Among the brightest in Dade, here’s who were honored at the MDCPS Scholar-Athlete Awards
Miami-Dade County athletes are no strangers to delivering memorable performances on the football field or the basketball court or softball diamond.
But sometimes their ability to maintain the highest of grade point averages is just as much, if not more, impressive.
On Tuesday, the best and brightest from MiamiDade County public schools were honored for those achievements during the Miami-Dade County Public Schools annual Scholar-Athlete Awards ceremony.
The event, held at the Doubletree by Hilton Miami Airport/Convention Center hotel in northwest Miami, recognized 78 scholar-athletes from 39 schools and multiple local organizations donated scholarship awards to 22 of those student-athletes.
In addition, a few influential athletic directors and trainers were recognized as well as three of the most successful coaches in the county’s history in their respective sports.
Former Miami Hurricanes standout and broadcaster Don Bailey Jr. was the event’s master of ceremonies and former Miami Heat assistant coach and color commentator Tony Fiorentino was the keynote speaker.
Here are the highlights from Tuesday’s ceremony:
Miami Norland boys’ basketball coach Lawton Williams III, Miami Northwestern girls’ track and field coach Carmen Jackson and South Dade boys’ wrestling coach Victor Balmeceda were recognized with the Dade Athletic Coaches Recognition awards.
This past March, Williams III led the Vikings to their seventh state championship — all of which have come under his tenure. Williams is tied for the most state titles by a single coach in state history and is the only coach to do so at one school.
Balmeceda recently led South Dade to two more state wrestling championships as the Bucs won both the Duals and IndividuallyBracketed
Tournament titles. It brought Balmeceda’s staggering total as coach to 26 state titles overall. South Dade has won a state-best 11 state titles in a row.
Jackson has led the Bulls to a state-record 14 consecutive state championships and a state-best 19 overall. Northwestern is working on a 20th title this season and is once again a favorite to do so at this year’s state championships set for May 15-18 in Jacksonville.
The Orange Bowl presented its General Chappie James Scholarship Awards. The bronze winners, earning scholarships of $500 each were MAST Academy’s Jessica Engel and Braddock’s Aidan Mendoza. The silver winners ($1,000 each) were Coral Park’s Sofia Delgado and
Coral Reef’s Lucas Chahine. The gold winners ($1,500 each) were Miami Beach’s Olivia Moore and Coral Gables’ Mauricio Quesada. The platinum winners ($2,000 each) were American’s Nicole Marte and Hialeah Gardens’ Eddie Tomás-Baute.
The Miami Dolphins Foundation presented $1,000 scholarships to Southridge’s Laqueendra Douglas, Varela’s Amanda Jarquin, Miami Springs’ Fabián Rodríguez, Ferguson’s David Leal, Northwestern’s Tori Johnson and Booker T. Washington’s Andre Brown.
The Junior Orange Bowl presented $500 scholarships to Reagan’s Victoria Morales and Goleman’s Eduardo Cabrera.
The BSN Sports Scholarship Award presented scholarships of $1,000 to Killian’s Leila Nua and Miami Norland’s Triston Wilson.
The Kiwanis Club of Miami presented Scholarship Awards of $1000 each to Westland Hialeah’s Isabella Jimenez and Dr. Krop’s Abel Profeta.
Herff Jones presented scholarship awards of $1,000 to Coral Gables’ Lenox Balzebre and Westland
SCHOLAR-ATHLETES
American: Quentin Bush, Nicole Marte;
Booker T.: Andre Brown, Samnta Soto Ortiz; Braddock: Aidan Mendoza, Annabella Cardona; Carol City: Rondareus Griffin, Christina McDermott; Central: Christ Guillod, Jaleah McDonald; Coral Gables: Mauricio Quesada, Lenox Balzebre; Coral Park: Nasser Gomez Cruz, Sofia Delgado;
Coral Reef: Lucas Chahine, Sara Lawrence;
Cutler Bay: Austin Nelson, Cai Lizarraga; Edison: Kofi Adisa, Caniya Brown; Ferguson: David Leal, Mia Gonzalez; Goleman: Eduardo Cabrera, Adriana Leal; Hialeah: Chase Shilingford, Ashley Turcios; Hialeah Gardens: Eddie Tomas-Baute, Casey Perez Alvarez; Hialeah-Miami Lakes: Matthew Webb, Natalie Crespo; Homestead: Eduardo Nunez, Faith Jones; JC Bermudez Doral: Mateo Mejia, Sofia Hobson;
Jackson: Max Auguste, Karen LopezCanales; Killian: Michael Abu-Akel, Leila Nua; Krop: Abel Profeta, Maya Sternberg;
MAST: Sam Grossman, Jessica Engel;
Miami Beach: Maxwell Benitez, Olivia Moore; Miami High: Estaban Gomez, Iris Aguilar; Miami Springs: Fabian Rodriguez, Natalie Mestre; Mourning: Daniel Lombello, Valerie Yagudaev; Norland: Triston Wilson, Jasmine Johnson; North Miami: Christ-Ang Senat, Medjine Duperon; North Miami Beach: Fernando Jeanty, Ambur Levros; Northwestern: Marcus Kimbrough, Tori Johnson; Palmetto: Sebastian Font, Mia Sorrentino; Reagan: Miguel Carrasco, Victoria Morales; South Dade: Sawyer Bartelt, Brianna Bonilla; South Miami: Raymon Cruz, Angelina Alvarez; Southwest: Keith Tyler Rey, Ariellis Diaz;
Southridge: Victor Martinez-Perez, Laqueendra Douglas; Sunset: Andres Tablada, Mily Gutierrez; TERRA: Daniel Lang, Kirsten Maxwell; Varela: Jordan Alzate, Amanda Jarquin; Westland Hialeah: Mohammed Abed, Isabella Jimenez.