Lake Mary girls golf wins Odoba Challenge
Lake Mary’s reigning state champion girls golf team won the weekend’s Qdoba Burrito Challenge at Providence Golf Club.
And that came after Rams coach Dennis Burchill counted just getting to play in sunny weather as a victory in itself.
“It was good to get back together and see the girls play,” Burchill said, noting that his team hadn’t played golf outdoors since Hurricane Ian stormed through Florida.
In their return to the greens, the Rams produced their best effort of the season with a 3-over-par 291 team score for 18 holes on Friday.
Sophomore Ryleigh Knaub led Lake Mary with 4-under-par 68 to earn medalist honors.
“It came down to putting,” she said. “I made a lot of putts and scrambled when it got tough.”
The First Academy finished 3 shots behind in second, with sophomore Sophia Hong shooting 2-under-par 70. Lake Mary Prep senior Victoria Tan shot 71.
Lake Mary’s two home courses — Legacy Club at Alaqua Lakes and Heathrow Country Club — have been closed or just opened within the last day or two.
“The girls have practiced inside with a net, and they went to TopGolf once,” Burchill said. “It was good to play well to pick up our focus with the Honda Classic coming up.”
The prestigious Honda event is next Friday and Saturday at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens.
— Steve Gorches
Happy to play
The two days and 36 holes in the boys golf Qdoba Tournament of Champions represented welcomed competition for teams that have seen a slew of practices and matches washed out by rainstorms.
Class 1A state contender Lake Mary Prep really needed it after completing only two of seven scheduled events in September. The Griffins’ finishing eighth out of nine teams with a two-day score of 605 wasn’t as important as getting holes in with the state meet approaching.
“I wish we would have played better, but it’s an eye-opener for
us that we can’t just show up and expect to play well,” LMP coach Bobby Hayes said.
One of his players who did play well was senior Doug Gugel, who finished third individually with 1-under-par 143 (70-73).
“The course is in really good shape,” Gugel said. “I struck my irons really well and hit the greens well.”
Miami Columbus won the event with 574, 4 shots ahead of Ponte Vedra. The top local team was Circle Christian in fifth with 602, followed by WIndermere’s 603.
Carson Baez shot a pair of 73s for Windermere to tie for 10th with Circle Christian’s Luke Gossett.
Windermere has its own schedule issues as Sunday will be its only day off in the middle of five straight days of golf. The Wolverines play in the rescheduled Winter Park Invite on Monday at Rio Pinar, Tuesday in the Metro Conference meet at the Legends at Orange Lake, then the Hex meet on Wednesday on the 9-hole walking course at Orange Lake.
— Steve Gorches
Playing big
Orangewood Christian was one of the smallest schools and youngest teams in the Bishop Moore Swing for the Cure girls volleyball tournament this weekend.
But the Rams more than held their own in the top-tier Premier Division. Orangewood, a Class 2A
team, dealt 5A state-title contender Jensen Beach its first loss after a 19-0 start with a 25-21, 25-21 pool play upset on Friday.
The Rams won their pool and advanced to the Gold Division final four, where they lost to Sarasota Cardinal Mooney and Riviera Prep of Miami to finish 2-3 against tough competition.
“We were serving well, hitting well, and we were scrappy,” said Diane Langmo, Orangewood’s veteran head coach. “We’re super young and had to make a lot of adjustments. We’re playing with some of the best schools in Florida.”
With the Rams’ starting outside hitter out due to an injury, eighthgrader Kaleigh Langmo — the coach’s daughter — had to step up. Langmo had 39 kills and 6 ace serves in the tournament.
Host Bishop Moore, after a week out due to Hurricane Ian, went 4-1 over the two days, losing only to Port Orange Spruce Creek in a pool-play three-setter. The Hornets outlasted Horizon 25-17, 20-25, 15-12 in a semifinal and topped Trinity Prep 25-22, 25-22 to win the Silver bracket title.
The defense of libero Emily Schellenburg was key for Bishop Moore.
“We had two practices coming into this,” Bishop Moore coach Brian Reim said. “This was just getting our reps back. Everyone pulled their weight this tournament. I like what I saw.”
Lake Brantley was 2-1 and placed third on a tiebreaker in its Premier pool. But the Patriots then got past
Jensen Beach in a three-setter and topped Seminole County rival Lake Mary 25-21, 25-21 to win the Bronze bracket and go 4-1 for the weekend.
Alachua Santa Fe (20-1) defeated Mooney for the championship.
Pre-state racing
Winter Springs senior Simone Monaco edged Olympia sophomore Emily Knopfle for the area’s best finish in Saturday’s Pre-State Invitational cross country meet hosted by FSU in Tallahassee.
Monaco, in her first XC season, clocked a time of 18 minutes, 25.9 seconds for 5,000 meters (3.1 miles) to place 11th in the Girls Elite race at Apalachee Regional Park, site for the Nov. 5 state meets. Knopfle crossed the finish line at 18:26.6.
Other top area Elite finishers were Morgan Cox, Trinity Prep, 20th (18:37.6); Ava Wyant, Master’s Academy, 24th (18:44.6); Paite McCaul, Bishop Moore, 26th (18:45.2); Noelle Vu, Mount Dora, 35th (19:00.7); Rachel Judy, Circle Christian, 38th (19:03.8); Leah Moury, Circle Christian, 55th (19:27.4); and Ava Hendrix, Lake Minneola, 59th (19:29.4).
In the team race, won by Ponte Vedra, Circle Christian was 12th, Bishop Moore was 18th and Winter Springs was 22nd.
Hagerty junior Jonathan Leon was the top area finisher in the Boys Elite race with a 15:28.2 time for 11th place. Jack DeJesus of Circle Christian was 43rd at 15:56.6.
Other top area boys were: Miguel Pantojas of Hagerty 51st (16:05.9); Marc McDonald, Oviedo, 69th (16:21.4); Will Neeld, Circle Christian, 70th (16:21.9); and Calvin Jagen, Circle Christian, 90th (16:41.0).
Hagerty was 11th as the top area team in a boys Elite race won by Miami Belen Jesuit. Circle Christian was 22nd, Oviedo 25th and Lake Highland Prep 27th.
Here are top area placers in other races.
Girls select: Megan Dolan, Boone, 2nd (19:02.7).
Boys select: Alejandro Berry, Orlando University, 6th (16:03.1).
Girls Varsity A: Ella Raesly, Geneva School, 1st (20:02.3).