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Vote for the Female Mount Rushmore of Washington County sports

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7 months ago

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Vote for the Female Mount Rushmore of Washington County sports

Last month, I asked a select panel of current and former Washington County athletes, coaches, administrators and Herald-Mail media members a question:

When you think of the history of Washington County sports, who are the four females you’d put on your Mount Rushmore as the leading figures?

Their responses have been tabulated, and a top 10 list (actually 13 due to ties) created.

Now it’s your turn.

Read about the 13 candidates underneath the poll, then vote for four of them. Voting will remain open through Friday at noon.

Points will be awarded 13 through 1 based on the results of the online poll, and also 13 through 1 based on the panel’s selections. The four individuals who receive the most points from both will earn Mount Rushmore status.

Our final Washington County Sports Female Mount Rushmore will be announced later this month.

Vote: Who belongs on the Male Mount Rushmore of Washington County Sports?

Heather Aleshire

Aleshire, a 1995 Clear Spring graduate, was a basketball star for the Blazers and Hagerstown Junior College. At Clear Spring, Aleshire averaged 32.3 points and 12.2 rebounds per game, at the time setting a county record with 2,418 career points (which remains the WCPS record). As a senior, she earned Maryland all-state honors. She went on to become the first woman at HJC to reach 1,000 career points, finishing with 1,216. Aleshire was a two-time All-America second-team honoree with the Hawks, and finished her playing career at the University of Richmond.

Ashley Grier

Grier won the MPSSAA girls golf state championship as a senior at Smithsburg in 2000. She then played at the University of Central Florida. From 2007-11, she competed professionally on the Duramed Futures Tour. In 2007, she competed in the U.S. Women’s Open at Pine Needles. She became a member of the PGA of America in 2014. In April 2017, she became the first female to win a Philadelphia PGA section points title against a field of 115 male PGA professionals. In 2018, Ashley was named Philadelphia Assistant of the Year. She competed in the 2019 Philadelphia Open as the first female ever to do so. She was named PGA Women’s Professional of the Year in 2020. She qualified for and competed in the Women’s PGA Championship in 2021.

Helen (Jessie) Mency

Mency was a member of North Hagerstown’s 1985 state championship and 1986 state finalist basketball teams. During her high school career, she scored 1,727 points, averaging 17.8 per game. She was a co-county player of the year in 1986 and earned USA TODAY national honorable mention. As a track and field athlete, she was a 100- and 200-meter state champion in 1984 and 1986 for the Hubs. She played basketball at Providence and scored 1,224 career points while earning All-Big East Tournament honors three times. She has since coached at Providence, Smithsburg, North Hagerstown and South Hagerstown.

Rachel (Bachtell) Miller

Miller was a volleyball and basketball star for Smithsburg in the late 1990s. She helped the Leopards win the 1998 Class 1A state volleyball title as an outside hitter, and scored 1,053 career points for the basketball team. After playing college volleyball at Hagerstown Community College and Salisbury University, Miller coached the Smithsburg varsity volleyball team for 19 seasons. She compiled a 259-75 record (.775 winning percentage) and led the Leopards to nine Class 1A state titles in an 11-year span from 2009-2019, setting the state record for volleyball coaching titles.

Cindy Neugebauer

Neugebauer began her career as an assistant volleyball coach at Smithsburg before becoming head coach at Williamsport from 1981-92. Her Wildcats teams won six state championships and were state finalists three other times. Her six state titles were the most in state history at the time of her resignation.

Marlys Palmer

Palmer was the women’s volleyball and basketball head coach at Hagerstown Community College for more than 20 years. She had a 632-150 volleyball record with nine Region XX championships and nine national tournament appearances. She was named the American Volleyball Coaches Association East Coast Coach of the Year in 1996 and 1997, and was a nine-time District XIV coach of the year. Her basketball record was 346-232, with two Region XX championships and two national tournament appearances. She was a two-time Region XX coach of the year.

Cathy Parson

Parson was a three-time Washington County Girls Basketball Player of the Year at North Hagerstown. She was named a high school all-American in her junior and senior seasons. At West Virginia University from 1980-83, she scored a then-career record 2,113 points (17.5 per game) and led the Mountaineers to their first 20-win season (20-11 in 1981-82), averaging 20.7 points. She was the first woman inducted into the WVU Sports Hall of Fame. She has coached at Providence, Christopher Newport, Richmond, Howard, Frostburg State and in the WNBA with the Washington Mystics. She currently is the head coach at Central State University.

Belinda Pearman

Pearman played basketball at the University of Maryland and was named to the ACC All-Tournament team in 1982. She was second in scoring and rebounding for the Terps that season. She was an assistant coach for the Terps for 12 years, then was the head coach at Rhode Island for five seasons from 1999-2004. She has since served in administrative roles at Southern Connecticut State (2005-14), Manhattan College (2014-15), Saint Peter’s University (2015-16) and Emerson College (2018-21). She has been the associate athletics director for women’s basketball at Ole Miss since 2021. She is a member of the New England Basketball Hall of Fame.

Lisa Shives

Shives was the Clear Spring athletic director for 27 years and a teacher and coach at the school for 41 years. She was the head volleyball coach for nine seasons, leading the Blazers to two Class 1A state championships (1993-94) and a state final (1992). She coached the tennis team for 23 years over two stints (1991-95 and 2000-17). The girls enjoyed five undefeated seasons, including three straight from 2012-14, while the boys were undefeated in 2012.

Maria Spinnler

Spinnler qualified for the 1988 U.S. Olympic Track and Field trials at 10,000 meters with a 33:51.94 clocking at the Penn Relays in Philadelphia. She was on the 1990-91 USATF Team by virtue of a ninth-place finish at the national championships. She represented the U.S. Team in International competition from 1990-95 and helped win the silver medal in Beijing, China, in 1991. She finished fifth in the 5,000-meter run at the 1993 USATF Championships in Eugene, Ore., and won the 1987 Road Runner Club of America 10,000-meter national championship road race. She placed second in the 1995 Marine Corps Marathon. She has coached at St. Maria Goretti and Hagerstown Community College.

Becky (Walter) Ward

Ward was an All-American pole vaulter at Hagerstown Community College, at the time setting the school record at 11 feet, 7 inches. She is a member of the HCC Athletic Hall of Fame. She went on to Gardner-Webb University, where she was a two-time All-Atlantic Sun Conference performer in the pole vault and 4×100 relay. She then coached cross country and track and field at Boonsboro from 2006-22, leading the Warriors to a combined 21 state team titles in Maryland Class 1A. Her girls teams won five state titles outdoors, four indoors and five in cross country. Her boys teams won three state titles indoors, one outdoors and three in cross country.

Selena Wilkes

A hearing-impaired three-sport athlete at Williamsport, Wilkes earned county volleyball player of the year honors in 1990 and 1991, and all-state honors in 1991. She was a three-time all-county selection in basketball from 1990-92, earning all-state honors in 1992. She earned all-area honors in softball in 1991 and 1992, pitching six career no-hitters and 10 shutouts. She had a three-sport career at Catawba College. She led the basketball team to the South Atlantic Conference championship as a point guard, earning a trip to the NAIA national tournament. She played softball as a pitcher and utility player in 1995. She was a four-year volleyball letter winner and was was the SAC Player of the Year in 1995. She was named Catawba’s Female Athlete of the Year in 1996. She won the Washington County Junior Golf championship seven times and the Women’s Amateur Championship twice. She played on the LPGA Futures Tour from 1996-98 and 2001-02.

Rosemarie Williams

Williams coached at Williamsport from 1967 to 1999, taking the Wildcats’ girls athletic program to new heights in the midst of the Title IX era. After coaching the school’s first girls track and field team in 1972, she started Williamsport’s girls cross country program in 1976 and guided the team to four straight Maryland state titles (1979-82). She coached girls cross country until 1984, finishing with a winning percentage of .956. In her two stints as girls basketball coach (1967-75 and 1979-83), Williams compiled a 153-36-1 record as her teams won nine county titles. She also coached softball from 1967-75 and led her teams to six county titles and a 45-21 record. In all, Williams’ teams won four state titles, six district championships, two MVAL titles and 25 county championships.

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