Varsity Weekly: Big House basketball, monster swim meet, volleyball in Arizona

The 15th annual Hoop Exchange boys basketball showcase brings 47 teams to The Big House sports facility in Tavares (1544 Lane Park Cutoff Road) this weekend.

The 21 from the Orlando area include national power Montverde Academy, Oak Ridge, Orlando Christian Prep, Olympia, Windermere, Windermere Prep, West Oaks, Lake Highland Prep, Leesburg, Ocoee, Apopka, Colonial, Edgewater and Evans.

Teams can’t officially represent their high schools in the off-season so each team has an aka label. For instance, OCP is listed as Weekend Warrior, Windermere is X-Men and Montverde is FL Eagles.

Saturday play tips off at 12:15 p.m. and runs to about 10 p.m. Sunday starts at 9 a.m. ends around 5:30 p.m.

Spectator admission is $20.

Highly-rated Oak Ridge juniors Jamier Jones and Jalen Reece are set to join Orlando native Mikel Brown Jr. among 85 players selected for the all-expenses paid Oct. 6-8 USA Basketball Junior National Team minicamp at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.

Brown plays outside the high school realm for Overtime Elite of Atlanta.

The camp for freshmen through seniors is part of the selection process for USA teams that will play in the 2024 Nike Hoops Summit, the U17 World Cup, and the U18 FIBA Americas Championship.

USA Basketball states that, “In addition to on-court drills and scrimmages, athletes will participate in a series of educational programs presented by USA Basketball, the NCAA and the NBA Player Development Program focused on NCAA eligibility and life skills.”

Long distance volleyball

Lake Highland Prep (9-2) and Timber Creek (8-3) are in the top-shelf division as the two Florida entries in this weekend’s 96-team Nike Tournament of Champions Southwest tournament in Mesa, Arizona. There are three 32-team divisions.

Hagerty (12-4) outlasted visiting Kissimmee Osceola in a pulsating 17-25, 28-26, 25-14, 23-25, 15-11 match on Monday night.

The Huskies were led by Abby Mas (23 kills), Jenness Orcutt (18 kills, 18 digs) and Brielle Mullen (57 assists, 16 digs). Jordin Southall (22 kills), Cate Palmi (21 kills, 22 digs, 4 aces) and Alex Liggeri (51 assists) led Osceola.

Hagerty, winners of six in a row, is home against Lake Brantley (10-5) on Thursday night. The Patriots are riding a nine match win streak.

Bishop Moore (13-2) has won 10 a row going into a Thursday home match vs. Osceola.

Winter Park (15-2), winners of eight in a row, moved up to state No. 1 in Florida in the FHSAA power rankings and scored coach Stephanie Gibson’s 500th win at the school on Tuesday.

Orlando area Week 6 high school football scoreboard

Bowling tourney

Circle Christian boys bowling team, which is 7-0 in weekday matches, was the runner-up to Bayside of Palm Bay in the 16th Annual Kegel High School Challenge tournament in Lake Wales on Saturday.

The Bears won 3,283 pins to 3,033.

Rohde Barber led Circle Christian with games of 244 and 215.

Reigning state champ Apopka, which graduated four of its five top players, finished fifth at 2,886.

Daytona Beach Seabreeze won the girls title.

Hagerty senior Jason Sanguinetti shot a near perfect 299 game as the Huskies totaled 2,696 as a team in a boys win last week.

Swimmingly

Lake Brantley’s girls and Oviedo’s boys were the team champions at last weekend’s massive Lake Brantley Invitational swim meet, which dates to 1994.

Individual girls standouts in a field of 575 swimmers included Foundation Academy senior Emma Sundermeyer and Boone junior Arianna Wertheim as two-event winners, and Lake Brantley ninth grader Hana Sungail.

On the boys side Brantley junior Danzhel Tuliao scored three wins, including a relay. Oviedo’s Thomas Youngblood and Ryan Walker both won three times, including two relays.

Here are the top 10 team scores and race winners:

Girls

Team scores: 1. Lake Brantley (LB) 344; 2. Winter Park (WP) 275; 3 West Orange (WO) 232; 4. Oviedo (O) 220; 5. Fletcher (Fl) 186; 6. Lake Highland Prep (LHP) 179; 7. Seminole (S) 165; 8. Boone (B) 120; 9. Foundation Academy (FA) 114; 10. Lake Mary 98.

Race finals

200 medley relay: 1. Lake Brantley (Hana Sungail, Isabella Frazier, Hannah Schoenauer, Courtney Chetko) 1:49.89.

200 freestyle: 1. Emma Sundermeyer (FA) 1:49.70.

200 individual medley: 1. Arianna Wertheim (B) 2:06.47.

50 free: 1. Hana Sungail (LB) 23.95.

100 butterfly: 1. Wertheim (B) 55.68.

100 free: 1. Sundermeyer (FA) 51.35.

500 free: 1. Natasha Goodwin (O) 5:13.28

200 free relay: 1. Fletcher 1:39.86.

100 backstroke: 1. Kayla McKinney (WO) 59.60.

100 breaststroke: 1. Mallory Baker (LM) 1:06.31.

400 freestyle relay: 1. West Orange (Veronica Shulman, Kaya Robertson, McKinney, Ella Klyce) 3:37.51.

Boys

Team scores: 1. Oviedo (O) 421; 2. Seminole (S) 235; 3. Winter Park (WP) 230; 4. Lake Brantley (LB) 210; 5 Fletcher (Fl) 142; 6. Circle Christian (CC) 141; 7. Lake Highland Prep (LHP) 135; 8. Lake Nona (LN) 111; 9. Foundation Academy (FA) 108.50; 10. DeLand 96.

Race finals

200 medley relay: 1. Lake Brantley (Domonkos Czika, Danzhel Tuliao, Charlie Hayden, Danny Garcia) 1:37.66.

200 freestyle: 1. Ian Heysen (WP) 1:41.17.

200 individual medley: 1. Tuliao (LB) 1:52.87.

50 free: 1. Michaelangelo Porter (Fl) 21.67.

100 butterfly: 1. Thomas Youngblood (O) 50.35.

100 free: 1. Ryan Walker (O) 47.48.

500 free: 1. Ryan Turner (CC) 4:38.72.

200 free relay: 1. Oviedo (Daniel Strumidlo, Daniel Cunado, Youngblood, Walker) 1:28.43.

100 backstroke: 1. Stevie Lopez (LHP) 54.17.

100 breaststroke: 1. Tuliao (LB) 57.59.

400 freestyle relay: 1. Oviedo (Youngblood, Strumidlo, Goodwin, Walker) 3:11.52.

XC winners

Hagerty edged Titusville Astronaut 46 to 47 to win its own cross country invitational.

Huskies senior Jonathan Leon led the way with a winning time of 15:53.25. He has three wins and one second place showing through four meets.

Here are the top area 5,000-meter (3.1 miles) cross country times according to Flrunners.com (minutes:seconds):

Boys

Jonathan Leon, Hagerty, 15:22.2

Dylan Torres, Lake Nona, 16:02.36

Connor Stromberg, Lake Mary, 16:03.1

Dylan Mauldin, Boone, 16:03.2

Nathan Henning, Lake Mary, 16:03.5

Will Neeld, Circle Christian, 16:07.9

Corey Johnson, Lake Mary, 16:08.2

Jayden Santos-Gonzalez, Oak Ridge, 16:12.56

Dylan Cannella, Boone, 16:13.9

Jaiden McKee, West Orange, 16:14.2

Girls

Annabella Tomasic, Lake Highland, 17:41.52

Ava Wyant, Master’s Academy, 18:36.8

Rachel Judy, Circle Christian, 18:51.64

Emily Knopfle, Olympia, 18:52.0

Rhyen Foley, East Ridge, 18:59.0

Samantha Lorey, Bishop Moore, 19:09.85

Jasmine Williams, Lake Minneola, 19:11.7

Jolynn Rodriguez, Winter Springs, 19:17.93

Noelle Vu, Mount Dora, 19:19.1

Ashlyn Leviner, Lake Minneola, 19:22.1