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Polocrosse has taken Peter Balogh all over the country and the growing sport now is taking him to the other side of the world.

Peter, 17, of Boyds will travel to Australia on Sunday with the American Polocrosse Association's national youth development team. Of the 30 athletes from across the country who tried out, only seven made the team, according to Peter's mother Kathleen Balogh.

Polocrosse began in England as a way to exercise horses but developed as a sport in Australia in the 1930s, according to the association. Two teams of three compete on a 160-by-60-yard field, each player on horseback with a bamboo racquet. A match consists of anywhere from four to six eight-minute periods called ‘‘chukkahs" and the object is to throw the ball through the opposing team's goal posts.

Peter, a junior at Poolesville High School, started playing polocrosse about three years ago through the Potomac Polo Club and also plays for the Sugarloaf Mountain Polocrosse Club in Boyds.

The national team was selected in February and will be in Sydney for about three weeks.

New farmers markets

-Sugarloaf Mountain Vineyard kicked off its first summer farmers market last week.

The market is open from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. every Saturday through the fall at the Dickerson winery, 18125 Comus Road. It includes live entertainment, handcrafted items by local artisans and vendors selling fresh produce, organic meats, barbecue, cheeses, flowers, butter products, eggs, poultry, herbs, vinegar and honey bee products.

For information, visit www.smvwinery.com. To participate as a vendor, e-mail market@

smvwinery.com or call 301-592-7904.

-The town of Poolesville will hold its first farmers market June 25 at Whalen Commons park, 19633 Fisher Ave.

Local vendors will sell fresh produce, sweet corn, honey, artisan cheeses, specialty coffee, breads, pastries, dog treats, soap and more from 4 to 8 p.m.

A "Bark at the Park" cute dog contest will be held from 4 to 6:30 p.m. Registration for the contest begins at 4 p.m., and dogs must be up-to-date on their vaccinations. Poolesville Veterinary Clinic will micro-chip dogs for $50, and the Poolesville Band Project will perform from 7 to 9 p.m.

Future dates for the Poolesville farmers market are:

July 30: Meet local artists and watch weaving and soap-making demonstrations. So Far Gone (country/southern rock/blues) will perform.

Aug. 27: Watch sports demonstrations including volley, lacrosse, martial arts and skateboarding. Ernie Bradley and the Grassy Ridge Band (bluegrass) will perform.

Sept. 10: Book signings by local authors including Ray Hoewing, Mary Ann Powell, Jonathan Balcombe, Bernie Jankowski and Melissa Foster. Mindy Miller and the Steamers (country/rock/soul) will perform.

For more information, visit www.poolesville.com.

Q&A with the county executive

County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) is scheduled to appear at the Poolesville commissioners' regularly scheduled meeting Monday.

Leggett will field questions from residents at the meeting, which starts at 7:30 p.m. at Poolesville's Town Hall, 19721 Beall St. For information, visit www.ci.poolesville.md.us.

Fathers and children event in Germantown

The Salvation Army Montgomery County Corps, 20021 Aircraft Drive in Germantown, is hosting a two-day event for fathers and their children.

Salvation Army Mission Specialist Sammy Gomer-DeGomez's "Fathers Being Involved" program is designed to get fathers involved in their children's lives and motivate fathers to be excellent dads.

From 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday, fathers and their children are invited to the Salvation Army for face painting, a father-daughter dance, a father-son game night, races and a barbecue. A special Father's Day worship service will start at 11 a.m. Sunday.

For more information, call Gomer-DeGomez at 301-515-5354.

Graduation notes

-Laura Ann Peper of Poolesville graduated from Carson-Newman College in Jefferson City, Tenn., with a bachelor's degree in music.

-Kathryn A. Sambrana of Germantown graduated with a bachelor's degree in marketing from the University of Delaware in Newark. Sambrana, a 2006 graduate of Seneca Valley High School, was enrolled in the university's Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics.

-Lucas Schoolfield of Germantown graduated from Messiah College in Grantham, Pa., with a bachelor's degree in economics. James Stout of Poolesville graduated cum laude from Messiah with a bachelor's degree in biology.

-Jeffrey K. Boateng of Germantown, Carolyn L. Adamik of Darnestown and Agharese N. Emokpae of Montgomery Village graduated from Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Va.

-The following students graduated from Hood College in Frederick: Ashley Bryant of Germantown, Sean Clayton of Germantown (cum laude), Mark Echevarria of Germantown, Jillian Elkhaim of Boyds, Katherine McVicker of Germantown, Danielle Reed of Germantown and Lisa Zuckerman of Germantown earned bachelor's degrees; Michelle Baran of Germantown, Jennifer Cramb of Germantown, Sitingawawo Kachipande of Germantown, Jesse Loznak of Germantown, Laura Shull of Germantown, John Snitzer of Dickerson, Mai Uyen Vu of Boyds and Charles Zitrick of Germantown earned master's degrees.

Ride On passes

The Upcounty Regional Services Center at 12900 Middlebrook Road in Germantown will no longer sell Ride On and Youth Cruiser passes as of July 1.

For information or to find sales locations, call county transit services at 240-777-5800.

Academic honors

-Joseph R. Burns, a senior at Seneca Valley High School in Germantown who plans to study nuclear engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, has been awarded a National Merit Scholarship. He is one of 42 Montgomery County Public Schools students to be named a Merit Scholar this year.

-Christine Heather Wyne of Poolesville was named to the spring semester dean's list at Mississippi College in Clinton.

-Britney Spicer of Poolesville, a junior elementary education major, was named to the spring semester dean's list at the York College of Pennsylvania.

-Three students from Germantown attending St. Mary's College of Maryland were honored at the school's awards convocation in April. Thomas Mark Vaudin received the Barbara Bershon Arts Alliance Award in Music, Stephanie Klapper received the Margaret Floy Washburn Award and Justin Allen Warrenfeltz received the Garry Wheeler Stone Award.

-Eddie Jesinsky of Germantown was one of four students selected for the summer internship program with the Mid-Atlantic Technology, Research & Innovation Center in West Virginia. Jesinsky is a senior computer science major at West Virginia University in Morgantown.

-Erin M. Toman of Poolesville was named to the spring semester dean's list at Coastal Carolina University in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

-Nikita Reddy of Germantown was named to the spring semester dean's list at the University of New Haven in Connecticut.

-Paul Boyed of Germantown, a sophomore human development and family science major; Sarah Morey of Germantown, a senior nursing major; and Julie Stout of Poolesville, a sophomore mathematics major, were named to the spring semester dean's list at Messiah College in Grantham, Pa.

-Marissa A. Graff and Lauren M. Schwartzbart, both of Germantown, received honors at McDaniel College in Westminster and were named to the spring semester dean's list. Jill R. Wooten of Germantown received high honors.

-Anne McNeil of Germantown, a senior biology major, was named to the spring semester dean's list at Saint Michael's College in Colchester, Vt.

Blood drive in Gaithersburg

The American Red Cross, along with Visiting Angels Living Assistance Services, will host a blood drive, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Tuesday, at the Visiting Angels' Gaithersburg office inside Unit A at 971 Russell Ave.

For information or to make an appointment to donate blood, call Julie Elseroad at 301-355-6578.

This column is for you! Share your good news! Send items to Germantown reporter Andre L. Taylor at ataylor@gazette.net and send Poolesville, Boyds and other upcounty items to Meghan Tierney at mtierney@gazette.net. Or mail to The Germantown-Boyds-Poolesville Gazette, 9030 Comprint Court, Gaithersburg, MD 20877. Don't forget to send us photos!