Varsity Weekly: Horizon sports shine; 20-foot long jump; spring playoffs news
In just the third year since opening in the fall of 2021, team sports programs at Horizon High School have prospered greatly.
That success is similar to what nearby Windermere High experienced in its third year before the COVID pandemic led to the cancellation of spring sports in March 2020.
Horizon’s softball squad is 17-5 with one regular-season game to go. The boys volleyball team carried a 16-3 record into a Wednesday match.
On Tuesday, the Hawks girls flag football team finished a 14-4 campaign.
Horizon’s girls soccer squad reached a state semifinal in February. Boys soccer and girls basketball teams finished as regional runners-up while girls volleyball was a region semifinalist.
“The growth has been spectacular,” girls soccer coach Tom Brown said. “Where we’re based is a hotbed of competitive club soccer, but it took those three years to become a strong team in Orange County.”
Senior Cam Teasley, who helped girls volleyball finish 17-5 in the fall and beach volleyball go 33-9 in three seasons, was rezoned for Horizon after spending her freshman year at Windermere.
“The transition was so surreal,” Teasley said. “I remember when we first started doing open gyms and we were not that good because we didn’t know each other, and now we’re best friends on and off the court. We have grown so much.”
Other schools that recently opened — Lake Buena Vista (2021-22) and Tohopekaliga (2018-19) — have yet to experience the same broad level of success.
Innovation High will open in southeast Orange County this fall as a relief school for Lake Nona.
Record jump
Olympia senior Omaria Gordon broke a 37-year-old area best when she long-jumped 20 feet, 8 inches in the Metro Conference West championship meet at Dr. Phillips last Friday.
She eclipsed the 1987 leap of 20-5½ by Michelle Spear of Oak Ridge.
“Technique was exactly what we’ve been practicing,” Olympia coach Patrecia Daniley-Porter said of Gordon’s record-setter. “I knew coming down the runway it was going to be a big jump.”
Sadly, there was no wind-gauge reading, so it won’t be recognized as a “wind legal” jump. MileSplit does list it as the top Florida mark, just an inch and half off the national best for 2024.
Olympia swept the Metro titles. The boys race was tight, with the Titans scoring 112 points to top Ocoee (105) and West Orange (103).
District meets are underway, including 4A District 4 at Evans High on Thursday and 3A-6 at East River on Friday.
DeSantis backs coaches
Gov. Ron DeSantis is on the record as a proponent for higher pay for Florida high school coaches.
The Florida Coaches Coalition, steered in part by Dr. Phillips alum and former high school football coach James Thomson (now a scouting director for USF) is gaining traction. The hope is to have a bill presented to state legislators early next year.
Esports event
Windermere High’s Esports video gaming team is ranked No. 10 in the country by USA Today and is hosting a PlayVS Spring High School state championship event in its gymnasium on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Dr. Phillips, Freedom, Timber Creek, West Orange and Windermere give Orange County Public Schools five of the six slots alongside Flagler Palm Coast.
Beach volleyball
Hagerty (13-1) topped Oviedo 4-1 on Tuesday to claim its third consecutive district title. The Huskies are 45-3 in the three-year history of FHSAA beach volleyball.
Other district finals were played Wednesday. Region play-in matches are Monday.
Flag football
Timber Creek (14-1) topped East River 6-0 in double overtime to reach a flag football region final for the first time. The Wolves scored on a TD pass from Jarlene Duarte to Angelina Maroun and got a fourth-down stop to win.
Dr. Phillips (12-2) edged Horizon 13-12 to stay alive.
Here are Tuesday’s 2A region final pairings:
New Smyrna Beach (11-7) at Timber Creek (14-1)
Newsome (14-5) at Dr. Phillips (12-2)
Boys volleyball
Winter Park edged tough Timber Creek 25-22, 26-28, 15-12 in Saturday’s Metro Conference East division tournament. Jacob Little-Phillips had 27 assists for the Wildcats (21-0).
Winter Park, Timber Creek (20-5) and Lake Howell (23-4) stand 2-3-4 behind Miami High in MaxPreps state rankings.
Softball
Windermere (17-3) scored its seventh shutout in a nine-game win streak with a 1-0 victory vs. Hagerty (18-5) in a duel of highly ranked teams. Lexi King pitched the shutout.
Montverde Academy, No. 2 in 3A, scored five runs in the bottom of the seventh to complete a 21-4 regular season with a 7-6 victory against 3A No. 1 Eustis (18-2).
Cornerstone Charter (21-3), No. 2 in 2A, won 9-7 against 7A West Orange (10-10) on Tuesday.
Baseball
Windermere (20-3), ranked No. 3 in 7A by MaxPreps, carried a 12-game win streak into a Wednesday home game vs. 6A No. 2 Hagerty (18-5). The Wolverines were batting .318 as a team and Hagerty was at .315 going into that game. They will rematch at Hagerty on Thursday at 6 p.m.
Boys lacrosse
Reigning state champ Lake Mary (19-1) leads area region quarterfinalists.
Lake Highland Prep (13-2) and Montverde (10-5) hosted Wednesday 1A games.
Here are the 2A pairings.
Friday
Lake Brantley at Lake Mary, 5 p.m.
Viera at Timber Creek, 7
Saturday
Olympia at Winter Park, Sat., 7 *
West Orange at Boone, 5
Lake Nona at Vero Beach, 1
(* at Showalter Field)
Girls lacrosse
Here are quarterfinal matchups:
Class 2A, Friday
Bartow at Hagerty, 7
Gulf Breeze at Lake Mary, 7
East Ridge at West Orange, 7
Lake Howell at Vero Beach, 7
Winter Park at Viera, 6
Oviedo at Creekside, 6
(* Viera Regional Park)
Class 1A, Tuesday
Cypress Creek at Lake Highland Prep, 7
Edgewood at Bishop Moore, 7
Tennis
Cornerstone Charter’s girls preserved their perfect record (18-0) with a 4-3 Tuesday playoff win vs. Geneva School.
Other unbeatens are Lake Nona’s boys and girls (combined 35-0) and Windermere Prep’s boys (15-0), who host Trinity Prep (14-3) on Thursday. The Lakers edged the Saints 4-3 in the regular season.
The FHSAA state tournaments open for 4A and 2A teams Monday at three Seminole County parks: Sanlando, Red Bug Lake and Sylvan.
Here are Thursday’s region final pairings.
Boys 4A
Lake Mary at Winter Park
Lake Nona at Vero Beach
Boys 3A
East River at Lake Buena Vista
Boys 2A
Lake Highland Prep at Satellite
Eustis at Citrus
Boys 1A
Trinity Prep at Windermere Prep
Girls 4A
Olympia at Lake Nona
West Orange at Boone
Steinbrenner at Celebration
Girls 3A
Gateway at South Fork
Girls 2A
Bishop Moore at Lake Highland Prep
Girls 1A
Benjamin at Master’s Academy
TFA at Cornerstone Charter
Varsity Content Editor Buddy Collings can be reached by email at bcollings@orlandosentinel.com. Staff reporter J.C. Carnahan can be reached at jcarnahan@orlandosentinel.com.
