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Smith Takes Orange County Title

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By NICHOLAS J.E. MURRAY, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 9, 2008

Connor Smith of Tampa defeated Chris Jackman of Key Biscayne, 6-3, 6-2, in the final of the Orange County Winter Designated Boys Under-18 Tennis Championships.

Smith, who entered the tournament as the No. 9 seed and is ranked No. 34 in the state, did not lose a set the entire weekend on his way to the title. Smith defeated No. 1 seed Blas Moros of Boca Raton in the semifinals (6-4, 6-2), and Taylor Albrecht of Sarasota in the quarterfinals (6-2, 6-3).

In the girls tournament, Rebecca Bodine of Tarpon Springs advanced the farthest of the local entries, reaching the quarterfinals before being eliminated by Carling Seguso of Bradenton, 6-4, 6-1.
Bodine had defeated Kayla Rizzolo of Wesley Chapel (6-1, 6-3) and Laura Gutsche of Sarasota (6-0, 6-0) to advance into the quarterfinals. Kaysara Mandry of Valrico and Jennifer Miller of Tampa each reached the round of 16 before losing. Mandry lost 6-2, 6-0 to Jaime Yapp-Shing of Miami, and Miller lost to Alina Jerjomina of Fort Lauderdale, 6-0, 6-2.

Meghan Sullivan, Amber Li, Bridget McKenna and Raquel Hylton, all from Tampa, were knocked out in the round of 32.

Elsewhere, Michael Alford of Tampa reached the quarterfinals of the Seminole County Winter Designated Boys Under-16 Championships before he was eliminated by No. 1 seed Gonzalez Austin of Miami, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.

Alford, who was the No. 9 seed, had gone to three sets in his round-of-16 match against sixth-seeded Gordon Watson of Naples. Alford came from a set down to advance, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.

Garrett Betsarakis of St. Petersburg was eliminated in the round of 16 as the No. 2 seed was upset by No. 10 Boris Bogomolov of Miami, 6-1, 3-6, 6-4.

Tampa's Kelly Sullivan and Erin Snook were the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds, respectively, in the girls draw, but neither advanced past the round of 16.

Sullivan was knocked out by eventual champion Gina Suarez of Pembroke Pines, 6-2, 6-1, while Snook lost in three sets to finalist Sarah McLean of Miami, 3-6, 7-6 (4), 7-5.

Patriots Edge Wolves For Regular-Season Title

Chris Burt had a shutout and Justin Quillen scored the only goal of the game as Freedom beat Newsome Blue 1-0 to win the regular-season title in the Hillsborough High School Hockey League on Saturday.

Quillen scored with 2:09 left in the second period off an assist by Barry Preusch, and it was enough for the defending "pure" division state champions.

Freedom and Newsome Blue could meet again in the "pure" division playoff final - the Patriots face Newsome White, and Newsome Blue face Wharton in today's semifinals.

The Tigers earned the No. 1 seed in the "combined" division despite a 5-2 loss to Lakeland Jenkins. The Eagles took a 3-0 lead with 4:23 to play in the first period on goals by Kevin Wagner, Brendan Baker and Jason Jensen, but the Tiger appeared to have gotten back into the game when Ryan McCaughtery and Derek Herscovici scored.

But the Tigers were unable to keep the momentum, and after a scoreless second period the Eagles put the game away in the third. Kevin Wagner scored his second goal of the game with 7:02 to play before Keith Wagner added a fifth with 27.6 seconds remaining.

Jenkins will face Riverview/Durant in the "combined" semifinals after Riverview/Durant beat Wharton 5-3.

Wesley Chapel will face the Tigers in the other "combined" division semifinal but didn't get a boost entering the playoffs as the Ice Cats lost 5-1 to Newsome White.

The Wolves took a 2-0 lead on a pair of power-play goals, one by Brendan McGowan and the other by Spencer Roth, and continued to build their lead as Jacob Michniewicz scored twice for a 4-0 lead midway through the third. Jim Wheatley added a fifth for the Wolves before Ryan Barron scored for the Ice Cats with 25 seconds to play.

Plant got a pair of goals by Alex Siegman to beat Bloomingdale 3-2 in both teams' final game of the season.

Pelicans, Warriors Play To Tie In Rugby

The Tampa Pelicans Under-19 rugby club didn't put itself in the driver's seat, but it didn't lose its opportunity at the North division title after a tie with the Jupiter Warriors on Saturday.

The Pelicans were in control for most of the first half, but were unable to put any points on the board. The Pelicans had two chances with the option to kick for goal, but they opted to go for the try thinking the Warriors defense was wearing down.

Jupiter countered with some late first-half pressure, but the game was scoreless at halftime.

Then, in the 25th minute off a scrum from 10 yards out, the ball came to fly-half Robbie Cribbs, who absorbed two tacklers before passing to inside center Andrew McNeil. McNeil found just enough space to get to the goal line, and Cribbs' conversion gave the Pelicans a 7-0 lead.

With just over a minute left in regulation, Cliffy Morris scored the Warriors' try after the Pelicans were caught napping on a quick-tap penalty. Fernando Lopez kicked a difficult conversion to tie it.

The Pelicans got one last chance to win in stoppage time as a penalty on the Warriors for going over the top in a ruck gave Cribbs a chance to kick a penalty goal. But Cribbs' effort from a tough angle went wide.

The Pelicans and Warriors could play again this season if both teams win out and leave them tied atop the North division standings.

Nicholas J.E. Murray can be reached at (813) 259-8243 or nmurray@tampatrib.com. Keyword: Youth Sports for more news and notes.

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