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Lafleur's Aiming For State Title

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

The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 25, 2009

After finishing as runners-up last year, Catherine Hires knew she and her Lafleur's Tampa teammates had a chance at a state gymnastics title. But at a January meet, the reality this could be the year finally struck home.

It was at the Sand Dollar Invitational meet in Orlando, hosted by the powerful Orlando Metro team. Lafleur's won with 113.200 points, edging the hosts for the first time. Now, defending state individual champion Hires and her teammates will try to earn a team title in Coral Springs this weekend.

"We are so excited to come back and try and win this thing," Hires said. "That's our goal right now, that's what's pushing us to work really hard is to win states this year."

Hires, a junior at Plant, recently committed to Georgia. She said making the decision has taken a lot the pressure off, which should help her performance.

"It's taken a lot of pressure off," Hires said. "Knowing where I'm going instead of trying to have to impress all of the coaches at all of the meets, it's good to know I only have to impress one coach, and he knows what I can do and that he's already accepted me. It's a lot less pressure."

Hires' senior teammate Kaleigh Dickson will compete for LSU next year. She said the hard work the entire team has put in has paid off.

"We really want to win states," Dickson said. "Orlando has been winning states for almost 10 years now, so we think we have what it takes to beat them this year, and we would really like to. It would be a big confidence booster, and we've been working so hard."

In team gymnastics, the top three scores are added in each of the four events (vault, floor, beam and parallel bars). Hires and Dickson will be joined in the Level 10 team by Natasha Jufko, Alex Feeken, Alex Witt and Brittany Garcia. Dickson said after their victory at the invitational, the team's motivation has never been higher.

"It's been a really positive influence," Dickson said. "It's made us work 10 times harder to get that. We're almost done with the season, and to push that much harder to get exactly what we want."

Hillsborough Crew Growing Fast

While Hillsborough's Katie Burke has had a stellar start to her own rowing season, winning the single sculls title at the OARS Invitational on March 15, the senior's influence is being seen in the performances of the Terriers' younger rowers.

"Every single day when they sit down on the rowing machines next to each other to get a workout in, the rowers around here are automatically on the hot seat trying to compete with her," Terriers coach Steve Maher said. "Every single day, she's making practice more competitive for other people.

"Then on the water, the boat she's in has done very well. Nobody questions her. In rowing, it's about trusting people in the boat with you, and that's not an issue with Katie at all. All the girls in her boat know what they've got to do."

Hillsborough has a young team this season, with a far larger sophomore class. As a result, the Terriers are trying to gain as much experience as possible for their younger rowers, some of whom are being asked to compete in varsity boats. At the OARS Invitational, Maher said the younger rowers "were competitive, but not as good because they're still young."

"My younger kids are some of the faster kids on the team, they just need to learn to row better," Maher said. "I'm looking to them to pull hard every day, but I'm looking to them to pull hard in a smart way, to learn the stroke better. They're on a crash course to be more efficient rowers, not faster rowers."

Maher points to junior Sarah Scriven, and sophomores Kaslyn Bos and Amanda George as those who have potential, but who need more time on the water to refine their skills.

"The trick is once you teach them how to row, you have to balance fitness versus skill," Maher said. "We have the fitness, they just need to get the water time to do the drills, do the long pieces to learn how to move together. We definitely have the size and speed on the girls side."

FC Tampa Leads Region C Winners

FC Tampa's boys under-17 and under-16 teams both took Florida Youth Soccer Association Region C titles in Fort Myers, leading a number of local clubs that moved onto the Regional Cup Championship in New Tampa this weekend.

"They had no expectations, but they worked very, very hard," FC Tampa director of coaching George Arroyo said. "They have a really good coach and trainer, and they played well."

Both teams were coached by Steve Brown, and both came back from one-goal deficits in their championship games. The under-17s defeated Citrus United 4-2 and the under-16s defeated Gulf Coast 3-1. Arroyo said now that they have those titles in hand, there are greater expectations this weekend.

"I had the chance to talk to them this week," Arroyo said. "They're very optimistic. Their mind-set is very different now than when we first went into it. They really think they can win the whole thing."

The Florida Soccer Club saw its girls under-19 team win its division with a 2-1 win against Braden River. Elsewhere, HC United's girls under-15 team and boys under-11 team, Black Watch's boys under-13 team, the Clearwater Chargers boys under-12 team, the East Lake girls under-12 and the Oldsmar Soccer Club's girls under-11 team each won Division 1 titles. In Division 2, Valrico's boys under-14 and under-13 teams won, as did the Brandon Flames girls under-14 team.

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

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