By Gary Curreri

Pompano Beach’s Sydney Blackburn keeps her goals close.

The talented Highlands Christian Academy sophomore track star recently accomplished one of those goals as she threw 151.02 ft. in the discus and won the District 13-1A title.

Her throw is the second best in the state behind Hallandale High School senior Amani Heaven’s 161.50 ft. throw at the Pepsi Florida Relays. Blackburn’s throw is also the 18th best in the country.

“That felt really good because there were a lot of people from school there,” said Blackburn, who also won the shot put event that day with a throw of 37.10 ft.“The athletic director was there; the headmaster was there and so was my teammates.”

Blackburn said she sometimes feels pressure because she shoulders the load for her team.

“I just know that I am one of the captains, so if I am having a bad day, it will affect the others on my team,” she said. “It helps me know that my team is depending on me, so it helps me calm down. The competition I have now is not as good as my summer track.”

She finished fourth at the state meet last year in the shotput with a throw of 36.1 ft. but scratched on all three attempts in the discus.

“My throw would have been the winning throw at states,” said Blackburn, who was 9th in the state in the shotput in her 8th-grade year and was 14th in the state in the discus event that year. “They said I walked out of the circle wrong and didn’t count my throws. It was disappointing, but it really motivated me this year.

“I want to get 155 ft. in regionals and hopefully 160 at state,” said Blackburn, who placed 4th in the National Junior Olympic Track and Field Championships at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas with a throw of 144.75 ft. last July. It was her previous best throw until the district competition last week. Blackburn competes for Broward Elite Track Club out of Pine Crest in Ft. Lauderdale during the summer.

The regional competition is Wednesday at Calvary Christian in Ft. Lauderdale.

Blackburn, 16, is a sophomore and has spent 10 years at the school.

“It is a small school, but I enjoy going there,” Blackburn said. “With public schools, you get to experience more, but in my district there is very good competition.”

“I like to keep my goals close,” Blackburn said. “My goal is to get into the high 170s by the time I finish high school. My highest last year was in the 130s, so I am improving each year.”

Blackburn is highly thought of by Highlands track coach Brenda King.

“Sydney is our most valuable track member not just because of her points but she is our heart beat,” King said. “She is a fun loving young lady who does not mind working hard at athletics or academics.

Most importantly, Sydney, her family and me are all humbled to enjoy this great ride of her success through hard work.

“Sydney has always desired to go to college and participate in a sport,” added King, who said that Blackburn has drawn interest from the University of Miami and University of Virginia as well as Butler. “Now, track has made it more real for her. Sydney has special God given talents and she must be treated in that manner. She reminds daily of why I love to coach.”

By Gary Curreri

Pompano Beach’s Shannon Snell is doing quite well down underafter competing in the 2018 Queensland Surf Life Saving Senior State Championships in Maroochydore, Australia.

The 20-year-old Snell, a 2016 graduate of Cardinal Gibbons High School, recently placed fifth in the Open Women Beach Flags Final and seventh in the Open Women Beach Sprint despite a tight quad muscle. She was representing the Kurrawa Surf Life Saving Club.

Snell, who represented the U.S.A. Open Team in the DHL International Surf Rescue Challenge in New Zealand that was held from Nov. 30-Dec. 4, extended her stay in Australia to become even more proficient in her lifesaving skills.

“I’m currently in Australia training in the surf-lifesaving sport,” said Snell, who placed second in the sprint and fourth in the surf ski events during the DHL in Mount Monguani, New Zealand.

“Since they are 50 years ahead of the U.S.A., there are actually clubs to train with that you can get the proper technique and training sessions to excel when racing internationally and for the U.S.A. (United States Lifesaving Association) Nationals. I was beyond thrilled to be selected for the U.S.A. team.”

The DHL challenge has been held since 1999 and attracted seven countries from around the world to compete head-to-head in New Zealand for the title of International Surf Rescue Champions. Snell helped the United States finish third in the competition.

Snell has been pleased with her progress so far. In January, she also took second in the Open Beach Sprint Final at Ocean 6 Series and ninth place in Open Women Beach Flags Final in North Cronulla Beach.

“To be able to race with the top athletes in the U.S.A. is always a very humbling feeling and knowing that the work you put in doesn’t go without being noticed,” she said. “I was very pleased too to place as well as I did with coming out of our winter training into everyone’s else’s summer since the seasons are different.

“The goal for Australia is to learn as much knowledge as I can in this sport and take that home with me and become a better athlete,” Snell continued, “and to help the next generation in the states and in Florida to be able to see the sport continue to grow.”

Snell has been an Ocean lifeguard since 2016 on both the east and west coast of the United States, and, prior to that, was a Pompano Beach Junior lifeguard since the age of 9. During that time, she was selected to represent the United States Youth National Team in France in 2014. She also travelled to Japan and Australia the following two years.

Snell earned her fourth invitation to represent her country based on her performance at the United States Lifesaving Association Nationals in Daytona Beach this past summer.

By Gary Curreri

Lighthouse Point’s Ryan Szklany is making the most of his senior cross country season.

The Highlands Christian Academy 17-year-old won a major invitational for the third time this season as he captured the Pine Crest Cross Country Invitational at Tradewinds Park in Coconut Creek last week.

Szklany ran a 17:08.70 on the 5K layout to win the boys varsity race by 11 seconds over runner-up Robert Pedroza, a sophomore from Key West High School, who ran a 17:19.52. They were the only two runners to run faster than 18-minutes in the boys race.

Szklany also won the individual championship in the Boys High School Select Division at the FSU Pre-State Invitational at Apalachee Regional Park in Tallahassee, as well as the 35th annual Spanish River Invitational at South County Park in Boca Raton.

When he won the Pre-State meet, Szklany started out in sixth place at the mile mark as he went out in 5:00.7, but by the second mile he had moved up to first. With a strong finishing burst, he held off Lakewood Ranch’s Jonathan Reid to clock 16:21.3. Reid was second with a time of 16:25.1.

“The first mile we went out far and, after that, there was a group of a two or three guys that were about 20 meters ahead that I wanted to catch before they broke away,” said Szklany, who was third at last year’s Class 1A state cross country championships. “I was able to stay with them and pushed ahead.”

“This is good for confidence, knowing that I could hold down a strategy,” Szklany added. “I was a little disappointed because I didn’t get a PR, but I was able to get my second fastest time of the season and I am happy with that.”

Szklany said he is starting to return to the form he was at two years ago when he ran his personal best time of 16:13.00.

“I just think the development is starting to pay off,” Szklany said. “I think the training is starting to catch up a little bit. I am starting to transition back into it.

“I know what the course is now and I am a little more used to where I should go a little harder or maybe lay back a little bit,” Szklany said of the 5K layout at Apalachee Regional Park in Tallahassee. “I have that aspect of it and also being able to compete against the guys I am going to be racing against to kind of get to know their strategies and race against them.”

Trevor Foley, who transferred from Nature Coast Tech (Class 2A) to Citrus Park Christian (1A) before last year’s track season, is going to be Szklany’s main rival. Foley’s best time is 15:20, so Szklany will have his work cut out for him as his best time this season is a 16:16.40 and his personal best is a 16:13.0, which he ran in the Foot Locker South event in Nov. 2015.

In their lone head-to-head meeting, Foley won the Flrunners.com Invitational 18 Race of Champions Boys Division at Holloway Park in Lakeland on Sept. 30. Foley won the event with a 15:54.64 clocking, while Szklany covered the distance in 16:23.15. Szklany was third in the Jim Ryun Invitational by Fellowship of Christian Athletes (16:35.80).

Szklany has his sights set on competing in college at Emory Riddle.

“I haven’t committed anywhere yet,” Szklany said. “It is giving me a little more drive to keep working hard and training hard to make sure I am there at the end of the season.”

By Gary Curreri

The Pompano Beach Piranhas recently took 11th overall in the Florida Gold Coast Senior Championships at the Academic Village Swimming Pool.

Pompano Beach coach Jesse Vassallo brought 19 swimmers to the three-day meet and scored 449.50 points overall. The men’s team tallied 344.50 to finish 10th in that division, while the women scored 105 points, which was good enough for 17th overall.

“We hoped to do that,” said Vassallo, who cited a Top-12 finish at the meet. The host South Florida Aquatic Club (SOFLO) won the combined team title with 2,748 points. The team also captured the men’s title.

“We are a small team compared to the rest,” Vassallo said. “It adds up to the relays, a point here and a point there. There are three seasons in a year and we came to this meet not rested. We didn’t stop training. We kept training and we came in tired, but we did better that I expected. I had a kid (Tyler Zuyus) win high point without being shaved.”

Zuyus, 16, a junior at Ft. Lauderdale High School, is expecting to be the top swimmer at his school. He is also a Ft. Lauderdale resident.

“Meets like this help me prepare for bigger meets,” said Zuyus. “This is a marking point for where I want to be and where I am at so I know how to train for it. Sometimes we go into it not shaved or tapered and this was one of those times.”

He was pleased with winning the high point award.

“It is really an accomplishment for me to do this,” Zuyus said. “I wasn’t expecting to win the high point. It shows that I am able to do well under all of the pressure. Going back-to-back with all of those races … it is a confidence booster. My high school season was great and it was the first time I place individually. Unfortunately, our relays didn’t do so well. It’s okay. We will get them next year!”

Zuyus was runner-up for the high point award at the Winter Championships. He said he is now looking forward to swimming the summer season.

“I am going to sleep,” said Zuyus, who swam nine total events individually and five relays. “I haven’t slept in a couple days. I was really happy with my 200 back because I dropped two seconds and every other race was close to my personal best time.”

The team’s performance also came off a solid effort at the Junior Olympic competition a couple of weeks earlier.

“At the JOs,” Vassallo said, “we were a very small group. We only brought eight swimmers. Rafael Santos won three events, and Lilia Blanco also swam really well. She is only nine, but she came in third three times and scored in every event she swam in the 10-Under competition.”

The 2016 NBA Champion Cleveland Cavaliers had quite the battle in winning the series last Sunday against the Golden State Warriors. Despite being down 3-1 by the time game five rolled around, LeBron James and his teammates found the will to defeat the defending champion Warriors for three straight games, and made history in the process. The odds-makers were sure that Golden State would repeat since no team had ever overcome a 3-1 deficit. A further hurdle was the fact that Cleveland had not had a major sports championship team since 1964, and had never won the coveted NBA title. The 2016 Champions proved that odds can be overcome and challenges can be conquered.

In the emotional post-game interviews with reporters, LeBron James acknowledged the great struggle he and his teammates had to overcome. It was a deeply fulfilling night for the Cavaliers’ star player who had made it his goal to bring the championship home to Cleveland ever since his return from a four-year stint with the Miami Heat.

Fans in Cleveland had voiced their displeasure with LeBron when he left Cleveland in 2010 to play in Miami. They had felt betrayed and abandoned, and their team suffered its worst seasons without James’ skills and leadership. But, on last Sunday night, all was forgiven as delirious fans celebrated the win in the streets of Cleveland, and hailed their hero, Lebron James.

In 1 Samuel 30, David and his men returned to their campsite in Ziklag to find it a smoldering ash heap, the result of a sneak attack by the Amalekites. Further compounding their distress was the fact that their wives and children had been taken captive by the enemy. The emotional trauma of the moment overwhelmed the tough fighting men who cried until they had no more power to weep. Frustration soon gave way to anger as they then contemplated stoning their leader, David, who had become the object of their blame. David somehow found the strength to encourage himself and inspired his men to pursue the enemy in the process.

There are powerful life lessons in both the Biblical account of David and his men, and in the championship quest of LeBron James and his teammates:

1) Never make a permanent decision in a temporary situation. Down 3-1 in the finals, LeBron could have concluded that the odds were too great and the championship run was over. David could have given in to his despair and considered suicide when his men turned against him.

2) There are times when the help you need lies deep inside of you. When you are playing on your opponent’s home court and thousands of fans are screaming and booing to distract you, it takes incredible focus and internal fortitude to stay true to your game. David was able to retreat from the unnerving sounds of mutiny around him and seek solace and encouragement in spiritual communion with God.

3) Acknowledge God’s presence and power at work in your life. LeBron opined that God (the man upstairs) must have intended for the Cavaliers to take the hard road to the championship. David looked to God for direction concerning a mission of recovery and was inspired to pursue.

4) Setbacks can turn into comebacks. The Cavaliers’ heroic effort paid off, winning them the championship and great respect in the world of sports. David eventually caught up with the Amalekites, recovered the kidnapped families and returned with the spoils of war.

May you and I find the courage to face our obstacles, confident that we can overcome them, and may God enable us to do, with His aid, what we cannot do on our own.

Bishop Patrick L. Kelly is the pastor of Cathedral Church of God, 365 S. Dixie Hwy., Deerfield Beach, FL 33441. 954-427-0302.