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Land O’ Lakes High School has announced the hiring of Ronald Trac Baughn as the school’s new varsity football coach. Baughn has coached with the Gators the past two seasons serving as the team’s defensive coordinator, under former head coach Chad Walker, who left for Cambridge Christian School.

Baughn’s career spans more than three decades of coaching and teaching in the high school and college ranks. Prior to working with the Gators, coaching stops have included tight end coach at Division I FCS Austin Peay University (Tennessee), running backs coach at Division II Delta State University (Mississippi), linebacker coach at East Mississippi Community College and defensive coordinator at Holmes Community College (Mississippi). In the high school ranks he has coached in Mississippi with stops at Kosciusko High School as head coach, and at New Hope High School and Cleveland Central High School as defensive coordinator.

The Bishop McLaughlin Catholic High School athletics department announced former NFLer Ken Stills as the school’s varsity football coach.

Stills replaces Joe Vaughn, who in his lone season coached Bishop McLaughlin to a 1-7 mark in 2019; Vaughn was a former assistant strength & conditioning coach with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Stills, an eighth round draft pick out of Wisconsin, played for the Green Bay Packers (1985-1989) and the Minnesota Vikings (1990) before venturing into the coaching ranks.

Stills most recently served as a running backs coach at IMG Academy in Bradenton. He also is a former head coach for the River City Rage of the United Indoor Football and former running backs coach of the XFL’s Los Angeles Xtreme.

Stills is the father of former University of Oklahoma and current Houston Texans’ wide receiver Kenny Stills.

The Pasco-Hernando State College women’s cross-country team was recognized as a 2019-2020 Academic All-Scholar Team by the NJCAA Cross Country Coaches Association, for having the fourth-highest team GPA (3.815) among NJCAA Division I colleges. The other programs with higher team GPAs were Wallace State Community College (4.0), Daytona State College (3.829), and tying Cuyohaga Community College (3.816) and Monroe College (3.816). This past season, the Bobcats secured the team’s fourth straight regional championship and finished fifth in the NJCAA Half-Marathon.

A handful of college baseball players with ties to The Laker/Lutz News coverage area are participating in the RussMatt Collegiate Baseball Invitational in Polk County, the largest collegiate baseball tournament in the nation.

The 38-day tournament runs through March 29, and features more than 250 teams representing various divisions in collegiate sports, from Division I through Division III, as well as NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics), NCCAA (National Christian College Athletic Association) and junior college.

Players from The Laker/Lutz News coverage area in the RussMatt tourney:

• Trevor Salvior, pitcher (Land O’ Lakes native) — Chatham University (Pennsylvania)
• Eric Sennott, outfielder (Steinbrenner High) — Curry College (Massachusetts)
• Paul Midili, pitcher (Bishop McLaughlin Catholic High) — Westminster College (Pennsylvania)
• Max Law, infielder (Land O’ Lakes High) — Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
• Vance Gutierrez, outfielder (Steinbrenner High) — Indiana University-South Bend
• Will Grisack, pitcher (Carrollwood Day School) — Lehigh University (Pennsylvania)

Games are primarily played at Auburndale’s Lake Myrtle Sports Park and Winter Haven’s Chain of Lakes Park. Other facilities, such as Warner University in Lake Wales, Henley Field in Lakeland and Polk State College in Winter Haven, will host some games, too.

For more information, visit RussMatt.com.

Saint Leo University senior shortstop Kacie Kelly was named to the 2020 Schutt Sports/NFCA Division II National Player of the Year Watch List, recently announced by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA).

The Jacksonville native is a three-time First Team All-Sunshine State Conference selection and a 2017 NFCA Third Team All-American. Kelly returns to the list for the third straight season, having been named to the watch list in her sophomore and junior campaigns. The 2020 watch list marks the fourth straight season with a Lion on the list — former right-handed pitcher Stephanie Adkins was named to the watch list in 2017.

In 49 games played last season, Kelly registered a slash line of .377/.475/.470 with 36 runs scored, 12 extra-base hits, 21 walks, 15 RBI and seven stolen bases. She also posted a .955 with 80 putouts, 69 assists and seven errors.

The top 25 finalists for the 2020 Schutt Sports/NFCA Division II National Player and Pitcher of the Year awards will be announced on April 23. A student-athlete does not have to be on the watch list to be considered for the top 25. The top 10 finalists will be announced on May 12, and the winners will be recognized on May 28 following the conclusion of the 2020 season.

The Martinez Middle School dance team took first place in the Hip-Hop category and third in the Pom category at the NDA (National Dance Alliance) regional championships earlier this month at Bartram Park, in Jacksonville. The team’s Hip-Hop title qualifies for them for the NDA national championships in March.

Wiregrass Ranch senior All-State linebacker Dylan Ridolph has signed to play collegiate football at Division II Catawba College, in Salisbury, North Carolina. Ridolph holds the Pasco County record for most career sacks, with 48. He also tallied 274 total tackles and 78 tackles for loss across three varsity seasons.

Matt Norris, left, and Tim Grimes won the South Pasco Bassmasters (SPBM) February Trophy Catch tournament in Lake Griffin, hauling in five bass for a total weight of 23.22 pounds. The haul included a 10.24 pound bass that also won the tournament’s Big Bass award. The duo caught their fish flipping creature baits on the edge of the shoreline and throwing rattle traps in grass found in the middle of the lake. The next SPBM tourney is scheduled for March 21 at Crooked Lake. For information, visit SouthPascoBassmasters.com.

Pasco-Hernando State College men’s baseball coach Lyndon Coleman was recognized as NJCAA (National Junior College Athletic Association) Division II Southeast Coach of the Year and American Baseball Coaches Association/Diamond NJCAA Division II District 10 Coach of the Year, for 2019. In his first season as head coach, Coleman guided last year’s Bobcats to a third-place finish in the NJCAA Division II World Series, with a 35-25 mark. Lyndon Coleman, right, stands alongside former PHSC outfielder Brayden Lyman.

Saint Leo University junior right-handed pitcher McCabe Sargent, a Land O’ Lakes High School product, has been named to the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association’s preseason NCAA Division II All-South Region second team.

Sargent began 2019 in the bullpen, but emerged as the Friday night starter for the Lions midway through last season. He finished the year with a 3.77 ERA, a 4-5 record and 69 strikeouts in 74 innings pitched. The 6-foot-2, 195-pounder also had five starts in which he hurled seven or more innings, including a streak of four straight late in the year. Sargent is one of six starting pitchers divided between the first and second preseason teams, including one of three Sunshine State Conference starting pitchers.