Edward Sando-Miller grew up in Liberia during a civil war that deformed his face, killed his father and oldest brother, and shattered his hopes for the future. Today, the dreams for the 20-year-old - who graduated this month from James River High School in Chesterfield County - range from getting bachelor’s and master’s degrees in chemistry to running for president of Liberia. He’s planning to attend John Tyler Community College and then transfer to the University of Richmond.

For the second straight year, six area schools placed among the nation’s top 1,500 high schools in an annual survey conducted by Newsweek magazine. James River High School in Chesterfield County was the area’s top-rated school, coming in at 246. Last year, it topped the area list at 210. The schools were ranked based on a formula that combines the number of Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate and Cambridge tests and divides that by the number of graduating seniors.

Two Chesterfield County high school cheerleaders were the top two winners at the National Cheerleader of the Year Scholarship Competition held recently in Fayetteville, N.C. Quinn Moorer from James River High School was named National Cheerleader of the Year, and Ryan Hooghkirk from Cosby High School was first runner-up. Moorer earned a $3,000 scholarship to the college of her choice, and Hooghkirk received a $1,500 scholarship. The cheerleader of the year also makes several public appearances and has potential travel opportunities.

Ethan Radtke, a socially conscious senior at James River High School in Chesterfield County, had doubts that track and field Hall of Famer John Carlos would accept an invitation to speak at his school. Carlos proved him wrong yesterday. Carlos, who won the 200-meter bronze medal in the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, and gold medalist Tommie Smith stunned the world during the medal ceremony while “The Star-Spangled Banner” played and the U.S. flag was raised.

Third-seeded Anjelica Esteves of Cosby upended No. 2 seed Stella Petrova (James River) 6-2, 6-4 to advance to the Dominion District girls tennis tournament final. Esteves and Petrova split their two matches during the regular season. Esteves will play top-seeded Christine Abbott of Midlothian, the Dominion District player of the year, for the title Monday at Cosby at 3 p.m. Abbott, a freshman defeated unseeded Kim Morrissett of James River 6-0, 6-1.

Lindsay Mongra chortled as fellow James River High School student Elliot Harris, 17, mowed over four yellow traffic cones with a sport utility vehicle. But Mongra, 18, didn’t do much better when instructed to weave a car through the course and eat a granola bar at the same time. “Oh, I did hit a cone. I hit two cones. Oh, snap!“ he groaned, having only managed to bite off a corner of the snack wrapper. “That’s what happens when you don’t pay attention.“

Anongos is understated in just about everything he does—except when it comes to winning. His 215 career victories shattered the Virginia High School League record of 181.

Other members of The Times-Dispatch 2008 All-Metro Wrestling team.

Spotlight James River High’s Austin Hersh has already set, reset and reset, again, the school record. Now he’s in hot pursuit of a “family record.“ The Rapids senior is a second generation discus chucker and son of 1980 Olympics qualifier Scott Hersh. “I think Austin has an inner drive to get where his father was; it’s healthy competition,“ said JRHS throwing coach Adam Moss.

The flier handed out to James River High School students read: “Disappointed with prom expectations?“ Apparently, a few students at the Chesterfield County school are, and it all started with homecoming. Senior Courtney Zamparallo said the fall dance was a bust. A lot of students left early because “it was very restricted,“ she said, recalling how administrators stood on a platform near the disc-jockey stand with a spotlight to zero in on students who were dancing inappropriately. They marked students’ hands for the first offense and asked them after the second offense.

No, Pat Pinkard didn’t actually invent girls travel basketball. She did, at least in the Richmond area, put wheels on the concept, made it shine and gave it a motherly, loving shove in the right direction. There are numerous year-round hoops options available now, but until the mid-1980s there was no local travel basketball - the ball stopped bouncing at the end of the high school season.

High Schools With the state champion coming out of the Dominion District each of the past three years, there is no reason to believe it won’t happen again. Monacan won it in 2006, and James River won the championship the past two years. The district is wide open and stacked with talent. Manchester, Cosby, Clover Hill and James River all could make a run for it.

Dontae Carter forced a turnover and charged down the court for a layup as time expired, giving the Radford Bobcats a 54-52 win over James River-Buchanan in the second boys Group A, Division 1 semifinal tonight at the Siegel Center in Richmond. The Bobcats trailed James River by six entering the fourth quarter. James River’s Chris Ware led scoring with 21 points.

Cadarian Raines scored 20 points and Chris Evans 16 to lead the top-ranked Crimson Wave to a first-round victory over the visiting Rapids. Frank Mason contributed 12 points to the effort, all on 3-point shots. The Wave led 36-22 at halftime and built its lead to 23 points through three quarters. Grant Deichman paced the Rapids with 25 points.

New York jazz trumpeter and composer Steven Bernstein is in town to play some gigs and record with the local band Fight the Big Bull. Bryan Hooten, a member of the band, invited Bernstein to teach a workshop for the James River High School jazz band, under his direction, in Chesterfield County. Bernstein, also a bandleader and arranger, is also teaching workshops at Virginia Commonwealth University.