This Week In High School Sports

  Coral Reef and CoralShores have a history of facing each other with playoff implications in boys lacrosse.

  That history continued this week with another memorable matchup,

Coral Shores Girls Advance

  Facing a tough Palmetto team, Coral Shores’ girls lacrosse squad came away with a hard-fought 7-5 win to advance to the District 32 championship game against Ransom Everglades.

  The game got off to a good start thanks to efforts from players like Emma Upchurch.

  Upchurch led the way with two goals and an assist while Amberlyn Casas and Mallory Eakin added two goals each.

  Emily “ET” Thompson was critical for Coral Shores, contributing two assists in the win.

  Mallory Hudson scored the final goal for the Lady Canes.

  Perhaps most overlooked was the power of Coral Shores’ defense, led by Yuly Cabrera and Taylor Petrusha.

  Goalie Courtney Caputo had five saves in the game, keeping Palmetto at bay.

Tennis

Palmer Duo Advances To States

  Palmer Trinity’s tennis team has made a big turnaround in the last few years, and perhaps nothing showcases that more than the advancing of two players to the state finals.

  Waleed Mneimneh and Eric Opaciuch won the district doubles tournament 2-6, 7-5, 10-4 (super tie breaker).

  Now, Mneimneh and Opaciuch will play in the state finals in Altamonte Springs on April 13.

  In the tournament, Mneimneh also saw success in singles, taking second place.

  Cooper Divine and Keenan Rodriguez also finished in second in singles competition.

Coral Reef Advances

  Coral Reef’s boys tennis team advanced to the Region 8-4A finals with a 4-1 victory over Ferguson.

  After losing their first match to Ferguson’s Jose Ortega 6-4, 6-1, Coral Reef’s Lucas Nickolich took a 6-0, 6-0 win to put the Barracudas on the board.

  Simon Galvis battled to a 6-2, 7-5 win, while Hugo Rodriguez grabbed a 6-1, 6-3 win.

  Perhaps the most exciting match of the tournament came when David Vasserman stormed back from a 3-6 opening set loss to win the match 3-6, 6-1, 6-2.

Coral Reef Girls Fall

  Coral Reef’s girls team came one win away from advancing to the Region 8-4A finals, but fell in a 4-3 result to Coral Gables.

CoraL Reef got wins from BrunaDecerega and Josefina Sanchez-Puerta in singles, as well as the duo of Alexandria Hitt and Cathy Xin in doubles, but it was not enough to overcome Coral Gables’ strong performance.

Track & Field

South Dade Wins Youth Fair Meet

  With a result that surprised many, South Dade outlasted the field in a commanding team victory to capture the Dade County Youth Fair meet.

  Joining South Dade, athletes from Palmer Trinity, Coral Reef, Southridge, Westminster Christian, and Homestead took to the athletic fields to showcase their abilities.

  On the girls side, Coral Reef and South Dade got on the board first when Taylor Dames (Coral Reef) and Serenity Grimes (South Dade) finished fourth and fifth respectively in the 100m hurdles.

  Southridge’s Jonae Harris and Destiny Woodard took fourth and fifth respectively in the 100m dash.

  The girls 1,600m run saw Rachael Osman take fourth for CoraL Reef, followed by teammate Gabby Khawly in ninth, Homestead’s Tamara Louis in 20th, Palmer Trinity’s Janelle Gonzalez in 27th, and South Dade’s DiCaria Alvarez in 31st.

  Southridge’s Harris and Woodard finished third and fourth respectively in the 200m dash finals, giving Southridge their first podium of the meet.

  Sarah Cordier of Coral Reef was the highest finishing local student in the girls 3,200m run, taking  11th place.

  South Dade saw the trio of Brandy Elysee, Diamond Griffin, and Asha Alvarez take fourth through sixth I in the 400m dash, finishing less than a second out of a podium spot.

  South Dade finished second in the girls 4x400m relay, with Southridge taking third place.

  Palmer Trinity’s Sofia Iglesias finished second in the girls discus throw, edging  Southridge’sViviara Wallace who finished third.

  Coral Reef took first and second in the high jump when Taylor Dames and Raykeya Berry swept the top two steps of the podium.

  South Dade’s DiCaria Alvarez finished second while Palmer Trinity’s Autumn-Jade Stoner took third in the pole vault.

Quinisha Miller of Coral Reef surprised with a third place finish in the shot put, finishing ahead of South Dade’s Antonya Frederick in fourth and Iglesias of Palmer Trinity in sixth.

  Asha Alvarez of South Dade and Berry of Coral Reef took second and third in the girls triple jump to finish out he local contingent in the girls events.

  The boys got off to a great start when Javaonte Dean took fourth in the 100m dash for South Dade.

  Homestead’s Eric Saintil captured a win for the Broncos in the 110m hurdles, outlasting Coral Reef’s Jake Polumbo.

Saintil followed up his win with a second place in the 300m hurdles.

  Quinton Curry of Coral Reef took bronze in the 200m dash, with South Dade’s Deshawn Frazier just behind in fourth.

  South Dade made their move up the points classification with a win from Dean in the 400m dash, with Antonio Ferguson taking second, Coral Reef’s Derwin Moultrie finishing third, and Westminster Christian’s George Williams finishing fourth.

The Buccaneers next outlasted Coral Reef to win the 4x100m and 4x400m relays.

  Coral Reef grabbed another win, this time from Carlin Berryhill in the 800m run, with brother Cameron taking third.

  South Dade’s James Wiggins grabbed a victory in the boys long jump, with Homestead’s WolodymyrPigniat taking ninth.

  Jose Enriquez finished first in the pole vault for South Dade, followed by a win in the triple jump by teammate Jesse Jeudi to seal the victory for the Bucs.

Wrestling

Coral Shores Star Sees National Success

  Having already won the state championship in the heavyweight class, Coral Shores’ Dante Jiovenetta furthered his success on a national level with a fifth place result in the All-American Tournament hosted by the National High School Coaches Association in Virginia.

  This was Jiovenetta’s third podium at the tournament.

  His focus will now turn to the national Greco-Roman wrestling season over the summer.