Being teammates and being competition have the same influence on individuals. They drive an individual to become bettter at what they do. Now from high school to college, Conor Cunningham and Brock Turnbaugh have gone from teammates to opposition on the game’s largest stage.
Cunningham is a redshirt freshman transfer to Maryland from Hofstra. He is a graduate of Hereford High School in Parkton, Maryland where he won four state championships. His talents took him to Long Island. Even though he decided to transfer, Cunningham excelled in the classroom as he finished a member on the Dean’s List at Hofstra.
Brock Turnbaugh on the other hand is starting his college career not up I-95 from Cunningham, but in Baltimore at long time rival Johns Hopkins. He will have the opportunity to push for time as starting goalie when fifth-year senior Eric Schneider graduates this spring.
Cunningham and Turnbaugh have competed on the local stage together, reaching a national level. They shared starting goaltender duties for Brian King at Hereford High School. During their time at Hereford, they helped the team reach national success. They reach a national ranking at Hereford in the Top 25 by defeating then No. 5 national power Gilman 7-6 in 2013.
The parallels are interesting to say the least. Needless to say, they were both goalies for Hereford High School. Both were All Metro selections by the Baltimore Sun. Cunningham and Turnbaugh are both at Big Ten Schools, in their first year in the conference. Both wear the number 29, both are freshmen, and both are trying to unseed elder statesmen in the program.
Oh and there is more. Both Conor and Brock are children of teachers in Hereford. Conor’s mom teaches math at Hereford Middle School, as department chairperson. Brock’s father is the long time physical education teacher and now retired football coach at Hereford High School.
Now why write an article about the two? Well, this could be a fun story to watch develop over the next four years in Big Ten Lacrosse. The conference is starting this season and trying to unseat the powerful ACC as the conference of men’s lacrosse. Not to mention the local chatter that could come from those in Baltimore.
The story could be surpass most of the talk in college lacrosse if the two can earn starting roles against each other. Johns Hopkins and Maryland will be battling for the conference title until the other league foes can reach the upper echelon with these two long time rivals. There have also been some amazing battles in the net for both programs.
Brian Carcaterra, Brian Dougherty, Rob Scherr, Danny McCormick, and so on. There is a list of goalies going back to the start of the NCAA that have defined their careers with outstanding games against Johns Hopkins or Maryland.
For the rest of Maryland, this game happened for three years under the lights of Hereford. Athletic Director Mike Kalisz might have had the best seat in the house to see if the next four years of lacrosse in college are exciting as each days practice in Hereford.
If one of these two, if not both, can help their respective programs to ascend back to the title, the legend of Big Ten Lacrosse could have been started in woods of Parkton, Maryland.
