ESPN RISE

With three teams that claimed Texas Class 5A titles, and another handful in contention and postseason play in every University Interscholastic League team sport, The Woodlands (Texas) finished atop ESPN RISE's FAB 50 rankings for the 2008-09 school year.

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ESPN RISE Magazine

Reed Connor was the individual cross country champ and finished second in outdoor track's mile and two-mile runs.

The Highlanders also finished first in the 5A division of UIL's Lone Star Cup competition for the second time in three years. They swept the boys' and girls' cross country championships in the fall, and added the girls' swimming and diving title in the winter. Girls' soccer was the state runner-up, and girls' golf and outdoor track each placed third, while boys' outdoor track plus swimming and diving finished fourth.

Excellence is an expectation at the school of about 2,500 located about 30 miles north of downtown Houston in unincorporated southern Montgomery County. The Lone Star Cup standings are posted on the athletic department's Internet home page.

"All of the coaches do a great job and have a lot of pride within their own programs," said Mark Schmid, who just finished his fifth year as athletic director and football coach. "At the same time, we also have a lot of pride in being a well-rounded program. They support each other by sharing athletes and being flexible and understanding there's life outside of your program."

Of the many athletes who played roles in the Woodlands' achievements, three talented runners were particularly instrumental in four of the top UIL finishes. Senior Reed Connor was the individual cross country champ and finished second in outdoor track's mile and two-mile runs. Fellow senior Drew Butler won the outdoor half-mile and scored in the cross country meet. Junior Sarah Andrews swept the girls' individual cross country title, and the outdoor mile and two mile. Connor will run for Wisconsin, Butler for Arkansas.

Athletes at The Woodlands even swept the senior class' valedictorian and salutatorian slots: swimmer Brynnan Webster and football center Sean Finney, respectively.

The area where the high school is located became a master-planned community in the mid-1970s and now is home to numerous corporate headquarters. The population is about 90,000, and the 2007 median household income of $94,626 was about twice the Texas figure.

"Because of the nature of where our kids come from and their parents, the expectations are extremely high," Schmid said. "In order to live up to those expectations, the kids work hard, and they do what they need to do and they want to be successful.

"We have great support from our parents. They pretty much will do whatever it takes to help their kids be successful and to help the program that their kids are involved in. Whether through volunteerism, fundraising, donations, I don't think we could achieve the level of success that we have if we had not had that."

The high school had an enrollment of 5,000 in the early 2000s and was headed for 6,000 when the area's second 5A high school, College Park, opened in 2005. The Woodlands now stands at 3,500, with College Park at 2,500, and Schmid said his school's athletic program has rebounded from the cut in numbers.

The Woodlands draws from a broad foundation of recreational youth sports organizations and club programs. Local kids not only have access to top-notch instruction in team and individual sports, but they also learn at an early age about wearing the Highlanders' green and red through summer sports camps.

"We have a great pipeline," Schmid said. "The participation is phenomenal."

The state Lone Star Cup competition, which also incorporates a few non-sports activities like marching band and academic meets, started in 1998. The top finishers in the two largest classifications, 5A and 4A, often have been suburban schools or affluent city schools in the major metropolitan areas. Highland Park (Dallas) has won nine of the 11 championships in 4A.

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Kingwood soccer

Teresa Sorrentino and the girls' soccer team finished second in the state.

The same pattern holds true on a smaller scale like the Dallas-area all-sports standings that have been compiled by The Dallas Morning News -- although that scoring method gives greater weight to intradistrict competition. Highland Park has won its classification's area championship 21 of 25 years. No inner-city school has claimed the area's 5A crown since Skyline (Dallas) won seven years ago.

J.D. Mayo recently left Skyline following 33 years as basketball coach. His players included 1991 No. 1 NBA draft pick Larry Johnson and current Utah Jazz forward C.J. Miles, who went straight from high school to the NBA.

"There's a lot more interest in tennis or golf in some of the surrounding areas than in the inner city," Mayo said. "It costs quite a bit if you want to achieve excellence in golf or tennis as opposed to basketball. You can get a ball; you can hoop it up. Just find you a goal."

Said Schmid: "In order to finish atop the board of the Lone Star Cup and those types of rankings, you do have to have a broad-based program. It can't just be football, baseball and basketball. You've got to do a great job in golf, in swimming, in soccer.

"Probably the large suburban schools do have an advantage because of the interest. We cover the spectrum as far as what kids want to do. But at the same time, you've got to have great coaches that have a passion to head up those programs and be the best that they can be. And at The Woodlands, I feel like we have those coaches."

Jeff Miller is a freelance writer and can be reached at miller.jeff55@gmail.com.