Heritage, McCarthy lead title hopefuls again
Since 2013, the Class 2A girls’ golf state title has belonged to Broward County.
American Heritage has won four of those championships, and the other three — including the 2019 trophy — belong to its district rival, Archbishop McCarthy.
Regional tournaments get underway next week, and Heritage has a pair of standouts in junior Kelly Shanahan and freshman Katherine Schaefer.
Shanahan finished tied for fourth at state last year. Schaefer won the district title and came in 10th at state last year and won yet another district title on Monday.
Carl Phillips, who coaches McCarthy, returns three girls who went to state last year, including senior Isabella
Bailly (tied for fourth at state) and senior Jennifer Lilly (16th). Rileigh Baker, who finished 31st, is a junior.
“There’s a chance we could repeat — that’s our goal,” Phillips said. “We have a solid team.”
Meanwhile, in boys’ golf, American Heritage has finished either first or second at state for nine consecutive years, winning three championships during that span. The Heritage boys usually win in evennumbered years: 2012, 2014 and 2016 during this run.
Heritage is once again led by junior Luke Clanton, a two-time Miami Herald Player of the Year. Senior Jonathan Mourin and junior Gabe Hegerstrom both made first-team AllBroward last year while junior Sebastian Sacristan made second team.
However, aside from those and other top teams in South Florida, there are also several golfers in Miami-Dade and Broward who have compelling individual stories, such as:
American Heritage senior Sophia Blatter-Rickers is still playing in significant pain due to hip dysplasia and a torn hip labrum. She had surgery on her right hip last November, waiting for the end of the high school golf season to have the procedure.
This season, which will be the last one of her golf career, Blatter-Rickers is again determined to wait until after the Class 2A state finals are completed Oct. 27-28 to have surgery on her left hip.
Aryanah Ahmad, just a sixth-grader, is already the No. 2 player at North Broward Prep, and the 11-yearold phenom hit her first hole-in-one this past summer. That shot, which came on a practice round, happened on a 106-yard par-three hole; Ahmad used a 7-iron.
“I felt really excited,” said Ahmad, who is 4-6 and weighs 75 pounds.
Ahmad, whose ancestry includes Pakistan, India and Panama, has been taught Mandarin in school and is now fluent, using that as her second language. Her father, Saad, is an avid golfer, but Aryanah started beating him last year.
Columbus, which won its district on Monday, is led by a pair of sophomores who made first-team AllDade last year: Andres Atrio and Hans Risvaer. Christian Figueredo and Max Fonseca complete a stellar sophomore class. Columbus’ deep team also includes seniors Justin Rodriguez and Gabriel Niembro.
The North Broward Prep boys’ team has a pair of comeback stories in senior Anthony Trudel and junior Jake Paul.
Trudel had surgery for a brain tumor three years ago. He is fine now, and he got in great shape this summer, shedding 30 pounds.
Meanwhile, Paul suffered a knee injury (torn ACL) last year while playing lacrosse, costing him the entire golf season.
“Jake is a great athlete,” coach Mike Richards said. “He could shoot a low score at any time.”
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Carrollton’s girls’ team is led by senior Carolina Swain, but watch out for promising freshman Andrea Montaner.
Aside from Ahmad, North Broward Prep is led by freshman Mia Perez and senior Rachel Rosenberg, a transfer from Palm Beach Dwyer.
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North Broward Prep, coming off its first trip to state in 15 years and a 10th-place finish, is led by star sophomore Sean Richards and senior Chase Ruge, who won the Westminster Christian Invitational last year at Biltmore.
Sophomore Nicholas Prieto, who finished fifth at regionals last year, leads Florida Christian’s boys’ team. He is ranked seventh in the state among golf’s Class of 2023.
Ransom Everglades, which helped prepare current Stanford freshman golfer Jake Beber-Frankel, is back this year with freshman Jackson Langer at the top of its lineup.
Archbishop McCarthy, which finished sixth at state last year (Class 2A), is led by juniors Brett White and Terry Moore.
Miami Country Day junior Matthew Yamin has made first-team All-Dade two years in a row.