Twenty-two Montgomery County Public Schools seniors have been named semifinalists in the 42nd annual National Achievement Scholarship Program for outstanding African American students. They are among about 1,600 semifinalists--including 67 from Maryland--selected nationwide from more than 120,000 African American students for their high scores on the PSAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. The program is administered by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.

The names of the winners and their high schools are:

Bethesda-Chevy Chase: Blayne M. Tesfaye
Damascus: Kara M. Wilson
Gaithersburg: Johannes C. Kutten
James Hubert Blake: Kristina T. Broadie, Chad C. Sanders
Magrader: Mustafa M. Nasr, Danielle J. Rezac
Montgomery Blair: Natasha L. Coleman, Sebastian Johnson, Sayoh Mansaray
Paint Branch: Dana M. Woodson
Richard Montgomery: Naa Adotsoe Ammah-Tagoe, Crystal N. Boyd, Loide B. Marwanga
Seneca Valley: Obafemi Oniya
Sherwood: Jorden C. Jones, Ernika G. Quimby, Maury White
Walter Johnson: Everis H. Clarke, Steven A. Ellis, Tayina Tardieu
Watkins Mill: Henry B. Dunc

The National Achievement Scholarship Program was initiated in 1964 to honor academically able African American students throughout the nation. To date, more than 26,000 have received scholarship awards worth more than $83 million.

About 1,300 semifinalists are expected to achieve finalist standing and compete for one of 700 National Achievement $2,500 scholarships that will be awarded next spring.

In addition, about 100 achievement scholarship awards will be financed by corporations, foundations and professionals for finalists who meet criteria set by the grantor organizations.

The National Merit Scholars Corporation will release winners' names in early April.