Volleyball champ Lyman loses coach to Seminole
Bernhardt is college lacrosse MVP; Jones High moves in Metro
Bob Drake and Isaac Raphael, the two coaches who led Lyman’s climb to a girls volleyball state championship last fall, have stepped down from their positions heading into the 2021 season.
Raphael, a former Bethune-Cookman University college coach, is leaving Lyman, where he was an assistant, to become head coach at Seminole High.
Drake, who recorded a 109-31 record over five seasons as the Greyhounds head coach, said he is stepping down to focus on his role as assistant athletic director but will likely stay connected to the program in an advisory capacity.
Lyman graduated its top three players — Alanys Viera, Valeria Rosado and Sky Raphael — but has some experienced holdovers due back. That list includes rising seniors Gabriela Pagan, Titi Olagbiyan, Elli Aristegui and Sara Ferrer along with Breanna Behr, who will be a junior, and Carola Negron, who will be a sophomore.
Lacrosse MVP: Former Lake Brantley two-sport standout Jared Bernhardt won both the Tewaaraton Award and Lt. Raymond Enners Award as the best college lacrosse player in the nation for the 2021 season.
Bernhardt, who was a high school football quarterback, set Maryland single-season records with 71 goals and 99 points for a NCAA runner-up that finished 15-1. The only loss was a 17-16 defeat against Virginia in the national final.
Bernhardt, the Big Ten MVP and Offensive Player of the Year, also set program records for career goals (202) and points (290). He was a four-time U.S. Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association All-American.
Jones High shifted: Jones High School’s athletic teams will move from the West to the East side of the Metro Conference for the 202122 school year to balance the divisions for Orange County Public Schools.
OCPS athletics administrator Doug Patterson confirmed that both divisions will have 11 schools with Orange County’s two new high schools, Lake Buena Vista and Horizon, both being placed in the West side.
The West also has Apopka, Dr. Phillips, Edgewater, Evans, Ocoee, Olympia, Wekiva, West Orange and Windermere.
The East also includes Boone, Colonial, Cypress Creek, East River, Freedom, Lake Nona, Oak Ridge, Timber Creek, University and Winter Park.
The Metro crowns champions and selects all-Metro Conference teams for each division.
Extra points
■ Lake Mary announced Friday via Twitter that its prolific quarterback, Gunnar Smith, has committed to sign with USF. Smith (6-4, 190 pounds) has thrown for 6,075 yards and 61 touchdowns in three years as a starter heading into senior season.
■ Montverde Academy’s Caleb Houstan, a 6-foot-10 Michigan signee, was named Gatorade Florida Boys Basketball Player of the Year.
■ Former Winter Park and Florida Gulf Coast basketball standout Brett Comer was promoted to director of basketball operations for Dayton University program. He has been on head coach Anthony Grant’s staff since 2017.
■ Jaqual Bush, who ran on Seminole’s 2018 state championship 4x100 relay, clocked a 23.50second time to win the NAIA national title in the 200-meter dash several weeks ago. She is the first outdoor track and field national champion for Southeastern University of Lakeland.