Varsity Weekly: Barry Zhang golfs 67-64; Winter Park volleyball, Circle Christian bowling stay hot

Lake Mary Prep senior Barry Zhang posted a sizzling 12-under-par 131 score for 36 holes to win the 29-team Wolverines vs. The World Invitational boys golf tournament at The Legends and Reserve courses at Orange Lake Golf Club.

That’s the most teams Windermere coach Eric Bacon has gotten for the growing event, and it would have been 30 if not for one team canceling.

Zhang shot rounds of 67 and 64 to continue a torrid pace that saw him win four of his previous six outings with 9-hole scores of 31, 32, 33, and 34. The unsigned prospect was near-perfect in the two rounds at Orange Lake.

“He didn’t have a blemish for two days,” first-year LMP coach Brent Herold said. “Other players may have matched him in the number of birdies, but they had bogeys and Barry just doesn’t make a lot of mistakes.”

Zhang is the No. 1 ranked player in the state according to the iWanamaker computerized rankings.

Windermere brothers Carson Baez (67-70—137) and Cameron Baez (70-68—138) took second and third place.

The Wolverines shot 298-286—584 as a team to finish third behind Fleming Island (575) and Nease (579).

“Carson played phenomenally, especially on Friday,” Bacon said. “After Friday I asked Cameron, ‘Are you going to take that from your brother?’ and he responded by playing better on Saturday.”

Dr. Phillips, led by Taneesh Sirivolu’s first place 68, won Tuesday’s 9-team Birdies for the Brain Winter Park Invitational by a slim 284 to 286 margin over The First Academy at Rio Pinar.

There were over 100 birdies and two eagles and the tournament raided more than $1,000 for the Alzheimer’s Association.

The state’s No. 1 boys team, Benjamin of Palm Beach Gardens, leads a strong field for this weekend’s 36-hole Qdoba Tournament of Champions at Providence Golf Club in Davenport.

Miami Columbus, the 2022 tourney winner, is also in a field that has seven of Florida’s top 18 Florida teams. The area entries are No. 8 tourney host Circle Christian along with Windermere, Lake Mary and Winter Park.

The girls Friday 18-hole Qdoba Burrito Challenge has reigning champ Lake Mary, No. 3 in the state rankings, along with No. 5 Circle Christian and No. 8 Lake Mary Prep.

Lake Mary’s girls shot 280 to win the Seminole Athletic Conference tournament by 81 strokes. Lauryn Finley (68) and Arenui Faana (69) led the Rams.

Lake Nona shot 332 to win the girls Metro Conference tournament At Zellwood Station Country Club. East River’s Ann Burel was individual medalist with a 70.

For the record

Orlando Christian Prep (6-0) celebrated a football milestone a little too early after securing its third consecutive FHSAA district title with a 44-24 win vs. The First Academy (4-2) last week.

Guerschom Demosthenes was recognized following the game for recording his 100th career win as Warriors head coach. He confirmed to the Sentinel on Saturday that those 100 wins, in less than 11 seasons, include spring games and preseason kickoff classics.

Demoshenes officially enters Friday’s game at Tohopekaliga (4-1) with an 87-25 record in regular season and playoff games.

With Demoshenses at the helm, the Warriors have turned in winning seasons each year since 2013 and won independent Sunshine State Athletic Conference championships in 2018 and 2020.

OCP has 95 regular and postseason wins as a program since launching varsity football in 2010.

Orlando Christian Prep grows as small-school football power under Demosthenes

Volleyball streaks

Top-ranked Winter Park (17-2) stretched its 10-match girls volleyball winning streak with a 25-15, 25-11, 25-16 home win against Olympia (16-6) Tuesday.

The Class 7A Wildcats are No. 2 in the FHSAA power rankings for all seven classifications.

Hagerty (13-4) takes a seven-match win streak into its trip to play in this weekend’s Southern California Invitational.

Timber Creek went 4-3 in the loaded Nike Tournament of Champions Southeast played in Mesa, Arizona, over the weekend. The Wolves were 2-1 vs. California, 1-0 vs. Utah, and 1-2 vs. Arizona teams.

Lake Highland Prep (13-6) was 3-4 in Arizona. The Highlanders had wins against teams from California, Canada and South Carolina and losses to Arizona (three) and Kentucky.

Timber Creek was 12-6 going into a Wednesday night match at Oviedo, which was 15-6.

Kissimmee Osceola (16-5) is climbing back up in the 7A rankings after winning 25-20, 25-20, 25-13 at Bishop Moore (13-3) last week. Kowboys senior setter Alex Liggeri joined rare company by dishing out her 2,000th career assist on Monday night.

Osceola plays Tohopekaliga (18-3) in Thursday’s Orange Belt Conference tournament final at St. Cloud High School and plays at Winter Park on Tuesday at 6 p.m.

South Lake rallied from two games down to win a dramatic five-setter 14-25, 15-25, 25-20, 25-17, 16-14 against Lake Howell.

Bishop Moore’s Swing for the Cure tournament is Friday and Saturday at the Game Point Events Center (6700 KingsPointe Parkway, Orlando).

There are two 16-team divisions. Play starts at 5 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m. Saturday leading to 1:30 p.m. championship matches.

The host Hornets, Lake Brantley, Seminole and West Orange are in the Premier Division. Class 4A No. 1 Gulliver Prep (16-3) of Miami is the top seed ahead of Bishop Moore, which is third in the FHSAA 4A power rankings.

Southland Christian, Montverde Academy, Lake Howell, Central Pointe Christian, Master’s Academy, Wekiva and the Academy of Central Florida are in the Elite pool.

XC phenom

Lake Highland Prep seventh-grader Annabella Tomasic continued her winning streak with yet another career best, 17 minutes 35.5 seconds, to win the FSU Invitational Pre-State meet at the cross country FHSAA finals venue, Apalachee Regional Park in Tallahassee.

She bested an elite field with what is by far the nation’s best time for her grade level.

The best area team showings were made by Hagerty’s boys and Lake Minneola’s girls. Both finished sixth in Elite Division races.

Bowling 200s

The Circle Christian boys bowling team posted big numbers in back-to-back wins this week.

The Centurions rolled five-player scores of 1,105, 1,038, 1,021 and 1,006 in in 10-pin games. That’s averaging 200+ per player.

Junior standout Rohd Barber turned in games of 257, 255, 229 and 224.

Eighth grader Pancho Johnson rolled 245, 244, 237 and 220.

Shelby Davis added 215, 203 and 202; Preston Recker contributed 222 and 201.

Circle senior Gianna Bringham bowled 228 and 216 in girls play.

High school bowling’s best of 2023 as FHSAA playoffs approach

Varsity Content Editor Buddy Collings can be reached at bcollings@orlandosentinel.com. Steve Gorches contributed to this report.