and something that “everyone dreams of,”  according to a video from the swim club. 

“I think relays are so much more fun than individual races,” Gemmell told the crowd, according to the video. “Getting to do it with three other girls was even better.”  

Quincy Wilson 

Sixteen-year-old Quincy Wilson, a student at the private Bullis School in Potomac, took home gold as one member of the U.S. men’s track relay team in the 4×400 race.  

Although he didn’t run in the men’s 4×400 relay final in Paris, he earned the medal by running the opening leg for the U.S. team in the first round of the race. The rising junior made history with his appearance as the youngest man to compete in track for the U.S. at the Olympics.  

Helen Maroulis 

Rockville native Helen Maroulis became the first U.S. woman to win three medals in wrestling when she won a bronze medal in women’s freestyle wrestling in the 57-kilogram weight class.  

The 32-year-old defeated Canada’s Hannah Taylor to win the third-place medal at the 2024 Summer Games in Paris. Maroulis also won bronze in the same event at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and gold in the 2016 Rio Olympics in the 53-kilogram weight class.   

Masai Russell  

Potomac’s Masai Russell won the women’s 100-meter hurdle final in a photo finish to earn the gold medal. The 24-year-old graduate of Bullis School leaped into the air when she realized she had won first place.  

After winning, Russell said in an Olympic press conference that when she realized she won, she was “so happy.”  

Thea LaFond  

Although she didn’t compete for the U.S. team, Thea LaFond, a former Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) teacher, won gold in women’s triple jump in track for the island nation of Dominica.  

LaFond’s gold medal made history as the first-ever medal for the country. LaFond graduated from John F. Kennedy High School in Silver Spring and taught in the county school system, according to MCPS.  

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In addition to being the youngest U.S. male track Olympian, 16-year-old Quincy Wilson will take home a gold medal from the 2024 Olympics Games even though he did not run in the men’s 4×400 relay final Saturday in Paris.

Wilson, a rising junior at Potomac’s Bullis School, watched from the stands as his teammates brought home the gold—the third straight Olympic gold medal for the U.S. team in the 4×400-meter relay.

Wilson earned the medal by running the opening leg for the U.S. team in the first round of the race, putting the team in seventh place when he handed off the baton. His teammates–Vernon Norwood, Bryce Deadmon and Chris Bailey–made up ground to finish in third place, sending the team to the relay final.

With his appearance, Wilson made history as he became the youngest man to compete in track for the United States at the Olympics. Wlson claimed the title from Arthur Newton, a 17-year-old who ran the steeplechase in 1900, according to The Washington Post.

According to ESPN, Wilson said he wasn’t himself on Friday but would use the race as motivation.

“They got me around the track,” Wilson said, referring to his teammates, according to ESPN. “My grit and determination got me around the track.”

In June, Wilson fell short by tenths of a second to become the youngest male member to compete as an individual with the U.S. Olympic track team at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials in Eugene, Oregon.

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Potomac’s Masai Russell won the women’s 100-meter hurdle final Saturday by the tiniest of margins—.01 seconds—earning a gold medal as she crossed the line just ahead of her competitors during the 2024 Olympic Summer Games.

Russell and her fellow hurdlers had to wait before finding out who would take home the gold medal. “Look how anxiously they’re looking up at the screen,” an NBC announcer said as the runners stared upward. “They’re waiting for confirmation.

Within seconds, Russell leaped into the air as she realized she had won.

“The Olympic debutante is an Olympic champion,” the NBC announcer yelled.

Russell, a 24-year-old graduate of the private Bullis School in Potomac, claimed a spot Friday to compete in the final.

She grabbed the final qualifying spot in her heat after placing second in the semi-finals with a time of 12.42 seconds, according to the Olympics results. In the same heat, Jasmine Camacho-Quinn, 27, of Puerto Rico, the defending champion from the Tokyo games, crossed the finish line first with a time of 12.35 seconds.

Russell was joined in the race by U.S. teammates Grace Stark and Alaysha Johnson on either side.

Russell is a 2018 graduate of Potomac’s Bullis School, which is also where Quincy Wilson, 16, the youngest male U.S. track and field Olympian in history, attends school. Wilson, a rising junior at Bullis, will compete in the U.S. men’s 4×400 relay final, scheduled for 3 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on Saturday.

On Wednesday, Russel claimed a spot in the semi-finals after winning her first-ever Olympic race with a time of 12.52 seconds, On3 reported.

Russell earned her spot on the U.S. Olympic Track and Field team in June after finishing in first place and setting an Olympic trials record at 12.25 seconds at the trials in Eugene, Oregon. Her time broke a 24-year-old meet record that had been held by Gail Devers (12.33 seconds).

After the trials race, Russell spoke to NBC’s Lewis Johnson about securing her spot to compete in the Paris Olympics.

“I have so many emotions because this has been the hardest season of my life. People were doubting me. Talking about ever since I signed with Nike I’ve been trash,” Russell said. “Just saying all these things about me. But I just stayed true to myself, my work and my craft and this is all God.”

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