Cavs, Chaps rule in golf tourney
Westlake and Lake Travis turned the Class 6A regional golf tournaments into a pair of District 25-6A invitationals this week in San Antonio.
The two schools qualified both their boys and girls teams for the UIL Class 6A championships, which will begin in mid-May.
On the girls side, Lake Travis — the two-time defending Class 6A state champion — topped Westlake by 10 strokes, posting a two-round team total of 550. Cavaliers sophomore Sara Camarena, a Texas A&M pledge, finished as the individual medalist after beating senior teammate Morgan Lay, an Aggies signee, in a two-hole playoff. Both players totaled 135 for the two rounds.
Lake Travis senior Kaitlyn Papp, a Longhorns signee, tied Westlake’s Sadie Engleman for third at 137. Jordan Shackleford of Westlake tied for fifth at 141, and her Chaparrals teammates Madelyn Jones, Bentley Cotton and Randi Romack all tied for seventh at 142.
Sophia Di Gesualdo of Vandegrift also advanced to the Class 6A state tournament after finishing 10th at 143.
In the boys tournament, senior Reese Ramsey — a Texas A&M signee — led Westlake to a 26-stroke victory over second-place Lake Travis. The Chaparrals posted a team total of 562, with Ramsey shooting 136 to win medalist honors. Sophomore teammate Matthew Denton placed second at 138. Chaparrals Thomas Bockholt and Reid Davenport tied for fifth at 144.
Freshman Nathan Petronzio paced Lake Travis with a 141 to finish third while teammate Trey Bosco, a freshman who’s committed to Baylor, tied for fifth at 144.
A year ago, the Westlake boys finished third in the Class 6A state tournament.
Cunningham weighs UT offer: After an impressive showing at a club team tournament last weekend in Dallas, Westlake junior forward Brock Cunningham has received a basketball scholarship offer from Texas.
The 6-foot-6 Cunningham, who averaged 14.7 points and 11.3 rebounds for the Chaparrals last season, confirmed the offer Thursday. His gritty play helped Westlake reach a Class 6A regional final in March, and he was named the American-Statesman’s All-Central Texas boys player of the year for 2017.
“Brock’s best attribute is that he’s a winner,” Westlake coach Robert Lucero said last month. “He’s very versatile. He’s an elite rebounder; not a lot of people can chase down rebounds like he does. And he’s one of the toughest kids you’ll ever find.”
Other schools from which Cunningham holds scholarship offers include Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Missouri and Houston. Westlake teammate Matthew Mayer, a 6-7 forward, has held an offer from Texas since his sophomore season. Mayer also is being recruited by nearly every other Power Five school in the state, including Texas A&M and Baylor.
St. Michael’s threepeats as tennis champ: For the third straight year, the St. Michael’s girls tennis team has won a TAPPS state championship.
Competing at the Class 5A tournament in Waco in mid-April, the Crusaders totaled 19.5 points as Brennan Foreman and Hannah Harrod won their third consecutive state title in doubles and Daniela Alvarez finished third in singles.
Regents finished as the Class 5A girls runner-up as Knights junior Georgia Wright won the singles championship. Competing in Class 3A, the Austin Veritas girls doubles team of Summer Apostalo and Elise Yellitz placed second.
Southall to lead Vandegrift volleyball: Vandegrift has promoted assistant volleyball coach Missy Southall to head coach, the school announced this week.
Southall replaces Kelly Skidmore, who departs after six seasons with the Vipers. Skidmore’s husband, Sam, recently became the head football coach at Belton, replacing Bob Shipley.