By Gary Curreri

Highlands Christian Academy track and field coach Mark Veynovich has done a solid job building the school’s program during the past five years, despite not having a true facility.

Four of his athletes recently returned home from the FHSAA Class 1A state track meet at Hodges Stadium at the University of North Florida with medals.

“I came in without anything,” said Veynovich, who had 60 athletes on this year’s team. “We train on the grass at Highlands. We take the hurdles out and mark them off with a tape measure.

“Their performance at state really didn’t surprise me that much since I have been with them for three to five years and have seen them growing,” Veynovich added. “What did surprise me was how fast and quick they took to the hurdles. To hit ninth as a team in states with two juniors and a senior make me think next year could be even better.”

Knights junior Ryan Davis, who had finished seventh in the 400-meter dash at the state meet last year, won the state title in the 300-meter hurdles (37.54) and took third in the 110-meter hurdles (14.91).

Teammate and senior Randy Hage was fourth with a careerbest effort in the pole vault (13- feet), while junior Kyle Audet took eighth in 300-meter hurdles (39.54). Audet was also 10th in the 110-meter hurdles (15.60).

“Ryan went into the state meet with one goal-be a state champion,” Veynovich said. “All year long, he stepped up to any challenge on the track in the 300-meter hurdles and was victorious. To meet his goal in the 300-meter hurdles and to exceed his expectations in the 110-meter high hurdles was a huge blessing and proof that hard work does payoff!”

Grayson Mack, a senior, who just signed a track scholarship at Liberty University, was sixth in the pole vault at state after clearing 10-ft; 6-in., which was just shy of her season-best jump of 11-ft.

Mack was the district champ in long jump, triple jump and pole vault, and took second in regionals for pole vault. Mack, who home schools, started with the school in the 10th grade. The boys and girls were the District 14-1A runners-up this year and the boys’ team placed fourth in the Regionals.

“Grayson had been working very hard all year to put herself into a position to compete at states,” Veynovich said.

By Gary Curreri

S’kaydrah Woods made a triumphant return to South Florida as she capped off her middle school career with a victory in the 200-meter dash in the recent Broward County Middle School Track and Field championships at Coral Springs High School.

The Pompano Beach Middle School eighth grader moved to Central Florida last year with her father but came back in time to turn in a huge performance at the track meet.

Woods was second in the 100-meter dash (13.00) and the 400-meter dash (58.68) before winning the 200-meter dash (26.43) and her efforts helped her school finish fourth with 30 points in the girls competition.

“Track is like a job,” said the 14-year-old Woods. “I love to do it. I like track because it is hard and you have to work for it. You just can’t go out there and expect to win and I like working hard. I like to compete.”

The three-time Junior Olympic champion in 2009 plans to compete this summer in the Junior Olympics with the FINESSE Track Club.

Another Pompano Beach Middle School track athlete also picked up a first place finish with a strong effort.

Marc Maurency, 15, won the boys 800-meter run by nearly four seconds over Arthur Ashe’s Deandre Miles as he completed the race in 2:08.89. Maurency, an eighth grader, came in third last year in the same event.

“I want to do this forever,” said Maurency, who shaved six seconds off his previous best time and helped the boys’ team finish second overall. “I want to go to the Olympics. I love track.”

Maurency said the win was very satisfying.

“This is the biggest thing that ever happened to me and this shows me I can do anything I want if I just set my mind to it,” Maurency said. “A lot of people told me I couldn’t do nothing, but I just proved them wrong. When I went through the finish line, that was the best moment ever.”

Pompano’s Benjamin Victor won the high jump with a 5-8 jump, while Deerfield Beach Middle School’s Jenicka Theodor placed fourth in the long jump for its only points of the meet.

Despite a 1-11 season, there are two FAU Football players that have a chance to continue their football careers.
Former FAU running back Alfred Morris was selected by the Washington Redskins on the final day of the NFL Draft, April 28, in the sixth round, as the 173rd overall pick.
Morris is FAU’s all-time leading rusher with 3,529 yards. The Pensacola native also holds FAU career records for total touchdowns with 31, rushing touchdowns (27) and all-purpose yards (3,843). He now has a chance to join Heisman trophy winner Robert Griffin III in the Washington backfield.
Morris was named offensive MVP of the football team and FAU’s Male Student-Athlete of the Year.
FAU has now had a player drafted in the last three NFL Drafts. Morris joins Rusty Smith in 2010 (Tennessee Titans) and Rob Housler in 2011 taken by the Arizona Cardinals.
Former FAU defensive end Kevin Cyrille has signed a rookie free agent contract with the Minnesota Vikings, following the completion of the NFL Draft.
The 6’-4”, 275 lb. Cyrille finished his FAU career as the school’s all-time leader in quarterback hurries with 14. He also ranks among the Top 10 in five defensive categories despite only playing three years after transferring from Western Michigan University.
Last season, Cyrille started 11 of FAU’s 12 games and has 36 total tackles. He was second on the team in both tackles for loss (8.5) and sacks (4.5), while leading the team in quarterback hurries with nine.
The Miami native is among 15 Vikings’ rookie free agents that will travel to Winter Park, Minnesota for the team’s rookie mini-camp which began, Friday, May 4.
A year ago, former FAU wide receiver Lester Jean made the Houston Texans roster but spent the season on injured reserve. He is expected to compete for a starting spot in 2012.
In other football news, FAU and the University of Miami Hurricanes have agreed to play a three game series. It will begin with FAU traveling to Miami on Saturday, Aug. 31, 2013. FAU will play host to the Hurricanes in 2015 then return to Miami in 2016.
Scott Morganroth can be reached at www.scottsports33.com.

By Gary Curreri

Greg Norman returned to his roots, sort of, and hopes to give the city of Pompano Beach a “memorable” golf course.

Norman, 57, the former World No. 1 ranked player who had 20 wins on the PGA Tour, two British Open titles and 80 wins worldwide, was on hand at the Pompano Beach Municipal Golf Course on April 26 for the groundbreaking ceremony of his redesign. This will create a signature course bearing his name.

Redesign of the Pines Course at the Pompano Beach Municipal Golf Course is Norman’s first work on a public course, which is where his career got started in his native Australia.

“My golf career started on a public golf course and I wouldn’t be here today if I didn’t have the access to public facilities,” Norman said. “With that being said, the game of golf can only be started and promoted and grown through public facilities.”

The Greg Norman Golf Course Design company was established in 1987, has opened 74 courses worldwide and has an additional 39 projects in various stages of development. The project began April 2 and the former Pines course is scheduled to reopen on Nov. 16. Norman’s group was the low bidder.

He said the course would be accessible by all walks of players.

“It will be for someone who can hit the ball 40 yards in the air or 300 yards in the air,” Norman said. “They made a big move, a courageous move and I think, from an overall economic side of things, it will be one of the cheapest moves they would have done, in the long period of time. They will see that.”

Bob Loring, head golf professional at Pompano Beach Municipal Golf Course, looked around at the gathering on-hand for the ground breaking and smiled.

“I have been in the golf business for 26 years and this is the most exciting thing that has happened to me as a golf professional,” Loring said. “To have Greg Norman and a Greg Norman Signature Golf Course is just great!”

Dr. Richard Porraro, 75, a member of the Pompano Golf Advisory Board, said because the current course has good soil, it would save on the overall cost.

“It’s an unbelievable day,” Porraro said. “I have been a resident of this city for 48 years and played this course when I was a kid. To think that we would have a signature golf course and the first in the man’s portfolio is phenomenal.”

Three records were broken during the kids’ 6-10 session.

By Caitlin Lindsey
As Shakespeare once wrote, “Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have…” well, some have to stick it through the rain and lightning to prove greatness.

That is exactly what the Deerfield Beach Dolphins did on Saturday, April 21.

This past weekend was not ideal for swimming, but that didn’t keep the Swim League Spring Championship from happening. The Championship was split into two segments; kids 6-10 years old in the morning, and ages 11-18 in the afternoon.

During the first session, the rain delayed the meet for an hour, but Dolphins were able to sneak in a couple of first places –one was in backstroke, at about 27 seconds. The second session, also, was delayed for about a half hour. Events were: the 200 medley relay, 50 freestyle, 50 breaststroke, 50 backstroke, 50 butterfly, 100 individual medley, and 200 freestyle relay. (A medley is backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, and freestyle, not to be confused with an IM: butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, and freestyle. Three records were broken in this season’s championships, all during the younger kids’ session.

No doubt this is just a sign of good things to come … not the rain, but the record-breaking.

Keep up with the Deerfield Beach Dolphins. Summer is just around the corner, featuring the Summer Championships and all that sunny weather!

Swimming Spring Championships (4-21-12)

Team Rankings

Female Team Scores

1. Deerfield Beach Dolphins

2. Palm Beach Gardens Makos

3. YMCA of Boca Raton Barracudas

Male Team Scores

1. YMCA of Boca Raton Barracudas

2. Deerfield Beach Dolphins

3. Palm Beach Gardens Makos

Combined Team Scores

1. Deerfield Beach Dolphins

2. YMCA of Boca Raton Barracudas

3. Palm Beach Gardens Makos

Congratulations Dolphins!

By Gary Curreri

Mitch Evron was named the new Athletic Director at Zion Lutheran on April 10, succeeding Cody Loomis.

Evron, who spent the past nine years at the David Posnack Jewish Day School in Plantation, has a Bachelor of Science degree in Athletic Training and Sports Medicine from the University of Pittsburgh.

Evron has more than 20 years of athletic experience, having been an award-winning coach three times in tennis and soccer. He has also coached professional athletes, includingAndyRoddick and Marty Fish, and has developed dozens of Division I college scholarship athletes.

Tigers fall in ESPNHS classic

Ely High School’s boys’ basketball team recently dropped a 67-61 decision to St. Benedict’s of New Jersey in the opening roundoftheeight-teamESPNHS National High School Invitational at Georgetown Prep in suburban Maryland.

Ely coach Melvin Randall said his team, which won the state title in the spring, showed it deserved to be among the country’s elite teams.

Clide Geffrard led the Tigers with 18 points. Blanche Ely (30-3) led, 40-32, at halftime as Geffrard had 14 points and the Tigers made 57.7 percent of its shots from the field; however, St. Benedict’s employed a manto- man defense in the third quarter and pulled away.

Flegel shines at local event

Lighthouse Point wakeboarder Noah Flegel won the Open Men’s Division at Board Up in Ft. Lauderdale with 80.55 points and helped the USA team capture the 2012 IWWF Pan Am Region Wakeboard Championships recently at Mills Pond Park in Ft. Lauderdale.

Colombia placed second with 540 points, while Ecuador was third with 510 points. Mexico (280 points), Argentina (80 points) and Guatemala (55 points) rounded out the top-six teams. Divisions included Boys, Junior Boys, Junior Men, Junior Women, Masters Women, Masters Men, Veteran Men, Open Women, Open Men, Pro Women and Pro Men.

The win may help the local teenager possibly be part of the World Cup for next year. With two different 720-degree spins and landing his first Crow 540 in competition, it was tough for the other competitors to keep pace.

Pictured (L-R) (back row): Assistant Coach Joseph Harrigan, Nash Williams, Justin Nobles, Chris Judge, Brogenskee Polynice, Jephthe St Fleur, Jordan Strowbridge, Brandon Bornelus, Assistant Coach Scott Rosado, head coach Francis Bornelus; (front row): Coulton Yanulevich, Joshua Forde, Noah Rosado, Adrian Johnson, Preston Piltoff. Submitted photo.

By Gary Curreri

While the Zion Lutheran Middle School boys’ basketball team may not have come home with the gold from the recent National Lutheran Basketball Tournament in Indiana, the Lions turned heads and made some history in the process.

Eighth graders Brandon Bornelus and Brogenskee Polynice were selected to the All Tournament Team after helping the Lions to a runner-up finish in the weeklong, 32-team tournament at Valparaiso University in Indiana. Zion Lutheran was the lone boys’ school to have two members of its squad named to the All-Tournament team.

Zion Lutheran, which placed 12th in last year’s national tournament, opened this year’s event with a 50-41 victory over St. John, S. Euclid, Ohio and followed that up with three consecutive one-point victories to reach the championship game against Our Redeemer from Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, where it dropped a 54-39 decision.

Francis Bornelus was the team’s head coach and was assisted by Scott Rosado and Joseph Harrigan. The coaches nicknamed the players, The Cardiac Kids, following their narrow, lastsecond victories. Bornelus hit two game-winning baskets for the Lions.

“The kids were really, really super resilient and executed late game situations pretty well,” said John Guion, the school’s director of basketball operations and the assistant athletic director.

He is also the head varsity basketball coach. The team had lost in the state finals to St. Paul of Boca Raton, 48-47, last month.

“Chris Judge was huge for us,” Guion added. “He was a kid who didn’t have more than 10 points all year in a game and he had 16 in one of the games. Chris was so impressive. He just stepped up at the right place at the right time. He was huge for us. Polynice averaged a doubledouble for us in every game and Preston Piltoff hit a key 3-pointer in just about every game.”

Zion Lutheran also defeated Pilgrim (Green Bay, Wisconsin), 33-32, Shepherd of the Hills (San Antonio, Texas), 48-47, and Salem (Orange, California), 43-42, to advance to the title game.

“Honestly going into the tournament, we weren’t sure where we stacked up,” Guion said. “We knew we had a pretty good team. We were second in the state of Florida and we knew that St. Paul (Boca Raton) was strong. As soon as we got the first win, it just snowballed from there.

“The kids treated it as a business trip,” Guion said. “It wasn’t about having fun, it was about accomplishing something.”

Guion said the team lost in the final to a better team, but said the players handled the adversity very well and showed good sportsmanship.

“It was disappointing to lose in the final initially, but when they realized how they had come a long way,” Guion said, “it was a good result. There isn’t too much to be disappointed about. They did a great job of competing.”

Guion said it bodes well for the future of Zion Lutheran. The Lions varsity team finished the season at 16-6, but suffered a first-round loss in the district tournament.

“I expect these kids to move up and help the varsity next year,” Guion said. “Those kids that moved up from last year were pretty good players and helped my team as freshmen. Hopefully, that success works its way to me.”

FAU Owls and FIU Golden Panthers have more things in common besides being rivals in the Sun Belt Conference and being small mid-major schools in South Florida. Over the past few months, both schools have made changes with their revenue producing sports where each have taken a hit in the Public Relations Department.

On Dec. 1, 2011, Carl Pelini became the successor to Howard Schnellenberger as he hopes to revive a 1-11 program. This is Pelini’s first head coaching job and FAU is paying him $375,000 to rebuild the program. When Pelini was hired, his introductory press conference was handled poorly. He told the university’s Sports Information Department to hold an impromptu press conference and gather as many media as possible, regardless of how many didn’t make it, without knowledge. I was told later by the FAU Sports Information Department that Pelini’s accessibility would be far less then Schnellenberger, who would be extremely accommodating, realizing how necessary it was to gain the free publicity to promote his program. Schnellenberger is an icon and built the program from scratch while Pelini has more recruiting tools to work with, in addition to the new stadium. It’s his job to win and put rear-ends in the seats to pay for his salary.

Speaking of putting rear-ends in the seats, down in Miami, Hall of Famer Isaiah Thomas averaged 1,071 for the Golden Panthers in three seasons, while attendance was four times that amount on the road. However, Thomas, who was hired in 2009 via a fiveyear contract, never had a chance to see his rebuilding project through. He was fired after three seasons, posting a 26-65 record.

Prior to Thomas’ arrival, FIU’s last winning season was in 1999-2000 and its winning percentage of .315 since, according to STATS LLC, is 329th out of 344 Division I Men’s programs that competed over the last 12 years.

I’ve known Thomas since the late 1980s and I know that he wouldn’t have taken this job if he didn’t have a chance to see it through. He loves basketball and didn’t take a base salary his first year, agreeing to a deal where he would receive nearly half of any gross revenues from ticket sales, commissions collected on food and beverage concessions and sponsorships.

Thomas put FIU on the map and the average college coach usually gets five years to recruit his players and institute his philosophy.

Timing couldn’t have been worse for FIU to make this change, and I do believe it will backfire. It’s not like the university is a cash cow, since its football stadium holds 20,000. There will be a small budget and Thomas’ controversial firing only puts a stain on the program. What reputable coach would come to FIU with a sub-par basketball stadium?

Thomas will likely land back in the NBA while FIU will go back to being an unknown commodity that is the Miami Hurricane’s infant brother.

FIU’s Football Program is best known for a controversial brawl it had with the Hurricanes at the Orange Bowl on Oct. 14, 2006.

As for Pelini, I hope his second impression is better than his first. There is no doubt that both situations are under a major public relations microscope and we’ll see how they both play out.

Scott Morganroth can be reached at www.scottsports33.com.

Zion Lutheran School recently hosted a football combine for high school football players from both Broward and Palm Beach counties. Athletes line up for the 40-yard dash. Submitted photo.

By Gary Curreri

Zion Lutheran School recently hosted a football combine for high school football players from both Broward and Palm Beach counties.

A total of 75 athletes come out from area schools including Deerfield Beach High, Zion Lutheran, Highlands Christian Academy, Coral Springs Christian School, Pope John Paul II, Ely, Piper and Coral Springs Charter.

Event featured testing in the several categories, as well as 7-on-7 passing competition. The players were evaluated by height, weight, reach, vertical leap, shuttle, L-Cone, bench press reps (185-lbs.), 40-yd. dash (laser timing provided by Impact Sports in Boca Raton).

Some of the top performers included Vincent McIntyre (Zion, 2013), who ran a 7.04 second L-Cone, and a 4.36 time in the shuttle; Rylee Hage (Highlands, 2013), who completed 24 reps of 185-lbs. on Bench Press and exhibited a 32-in. vertical jump; Bobby Lentz (Pope John Paul II, 2013) had a 6.84 time in the L-Cone drill, a 4.30 shuttle and a 32-in. vertical jump, while Ryan Davis (Highlands, 2013) had a 4.65 effort in the 40-yd. dash.

“For our first attempt at hosting a combine, I’d say it was a huge success,” said new Zion Lutheran coach Jordan Adair, who previously coached at Highland’s Christian. “The kids and coaches in attendance seemed to be pleased with the opportunity to come out and compete against each other. We know that future combines will only get bigger and better. We plan to host the ZL Combine as an annual event, from here on out.”

There was a charge of $15 per athlete to cover the costs of having a camera person in attendance (to film 7-on-7, and take photos) in addition to purchasing necessary equipment for the combine.

For any interested players or parents on future events, visit www.SouthFlorida Football Academy.com.