TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

LaFleur's Edged Out At State

ADVERTISEMENT

By NICHOLAS J.E. MURRAY nmurray@tampatrib.com

The Tampa Tribune

Published: April 1, 2009

LaFleur's Tampa was edged out by Orlando Metroplex at the Florida State Level 10 Gymnastics championships, taking second place with a total of 112.750 points.

LaFleur's had been aiming to dethrone Metroplex, and performed strongly in the vault to post a score of 28.875. Catherine Hires won the event in her flight, scoring a 9.750, while Kaleigh Dickson scored a 9.650 for second place in her flight.

But LaFleur's fell short in the beam, giving up over a point to Metroplex in the discipline. Hires, who had won the all-around individual title a year ago and has committed to Georgia for 2010, scored only an 8.850, and finished third in her flight with an all-around total of 37.575.

Dickson, who will compete for LSU next year, finished second in her flight with a total of 38.000 behind overall champion Ashanee Dickerson of Gymnastics Unlimited, who won all four of the disciplines on her way to a total of 38.925.

Kaitlyn Green of LaFleur's Largo finished second in her flight with a score of 37.325, leading her team to a fifth-place finish, while Naomi Devries led the Tampa Bay Turners team with a total of 36.800 and sixth place.

The Turners finished second in the Level 9 championships, as Christina Pheil finished second in the all-around competition with a total of 37.525. Pheil won both the vault and parallel bars in her flight, scoring a 9.775 in the bars.

Tigers Make Leap At State Hockey ELLENTON - While River Ridge, Manatee and eventual champion Gaither/Sickles reaching the semifinals of the Florida State Combined Division Hockey Championships didn't raise any eyebrows, the fourth team that joined them there did.

But then, the Tigers program has been raising eyebrows for most of the season.

The young squad, which has no graduating seniors, lost out to Manatee in the semifinals, but not before gaining some respect from its peers.

"I was pretty proud of them," Tigers coach Mark Kroeten said. "We got down in our first two games by three goals, and came back and won those games. We're not a team that scored a lot of goals over the season, so coming back and scoring six in those two games was good to see."

One of the teams the Tigers rallied past was defending state champion Springstead, a team most expected to put up a strong defense of its title. Instead, the Tigers defeated the Mustangs 6-4 in their opening game, using the win to springboard into the semifinals.

That their run ended in the semifinals was disappointing to the Tigers players, but they were happy to have surpassed their expectations.

"We didn't play as well in the semifinals as we thought we should have," forward Nick LaFleche said. "But we did better overall than we thought we should have for the whole tournament, so we're not disappointed although we would have liked to have done better."

Whether the team will do that next season as the Tigers, or as an official club sport at Jesuit is the one question that remains. The bulk of the team is made up of Jesuit students, but in order to use the school's name the five players who compete for the team but attend other schools would have to find another place to play.

The decision could be simplified if the Statewide Amateur Hockey Of Florida organization that runs the high school championships eliminates the combined division. But whatever happens, Kroeten is optimistic the program is only going to improve.

"We're not sure what's going to happen next year, because we could be a pure team next year and we're going to lose five of the guys I have," Kroeten said. "That's still up in the air what's going to happen next year. There's some talk that there might not be a combined SAHOF tournament, and then it's really up to our league in Brandon to decide what constitutes a pure team.

"We might still be able to be a combined team next year, I know of three good freshmen coming in next year, and a kid who was a freshman this year who is a very good player but didn't have time this year to play because of other activities, so there's at least four good new players coming in next year, and I'm looking forward to that."

Pelicans Rugby Remains Undefeated

The Tampa Pelicans put themselves on the verge of a second straight undefeated regular season with a 15-10 win against Niceville in the Florida State Rugby League on Saturday.

With a win at Jacksonville on Saturday, the defending state champion Pelicans will earn a home game in the state semifinals on April 11.

The Pelicans opened the scoring through a long run by Jarrett Baker, and then doubled their lead when flanker Jake McFadden scored after picking the ball up from the back of a ruck 20 meters out.

Both tries went unconverted, and Niceville rallied with a penalty goal before halftime, and then a converted try to make the score 10-10 five minutes into the second half. The Pelicans rebounded, however, using the wind to help control a territorial advantage. That paid off with five minutes to go as Jeff Wilton was slipped through by a pass from winger Saleh Madi, and Wilton outpaced the defense to score the game-winning try from 40 meters out.

The Tampa Barbarians also recorded a victory to close out their regular season with a 6-1 record, defeating Jacksonville 53-3.

Nicholas J.E. Murray can be reached at (813) 259-8243.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT