By Alan Goldenbach and Carl Little
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, September 28, 2008

Northwood baseball coach Ed Pikor died suddenly in his sleep last Wednesday. According to Northwood assistant athletic director Ray Trail, the cause of death may have been a brain aneurysm, though autopsy results are still pending. Pikor was 56.

In 2005, a year after Northwood re-opened after being closed for 19 years, Pikor took over the baseball program. The Gladiators returned to the varsity level in 2006-07.

Pikor, though, was working in his native Connecticut at the time of his death after budget cuts left him without a teaching job at a Montgomery County school this school year. Trail said Pikor was hoping to find a position as a full-time substitute, but had made plans to return to the area before the start of baseball season.

"He had really invigorated this program," said Jay Goldman, whose son, Seth, is a senior and played for Pikor the past three seasons. "He was such an enthusiastic guy and it was quite contagious among the players. You could tell, as a parent, that he really knew his baseball, and he really related to his players."

Goldman said there is a caravan of more than a dozen players and parents driving up to Fairfield, Conn., for today's viewing and tomorrow's funeral.

For the first time in the six-year history of the McDonald's Cross-Country Festival at the 5K Maymont course in Richmond, no area boys or girls teams placed in the top three as high-powered teams from Georgia, North Carolina, Delaware and southern Virginia dominated.

Robinson and Clarke County had the area's top finishes -- sixth and seventh, respectively -- and Edison's Leoule Degfae was the top individual. He was sixth in 16 minutes 11 seconds, finishing a blink of an eye faster than Clarke County's Ben Veilleux.

Atlee's Ben Dejarnette was the boys' winner, completing the soggy course in 15:40.

In the girls' invitational race, O'Connell (seventh place) had the area's top finish; Brentsville was ninth and Eleanor Roosevelt was 10th.

Eleanor Roosevelt All-Met Teshika Rivers was 12th in 19:30, the area's fastest time. . . .

The Bull Run Invitational cross-country meet scheduled for yesterday was postponed because of inclement weather. The meet, at Hereford High in Parkton, Md., has been rescheduled for Oct. 11.