Special to The Laker/Lutz News

By Jeff Odom

To say the Land O’ Lakes boys and girls swim teams have had their share of wins during the last few seasons is an understatement.

The program swept the Class 2A-District 5 championships last season. The boys also extended their streak of perfect regular seasons to 12, while the girls went undefeated in dual meets for the ninth time during that same stretch.

The Gators have dominated Pasco County rivals and are showing no signs of giving up their No. 1 spot.

“It becomes contagious, because once you establish your program, then people want to be a part of it, and we have tried very hard as coaches to preach team,” said 11-year Land O’ Lakes girls coach Robin Hilgenberg.

The Gators enter this season as favorites to win 2A-5 and Sunshine Athletic Conference (SAC) crowns.

The girls have won three straight district titles, while the boys are aiming for their eighth championship in nine years.

That comes as no surprise to Robin’s son, Cam, who was the top boys swimmer last season and qualified for the 50-yard freestyle at the 2A state meet.

“It was a great experience (going to states),” said Cam, a junior. “This year, I expect (the team) to go undefeated again, just like we have for the past 12 years.”

Barbara Hayes, who has coached the boys squad for 13 years, said she has seen an increase in talent across Pasco.

“The gap has definitely closed,” Hayes said. “One of the greatest joys I’ve experienced through the years is watching the level of competitive swimming strengthen and become more widespread throughout the county. It’s exciting to see other programs grow through the hard work and dedication of so many committed coaches. Of course, it adds to our butterflies as individual contests often come down to the last few races and championship meets are always up for grabs, but there is nothing better than being involved in healthy, competitive sport.”

Sophomore Jordan Wheeler, who won the 500 freestyle district title last season, said they have the athletes to remain at the top despite increased competition.

“I think, for the most part, during dual meets it’s kind of like getting ready for the state series,” Wheeler said. “You kind of have to just think about what you’re going to do, and it’s always like looking forward to who’s next.”

Robin said one of the Gators biggest advantages is their depth.

“Especially this year, our middle of the road swimmers have stepped it up,” Robin said. “I mean, they are very, very competitive. They want to go to regionals. I think that’s where we win. … What I’m finding is not only the determination from our kids, but they know that to be a good high school swimmer you’ve got to do your homework in the summer.”

On the girls side, Krystin Demsher is aiming to better her sixth place performance at states a year ago. The junior competed in the 100 butterfly, but said she wants to add more events if possible.

“I think (making states) has really pushed me, especially in practice,” Demsher said. “It was stressful, to be honest, but it was a really good experience, especially getting a medal. It gave me a lot of self-confidence. I want to go back this year and get at least in the top four, and I’m hoping we get a relay to states this year. We were really close last year.”

Robin agrees, adding that both squads have the talent to win on every level.

The Gators will put their perfect record on the line against district rival Sunlake Sept. 19. The meet starts at 6 p.m.

By Jeff Odom

Since the programs’ inaugural season in 2007, the Sunlake boys and girls swim teams have been looking up at an opponent that has dominated Pasco County for a decade.

That team is the Land O’ Lakes Gators, who the Seahawks share their home pool with at the Land O’ Lakes Recreation Center.

“Their depth is absolutely incredible,” said Seahawks coach Glenna Chamberlain of Land O’ Lakes. “I credit that to their coaches and the club team coaches who work with them. They are just so strong. Every year we pull more kids into the excitement of our family. … We just build each year and it’s what we’re all about.”

Though the Seahawks have slowly climbed the ladder to respectability, they also feel like they have enough to compete with their cross-town rival, who handled them easily on the boys and girls sides 105-79 and 120-65, respectively, last regular season.

Junior Courtney Meyer, who was named a girls team captain this season, said the entire group has worked hard to prepare for 2012.

“It’s just going to have to take the dedication of everybody,” Meyer said. “We all got to want it, because Land O’ Lakes is really good. They expect to win every time, but if we come up, that would be the biggest moment for us and would be amazing.”

Meyer was a key member of Sunlake’s 400-yard freestyle relay last season, which returns three of its four swimmers including senior Nicole Harder.

Harder said improving her own times, along with teammates’, is crucial if the relay squad wants to return to regionals.

“Getting my best time at regionals in (the) 500 free(style) was probably my best memory from last year,” Harder said. “(The key) will be working as a team. We all have to.”

On the boys side, Tyler St. Onge has shown to be one of Sunlake’s fastest swimmers to open the campaign.

The junior, who moved to the United States from Indonesia two years ago, joined a club team during the summer to stay in shape, which took seconds off of his times.

St. Onge said the squads feed off Chamberlain’s energy as the coach is amped up and animated on the deck during the meets.

“To all of us, she’s not like a coach we see everyday and tells us what to do; she’s more like a mom to us,” St. Onge said. “She’s always there for us, and hearing her cheer for us always motivates us and is always a good thing to have.”

Teammate Matthew Perez, a senior and team captain, said Chamberlain has turned things up a notch with the programs.

“She’s a great coach and united us as a family,” Perez said. “We all work together without drama. … She’s the reason I am where I am today.”

Sunlake faces Land O’ Lakes Sept. 19 starting at 6 p.m.

By Kyle LoJacono

No area swim teams were more affected by graduation than the Wharton boys and girls.

Gone are the The Laker/Lutz News Boys and Girls Swimmers of the Year in Danielle Albright and Chad Ankers, who qualified for the Class 3A state meet in four and two events, respectively.

“Both of them were very good leaders, not only because they were good swimmers but because they were vocal,” said Julia Lamb, who has been one of the Wildcats’ coaches for six years. “You knew when they were there and they were definitely captains.”

While the Wildcats lost their top swimmers, the graduates have left an impression on those who return.

“(Danielle) didn’t put pressure on herself,” said sophomore Dee Sopapong. “I would get more nervous before a race. I want to be more like that.”

Connor O’Halloran, who competes in the 50- and 100-yard freestyle and 200 individual medley, added, “From watching Chad I improved my stroke. He had really long strokes. I’m more like his build. I’m taller with longer arms, so I’ve copied his stroke.”

Lamb has also seen new leadership in boys like sophomore Ryan Heckel, senior Jeffrey Stump and O’Halloran and girls like sophomore Katie Scott.

“Katie is going to be a good replacement,” Lamb continued. “She’s a captain this year, and she’s going to be a big help in replacing Danielle’s enthusiasm for the team.”

Scott, who does the 100 backstroke and 200 freestyle, got a taste of the state meet last year while on the 200 medley relay with Sopapong and Albright.

“It was so exciting,” Scott said. “Not a lot of freshmen get to go to state, but I was able to. I was on a high the whole time. The team last year was good, and we had a tight-knit group. We knew from the beginning that we were going to go to states. … In club I’m not usually one of the top swimmers, so it was nice to be one of the top dogs. It was cool to be able to say, ‘Yeah, I’m first or second.’”

Scott said she feels more comfortable leading now that she has experience with high school swimming.

“Last year, I was always wondering if what I was doing was OK; am I doing this right,” Scott said. “Now I know the game and know how to do things. I’m definitely more aware of what it takes to get to states.”

Sopapong knows what it takes to make states in four events: 100 breaststroke; 200 individual medley; 200 medley and freestyle relays. Her best performance came in the breaststroke, where she took sixth overall with a finish of 1 minute 6.56 seconds.

“Dee is going to be our big guns,” Lamb said. “She’s a sophomore, but she will make it to states in both of her events.”

Sopapong, whose family moved from Thailand when she was 9, started swimming at age 5 and has high hopes for this season.

“This year I want to get a medal, so top three,” Sopapong said.

Sopapong said she’s been working on staying underwater longer during swims, which allows her to maintain momentum off the start.

For the boys, O’Halloran has been working to improve his breaststroke and backstroke in order to qualify for is first regional meet. Heckel, who did the 200 and 500 freestyle last year, has been working on improving in a pair of new races.

“I’ve never done the fly in a race for high school, so I want to see what kind of time I can get,” Heckel said. “For freestyle, I’ve been working on the 100. I don’t know why, but I’ve always liked freestyle and the 100 is something I’ve always wanted to do.”

Wharton has high hopes for this season but also has an eye to the future with so many young swimmers.

“Some of the guys who started this year, if they stick to it and practice, they have some potential,” Heckel said. “Hopefully that means good things for the team in the years to come.”

The Wildcats host Lennard Sept. 18 at 6:30 p.m.

By Jeff Odom

When Wiregrass Ranch swim coach Tanner Schmitz’s boys and girls teams were placed in the grueling Class 3A-District 5 last years, he knew the program was going to face a challenge.

Not only where the Bulls moving up in classification, but their district is filled with state powerhouses like Palm Harbor University, Plant, East Lake and Countryside. The challenge was overwhelming at first, but Schmitz used the speed and athleticism of his Bulls new opponents as teaching tools and motivation to strive for more.

“As a coach, the positive I take from it is that my kids are getting pushed,” said Schmitz, who is in his third season with the Bulls. “My best swimmers are getting pushed by better swimmers, and they’re getting faster. The downside is we don’t send as many kids to regionals, so they don’t get as much of that big postseason experience. … The kids get to swim with the top level of talent and see that sense of what to strive for.”

While 3A-5 is tough, the nondistrict schedule is just as competitive on both the team and individual level. Top tier Pasco County programs like Land O’ Lakes, Sunlake and Mitchell aren’t far from the Wiregrass Ranch athletes’ minds, but other goals stand tall too.

“No matter who it is, they’re always working hard,” Schmitz said. “The experienced swimmers, they get it. They understand going from 2A to 3A was huge, and that they’ve got to just step up their game. Most of them are rising to the occasion. … All we talk about day in and day out is team, kind of taking the individuality out of it.”

On the girls side, the Bulls return two of its top performers — senior Chelsea Hernandez and sophomore Athena Cimino.

Cimino won a district title and qualified for states in the 50-yard freestyle while battling through a broken thumb that affected her at the end of the season.

“I put down on paper I (am) going to states as a freshman, and I knew I just couldn’t give up because of it,” Cimino said.

She said doctors didn’t want her competing because of the injury, but that didn’t stop her.

“I had an MRI on my birthday, and that was my birthday present, a broken thumb,” Cimino joked. “(The doctors) didn’t want me to swim, and I begged them to wait two weeks. So, the day after states, I went and got casted.”

For the boys, junior Matt Menendez finished as a district runner-up two years ago in the 100 butterfly, but was unable to advance to regionals facing 3A-5 competition in 2011. He said teammates like Cimino and the message from Schmitz have motivated the squad to do better as a whole.

“We always know that when we go to practice, we’re there to work harder than the other teams,” Menendez said. “Every day that’s our goal, to outwork others. When we go to meets, we learn to do everything right that we can; and if we’re wrong, we learn from it the next meet.”

The Bulls host Pasco Sept. 19 at the New Tampa YMCA starting at 6 p.m.

By Kyle LoJacono

The Wiregrass Ranch girls cross country team finished third at the inaugural Jim Ryun Invitational in Lakeland on Sept. 15.

The Bulls totaled 116 points at the event, 57 off the first-place showing by Holy Trinity Academy. Wharton took seventh, while Land O’ Lakes was 27th at the 30-team race.

Wiregrass Ranch managed the showing without its No. 3 runner Chelsea Ginn-Davis, who has been out for three weeks with a strained back, and No. 5 Savannah Goode, who had a strained calf.

“I think they ran the way they were supposed to,” said Wiregrass Ranch coach Don Howard. “They finished third in a really big meet without our Nos. 3 and 5 runners. They were ranked fourth coming in. Timewise it’s not what the girls want to run, but they’ve run on two tough  courses. I was focusing on where they finished.”

Howard said two things make the Lakeland course unfavorable for low times.

“It’s a little bit of a roller coaster; just up and down and up and down the whole way,” Howard said. “You really don’t run more than a quarter mile before you have another hill. The second thing is it’s a brand new course that hasn’t been run on enough. It’s still soft and hasn’t been packed down yet. It needs some maturing. Once it’s run on and biked on to pack the dirt down it’ll be better.”

Senior Nikita Shah, the squad’s top runner, completed the 5-kilometer course in 19 minutes 49 seconds, good enough for third place. Freshman Madison Conway posted an 11th-place performance (21:29.5), senior Berlin Waters was 23rd (22:14.9), junior Elise Cedre claimed 35th (22:40.7) and sophomore Addi Cornwell took 50th (23:42.5).

“Berlin Waters stepped up and ran third for us,” Howard said. “She did a really good job.”

Howard said Ginn-Davis started running in practice last week and expects her to compete in a race either this weekend or the following. Goode has missed only a few days of practice and she is unlikely to miss any meets.

The third-place finish comes on the heels of the Bulls winning the Seffner Christian Kickoff meet Sept. 8. Howard said Dover Trails are also difficult to run on. That, combined with it being the season opener with warm weather, created times his runners weren’t expecting.

“They just have to understand they’ve run two very hard courses in the first two races of the year,” Howard said. “They all want to run (personal records) and run the times they ran at the end of last year. It just doesn’t work that way. I keep giving them that message, but of course they’re competitive. They want to run their best times right off the bat. They’ll get there, and once the weather cools down they’ll run like they did last year and even better. If they understand that and keep working and believing, they’ll do that.”

The Bulls varsity runners will take this week off from competition. They will race Sept. 29 at the Race of Champions in Titusville as part of the FLRunners.com Invitational.

“It’s a great opportunity,” Howard said. “The girls were invited in the Race of Champions, which is reserved for the top 15 to 20 teams in the state. It’s a real privilege.”

By Kyle LoJacono

The Freedom football team picked up its first victory of the season, winning 20-14 at Brandon Sept. 14.

The Patriots (1-2) were coming off 57-7 and 14-9 losses against Durant and Plant City, respectively, but first-year Freedom coach Todd Donohoe said things have been improving at all levels.

“I feel like the program is starting to come together,” Donohoe said. “The junior varsity team got a win the day before and we came back and won, so it was good to see back-to-back wins for the program.”

Trailing 14-6, sophomore quarterback Taylor King engineered the game-tying drive deep in the fourth quarter. He found senior wide receiver Alunte Fleshman on a 12-yard fade, and the duo hooked up again on the two-point conversion with about two minutes remaining.

“Alunte stepped up,” Donohoe said. “He actually dropped a touchdown and we went right back to him, and then he caught the touchdown and the two-point play.”

The Patriots defense stopped Brandon on the home team’s first possession of overtime. Sophomore defensive back Aaron Cox, who also recorded an interception in the contest, recovered a fumble on third down to set up Freedom’s walk-off win.

King ran for seven yards on first down followed by a two-yard gain by running back Anthony Hendry. King called his own number on third down and plowed up the middle to gain the final yard that gave his Patriots the victory.

“The kids needed a morale booster,” Donohoe said. “We felt like we should have won the week before, so it was good to persevere.”

Senior defensive back Nate Godwin opened the scoring by returning a punt 80 yards for a touchdown in the first quarter. Donohoe said senior linebacker Devan Mays threw the key block to spring Godwin.

“He got hit, the shell of the inside of his helmet comes off and he gets up after being on the ground and makes the key block,” Donohoe said. “It was a team effort on the score there. … It’s good to see special teams making some plays. We also had a fumble recovery and special teams played a bit better.”

Donohoe said things are improving as the first district contest approaches.

“The kids are buying into all the stuff we’re doing,” Donohoe said. “My staff has done a tremendous job making adjustments, some personnel changes and things like that. We’re mentally getting a little more focused; we’re not having the personal fouls and things that were hurting us in the past. It’s starting to come together a little bit more, and hopefully it continues.”

Freedom opens Class 7A-District 7 play at home against Steinbrenner Sept. 21 at 7:30 p.m.

By Jeff Odom

Turnovers cost the Steinbrenner football team a chance at a home victory, falling 21-14 to Strawberry Crest Sept. 14.

The Warriors (1-2) committed four turnovers in the contest, two of which gave the Chargers (2-1) momentum to score touchdowns on their ensuing drives.

“It was just a sloppy game from the get-go,” said first-year coach Andres Perez. “I look back and out of our five drives in the first half, three of them were stopped and we just started going backwards and backwards.”

Steinbrenner got on the board first, scoring midway through the second quarter.

Strawberry Crest punter Noah Schaffer kicked the ball off the side of his foot, giving Warriors the ball on the Chargers’ 34-yard line. On the first play, halfback Kendall Pearcey busted outside and took it into the end zone.

Steinbrenner appeared poised to start another scoring drive at midfield after the Chargers’ fake punt on fourth-and-inches failed, but Pearcey fumbled to flip the momentum. Strawberry Crest scored on an 18-yard pass from Tristan Hyde to Austin Carswell going into halftime.

The Warriors came out of the locker room strong, with defensive back Tyler McClain picking off Tristan to set up halfback Jake Carroll’s 38-yard touchdown catch from Curtis Fitch, giving his team a 14-7 lead.

Another Steinbrenner fumble, this time from Fitch, set up the game-tying touchdown catch by Josh Hyde, Tristan’s brother, with 9:23 left in the third quarter. The Chargers scored again in the fourth.

The Warriors had another chance to score, but Fitch was unable to complete a pass on fourth-and-inches on Strawberry Crest’s 16-yard line.

Fitch finished 9-of-15 for 120 yards with one touchdown and an interception. Pearcey had 90 yards on 16 carries.

Steinbrenner lost one of its biggest receiving threats in Jon Marc Carrier, who left the game in the fourth quarter after landing awkwardly on his knee on a running play.

The Warriors travel to Freedom Sept. 22 at 7:30 p.m. to open their Class 7A-District 7 schedule.