By Kyle LoJacono
Wiregrass Ranch athletic programs are seeing its athletes hard work paying off with opportunities to play in college in the school’s fifth year.
Three more Wiregrass Ranch student-athletes signed to play at the next level on April 21, giving the Bulls 12 kids who have done so this school year. Girls basketball player Jeileen Mas signed with East Wyoming College, girls tennis player Hannah Still picked Huntingdon College and football player James Tringali is headed to St. Norbert College.
Both sides of cross-town rivalry
Mas, a shooting guard, became the first Bulls girls basketball player to sign with a school. She played her senior season at Wiregrass Ranch, but spent her freshman and sophomore years at Wesley Chapel, reaching the Class 5A regional finals in 2009.
She had to sit out her junior season after coming to Wiregrass Ranch because of Florida High School Athletic Association transfer rules.
“I don’t regret transferring at all,” Mas said. “I love it here at Wiregrass Ranch.”
Mas started playing at age 10 and fulfilled a long-term goal by signing with East Wyoming.
“It’s a dream come true,” Mas said. “Ever since I started, all I wanted to do was get a chance to play in college. I’ve done a lot of hard work to get a chance to play at the next level. Now that I have, it’s amazing.
“The coach there showed a lot of interest,” Mas continued. “I had interest from other schools, but their coach really let me know I was wanted there.”
Mas put up 13.5 points per game as a senior while adding 41 3-pointers, 46 assists, 41 steals and 73 rebounds. She also played volleyball as an outside hitter, recording 229 digs, 68 kills and 43 aces this year.
Mas also excels in the classroom, where she has a 3.9 weighted grade point average. She will focus on math classes while at the Division I junior college so she can be an electrical engineer.
Topping team and class rankings
Still is accustomed to seeing her name at the top of lists. She was the Bulls No.1 girls tennis player this season, and her 4.0 weighted grade point average puts her near the top of her class rankings as well.
Still started playing tennis at age 7 and ever since, she wanted to play in college. She gets that chance at Division III Huntingdon, located in Alabama, as the second Wiregrass Ranch girls tennis player to play at the next level.
“Out of all the schools I ended up looking at, my biggest dilemma was to stay in state or not,” Still said. “I went to the campus in Alabama and fell in love with it. It’s beautiful, I love the coach, and I love all the girls on the team.”
Still said the Huntingdon coaches told her she will have the chance to play as a freshman. She plans to study athletic training.
Still lost only twice during regular season singles matches while in high school, including a 10-1 record as a senior. The Bulls won a Sunshine Athletic Conference and Class 3A regional championship in her junior year and she will also remember playing at Wiregrass Ranch.
“The first year wasn’t as competitive as it has come to be because we were a new school,” Still said. “My sophomore year more girls started playing and then my junior year we got to states as a team. I’m going to miss playing here.”
Bulls QB to lead Green Knights
Tringali has been the Wiregrass Ranch quarterback since midway through his freshman season and is the program’s all time leader* with 3,219 passing yards and 23 touchdowns.
Tringali became the third Bulls football player to sign with a college this year. The number of football signings illustrates where the program has come from the 1-9 records in 2007 and 2008. The Bulls went 6-5 in 2010 and won the Class 4A-District 6 championship.
Tringali was also a guard on the Wiregrass Ranch basketball team that went 22-8, claimed the 4A-8 district championship and won its first 4A regional quarterfinals contest this year.
“It was a real uphill battle and it all culminated with this year winning two district championships in football and basketball,” Tringali said. “It was a hard building process, and I think that everyone who stuck through it is a better person for it. It was a lot of character building. A lot of losses, but we all gained much more.”
Tringali started playing flag football at age 7 and began tackle football in eighth grade. He started 34 straight games while at Wiregrass Ranch.
He has a 3.9 weighted grade point average and plans to study business while in Green Bay at St. Norbert.
“I took a couple visits and there was some point during the trip I said this could be my home for the next four years,” Tringali said. “They have a great combination of academics and athletics. St. Norbert doesn’t have any championships, but they’ve been in the playoffs seven of the last 12 years, so they’re really building in Division III.”
*Stats not kept in 2007
–All stats as recorded to Maxpreps.com by coaches.
