Montverde’s Novack earns spot in cross country national meet
Seminole swim coach retires; football all-star games on tap; Florida Dairy Farmer awards
Riley Novack, of Tavares, a Montverde Academy senior who earned Orlando Sentinel All-Area honors, turned in a career-best performance to earn an all-expenses paid trip to compete in Saturday’s Champs Sports Cross Country National Championships in San Diego.
Novack clocked a time of 14 minutes, 59.25 seconds to place sixth in the Nov. 26 South Regional race in Charlotte, N.C., that encompassed 15 states. He is the third Florida boy to crack the 15-minute barrier for 5,000 meters this year and is the 12th Floridian to manage that feat since the Champs regional meet at McAlpine Park began in 1982.
Saturday’s races will have 40 boys and girls. Novack, suddenly a coveted college prospect, is the only Floridian in the field and that would have been hard to predict a few months ago.
The straight-A honors student ran only two regular-season races before winning district and region titles and placing third in the Class 2A state meet. He underwent a six-hour deviated spectrum surgery and was unable to run for the entire summer. He also missed a number of weeks of in-season practice and races due to injury concerns.
Also on the national level, former Hagerty state champ Brayden Seymour helped California powerhouse Newbury Park run away with the Nike Cross Nationals team championship in Portland last Saturday.
Seymour, Florida’s 4A 3,200meter track champ last spring, ran 15:26.2 to place 24th. He was the third Newbury Park runner across the line.
Buddy Collings
Swim success story
Tony Ackerson, who championed the building of an Olympic-sized pool for Seminole High and Sanford, is retiring after 36 seasons as the Seminoles’ aquatics coach.
He will be replaced by his son, Ryan, a former Seminole standout who was an assistant last season.
“I’m really not going away. I’ll continue to be involved in club coaching at Seminole Aquatics, working to get the kids as fast as possible for their next high school season with Ryan,” Ackerson said Wednesday.
His program produced 19 swimmers who won state titles in individual or relay events. First, Ackerson spearheaded the drive for the $1 million on-campus pool, which was completed in 2000 as Sanford’s only public pool. It serves the school’s swimming and water polo teams and provides city swimming lessons and age-group programs.
Products of the program include current Cal-Berkeley sophomore swimmer Stephanie Akakabota and University of Florida freshman Dawson Joyce, who tied the FHSAA record by going 8-for-8 in individual state championship races over four years at Seminole.
Buddy Collings
Golf awards
Lake Mary’s Dennis Burchhill was for the fifth time named Florida Dairy Farmers Coach of the Year for girls golf.
The former USA Today national coach of the year led the Rams to their third consecutive Class 3A state championship.
Burchill also won the Dairy Farmers honor after state title seasons in 2013, 2016, 2017 and 2021.
The First Academy sophomore Mi Li, the girls Class 1A state champion, was named Girls Golfer of the Year to make it a clean sweep for Orlando area schools. She shot a 5-under par 66 score at Mission Inn in a state final that was reduced from 36 holes to 18 due to weather conditions.
Buddy Collings
Bowling’s best
Apopka coach Doug Campbell and senior standout Richard Caruso earned the Florida Dairy Farmers coach- and player-of-theyear awards for boys bowling.
Those were easy choices. Campbell led the Blue Darters to their sixth team championship under his watch, a FHSAA record. And Caruso was the individual state champion.
Buddy Collings
Football all-stars
Senior high school football players from Orange, Seminole, Osceola and Lake counties will suit up as Cure Classic All-Stars in two games to be broadcast live online at VarsitySportsNetwork.org.
The Osceola-vs.-Lake game will take place Saturday at 2 p.m. at Celebration High School. Tickets are available for $8 at the Hometown Fan App.
Standout running backs John Celestin (Lake Minneola) and Dante Johnson-Turner (Mount Dora) lead a Lake County squad that also features Mekhi Benn (Umatilla) and Jalen McKay (Eustis).
Jayden Bradford (Osceola), De’kwan Bradley (Poinciana), Noah Carr (St. Cloud), Nichalas Rawls (Tohopekaliga) and Oniel Senatus (Celebration) are among the Osceola County participants.
Orange and Seminole county players will team up Thursday, Dec. 15, at Showalter Field in Winter Park. Kickoff for that game is 6:30 p.m. Fans are asked to bring a children’s toy or make a donation to gain entry.
Team Soldier players include Anthony Benzija (Hagerty), DJ Scott (Oviedo), Justin Stith (Dr. Phillips) and Drew Spinogatti (Bishop Moore).
The Team Warrior roster includes Charles Green (Seminole), Justin Preaster (Central Florida Christian), Aiden Warner (Winter Park) and Terrell Weathers (Wekiva).
J.C. Carnahan
Football finals
The Florida High School Athletic Association’s state football finals will be played over the next two weekends, with Apopka representing the Orlando area in its bid to win a fourth state championship
Here is the game schedule.
(DC) denotes games played this week at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee. Note that those games are listed with Eastern Time.
(PNK) denotes next week’s games played at DRV PNK Stadium in Fort Lauderdale.
Ticket information and live webcast information is on the fhsaa.com football website.
Class 1M: Thursday , 8 p.m. (DC)
Hollywood Chaminade (13-0) vs. Clearwater Central Catholic (12-1)
Class 2S: Friday, 8 p.m. (DC) Cocoa (10-3) vs. Tallahassee Florida High (14-0)
Class 1S: Saturday, 2 p.m. (DC) Ocala Trinity Catholic (9-2) vs. Naples First Baptist (9-2)
Class 1R: Saturday, 8 p.m. (DC)
Hawthorne (11-0) vs. Northview (13-0)
Class 3M: Thursday, Dec. 15, 7 p.m. (PNK)
St. Thomas Aquinas (13-0) vs. Homestead (11-2)
Class 3S: Friday, Dec. 16, 1 p.m. (PNK)
Daytona Beach Mainland (11-3) vs. Lake Wales (14-0)
Class 2M: Friday, Dec. 16, 7 p.m. (PNK)
Plantation American Heritage (13-1) vs. Miami Central (13-0)
Class 4S: Saturday, Dec. 17, 1 p.m. (PNK)
Venice (9-3) vs. Lakeland (13-0) 4M: Saturday, Dec. 17, 7 p.m. (PNK)
Apopka (11-3) vs. Miami Columbus (13-1)
Buddy Collings